Reflecting the past

 

 

When students look into the pool at swimming and diving meets this year, there will be a new reflection to replace the one of former UK diving coach Mike Lyden.

Ted Hautau will face the daunting task this year of replacing a legendary coach. Hautau was hired as the new diving coach, replacing Lyden, who died in April after a long battle with cancer. Lyden spent 16 years coaching for UK, where he earned Southeastern Conference Women’s Diving Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2006.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t look over to that side of the pool and expect Mike to be there,” swimming coach Gary Conelly said. “But the transition of adding Ted was not difficult; the transition is not having Mike.”

As he heads into this season, Hautau is well aware of the standards he has to live up to.

“I’m following probably one of the best coaches in the country,” Hautau said. “He was so successful on the collegiate side; he just had a national champion. He was the toughest coach out there, just demanded so much and I have a lot of respect and regard for Mike. I want to come in here and turn it up and just keep the tradition he had here going.”

Before coming to UK, Hautau spent two and a half seasons at North Carolina, 13 seasons at Davidson, and last season at North Carolina State.

However, Hautau has previous ties to the UK swimming and diving team and staff. Hautau is married to former UK diver Jessica Thompson. Thompson claimed the three-meter SEC Championship in 2005 and was a three-time All-American honorable mention. The couple is expecting their first child in January.

“She was excited about the opportunity to come back to Lexington,” Hautau said. “She loved her time here and her experience here as an athlete. We also thought it would be a great place to raise a family.”

Hautau said most people expect the transition to a new coaching staff to be the hardest part of the move to Lexington, however Hautau has fit in perfectly with the staff.

“I was a little familiar with the staff having talked to them at NCAA (Championships) last year but this staff has a lot of character,” Hautau said. “We literally moved in and the coaches were at my house unloading our moving truck with us the first day we got here.”

The coaching staff feels the connection too. Hautau is ready for the teams to work together to accomplish big things this season.

“He’s excited about the opportunities at this level of competition, and is more or less on the same wave length as the coaching staff, wanting to work together, rather than separating the diving team from the swimming team,” Conelly said.

The diving team only consists of three members, senior Justin Smith, sophomore Jessie Snowden and freshmen Tom Gimm, but Hautau has high hopes for this season.

“We’ve got small numbers which means we can do real quality work with the athletes we have, maintain and continue that culture that Mike had built up here …” he said. “We want to go harder than anyone else in the conference, and I want that culture established when we bring recruits in as freshmen.”