After serving nine years as an assistant coach for the Powell High School girls’ swim team, Bailey Jackson was named the new head coach in June to take over the program from Bob Smartt following his retirement this past season.

“Honestly, it meant a lot of very complicated things. First was the realization that coach Bob wouldn’t be coming back. After nine years as his assistant coach that made me very sad,” Jackson said. “Next, it kind of felt like, of course I’d become head coach. That’s entirely because I’m pretty sure I’m the only person who applied. But it also felt natural to step up from assistant to head.”

She said another complication that has arisen after taking the job is the recalibration of Wyoming’s education funding, which has led to some districts around the state cutting programs.

“Our school district is working very, very hard not to cut programs for our kids, and for this next year they’ve managed to figure it out,” she said. “But unless something changes at the state level we might not have a swim team in the future. So to me, it became a mindset of let’s really appreciate it while we’ve got it.”

While she has taken over the position from Smartt, Jackson said there was plenty that she learned from her predecessor over the years.

“I learned a lot about the science side of swimming from Bob. There’s a lot of complicated ideas, a whole lot of math and hydrodynamics that he introduced me to,” Jackson said. “I learned how to design practices and specific sets with specific goals in mind. His practices were very personalized. Every girl had her own version of practice every day. I won’t be able to maintain that level of personalization, at least not at first, but I hope to get there eventually.”

She said the team will go back to basics this year, a change of approach due to being a small program with some newer swimmers.

“This year we’re going to have a back to basics kind of approach. Coach Bob was really good at being very technical and precise with his workouts, and he had great results,” Jackson said. “But with our numbers so low, so many of our swimmers being fairly new to the sport, and just one coach on the swimming side of the deck, back to basics is the best choice.”

She said that doesn’t mean the program will be going easy this year.

“It just means that a lot of the things we were able to do with coach Bob might fall by the wayside a little bit while we focus on building a good foundation. Then as the girls and I get more experience, we can build back up,” she said.

Building back up is one goal of Jackson’s moving forward with the program, hoping to grow the numbers in both the Panther girls’ program as well as the Piranhas.

“As head coach, I guess I have two big goals. The first is to recruit more swimmers for both the high school teams and the Piranhas,” Jackson said. “Swimming as a sport all across the U.S. is struggling with numbers. This isn’t just a Powell phenomenon. I want to make the pool and swim practice a place where kids want to be, where they can have fun.”

She said her and diving coach Heather Christensen also want to become a more visible part of the community.

“Heather and I have already talked about some community service ideas. We want to give a little back to the community that has helped us so much,” Jackson said.

She said the two are approaching this season as a team.

“On paper I guess I am technically the head coach, but Heather and I are definitely approaching the season as co-head coaches. I definitely couldn’t do it without her, and this year we’re hoping to have a more cohesive team and to overcome the swimmer/diver divide,” Jackson said.