UT History Series: Ed Brennan Develops Swimming Powerhouse
By Joey Johnston
You can't write the history of the University of Tampa men's and women's swimming programs without a few chapters on Coach Ed Brennan. His influence will frame the book's introduction, forward, epilogue and acknowledgments, too.
That's because Ed Brennan is UT swimming.
His knowledge, fun-loving spirit, advice, thoughtfulness, camaraderie, preparation, loyalty and life lessons were passed down to Spartan swimmers for four decades before his retirement as a full-time coach last summer (you'll still see him on the pool deck occasionally).
The numbers are impressive.
Brennan's teams had more All-Americans and NCAA national championship appearances than any other Spartan program. He coached 32 national championships by individuals and relay teams. His men's teams were in the national top 10 a total of 20 times (best finish, third in 1985), while the women's teams were in the national top 10 a total of 14 times (including three consecutive runner-up finishes in 1986-88).
But Brennan's career was about so much more than numbers.
"Ed never failed to make training fun,'' said former Spartan swimmer Stephanie Branham, now a UT mathematics professor who served as Brennan's assistant swim coach. "While other sports practice to play a game, swimming is unique in the sense that, when we practice, we train. If you're not feeling your best, training can be a hard grind, day after day. Ed would always find creative ways to make us swim fast without us even realizing it.''
"Ed is a fan of the dramatic arts, so in order to instill a point, he would stage or illustrate his point with a lot of flair,'' said former Spartan swimmer Seth Huston, now the head swimming coach at Rice University. "He would lead a team cheer with lots of movement and animation. He'd tell a story to the team and have you hanging on the edge of your seat. Ed always believed you have to make practice fun. In order to do that, the coach has to be creative and engaging.''
Huston remembers the 1986 NCAA Championships, when Brennan and the UT captains created a cheer.
Put 'em in a Hefty … trash 'em!
The entire Spartan team came out wearing Hefty trash bags — with holes cut out for the head and arms. Brennan, shirtless and with a big red T shaved on his chest, performed a choreographed routine for the crowd, which roared its approval.
"The team was pumped,'' Huston said. "We went on to win two individual titles and break an NCAA relay record that evening.''
Just another Ed Brennan moment.
There are many.
"Bobby Bowden (former Florida State University football coach) once told me that swimmers were the hardest-working athletes in sport,'' Brennan said. "It's certainly the longest college athletic season, starting in August and finishing in March. Two practices a day is the norm. If you think you can take off from March to August and reach your full potential, try it. The best swimmers in the world rarely take more than a month off in a calendar year.
"Think of the hours per year for these kids training while looking at a black line. Making it fun is a very difficult task, but I think I've done it as well as anyone. The job is to make it physically grueling without making it mentally grueling.''
Brennan always loved swimming. He said it was the only sport where he enjoyed success. He was the first person from his family to attend college — on a swimming scholarship to Long Island University. He had three different head coaches, but as a captain, he learned how to coach himself and others.
After graduation, all he wanted to do was coach swimming.
"I knew I did the right thing when I walked on the deck for my first meet as a high-school coach and my stomach was doing flip flops,'' Brennan said. "I didn't ever expect to have that feeling of excitement, nervousness, and exhilaration again. I soon realized I was experiencing the same feelings I had during my own competitive experience.''
Brennan spent one year at New York's McBurney School, then eight more at Columbia Prep School (where one of his swimmers was acclaimed sports writer and author John Feinstein). He shifted to Fordham University for two years, transforming an 0-10 team into a 10-0 champion, then took notice of the program at UT.
In 1979, it was time for a change.
He applied with UT, but time dragged, so he flew to Tampa unannounced, then called athletic director Bob Birrenkott and asked for an interview. He got two because the job called for coaching UT and the Greater Tampa Swimming Association (with no assistants).
"From an athletic and financial level, it was a step down,'' Brennan said. "But living in Brooklyn and working in the Bronx with two young daughters was not a good option.
"At our first UT practice, we had seven guys and one girl (who swam on the men's team). We were terrible.''
The evolution of UT athletics — along with the city of Tampa's progression — helped a rapid rise.
"Back then (when Brennan began at UT), there was no skyline in Tampa, job and entertainment options were limited and it wasn't a good fit for many younger people,'' Brennan said. "Everyone who graduated went 'home' after graduation.
"Now roughly one-fourth of our swimmers stay in Florida, if not Tampa. The arrival of (UT president) Ron Vaughn sent the school on an upward trajectory that I doubt can be matched by any school in the country. With the campus we now have, in a city so vibrant, recruiting has become considerably easier.''
But Brennan has kept things in perspective. His 2016 men's relay teams, which broke the NCAA 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle records, had a combined scholarship total of $5,000. Brennan said his UT swimmers are all "projects,'' just at different levels.
Regardless of reputation, though, it's always about the kids.
Brennan relished his ability to provide motivation — and more.
"Ed is super competitive and many times he willed and shared that competitive desire with his swimmers,'' Huston said. "Ed liked being the underdog and having nothing to lose. Competing against FSU or Florida was an opportunity. Going to the NCAA's with few scholarship athletes was an opportunity.''
There was also an opportunity to teach some life lessons.
On the road, Brennan insisted that his athletes be respectful and try to help others. Even a few dollars on the nightstand for the housekeeping staff, he said, could make a huge difference.
"Ed always conveyed to his swimmers the three rules of success — Be where you're supposed to be, when you're supposed to be there; do what you're supposed to do; and ask what's next,'' Branham said. "These are words that I still live by today in everything I do.''
Brennan said he tried to instill a positive, productive attitude into his swimmers. It helped them in meets. It helped them in life.
"Unlike most sports, when you train for swimming, you don't play a game,'' Brennan said. "It's more like piano practice — with the piano on your back — and the coach is the conductor. The trick is to get them to feel the rhythm and the joy of completing the piece.''
As far as rewards, Brennan said his biggest thrills can't be quantified.
"Keep in mind it's the striving that makes the person, not anyone's 'achievement' in sport,'' Brennan said. "My biggest thrills are my daughters, who both had highs and lows as competitive swimmers. I couldn't be more proud of the adults, parents and citizens they have become.
"I owe the fact that I even had a career to my wife, Lois. The reason so many coaches have a difficult time saying in a lasting relationship is it's most difficult on your partner who has to often deal with taking a back seat to the endless crises that the athletes lay at your feet. She has been my rock through it all.''
So that's the book on Ed Brennan.
Complete with a happy ending.
Joey Johnston has worked in the Tampa Bay sports media for more than three decades, winning multiple national awards while covering events such as the Super Bowl, World Series, Final Four, Wimbledon, the U. S. Open, the Stanley Cup Finals and all the major bowl games. But his favorite stories have always been about Tampa Bay Area teams and athletes. A third-generation Tampa native, he was a regular in the Tampa Stadium stands at University of Tampa football games.