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| Alumni Association Home > Minnesota Magazine > Past Issues > 2005 > January-February 2005 | ||||||||
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| Terry Neiszner - All photographs courtesy of University Athletics. |
With 33 years experience coaching at the University between them, Terry Nieszner (B.S. ’79) and Kelly Kremer were named co-head coaches of the Gopher women’s swimming and diving program in April.
Nieszner (then Terry Ganley) was the U’s first women’s swimming all-American, earning the honor four times. She was an assistant under former coach Jean Freeman (B.A. ’71) for 27 years. She will coach sprinters and coordinate the team’s “dry land” training, equipment, and travel details, roles she largely filled as Freeman’s top assistant.
Kremer is a North Dakota native who swam at Drury University in Missouri and competed in the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials. He was an assistant under men’s coach Dennis Dale (B.S. ’68, B.S. ’73), helping the men’s team to three Big Ten titles and five top-10 NCAA finishes in his six years. He will coach the middle- and long-distance events, lead recruiting efforts, and oversee budget and finance, roles he also largely filled with the men’s team. “Our strengths really complement each other,” Nieszner says, adding that the continuity of two internal candidates is also important. “We’ve had such a solid program here for so many years that Minnesota swimming
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| Kelly Kremer |
Kremer says that he and Nieszner will not simply follow the style that came before. “If you line up 100 coaches, they’ll all do things a little differently,” he says. “We’re doing things Terry and Kelly’s way. A lot of them are right in line with what Jean did because she did them so well. A lot of them are in line with what Dennis does. But they are still our way.”
Minnesota won Big Ten team titles in 1999 and 2000, but has not finished better than sixth since. Kremer is looking to 2007, when Minnesota hosts the NCAA men’s and women’s championships. “That’s coming up pretty fast,” he admits, “but that would be a nice breakout meet for our program to really turn a corner.”
Nieszner thinks there’s a chance they will be ready. “We have some great young swimmers on the team. There are also national-caliber swimmers as juniors in high school right now, kids who could be top eight individuals at NCAAs [by 2007]. We’d love to have our team dominated by them.”
Wrestling: Eager Underdogs
A few years ago Gopher wrestling was the hottest program in the country,
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| Cole Konrad |
Q: Although you lost two all-Americans, you do have eight of your 10 starters coming back. Is your lineup pretty set?
A: Not at all. There could be as many as six freshmen [who were redshirted last year] starting this year. That’s good because they bring a different kind of attitude with them. They’ve won a lot in high school and understand what winning is about. They were recruited when we won nationals a couple of times, so they believe they’re here to win a national championship.
Q: Will the competition for starting spots motivate everyone?
A: Some guys will be motivated by getting pushed. They know we didn’t end up where we wanted to be last year, so we’ll change things. Some guys got through the year and didn’t have the right attitude. Sometimes you have to stumble
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| Nischella Reddy |
Q: Does Minnesota have the potential to get back to the top three or even higher?
A: I think we have the potential to win it all, but the only way to do it is the way we did in 2001 [when we had 10 all-Americans]. For us to win everyone has to come through, we need a team effort. . . . The real test of a team is to win when you are not supposed to win. Nobody expects us to win except our guys and our coaches. The beauty of it is that we can see the potential of this team. When you can really see it as opposed to just talk about it, it makes it more attainable.
Women’s Tennis
Junior Nischela Reddy of Hyderabad, India, is the top returnee to a team that has seen three roller-coaster years under coach Tyler Thomson. The Gophers had 1–9 Big Ten records in 2002 and 2004 sandwiched around a 9–1 record and Big Ten title in 2003. The team opens
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| Avery Ticer |
Men’s Tennis
Senior Avery Ticer of Amarillo, Texas, leads a team seeking a 12th consecutive berth in the NCAA championship tournament. Continuing the streak this year may be a challenge, however, as Ticer, who earned the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Summer Circuit Player of the Year award in August, is surrounded by freshmen and sophomores. The team begins its home dual meet season on February 9 against Drake at the Baseline Tennis Center. The highlight among several home meets is a contest with perennial national power Illinois on April 23.
Men's Gymnastics: A New Era
A new era in Minnesota men’s gymnastics begins in 2005. Mike Burns, a 1980 Penn State graduate, was an assistant at Iowa and Michigan for many years before taking the Minnesota job. He inherits a program with more than 100 years of history, the last 33 under Fred Roethlisberger, four-time national coach of the year and winner of 11 Big Ten team titles. Burns was named national assistant coach of the year in 1999 and 2000 at Michigan.
The Gophers are led by senior Guillermo Alvarez of
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| Mike Burns |
Q: Minnesota is ranked ninth in the country and only sixth in the Big Ten. Why is the conference so good?
A: The Big Ten is the only conference in the country that still has a recognized championship. The programs are all very strong. Nationally, we’re down to only 19 college men’s gymnastics programs right now, which is sad. The thing is, these are all great, great programs because there are not very many places for men’s gymnasts to go. . . . But there’s stability here and in the Big Ten. They’ve given me a three-year contract, which is a strong sign of commitment.
Q: How do you follow Fred Roethlisberger and yet make this program your own?
A: You don’t fill a guy like Fred Roethlisberger’s shoes. What you do when a guy like that retires is bronze his shoes and put them up on the shelf and look at them and say, “Wow.” I’ve got my own shoes.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: I’m a pretty enthusiastic, positive guy, so I try to get that to rub off on the team. There’s times you have to be tough, but you also have to praise them.
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| Laura Johnson |
But every place I’ve been, I’ve experienced success. It goes back to the enthusiasm and positive outlook I want to instill in the guys and getting them to feel the same way. I want them to take pride and feel good about what they’re accomplishing.
Women’s Gymnastics
Junior Laura Johnson leads a women’s gymnastics team looking to bounce back from disappointment at the 2004 NCAA regional meet, where they just missed qualifying for the NCAA championship meet after having set a school-record team score just three weeks earlier. Johnson is a returning first-team, all-Big Ten honoree in the all-around event. The team’s biggest home meet of the year is February 5, when Minnesota hosts Utah, one of the six NCAA team finalists in 2004, at the Sports Pavilion.