Frank Busch UA head swim coach

There isn't much about the 2004 Olympic Games that shouldn't draw emotion from UA swimming head coach Frank Busch.

He'll smile when he thinks of how former Wildcat Amanda Beard scored her first individual gold and be proud when looking back on the world record-shattering performance of his trio of South African speedsters - former UA stars Ryk Neethling and Roland Schoeman and current sophomore Lyndon Ferns.

He'll laugh when he hears that if his Wildcat program were its own country, its eight medals in the pool would put the school 19th overall at the games, especially considering that nearly 200 actual countries have athletes competing in Athens. Only the United States and Australia garnered more swimming hardware than the Arizona contingent.

But among the most stinging memories the long-time UA head coach and assistant with the U.S. team will have of the '04 games is the thought of what could have been for some of his other swimmers that he had to leave back in Tucson.

"You always remember the kid that just missed," said Busch, the 2004 NCAA women's coach of the year. "That's always kind of haunting. You just rededicate yourself to them."

With just a few tenths of a second left in some cases, or just a few more inches to swim, UA swimmers Emily Mason, Whitney Myers, Erin Sieper, Jessica Hayes, Tyler DeBerry and Dave Rollins could have each had a shot at a trip to Athens this month, Busch said.

"They were the kids who made the final eight at trials," he said. "Lyndon and Simon (Burnett, sophomore) have already proven that they can race at that level and we had some others who missed making the team at the Olympic trials with times that could have gotten them medals (in Athens)."

With swimming completed at these Olympic games, it wouldn't be surprising if Busch was already talking four years ahead of himself. Both Busch, entering his 16th season at Arizona, and associate head coach Rick DeMont are certain that any of a number of current UA swimmers could make the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

"I think seeing other athletes do it helps them realize that it's not impossible and that it can be done," said DeMont, also an assistant at the games, for South Africa. "I think it's motivating."

"I can't wait to see them take that next shot," Busch said, noting that the Beijing games are still four years away and that many closer opportunities await the UA squad. "They're going to be major players at the NCAAs."

DeMont said the return of currently enrolled students, like diver Claire Febvay (France), Ferns and Burnett (Great Britain), from Athens should only give the UA squad more confidence heading into its season.

"If you're a young swimmer coming here, and you've got those guys on your team, you'd think that would give you some strength," he added. "You'd think those guys coming back after that experience would be hungry to experience more."

As for the two coaches, who both left Athens early to get back to duties at Arizona instead of sticking around as the rest of the games concluded this week, seeing their athletes succeed displays the exact reason they went into coaching in the first place.

"Sometimes it just seems like the light is shining and everything goes your way," DeMont said.

"When you recruit kids and get familiar with them and you become their coach, so to speak, there's an appreciation on both sides of it," Busch said. "To have an Amanda Beard in your program or a Lyndon or Roland or Ryk or Simon Burnett, for us to watch people do well obviously makes us feel good because we've set a plan and succeeded."