This is a Journal-Tribune file photo of Fairbanks High School swimmer Margo Geer as she trains at the Union County Family YMCA. Geer, who is the head women’s and men’s swimming coach at the University of Alabama, has been named the school’s coach of the year for all sports.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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Fairbanks High School graduate Margo Geer has been known for a lot of reasons for many years.
Most folks in Union County remember her as an eight-time state high school swimming champion during her days at FHS.
The 2010 Fairbanks graduate captured state title honors in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events each of her four years as a high school athlete.
From Fairbanks, Geer became a member of the University of Arizona’s women’s swimming team.
Competing at Arizona from 2010-14, she won a trio of NCAA sprint championships, including two in the 100 freestyle and one in the 50 freestyle while also leading the Wildcats’ 400 freestyle relay to an American record in 2013.
Geer was a 27-time All-American, three-time NCAA Champion, Pac-12 Woman of the Year and NCAA Woman of the Year finalist while at Arizona.
She also competed in several USA Olympic Swimming Trials.
Geer got into coaching before her competitive swimming days concluded.
She spent a year (2016-17) as an assistant coach at The Ohio State University and then moved on to the University of Indiana. There, she trained with Coley Stickels, who was the new associate head coach for the Hoosiers.
Geer continued to swim competitively for the next few years before following Stickels to Alabama, when he became the Crimson Tide’s new head coach.
Geer followed in Stickels’ footsteps and took over the Alabama program in July of last year.
The 2021-2022 campaign proved to be successful for the Crimson Tide’s women’s and men’s teams.
Alabama placed fourth during the NCAA women’s national meet, which was the highest finish for the squad in school history.
The men’s team placed second in the Southeastern Conference, also the highest in the team’s history.
As a result, Geer has been named Alabama’s coach of the year for all sports.
“It’s the Crimson Choice Awards,” Geer said during an interview with the Journal-Tribune.
The former Panther swimmer said the move from being an assistant coach to the person in charge of the program was a “big adjustment.
“There are more than 60 athletes in our program, so there’s a lot to manage,” said Geer. “However, having the women’s and men’s teams combined for meets and practices helps.”
As with any Division I collegiate head coach, Geer has her share of administrative duties.
A huge chore is recruiting, which she said is “pretty much non-stop.
“We’re out on the road a lot during the off-season,” she said. “Another cycle starts today (June 15) and we’ve been busy preparing for that since the season ended.”
It’s a busy schedule, but Geer credits her coaching staff for a good deal of the team’s success.
“I’ve got four swimming coaches and one diving coach,” she said. “We also have graduate assistants, team managers, strength, conditioning, nutrition and academic coaches and several full-time trainers.
“We have a lot of great resources.”
Each assistant coach has an area of responsibility.
Geer oversees the staff and coordinates each part of the program.
Despite her many responsibilities, she’s still able to do some actual coaching.
“I work with the sprinters, which is my specialty,” she said.
Although Geer’s competitive swimming days are over, she still finds time to get into the pool.
“There’s no more competition swimming for me,” she laughed. “However, it’s just nice to take a dip in the water from time to time.”