Sheerr renaissance with Schnur

Penn swimming interim coach Mike Schnur may have a winning formula. In the last 15 years, Mike Schnur has seen just about every color in the spectrum of the Penn swimming and diving program. There is something that keeps him in Red and Blue. Before rising to the position of interim head coach of the swimming team in the wake of longtime coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert's surprising retirement last September, Schnur swam for the Quakers as an undergraduate beginning in 1984. After graduating in 1988, he came back into the fold in 1992 as an assistant coach at the behest of Lawlor-Gilbert. To Schnur, there is a simple reason why all roads lead to West Philadelphia. "[It's] loyalty to the school," he said. "Because I came here as a swimmer, when I knew I wanted to go into coaching. I knew this was the only place I really wanted to go. "The opportunity to come into coaching with my old coach [Lawlor-Gilbert] was something I couldn't turn down. It was an easy decision to come back and start coaching when she asked me." Under Schnur's tutelage, both the men's and women's teams have experienced something of a renaissance this year at Sheerr Pool. While the men's team has beaten some of its closest rivals and gone undefeated at home, the women's team ended its notorious 42-meet, seven-year Ivy League losing streak in Schnur's very first meet as head coach in November. And while the team's initial results under Schnur have differed from those in past years, he maintains that there is not much of a difference between him and Lawlor-Gilbert. "I learned a lot of my coaching from her," he said. "She taught me everything I knew for a few years. I think there a lot of similarities between the two of us. Sometimes when you hear it from a different person, it gets reinforced a little more. I think I'm telling the team a lot of the same things she did. Maybe they're listening a little more now." To his swimmers, however, it is clear that Schnur is different. "With Mike, he's both approachable off of the pool and also in the pool, and he's also been exposed to a lot of the new changes [in swimming] that have been going on within the last 10 or 12 years," said senior Jon Maslow, who deeply respects Lawlor-Gilbert, his coach of three years. "He's been out of [competitive swimming] for less of a time. I think he knows what's going on more at this point in time than coach [Lawlor-Gilbert] did." However, Maslow acknowledges that Schnur's relatively recent move from the pool to the sidelines is a mixed blessing. "It's sometimes hard because the line between fooling around with a friend and listening to your coach sometimes gets blurred there," he said. "I don't consider him that much older than us. Swimming under coach [Lawlor-Gilbert], it was somebody who was more of an adult figure. Personally, I find it a lot easier just to listen and to be coached by somebody who is closer to being one of my peers." "I guess it's almost hard to separate Mike as a person from Mike as a coach, because that's kind of the role that he has for me," junior Cathy Holland added. "But I kind of see him as the same person. Mike as a person outside the pool is the same person as Mike as a coach." But while Schnur is by no means an ogre on the pool deck, his swimmers know he is not exactly the tooth fairy, either. "Mike is definitely not overbearing unless you cross him," Maslow said. "Mike has a great deal of tolerance for everybody on the team and he lets the swimmers have a lot of latitude -- what they feel is right for them swimming-wise. But if he says we need to get something done, people basically listen. He commands a great deal of respect in that fashion." According to Schnur's former teammate Brad McNamee, Schnur had what it took to be what he is today as an undergrad. Always lurking was the kind of coach Maslow and Holland describe as both a coach and a friend. "He was really friendly, a really good team player," McNamee said. "He was always one of the better swimmers on the team, good at bringing everybody together and motivating people. "He was pretty laid back. He was generally pretty open with people, pretty friendly, nice, not really a prankster but kind of joked around with people. From what I remember and from his behavior at the time, I would think he'd be a pretty good, nurturing coach." "I did schoolwork," Schnur said of his undergrad days, laughing. "I had a lot of fun. Our team was very close when I was here, and we had what we would consider a vibrant social life. All the guys on our team lived together, and we had a lot of fun. It was a great experience swimming here. "I try to pass that on a little bit as coach. I want the men now to have as much fun as I did with our men's team. If they get as much out of it as I did, then they'll be better off the rest of their lives." With age, however, comes change. And Schnur acknowledges a difference between what he did with his free time in his youth and what he does with it now. "I call recruits," he said. "We get home from practice, seven o'clock at night, I eat and I call recruits for a couple hours, and that's basically what we do all winter long. That's pretty much the daily routine, but I like it. It's something that I enjoy very much." Despite Schnur's successes with the team, he might not be there in September when his recruits show up for freshmen orientation. The "interim" moniker bestowed upon him at the beginning of the season has not yet been replaced with a more permanent title. According to Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky, the search for a new head coach has just begun and will intensify once the swimming season is done at the end of February. A few resumes have already been received. Bilsky added that Schnur is free to apply for the job at the end of the season and that he would be given "serious consideration." The new head coach will most likely be named in late spring. "[Schnur's] a hard working guy," Bilsky said. "I think he's very committed to the sport of swimming, and I think he's very committed to coaching. I'm not surprised that the team has responded to him." "There's nobody that I would rather see as head coach of the women's team next year," Holland said. "He's a great person and a great coach, and he's done so much for our team." Schnur, however, is content with letting the chips fall where they may. "[Penn will] take care of it when the time comes," he said. "I have 100 percent faith in our Athletic Department. I think that the job that I've done and that our assistant coaches and the team's done this year has been pretty good, and hopefully that will speak for itself."

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