Forging a Championship Culture: Navy Men's Swimming & Diving Coach Bill Roberts Shares His Thoughts

Welcome to Navy Sports Central - The Official Podcast of the Navy Sports Nation!

We are back with a terrific start to the new year! In our sports update, we will be checking in with the Track & Field and Wrestling teams. And you will also get an nice breakdown of men's basketball team's exciting win over Army.

Then, be sure to stay with us as we welcome Coach Bill Roberts of the Navy Men's Swimming & Diving team to the podcast. We will get an insider's look at their championship culture that has been built over the decades; one that they leaned on heavily to bounce back after a tough loss to Army to win their 19th consecutive Patriot League title. 

Coach Roberts will put you in the moment as he recaps the thrilling win in the 400 yard freestyle relay that earned the Mids the championship.  And he also shares some of his philosophy on what it takes  to keep the team sharp as they prepare to defend their title just a couple months after another big win over Army.

This is your chance to learn more about one of the truly elite programs in all of Navy Athletics. It's an episode you won't want to miss!

Related Links: 

• Navy Sweeps the 2023 Patriot League Swimming & Diving Titles!
• Navy Men's Swimming & Diving Beats Army to Reclaim the Star!

We want your answer to our Question of the Day. Here is the one for this episode:

How many ECAC Championships has Bill Roberts won as the head coach of the Navy Men's Swimming & Diving Team?

A.)  7
B.) 11
C.) 13
D.) 15

You can give us your answer on the Navy Sports Nation Group Facebook page.

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Music is provided courtesy of Audio Jungle. Artists featured in order:

• Seven In Music (Intro)
• Alexiaction (Deep Dive)
• Loka Music (Question of the Day Lead In)
• Cinematic Alex (Closeout Music)

Transcript

Karl: 0:14

Hi everybody. My name is Karl Darden and I'd like to welcome and thank all of you for joining us today on Navy Sports Central. I'm your host and this is the official podcast of the Navy Sports Nation where we take a deeper dive into Navy Sports. The Dark Ages have arrived in Annapolis, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect on the men's basketball team. They played very well down the stretch against Army last weekend to come away with a win. I'll be breaking down that game in our sports update. We'll also get caught up on how things are going with indoor track wrestling and the swimming and diving teams, and don't forget about our question of the day and mid-watch segments. I hope your new year is off to a great start, so please stick around and I'll get you all caught up. Okay, here we go with our first episode of 2024.

Karl: 1:00

Sorry about being a little bit slow getting out of the blocks. I got slammed with work during the first couple of weeks after the holidays and I was also holding off because I wanted to kick things off this year with an awesome guest. His schedule did open up this week and we had an opportunity to connect for a great conversation, and that's coming up in our deep dive segment, so you won't want to miss that. Now let's go ahead and get rolling. First we're going to check in with the indoor track and field teams, both the men and the women. The men posted a big win over Princeton a couple of weeks ago at home. The final score was 92 to 87. The Mids won 9 out of the 17 events and scored a maximum of 8 points by finishing 1, 2 and 4 of them.

Karl: 1:36

I'm going to go through some of the top performances, starting with the field events. Joshua Boamah got things started by setting a new school record in the weight throw. He registered a distance of 21.02 meters, which comes out to 68 feet and 11 and 3 quarter inches to win the event, and his throw beat the previous record by 0.26 meters, which had stood for over 50 years. And then, in the high jump, Sheldon Olmer and Benjamen Schneider finished 1-2 for the Mids. Olmer recorded a jump of 2.08 meters, which comes out to 6 feet 9 and 3 quarter inches, and Schneider posted a height of 2.02 meters, which converts to 6 feet 7 and a half inches. Walker Rudisaile and Thomas Christie also took the top two spots in the pole vault. Rudisaile won the event with a height of 5.2 meters, which comes out to 17 feet 3 quarter inches, and that also tied the ninth best mark in school history. So clearly the field events played a big role in the team coming out on top in this meet.

Karl: 2:31

But there are some great results on the track as well. Brahmir Vick took care of business by winning the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 7.81 seconds. His finish tied the second best time in Navy history. Murphy Smith won the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:18. 11 and Justin Mumford was right behind him 8:19. 56 819.56. And that was good for third place. The Mids final win came in the 4 by 800 meter relay. Garrett Boblitz, Anthony Engel, Greyson Gravitt and Carson Sloat edged out the Tigers by 0.32 seconds and finished with a time of 7:. 43. 1. Unfortunately, the women had a little bit of a rough outing. Princeton ended up winning their dual meet 103 to 74.

Karl: 3:08

But there were some performances I did want to mention. Gia Anderson won both the 60 meter hurdles and the 200 meters. Her time in the 60 meter hurdles was the 10th fastest in the program's history, at 8.62. And she ran the 200 meters in 24.7, which was a personal best. Ellie Abraham and Emily Boutin took the track for the first time this season. In the mile, Abraham finished second with a 10th best time in school history of 4:51. 96. Boutin was right behind her in third, crossing the finish line in 4:52. 19.

Karl: 3:35

Now, both teams also competed in the Wesley A. Brown Invitational this past weekend. There was no team scoring, but I did want to share two new school records that were set. Vick recorded a time of 7.76 to win the 60 meter hurdles. He beat his own school record by just one one hundredth of a second and he set that at the first of the two Navy Invitationals in 2022. By the way, Vick now owns six of the top ten times in the event, including the first five. Murphy Smith won the 5,000 meters with a time of 13:55. 15. The previous school record of 14:03. 10 had stood since 2011. Andrew Kirkland and Justin Mumford also beat the old school record with times of 13:56. 28 and 13:59. 02 respectively.

Karl: 4:14

The next big meet on the calendar for both teams is the Star Match against Army on February 3rd, and, with the Black Knights still holding a slim lead in the competition, these two stars that are up for grabs are going to be absolutely huge. The meet will be at home, so if you're local, try to get out there and support the Mids, because these dual meets can have more than a few momentum swings and a big crowd can provide a lot of great energy. That could prove to be the difference. Okay, now let's jump over to the wrestling team and see what's going on with them. They rolled into the holiday break with a 6-0 record in dual meets, and then they had a really strong showing at the Franklin and Marshall Open, with Andrew Cerniglia winning the title at 165 pounds.

Karl: 4:50

But since then it's been some pretty tough sledding. The team dropped two matches against number 19 Oklahoma and number 11 South Dakota State a couple of weeks ago, and then last weekend they got behind 17th ranked Lehigh early and just couldn't catch up. That was on Saturday, but the one that had to hurt the most was the Mids match against Binghamton the very next day. They had a solid lead with three matches left. In fact they only needed one to close out the meet, but they just couldn't nail it down and Binghamton ended up winning by a single point 18-17. So the good news is the Mids do have a chance to get back on the right track against North Carolina. That match will take place in Chapel Hill this weekend and, by the way, the star match against Army will be on February 21st and, yes, it will be at home.

Karl: 5:32

Okay, now it's time to take a look at men's and women's basketball. In case you missed it, both teams took on Army last Saturday in Alumni Hall. There weren't any stars on the line. This time, though, those will be contested at West Point on February, the 10th. Now for those of you who haven't been tracking them, this season both teams are pretty young. Compared to recent years, the men lost a ton of seniors and at the start of the season, Austin Inge who is the team captain, by the way was only one of two seniors on the entire roster and the only one who's played significant minutes. The women are about in the same place. Their backcourt is led by a couple of freshmen, actually Zanai Barnett- Gay and Kaya Kyah Smith. Both of them are very exciting players. Anyway, the women went toe to toe with Army and only trailed by four points at halftime, but in the third quarter, just about everything the Black Knights threw up went in, and they pulled away for a 66-51 win. So you know the mids Mids are going to be looking to get even in the rematch up at West Point in a few weeks.

Karl: 6:24

Next, the men took the court to try and prevent the sweep and I've got to say that in the games I've seen so far this season, this team is getting better with everyone. They've had several players rise to the occasion and one of them is Austin Benigni. You'll learn more about him in our mid-watch segment. What I'll say right now is if you haven't seen him play yet, make it a point to do so before the season is finished. Anyway, the game started out a little bit slow for the Mids. They were fine.

Karl: 6:45

Defensively, coach Ed DeChellis likes to alternate between a 2-3 zone and a man-to-man defense, depending on the situation. The team has very active hands and feet, which was partly responsible for the 10 steals they came up with. Offensively, the mids like to go with a lot of ball screens to try and get Benigni an open look or drive to the basket. That gives them the option to shoot, take it to the rack or find a teammate for an open jumper. On Saturday he did a great job getting to the basket because his outside shot was just a little bit off. One player who's really come on strong as of late is Mike Woods. He is a 6-4 sophomore from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and against Army. He went 6-8 from the floor and finished with 17 points, while bringing down a team high 8 rebounds, and 6 of those were on the offensive glass.

Karl: 7:29

One thing that really struck me about this game was how even the stats were. Both teams shot basically the same from the field. The Mids shot 38.8% compared to 38% for Army, and they were dead even on their 3-point percentage at 30.8%, though the mids only took half as many shots. They only put the ball up from beyond the arc 13 times compared to 26 for Army. So, with these practically identical stats, it tells you that the game pretty much came down to 1 or 2 big plays down the stretch, and the biggest one of all was an offensive rebound that Donovan Draper grabbed in the paint off of a missed 3-pointer from Benigni. He got the put back to go down and that put the Mids up by 3 with 1:21 left in the game. Army did get a quick layup to get back within a point, but the Mids were able to close things out from the free throw line, speaking of which, that was one area that could have really done them in.

Karl: 8:13

No one shot their free throws very well in the first half at all. The team average for the year is about 70%, which isn't horrible, but in the first half they were just 4 of 13. The mids did manage to finish strong by making 7 of their last 10, and the two that Donovan Draper hit with a couple seconds left iced the game. The final score was 57-53, and the mid sang second for the third time in a row. So, yeah, this team is still pretty young, but they're off to a great start in a Patriot League, and, after watching them go against some of the more experienced teams, they've played with a lot of poise. Just a few days before the Army game, they came from 12 points down in the second half to beat Lehigh. Right now, the mids are 4-2 in the Patriot League, and we're at a point now in the schedule where they'll have, like you know, three games a week. So it'll turn into a little bit more of a grind, but my feeling is that this group isn't lacking in toughness one bit, so I'm looking forward to watching them play the rest of the season.

Karl: 9:00

Alright, that takes care of our sports update. I'm going anywhere, though, because our deep dive segment is next. Okay, we are back here at Navy Sports Central, and before I get to our guests in the Deep Dive segment, I wanted to share an observation I had recently. When looking at the 36th Navy Varsity Sports, you know, certainly football comes to mind first. If you're looking at the one that has the most impact, it is clearly the biggest revenue producer and, along with alumni donations, the football program plays a critical role in helping the academy achieve its physical mission.

Karl: 9:45

But when you're looking at sustained superior performance over time and I'm talking a couple of decades here, not just a few years the two teams that have been the standard bearers for Navy athletics have been the men's and women's swimming and diving teams. Now, the plan for this episode was to feature both of them, but unfortunately something came up which made it necessary to reschedule our conversation with John Morrison, who is the women's head coach, and my plan is to have him on our next episode. Not to worry, though, because I'm happy to have the men's coach join us today. He took over the program in May of 2003, and, entering this season, his record in dual meets is 201 and 66. He's been named the Patriot League Coach of the Year 11 times and the East Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year on 12 occasions.

Karl: 10:26

But probably the most telling indicator of this sustained excellence is this the Navy Men's Swim Team competed in the Patriot League championships for the first time in 2004. Not only did they win it, but they've taken home the trophy every single year since then, except for 2020, when the championships were canceled due to the pandemic. So I am very happy to welcome Navy Men's Swimming and Diving Coach Bill Roberts to the podcast. All right, Coach Roberts, thank you so much for joining me on Navy Sports Central. I really appreciate you taking the time.

Coach Roberts: 10:52

Karl, my pleasure to be here. I look forward to talking a little bit about the program and Navy athletics.

Karl: 10:57

Yeah, same here, and I'll tell you that I actually started off with the Navy Sports Nation blog about four years ago and I think it was about the second or third article I wrote covered the swim team, and one of the things I remember from about that time was you did an interview with Pete Medhurst, I believe it was, and one of the things you spoke to about the secrets of the team's success was the overall culture that has been established there. I was wondering if you could speak to that a little bit and kind of point to what that looks like on a day-to-day basis in practice.

Coach Roberts: 11:27

Sure, absolutely. Yeah. I think a lot of coaches will tell you that it certainly starts with the culture, and no matter what sport you're talking about, that's got to be in place before you pick up a stick or a ball or dive into the water. So that's been really paramount, and I think just the longer I've been here, the more of a premium I put on that as well, just in my own design of our season. So the team's got a couple of virtues that are pretty important to them that we really try to practice and preach on a regular basis, and that is tradition, brotherhood and excellence.

Coach Roberts: 12:01

The team came up with that one themselves, and then, on top of that, the one thing they'll hear from me is just our main mission or goal is to provide an environment for these guys to reach their full potential, both as an athlete, a student, a person. So how we set up that environment is really the, I think, what is my main role in this whole process. So that's kind of what we aim to do, and then more to answer your question, I think if you stepped on the pool deck on any given practice day, you would just see a really strong desire of our guys to want to be here. It's really at or near, and all time high. There's just a great energy and enthusiasm within this program, and it's been like that for a couple of years now. So I think it goes back over generations of team captains and senior classes that have really emphasized culture, and we've worked together to establish something that is still a work in progress, but something that we feel is solid right now.

Karl: 13:07

Right, right, Okay, very good. Now, one of the things that's impressed me over the last several years and this might even kind of go hand in hand with the culture you've established is the performance of some of your freshmen that come in year over year. I mean, there always seems to be like one or two people that really stand out, and this year the guy I was pointing to was Juan Mora, one of your breastrokers. We can talk about him in a little bit, but I just wanted to get your take on this. I mean, what are some of the indicators that you look for that would tell you, hey, from a mental toughness standpoint, this athlete, even this early, is a little bit ahead of the game.

Coach Roberts: 13:44

Well, I think just to preface my response, Carl we're always placing bets on people because you never know until they get here. So Juan's a great example right now. I guess we'll get to him later on, but in terms of the mental toughness and fortitude it takes to get through this place, it's for me. I put a greater emphasis on talking to the club coaches because they see the kids on a daily basis. I think in my early time here I knew I needed to do that, but I didn't do as much as I should have, and now I'm doing a lot more and that's been really helpful.

Coach Roberts: 14:25

I think, if you can go watch them compete somewhere, I try to get out there and see them at least once a year and just see how they interact with their teammates. Even though we're up in the stands, you can get a little bit of a sense of the type of person you're going to be working with. And then the other piece of the trifecta there is having them come out for an official visit or getting them to the campus just to see how they do interact here. So those are some things that we do do, but I still think at the end of the day, you can only get to know them so much. We do try to do really regular, consistent recruiting and just get a little bit of a sense of the type of person. But I still think it's not until you get here during Plebe Summer that you see that toughness and as they go through Plebe Summer and then I think you got a better sense of what you got.

Karl: 15:19

Right, Right, Okay. So now I want to jump back to last year, and this is actually following the Star Match against Army. There were a lot of I don't know about a lot, but I did catch a couple of college swim blogs that were kind of speaking to the fact that hey, looks like this might be the year that Navy goes down in the Patriot League championships, and what I was curious about was, given the fact that you had a couple of meets to go before you got to that point, is there anything that you did different to kind of get the team's mindset the way you wanted? Or was it basically just business as usual, knowing that they would go ahead and step up to the plate there when the time came?

Coach Roberts: 15:59

Last year's case a little bit of both. We really try to set ourselves up as a championship program, so everything's working towards February and March. So a lot of those elements didn't change too much. But at the same point we just had our world rocked in December and I think we had to do some soul searching and really decide what we want February and March to look like. This time around, because we were in new territory we went into the meet as a big underdog I think on paper it was 50 or 60 points.

Coach Roberts: 16:32

And the interesting thing about last year is as soon as we got back for a winter training camp here, we got hit with another challenge and the pool water temp was just ridiculously cold for about a week straight. So I had this team that was all fired up and ready to go and get after it and raise the bar to hopefully win, and day after day we're just really struggling with that. So it was an interesting time that happened to us. It was almost like some karmic additional challenge. So they made it through that and after that it was really just a terrific run of training For me. It almost made my job a little easier because the guys were so driven and so motivated to put themselves into position. So I still think at the end of day, carl, let's do our thing, let's do it as well as we can, and we know we can be competitive at that meet. It's just a matter of getting ourselves in the position to do so and then executing really well once we're there.

Karl: 17:33

Right. So now I'm going to ask you to kind of take us back and put us in that moment right at the end of the meet, which was the 400 freestyle relay. Now, just for the benefit of our listeners, guys, this was a three-day slug fest. I mean, the two teams were like throwing haymakers back and forth. Over the first couple of days, a lead changed hands a couple of times, well, more than a couple of times. But going into that last relay race, basically it came down to whoever wins, it wins the championship.

Karl: 18:02

So, coach, first of all, the one thing I noticed was that when they were doing the kind of the pan of the crowd and they were hitting the army side this was at Bucknell University, but I got the sense that they figured man, we've got this, because they basically put out the same relay team they did at the Star Match and their last guy, Owen Harlow, won that individual event at the Star Match and the guy he beat was Garrett McGovern, who was swimming anchor for Navy. So I guess, what was your game plan for the race? How did you come up with the order of the athletes and, compared to what you guys were thinking as a staff, did everything play out the way you thought. I mean, obviously you got the result you wanted to, but I mean in terms of just what was going on, leg by leg.

Coach Roberts: 18:49

Terrific question. In terms of that event. Our goal that day was just to get it to that event After the morning session. If you just followed the projections for the night, we were probably set to get beat by about maybe 40 to 50 points. Army just had to just kind of hold serve, as they say in tennis, and they would win the meet. So we were just hoping that we could chisel away within each event and pick up points on the way, and we knew we had a relay. If you look at the results, we had won. We were 4-4-4 in the relays going in and we felt confident about this one. But we also knew that it's going to be Army Navies championships on the line, so anything can happen.

Coach Roberts: 19:36

In terms of the order, a funny story right after the 100, Garrett came up to me and essentially said I'm done, coach, I don't know if I have any more left in me, and we still had a lot of time. So I said all right, just get out of the pool, get your legs up, just take a couple of moments. And so he did that. And then in my mind I'm just thinking all right, well, we've got a good plan B, we've got a couple guys, we can drop on there. That will be just as competitive. But if he can't do it? But he came back. I can't remember exact time, but he came back and said I'm good to go. And at that point there was no doubt we're going to put a manker, because he'd been anchored on several of the other relays. I just felt he wasn't going to flinch in that spot if it gets close. He was just so good for us. So he was the anchor. Jonah was going to be lead off. He didn't swim an individual that day, so we wanted to put up the freshest person. We got in the front end and he did a terrific job. And then Austin and Everett would fall in the middle and those are two really experienced racers right there. So essentially that's what we did.

Coach Roberts: 20:44

But, Karl, I think we could have mixed and matched a little bit and still produced the same outcome. I just felt like Garrett needed to be on the end. That was the main thing. Did it play out the way we thought up until the 375? Yes, and then when they caught us, I just said to myself I was right there on that end of the pool and I said I can't believe we're going to get B on the last length. That was the thought going through my head because they just had such momentum. Well, they flipped, pushed off together. Harlow probably broke out ahead, but Garrett just really elevated on the last 12 and a half and was just amazingly amazing performance. How he got to the wall first it was really special. I still can't fully tell you how that happened. I just know it did and it was just a great moment in our program's history.

Karl: 21:40

Right right, so quick funny story for you. I was watching the meet on ESPN Plus I'm just monitoring right here and my office door was closed and the race had already started and my wife walked in and I said not now. And then, as Garrett was turning on that last leg and I saw him like kind of catching up, my face was getting closer and closer to the screen, like foolishly thinking I could see his hand touch the wall by doing that. But it was just so exciting. And the question I have for you is, as best as you can, can you describe the atmosphere in the gym when his name came up first? Because I can tell you from watching it on TV on ESPN here, it was incredible. I mean, how loud that sound was. It's almost like if you were there, you could feel the sound of it just bouncing off your skin. So I was wondering what the atmosphere was like.

Coach Roberts: 22:34

Well, I think it was a heavyweight fight in the making. I think everybody there there's 10 teams, essentially 20 teams men and women for each school, and so everybody was certainly pulling for their own team's performances that day. But I think very close behind was they either chose Army or Navy. They're rooting for one of the two teams that evening. So I had a lot of people come up to me and say, hey, we're pulling for you, we're pulling for you. So that was kind of neat.

Coach Roberts: 23:04

So I think people, everybody was really vested in this thing. They'd watched the lead changes, they'd watched the just the meat play out and the drama of it all and they knew this thing was shaping up. It was just no matter what happened in the events leading up to the relay. Somehow it's going to come down the last relay and that's what it did. So there was just an energy going into that event. So in championships you have the individual swimming races and then you have a diving break and then you've got the relay to finish it off. So it just really was a terrific build up to that event.

Coach Roberts: 23:40

The things I remember, like you mentioned, Karl was super loud and then when the officials say quiet for the start it got super quiet and then it was just a great race. I was right on the corner, the team was kind of on the bench right there and a lot of it was a blur. But the moment to your question, the moment he hit the wall, we could partially see it from our end. We were pretty sure he got the wall first and then it flashed on the screen. But the struggle is it's not like a game where when the clock runs out, games over in relays, you have to wait until it's confirmed. So we certainly celebrated, but we had to wait until the officials gave it the two thumbs up. So there's two sets of releases of energy within us. And then, after that moment it was it just made for a really special finish to a season that was all about redemption, I think.

Karl: 24:45

Right, right, okay, cool. So now I'm going to take us forward just to last month and talk a little bit about how that rematch with the star match played out. So in this one, after everything was over, in the post-match interview you'd mentioned that you felt like Juan Mora's race was the turning point in the meet and he just turned in a great performance in the 200-yard breaststroke. And first of all, feel free to tell us a little bit about him. I know he's from out in California, I believe Folsom, I think but tell us a little bit about him. And secondly, was this the result you were expecting? Because I know a lot of times when you are positioning swimmers and so forth, you're saying, ok, I think I can get this out of them, and anything else would be a real bonus. Was that the sense here? Did you have a pretty good idea that this guy could compete?

Coach Roberts: 25:35

No well, yes and yes. Juan actually grew up primarily in Florida and then his family recently moved to California, so he's got dual places that he now considers home. But I first got to know him he came to our camp a couple years ago and so, like many kids who attend the camp, they'll say, hey, I really want to come and swim for you. I hear that from a lot of campers. Juan was one of them. He just certainly stood out. He was very competitive at the time and then he had a pretty good senior year in high school, dropped some pretty good time, so we were all in in terms of recruiting and then he did a year at Mercesburg before he came to Navy. In terms of the. So I guess, to tell you about Juan a little bit, he's super driven, he's got his goals set, he knows what he wants to do, he's a team first guy all the way, he's an optimist and he's got a. He's got a great sense of ability to will his body to do what he wants it to do. You know that's the big part of our training program, but not everybody can quite say, hey, this is what I need you, the body, to do for me right now. But he's got that sense.

Coach Roberts: 27:01

I think the amazing thing about what he did in the 200 breaststroke that was a pivotal point in the meat is right in the middle. And what you don't see in the results is that Juan had had a concussion back in early November, so he was out of the water for a good good amount of time. So to answer your question like did I? It was more of. We're just hoping we could get something out of him, as opposed to was he going to be competitive for the win? Army's got extremely experienced and proven breaststrokers. So to ask a plea let alone someone who'd missed a good amount of training time in November leading up to the meat to go ahead and try to compete for the win, that wasn't in our expectations of him. Little did we know that he didn't change his expectations. He still was going out there to compete for the team. So that's one of the great things about coaching the Navy is that sense of belief that these guys and girls have going through a program like here.

Karl: 28:05

Right, right, okay, cool. So yeah, that was. And then it was interesting when I was watching the end of the last couple of races, I mean because they were covering, obviously, the women and the men at the same time and the Rowdy Gaines haven't met. By the way, how cool is it to have someone like rowdy gains engaged in your program to the extent that he is, because I know historically he does do the Army Navy meets and the Patriot League championships. But one thing he was saying was like he was like doing the math and everything and he figured out that, okay, the women pretty much got it wrapped up, the men pretty much do, as long as they finish here and here in the relays, and that's basically how it played out. In fact, I think you guys did a little bit better than what he had predicted. So what does it mean to have somebody like rowdy gains, who's clearly an Olympic legend and in fact his nickname was King Sprint? Can you speak to what it means to have someone like him involved in your meets?

Coach Roberts: 28:55

Well, he's been coming for a couple of years now and he speaks to the team beforehand and we're all thanking him for coming out. I think that's kind of the gist of your question, but we're thanking him, but literally he is thanking us, he's thanking the midshipmen. He's just so in awe of what they're doing at that age and so genuine, so passionate, just big believer in all the values of sport and our sport. So I never can spend too much time with him. Just an amazing human being and, again, like I mentioned with Juan, very positive, very optimistic human being, someone you want to be around, and he's just a highly infectious, positive human being.

Coach Roberts: 29:43

So to have him there. We're just on the sidelines there and we're just walking up and down and he's right there calling the meet. This guy calls the Olympics and here he is in an outfit. It's awesome. Every time we get him back it's just a huge bonus for our program and we know it means a lot to him. He speaks about that when he comes here, so it's a treat. I'm glad the NAAA is able to make that happen each year.

Karl: 30:13

Right, right, okay, very good, all right. Last question we have the Patriot League championships coming up in a little over a month, well, actually about a month. They start on February 21st. What are a few of the things that are top of mind for you, as you had in these last couple of meets? I know you got a Navy invite and then you got one against Columbia. I think, yeah, what are some of the things that are top of mind so that you can get the team to peak at the time that you want?

Coach Roberts: 30:41

Yeah, that's a great question. There's a lot to it. I think it starts with having your goals set. We dedicate a lot of time to goal setting throughout the year, so this is a big bullseye. When we sit down in the beginning of the year, they know you can't fake this one. You got to work long and hard over several months and several years to be competitive for a conference championship, and you've also.

Coach Roberts: 31:08

This is one of those times where this really becomes a team sport. Everybody is relied on. Even if you're not there, you're having a part in the guys that are going to go and represent, and pushing them in practice and making them earn their spot is critical to our success. So I think those are some of the broader elements that we lean on for this time of year. And then, specifically each year, we're going to look at what's the most direct path for us to win a conference championship. So, carl, we're very blessed. We've got a lot of depth here.

Coach Roberts: 31:43

I think most Navy teams are built on that and so we've got to be really good with our personnel. We're spoiled and we've got big rosters. We've got deep rosters, but we still have to make the right decisions with the right people at that meet. So I think those are some of the things that go into it. And then, yeah, I'm just always big on just say believe in yourself, believe in your team, trust your training, and these things are just vital to what you're going to do.

Coach Roberts: 32:10

And at the end of the day, it's still the same skill you're doing in a dual meet against Columbia or the Navy Invite, but you know they're just. You know the stakes are a little higher, but still it's the same act. So we spend a lot of time just mentally and trying to visualize that. So they don't, you know, get nervous or hit the panic button or, you know, just succumb to the pressure. So it's never easy, you know, and every year is a different pathway to get there, but it's. It is for us, I think, the thing that we enjoy the absolute most in terms of you know, what we take pride in, just because it's such a team of that Right, that's not to take anything away from the Army and Navy. Duel me, that's obviously very critical, but completely different. You know this is a four-day knee and so yeah, yeah, all right.

Karl: 32:57

Well, I'll definitely be tuning in, and so this looks like a pretty good place to wrap things up. Coach, thanks so much for taking time out of your schedule to meet with me today. I know things are going to be pretty hectic, especially coming off of the couple of meets you had last week. Good luck the rest of the season and I look forward to watching you guys defend your title at the championships.

Coach Roberts: 33:14

Yeah, I appreciate it. It's my honor to speak with you today and thank you for all that you do promoting the athletic program here.

Karl: 33:20

All right, thank you, coach you take care, go Navy, bye-bye.

Karl: 33:24

Okay, we're going to go ahead and take a short break now, but before we do that, I did want to give you all a couple of ways to stay up to date on Navy Sports. The first is to join the Navy Sports Nation group Facebook page. I've got a link to that in the show notes. Just click on it, answer a couple of questions and you'll be good to go. The second way takes even less time. Just hit the follow button on whichever platform you're listening to this podcast right now. It can be Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheart Radio it doesn't matter. Once you do that, every episode will be downloaded to your directory when it's released and you can listen to it whenever you're ready. So please consider becoming a member of our group and you can actually tap that follow button right now to show your support for the podcast. I'm looking forward to having you join us. We'll be right back All right. Thanks for staying with us on Navy Sports Central, Karl Darden, here with you, and now it's time for our question of the day.

Karl: 34:26

First, let's go ahead and check the responses to our last one. As you may recall, we were discussing the impact of the transfer portal on college football, so here's a question. In 2019, roughly 6% of Division I college football rosters were made up of players from the transfer portal. What was that percentage during the 2023 football season? Was it A, 21%, b, 26%, c, 29% or D 32%? The most popular answer was A 21%. There were 37% of you who went with that one. Next was 32%, which came in at 36%. Then there was 13% of you who selected 26%, followed by 4% who chose 29%. I know there's a lot of percent going back and forth there, but anyway, it turns out that the correct answer was A 21%, so nice job to those of you who came up with that one. I will say, though, that at the rate the transfer portal is growing, I wouldn't be surprised to see the percentage of players using it climb to over 30% in the next couple of years. So thanks to all of you who took the time to answer that question.

Karl: 35:28

Now let's get to the one for this episode. I mentioned earlier that Coach Bill Roberts has led the Navy men's swimming and diving team to 19 Patriot League championships. Now, how many East Coast athletic championships have they won since he became the head coach? Is it A, 7%, b, 11%, c, 13% or D 15%? So you can take some time to think about that one and you can reply back by going to the Navy Sports Nation group Facebook page. I'll have the question up by the end of the day.

Karl: 35:57

All right, let's go ahead and roll into our mid-watch segment and, for the winter sports season, we're going to focus on a couple of basketball players. Let's start with the women. The athlete we'll be featuring over the next couple of months will be Zanai Barnett Gay. She is the mid-starting point guard and she came to the academy from Glendale, maryland, which is about 20 miles west of Annapolis, and I'll start by saying that she has made a pretty big splash since showing up on campus. Barnett Gay leads the team in scoring, averaging 18.9 points per game, and she's second in rebounds, pulling down about five and a half per contest. In the mids most recent win over Bucknell, she scored 16 points and grabbed the team leading 11 rebounds. The Patriot League is also recognizing her impact so far this season. They've awarded her the Rookie of the Week honors five different times. So Barnett Gay's numbers indicate that she's had no trouble at all adjusting to the college game, and the two things that really impressed me about her is her court vision and how she maneuvers in traffic. She has consistently figured out ways to create her own shot even when it looks like one doesn't even exist, and she does a really good job finding open teammates both in transition and when the team is in their half court set. Barnett Gay also has some pretty tight handles. I'll tell you that I've seen her blow by more than a few defenders using an absolutely wicked crossover dribble, so she's going to be a lot of fun to watch over the next few years.

Karl: 37:11

On the men's side, our focus is going to be on Austin Benigni. You heard me mention him earlier. He is a sophomore from the Woodlands, texas, which is just outside of Houston. I remember seeing him play for the first time last year as a freshman, when he came out of nowhere to score 23 points off the bench against Youngstown State early in the season. Benigni is about 5'10". That might be a tiny bit generous, but I tell you what he is absolutely fearless going to the rack. I've seen him disappear in traffic in the paint and somehow he still manages to get off a really good shot that winds up going in most of the time. Benigni is averaging about 16 points and 6 assists per game. Both of those lead the team. He also put up 32 points in that comfort behind win against Lehigh that I mentioned earlier. The last two came from the free throw line with less than 4 seconds left to give the mids the win. So when you get a chance during one of Navy's games, take some time to focus your attention on Benigni. He does a great job of controlling the pace of the game and when you see how he conducts himself out there on the court, he looks more like an experienced senior than a sophomore.

Karl: 38:09

That's going to do it for this edition of Navy Sports Central. Thank you all so much for joining us Now. If you like what you've heard, please be sure to hit that follow button wherever you get your podcasts and remember to get the word to all the other Navy fans out there. And once again, I'd like to thank Coach Bill Roberts of the men's swimming and diving team for joining me today. That was a great look behind the curtain at one of the truly elite programs in all of Navy Athletics.

Karl: 38:30

Our question of the day continues to be a show favorite. You can get in on that by joining the Navy Sports Nation group Facebook page and giving your answer to this week's question. I will pin it to the top so you don't miss it. And just a quick reminder the views expressed on Navy Sports Central are my own and do not reflect those of the US Naval Academy or Navy Athletics. By the way, the music used in Navy Sports Central comes to you courtesy of Audio Jungle. This is a great site for purchasing the rights to use the music from thousands of artists around the world, and those featured in the podcast will be credited in our show notes. Talk to you soon, everybody. Until next time. This is Karl Darden. Go Navy beat Army.