New swim coach making a splash

Coming into the 2017-18 school year, there has been a new face on campus. More specifically, there has been a new face on the pool deck.
Logan Arnold joins the St. Bonaventure University men’s and women’s swimming programs as an assistant coach, a first for men’s head coach Sean McNamee, who said it was athletic director Tim Kenney’s decision to add the position.
“It has been, if not as difficult, more difficult on me just because I have had to function for the last 25 years without an assistant,” McNamee said. “Now to have a staff of something that I really have not had a pedigree for since my assistant coaching days at West Virginia, it has been quite a process.”
Arnold has experience in and out of the water, swimming for Division III St. John’s University, and coaching at St. Thomas University, Concordia College and most recently North Carolina State University.
During the hiring process, women’s head coach Brian Thomas was surprised at the level of interest, but said Arnold stood out right away because of his experience at high-level programs.
“The staff at NC State reached out to me, all with pretty glowing recommendations, so we trusted them to give me an honest opinion, but he stuck out from the get-go,” Thomas said.
Being the assistant coach for both swim teams, Arnold said time management is incredibly important, but it is a commonality among swimmers to manage their time well.
“What has been really nice here is how individualistic we can get given the fact that students are very individualized in their majors,” Arnold said. “It forces us to get very individualized in their training, so that is something that, since I have been brought on, has been very helpful in terms of being able to allocate resources in terms of coaching.”
Another reason Arnold enjoys Bona’s is the atmosphere on campus. He said St. John’s was similar in size and community-feel, as well as campus mentality, which he said was very important during his time in college.
“The relationships you are able to foster with athletes and being able to watch them grow throughout their four years really ends up being why a lot of coaches like to do this,” Arnold said. “That is something that is really special about Bonaventure that you do not find other places is the close-knit vibe between the student body and the faculty and staff.”
While his job title is assistant coach, Arnold’s duties on the team and time commitment are similar to that of a head coach. He is on-deck for men’s and women’s two-a-day practices and is working with men’s sprinters and women’s long-distance swimmers.
Arnold enjoys the differences between the teams, as it allows him to become a more wellrounded coach.
“I want to be known as a coach that can do anything,” Arnold said. “Whether it is the sprint end of things or with the women on the distance end of things, is really helpful for me, benefitting from what I have learned but also being able to utilize my skills and keep learning.”
In addition to being at the pool from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Arnold is assisting in recruitment.
“Logan is helping immensely on the recruiting end as well, in which we are in a phenomenal position of verbal commitments at this time that we have not had in the past, and I could directly attribute that to Logan’s influence, without question,” McNamee said.
While working smoothly thus far, Thomas said the changeover to having an extra member on the staff is still a work-in-progress.
“We are trying to figure out the best way to do it, but he is the kind of guy that unless I tell him to go home, he is going to be here,” Thomas said.
Arnold has proved that he is committed to the success of the team by putting in upwards of 12-hour days, and Thomas said it has been a non-issue working out how to split Arnold’s time between the teams.
“A big thing is he’s super passionate about swimming and about what he is doing here,” Thomas said. “There have been several days where I have said, ‘I do not want you on the pool deck for this workout. I know how long you have been here this week. It is going to wear on you,’ and he stays here anyway.”
Having been here a few months now and getting a couple meets under his belt has helped acclimate Arnold, who is fully on-board with helping both teams compete for an Atlantic 10 championship in February.
“Looking back at where we have been the previous years, virtually everyone on both teams is doing better than they did the previous year, which is an amazing goal of ours, just micro-improvements,” Arnold said. Swimming is a very interesting sport in that all we are doing is putting money in the bank for the end of the season. We are seeing a lot of improvement weekly but also monthly and when we compete.”