Texas A&M director of swimming and diving Blaire Anderson joins TA Radio

After seven seasons at Virginia, Blaire Anderson was named Texas A&M's first director of swimming and diving in May. Overseeing both the women's and men's programs, Anderson joined TexAgs Radio to discuss her staff, upcoming schedule and much more.

Key notes from Blaire Anderson interview

• I was previously at the University of Virginia for seven years. I started my time as a head coach when I was 24 at a small school in Georgia, so I always had that bug. When Texas A&M came open, I went through the interview process and fell in love with the school. I fell in love with the facilities, the people, the town itself, and it just felt like a no-brainer for me.
   
• We won four women’s national championships at Virginia. We won in 2021, 2022, 2023, and this past season in 2024.
   
• A championship program is a process. A lot of it is recruiting and talent development. It’s also getting that culture built up to embrace the idea of winning and taking the extra steps needed to become national champions. The COVID-19 year happened in 2020, and we felt like we had a good shot that year as well.
   
• It takes time. I'm excited because I do feel like Texas A&M can win a national championship in swimming and diving. That was a really big pull for me here, and we have all the things in place to actually do it.
   
• Trev Alberts and I had really great conversations, along with everyone else in the interview process. I became really attached to the core values of Texas A&M, and also to Trev’s perspective and vision for the athletic department. I told him that it is a process and that good things come to those who wait. The people that I brought with me on staff are people who want to put in the work to get us to our end goal. I think he enjoyed the confidence, and we both honed in on the future.
   
• The SEC is very strong. With Texas coming in, it is going to be even more of a challenge. On the women’s side, Texas has been second in the NCAA for the past three years, and on the men’s side, they have been really dominant. Conference championships in the SEC are all based on depth, as opposed to the NCAA, where the quality matters more than the depth. It’s going to take some time, but we are going to be in a position to win.
   
• It was really important to me to put a staff together with people that I trusted and that had similar core values to me. It was also important that they were immediate players. They were like, “Tell me what to do, and I’m off,” so they were very ambitious.
   
• Wes Foltz, Duncan Sherrard, Allyson Sweeney, Jaime Lew, and then we hired Hannah Potter as our Director of Operations. Then, obviously, we kept Jay Lerew and Jeff Bro for diving because they have done a tremendous job with the program. Our first step was to get everyone to College Station and then out on the road to start recruiting.
   
• I have nothing but respect for Steve Bultman and Jay Holmes. I think they are very important to this program, and I think they are very important to this program. They set such a wonderful foundation for us to grow off of. Bringing the men and women together into one program will be a culture change. I told the kids that that is why it's called “growing pains,” and it is something that will make us better.
   
• I’ve been able to be an open book with Steve and Jay, so I really appreciate the mentorship they have provided me, along with all of their help during this time.
   
• I think it will feel like my team when everyone is here. When I first came in, everyone was preparing for the Olympic Trials. So after that, I finally started to be able to coach some, but I haven’t been able to coach everybody yet.
   
• August 19 will be our first team meeting, and then we will hit the water officially on September 3. We’ll take the next five to six weeks to continue to build things. We’ll also have an inter-squad meet at the end of September, and our first invited meet will be the SMU-Invite, which will be the weekend of October 11.
   
• Recruiting has been good. We have three official visit weekends this fall, and they are filling up pretty quickly. A lot of the top 20 and top 50 kids in the country are dying to come to check out Texas A&M.
   
• The transfer portal brings opportunities to bolster your roster. It is also something for the athletes who find that their school isn’t the right fit. With new legislation coming down the pipelines, I think the portal is going to be even bigger in our sport, depending on roster limitations.
   
• I was on vacation last week, and I was tuned into every prelim and final that was being held during the Olympics. I took in as much as I could while also chasing around my two year old on the beach.