ASU congratulates Bob Bowman and Leon Marchand for winning the CSCAA awards

Arizona State University congratulated Bob Bowman and Leon Marchand on its social media handle after they were awarded the CSCAA Coach of the Year and Swimmer of the Year, respectively.

Bowman returned to collegiate swimming from the US national team in 2015 after his career-long compatriot, Michael Phelps, retired from the sport. The South Carolina native wanted to build something from scratch and nothing was better than Arizona State's program at the time, which was discontinued briefly in 2008.

Eight years later, Bowman guided ASU to its first-ever Pac-12 (2023) and NCAA (2024) Championships, earning him the 2024 CSCAA Coach of the Year award. Even though he clinched numerous Pac-12 Conference and Big Ten titles with the help of the legendary Michael Phelps, this was Bowman's first-ever national collegiate championship title.

Marchand, on the other hand, has been Bowman's most trusted deputy ever since his arrival at ASU in 2021. This year, the French swimmer clinched three individual titles at the NCAA Championships: 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley, and 200-yard breaststroke.

He also helped the Sun Devils break the NCAA record in the 800-yard free relay. Owing to this, Marchand was awarded his third consecutive CSCAA Best Swimmer title.

The Sun Devils took to their X (formerly Twitter) handle to congratulate their two stars with the caption:

"And the recognition keeps pouring in"

Bob Bowman moves to the University of Texas after a historic feat with ASU

Bob Bowman

After leading Arizona State University to its first-ever national championship, Bob Bowman is all set to script another chapter in his coaching career. On Monday (April 1), the 58-year-old was named the Director of Swimming and Diving and the head coach of the University of Texas.

University Vice President Chris Del Conte recently opened up about this choice in a statement:

"From the moment we visited with Coach Bowman about our great opportunity here, we knew he was the right person for the job. His vision and leadership skills for building a program are second-to-none, and his drive and determination to consistently succeed at the highest-level jump off the page. In addition, his track record of developing swimmers and helping them achieve their absolute best is well-documented."

Bowman will be taking over as just the seventh head coach of the university in its history of 89 years. He will lead Eddie Reese's program, which was started in 1974.