Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs had the chance to complete a one of a kind three-peat in Super Bowl 59, but ultimately fell short. A day before, on February 8, the Boys Swim and Dive also had the chance to defend hardware. Coming into the Metro League Championship meet with a perfect regular season record against Metro opponents, the Lions, unlike the Chiefs, finished the job to no one’s surprise and, unlike the Chiefs, the Lions weren’t looking for a three-peat—they were going for a four-peat. Later this month, the Lions will look to defend their title both in the District and State meets under the leadership of Head Coach, Teacher, and new dad, Matt Miller. I sat down with him ahead of the district meet to talk winning, fatherhood, coaching, and how all of those things combine.
Q: What year did you start coaching?
A: This is my tenth year, so however that adds up. 2015, I guess.
Q: How does it feel to win Metro four times in a row?
A: It’s really cool. When I first got here, the girls’ team was on a bit of a run. We won state three years in a row and were just rattling off Metro championships, but the boys team kept getting second at Metro and we just couldn’t get over the hump. And then four years ago, we finally broke through, and that first year was really special. Trying to repeat it again has become a kind of fun little part of every season. It’s our standard, it’s what we expect now, which can be hard with the expectations. But, it is pretty cool having a target on your back and having everybody looking at you and aiming for you. The standards and expectations also tells the story of the culture of the team and how the guys are trying to live up to the standard that we’re setting
Q: What do you think was the most important part of the team or team culture was this year?
A: Last year, we won Metro, districts and state, which was the first time we had done all three of those in school history, which was really cool. But then we lost three guys that crushed state. So it left a gap not only of leadership, but of that top end swimming that is hard to replace. So this year, what was cool, not only did we have an influx of some freshmen; but, the juniors filled the shoes in terms of captaincy and getting points. And as a coach, I love seeing the new seniors making the team their own. So, it was cool seeing them figure out how to get there, how to get those times down, and how to beat those guys in front of them. As a coach, you can only do so much; try to infuse certain things, but if it doesn’t catch on, it falls flat. So seeing them find what the team needed and bringing that along is, as a coach, really, really fun and rewarding.
Q: How do you influence their performance and what strategies do you use to help the culture stay athlete driven?
A: We work a lot with their mindset. We try to get them in the racing mindset because we have meets every week, whereas with their club teams, meets are every month. It’s kind of new, especially for the young kids. So we try to really focus on mentality every single time they get to race. So even if it’s a race where they have to compete against teams that aren’t kind of at our level, they know they need to get something from every race. We focus a lot on visualization too; calming your body, calming your heart rate, and trying to get your body at peak performance to just crush it. We also have a gradual trajectory of where we want their times to be. So yeah, we kick their ass for a while, and their body is struggling, but then we ease up so their body is feeling great during champ season. So there’s kind of a process in that as well. But a lot of mentality, a lot of focus on racing, sprinting, and competition. We compete at practice all the time.
Q: How has the transition been with balancing the new baby with coaching responsibilities?
A: I took a little time off, and I’ve been lucky enough to have Rob Sjoberg, Kaitlyn Biehl, and Blaise Wittenauer-Lee take over the team while I was gone. When I was able to come back, it was a seamless transition because of them. Sleep is hard to come by, but at the same time, I get injected with enthusiasm and energy when I show up at 6 AM and the kids bring it. I think if the kids are gonna show up and bring it, then I owe them my top energy too. I’m happy to bring it out too. It [being a father] has also taught me just patience and understanding what they’re going through and how much they’re sacrificing. I think we all have a mutual respect of what we are all doing to make that team great rather than just an individual here and there. So they know that I’m putting in the work and sacrificing so they respect the fact that they owe that to the team as well.
