Tyler Wyatt will make his first trip to Alaska later this month to start his job as the new head coach of the Haines Dolphins swim team.
“I’m originally from Colorado, so I know, pretty much, what I’m going to be facing,” Wyatt said. “It’s going to take a period of adjustment, but I’m sure we can get through that.”
He will head to Alaska with his wife and wheaten terrier. The 46-year-old most recently coached the Regency Park Swim Team in Fredericksburg, Va.
“The main reason we hired him is because he has over 25 years of experience coaching swim team,” said Rachelle Galinski, Dolphins board vice president. “We also liked that his approach to our team is not so much all about competition as it is about turning out good community citizens and using swimming as a venue to do that.”
She said the hiring committee considered eight applications for the coaching position. Galinski said Wyatt would work about 30 hours a week during the season that runs from September to April.
Wyatt will step in for former Dolphins head coach Steve Vick, who led the team for seven years.
Wyatt said he had a long interest in coaching in Alaska.
“I remember when I was swimming in my early teens, there was an article about a swim team that was in Alaska, and it’s always been in the back of my mind about how that would be really cool to coach up there,” Wyatt said. “I couldn’t pass up this opportunity when I saw it. This was a door opening, so I grabbed it.”
He went into coaching after a shoulder injury, and his students have ranged from novices to international competitors.
“My thing about swimming is I’m a constant student of the sport,” Wyatt said. “I’m always making adjustments, I’m always learning and I’m pretty confident in all of the strokes. I want to come up with a program that will benefit the entire team, and not just for the short-term, but for the long-term.”
He also has the challenge of keeping up the team’s success as one of USA Swimming’s top teams in money earned per capita from its annual Swim-a-Thon fundraiser.
“I’ve had experience with fundraising, and it’s just one of the things that we’ve got to take a look at the environment and what we have to work with, and thinking about new ways to earn money for the swim team and for the kids,” Wyatt said.
He has been employed in aquatics and recreation departments along with coaching, and worked in the home pool industry. Although he’ll find a lack of outdoor pools in Haines, Wyatt said his focus would remain on “creating and developing character” as a coach here.
“If we get to a point where we have somebody who can excel and wants to excel and has the heart and desire to excel, then I’m there to take them to that next level, if that’s where they want to be and go,” he said.