After opening up the season with a sweep of Delta State University, the Alabama swimming and diving team looks to cap off another sweep against SEC foe Auburn on Friday, Oct. 12.
New head coach Dennis Pursley said he was impressed with how his teamed performed in the season opener, but there is still a long road ahead of them.
“Delta State will not nearly be the same challenge as Auburn will be,” Pursley said. “I was pleased with just the general spirit and demeanor of the team. They were challenging themselves to do the best that they could, and we sort of developed a culture and certainly don’t want to see that change.”
Pursley is no stranger to the Capstone and brings a championship pedigree to a team looking for overall consistency. The Alabama alumnus has had international success ranging from Australia to, most recently, the head coach of the United Kingdom’s Olympic swimming team.
Pursley said he hopes to translate some of the success he has had and the teamwork concept back to his alma mater.
“The team concept here had seemed to deteriorate to a degree in recent years,” he said. “I want to bring back the team-first attitude. We took John F. Kennedy’s most famous quote and twisted it a little bit and made it, ‘Ask not what your team can do for you, but what you can do for your team,’ so I think that is the start in building the type of culture we want to build here.”
Teamwork is something the Tide will need when facing what Pursley called one of the most premier swimming and diving teams in the NCAA. Despite pulling off an upset victory against Auburn in years past, Pursley said he knows his team will have their hands full.
“They’re pretty much strong top to bottom, men and women,” he said. “But we don’t want to concede anything, and we want to be racing to win even if on paper it is a long-shot or not. We don’t want to walk away from Auburn knowing we could have done better than we did.”
Despite the early season challenge, Pursley said he looks to this match as a learning experience for both himself and the team.
“Obviously our big focus is the SEC championship and NCAA championship later in the season,” he said. “We can learn from every experience by accomplishing all our goals. Whatever the outcome, our mission is to learn.”
