Episode #150 Bill Pilczuk

Bill Pilczuk is the Head Coach of the Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving teams at The Savannah College of Art and Design. Bill is the reigning NAIA Coach of the Year. The Women's team has won 3 straight NAIA Championships.

As a swimmer, Bill was a dragon slayer. He became World Champion in the Men's 50 Free at the 1998 World Championships in Perth, Australia, taking down the greatest sprinter of all time in Alex Popov.

He used the money he won to pay off his Auburn school debt.

Bill has a fantastic sense of humor which really comes out in this interview.

Enjoy!

00:00 Intro
00:15 Destro Swim Towers
00:45 Swimnerd Live Virtual Scoreboard
01:16 Where are you coming from?
01:30 The Savannah College of Art & Design
2:07 Episode 1(x)50
02:45 How'd you get into swimming?
03:30 Cape May, New Jersey
04:00 Miami-Dade Community College
07:30 Transfer to Auburn
08:05 Won JUCO Nats in 21.1
10:00 Lane 8 Group
12:10 Mike Bottom, Asst. Coach
15:45 What did you do well?
18:35 Never made the SEC team
19:00 FIGHT
20:00 Last Chance Meet 19.7
21:00 Swim Off vs. Jon Olsen
23:30 Popov puffing a cig
24:30 41 Strokes
26:30 Getting 3rd at 96 Trials
29:00 Goal was to travel the world
29:30 Brett becomes Bill's Training Partner
34:00 World Championships 1998
36:00 Alexander Popov
37:30 Yoav Bruck: "Bill you know you can win this."
38:30 Track Start
40:30 Bill's Routine
47:00 Stop Breathing
47:50 Missing the Olympic Team again
49:10 Back injury
51:25 Current Swimmers
52:00 Giving Back to the Swimming Community
53:00 Making Physiology Based Changes
54:00 Documenting Swimming History
55:00 From Beach Lifeguard to America's Best