Looze to coach both teams

Men's swimming coach Ray Looze will also be the new coach of the women's swimming team, IU Athletics Director Rick Greenspan announced Friday. Looze will take over for former women's coach Dorsey Tierney, who left IU for Auburn University May 17.\nLooze said he believes the announcement to combine the programs will precipitate certain inherent advantages.\n"This allows us to specialize coaches," Looze said. "The second advantage is that it makes recruiting more efficient -- it allows us to look at both males and females with one coach. It allows us to put forth one face for IU swimming, much like the track and field program. Ultimately, we will have more budget resources, and we will be able to succeed at a higher level that's best for the program."\nGreenspan's announcement to consolidate the swimming program is not unprecedented. National swimming superpowers such as Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, and Southern California employ one head coach for both the men's and women's teams.\nAs the coach of the IU men's swimming team, Looze has guided the Hoosiers to three consecutive seasons of finishing among the top four teams in the Big Ten Conference. In addition, the Hoosiers have finished in the top 20 nationally the past two seasons under Looze.\nLast season, the men's swimming team placed second at the Big Ten Conference Championships, a mere three points behind Minnesota. IU extended their successful conference season to the national level, as it placed 16th at the NCAA Championships. The 16th place finish was the highest by a Hoosier team in 14 years. \nLooze will inherit a women's team fresh off a highly successful 2004-2005 season. The Hoosiers placed ninth at the 2005 NCAA Championships, the highest finish at the national level for any IU women's swim team. The Hoosiers also extended their streak of top-three Big Ten Conference finishes to five straight seasons when they placed second at the 2005 Big Ten Championship meet.\nGreenspan said he believes Looze will be successful as coach of both teams. \n"Ray has done an outstanding job in his three years with our men's program, and we are confident that he will build upon the recent success that both teams have had," he said in a statement. "In a combined setting, Ray has a plan to maximize the efficiency of individualized training. This translates to even better team-wide success. Ray is extremely enthusiastic about this opportunity, and he will bring a lot of energy to both programs."\nLooze has previous experience serving as a men's and women's coach at the same time. Before coming to IU, Looze coached the University of Pacific men's and women's swimming teams for four years. While at Pacific, Looze was highly successful, earning four consecutive Big West Conference Coach of the Year awards, and winning the same honor for his work as the women's coach in 2002. Looze guided both the Pacific men's and women's teams to Big West Conference Championships during the 2001-2002 season. It was the first conference title for the men's team in 28 years, while it was the first ever conference championship for the women's team.