8A - Thursday, October 16, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com BOTTOM From page 5A at the very end,he said, 'Can we get a Go Blue?' And that just reallytickled me because we were at the Olympic trials,whichis averyindividualized competition, and to know he was already thinking about saying, 'Go Blue and Go Michigan,' I knew he was going to be a phenomenal coach to work with." Bottom's success with sprint swimmers in college and at the Olympics has earned him the repu- tation as one of the world's best sprinting coaches. Between the 1996-2004 Olympiads, nine of 18 medals awarded in the men's SO- and 100- meter freestyles were won by swimmers training with Bottom. The key to his coaching philoso- phy is building strong working and personal relationships with his swimmers. Spend a few minutes with Bot- tom, and his passion for helping his swimmers succeed in their lives on dry land becomes quite clear. When asked about his goals for the pro- gram, his first response is getting each athlete to maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher. "When we come in, he is always asking us about our families and our classesandofferinghishelp,"Martone said. "It's a reliefthat we knowhe's set- tingus up to perform to the best of our ability in the pool, and in life." It's proof that the new coach hasn't completely lost touch with his background in psychology. In fact, his experiences working with young athletes have taught him he never really had to choose between coach- ing and counseling. The two are more connected than he imagined. "I know the developmental struggles of these guys," Bottom said. "And that knowledge helps me to be able to look in their eyes and not see them as a swimmer only, but as a person who is developing and becoming a man and that's truly what it's all about." So far, swimmers and coaches say the coaching transition has been smooth. First year assistant coach Josh White is pleased with way the athletes have responded. "This has been the easiest coach- ing transition I've been a part of by far," White said. "The team has no reluctance at all to doing new things and have been both accepting of us as people and also open to different coaching techniques than they've had in'the past." Bottom is just the sixth head swimming coach at Michigan in the last 83 years. During that time, the program has been the best team in its conference, winning 31 Big Ten titles - most recently, last season - and 11 national championships. Jon Urbanchek, Michigan's swimming and diving coach from 1982-2004, who led the Wolverines to 13 Big Ten titles and one national cham- pionship, has been instrumental in helping to make the transition to Bottom. Urbanchek will serve as a volunteer coach for the next year or two. Bottom said it's an honor to work with him, and has named him the program's coach emeritus. Martone said that seeing a famil- iar face on the pool deck has been invaluable in helping the swimmers through the transition. He said hav- ing a "Michigan Man" work along- side the new coaches has created a positive work environment. "He's a legend on this deck and someone we all know," Martone said. "There is no nervous tension on deck. The atmosphere is very subdued and focused, and that has helped us tremendously to move forward." From 1997 to 2007, Bottom was the co-head coach at California. During his 10 seasons in Berkeley, the Golden Bears had nine consecu- tive top 10 finishes at the NCAA championships. After leaving Cali- fornia, Bottom was the head coach of an elite-level training group called The Race Club in the Florida Keys. The Race Club was founded in 2003 by 10-time Olympic medalist Gary Hall Jr., who has trained with Bottom for the last 13 years. Bottom admits that he had no plans to return to collegiate swim- ming, but he started thinking about pursuingthe Michiganjob after hav- ing dinner with former Michigan captain Davis Tarwater at atraining camp in Colorado. Tarwater, who now swims for Club Wolverine, was concerned that the Athletic Depart- -ment hadn't found a new coach. He asked Bottom if he would consider taking the job. Bottom points to the rich tradition of Michigan's swimming and diving program and the strength of its aca- demic programs as the main reasons he chose to join the Wolverines. "There is no other school in the country that has the tradition Mich- igan has," he said. "I wouldn't have come back if it were another school. Michigan was just the right chemis- try for me to be coming back to col- lege." Power-play problems plague 'M' By GJON JUNCAJ Daily Sports Writer i Even though he had a three- point weekend that included Saturday night's unbelievable game-winning goal, scored as he was falling down, Aaron Palushaj's mind was somewhere else after the Michigan hockey team's sweep of St. Lawrence. As he left the ice after the Wol- verines' 5-3 victory Saturday, the sophomore forward compared the power-play unit's opening-week- end performance with that from last year's Ice Breaker Invitational against Boston College and Minne- sota. Michigan's extra-man attack went scoreless in nine chances then, and this year's squad convert- ed just once in 18 man advantages in two games against the Saints. Off-season rust is usually the reason good teams struggle to con- vert scoring opportunities early in the season. Take, for instance, the debuts of last season's other three Frozen Four participants: 1loston College, Notre Dame and North Dakota. In four games this weekend, the teams tallied just three power-play goals on a combined 31 opportuni- ties. "It's not going to click right away," Palushaj said after Satur- day's game. "But towards the end of the second and third periods, I thought we had alot of chances." With nine seconds left in Satur- day's contest, junior forward Brian Lebler finally capitalized on a man-advantage opportunity. Leb- ler charged through the slot and beat freshman goalie Robby Moss glove side after receiving a spot- on centering pass from freshman forward Robbie Czarnik. The one- timer put the exclamation point on a wild third period that featured six goals. Last year, Michigan's first line of Kevin Porter, Chad Kolarik and Max Pacioretty registered 30 of the Wolverines' 47 power-play goals. Now, the trio is gone. That the goal was scored by Lebler, who usually plays on the third or fourth line, illustrates the importance of hav- ing power-play options throughout the depth chart. "Everybody's capable of scor- ing," Michigan coach Red Beren- 6 6 0 SAID ALSALAH/Daily Sophomore Aaron Palushaj and the Michigan special tearners made due on one of 18 power-play opportunities last weekend. son said Friday. "You just need the right chance." . Getting special teams scoring from unlikely sources is a great luxury. But Michigan's primary focus will be on how the Wolver- ines' most potent weapons can carry a power-play attack that con- verted at a 20.5-percent clip last season, good for 12th in the nation. Last year's line of Palushaj and sophomore forwards Carl Hage- lin and Matt Rust is reunited. And that line, especially on the man advantage, could be deadly. "Playing with Carl and Palushaj last year for five, six months, we definitely had some chemistry coming into the (first) game," Rust said Friday. "It's nice. (Hagelin's) got so much speed. He's so easy to play with. He works so hard. So he definitely added a lot to mine and' Palushaj's game." Berenson labeled the extra-man attack "a work in progress." And while the team will highlight a number of elements this week in practice, Rust gave an indication Friday of his biggest concern. "We had a lot of (power-play) chances," Rust said. "Sometimes, the bounces go in. Sometimes, they don't. We got our shots down. Sometimes, we were a little too cute. But overall, I think it's head- ing in the right direction. But we definitely got to capitalize. I think that was one of our weakest parts of our game." Because players are still regain- ing their feel for the puck at the start of the season, the timing was off on crossing passes at times. When asked about that, Berenson implied that a more crisp offense will arrive as the players devel- op their coordination with each other. "In the power play, when we move the puck great, we're abetter team, Berenson said. "It's a little bit of communication, (and) it's a little bit of getting to know each other when you're on a certain line. We're still feeling each other out." 6 WIN PASSES TO SEE MAX PAYNE Sparty has eyes on Bucks, BCS berth By ANDY REID Daily Sports Editor Nineteenth-century English novelist Eliza Tabor, once said "Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it." Michigan football fans better hope that's true, because they've suffered through some pretty intense disap- pointment this year. But for those of you fans who aren't comforted by the possibility of strengthened passion for the team, you might just want to forget all aboutthe Wolver- ines and focus on the crowded and entertaining race for the Big Ten championship As the season powers past the halfway point, each game has greater impact on which teams will be playing in January. Penn State, Ohio State and the "little brother" who has grown up a lot in the last year are all sitting pretty with unblemished Big Ten records. A good game by any of them this week puts that team in pole posi- tion in the conference - but by the end of this weekend, at least one will fall from the ranks of Big Ten unbeatens: NO.12 OHIO STATE AT NO. 20 MICHIGAN STATE This is the biggest game the Spartans have played in a long, long time. For too many seasons, they've shown promise before fall- ing by the wayside. For too many seasons, they've been on the cusp of success. For too many seasons, they've a plethora of "what ifs" and "almosts." With a win against Ohio State this weekend, Michigan State - whose next three opponents are underwhelming Michigan, Wis- consin and Purdue - could secure 'I a shot at its first-ever BCS berth when it plays at Penn State to end the season on Nov. 22. Yeah, this game is kind of a big deal in East Lansing. But the Buck- eyes aren't going to make it easy - I don't know of you've heard of this freshman quarterback they have, Terrelle Pryor, but he's pretty good. Combined withrunning back Bean- ie Wells, Pryor has improved the Ohio State offense each week since he's taken over at quarterback, and don't expect that progression to slow now. This is going to be a helluva game. And I guess Wolverines fans can take some solace in the fact that the state of Michigan is involved in the Big Ten title chase. WISCONSIN AT IOWA What happened to the Badgers? Three weeks ago, they were eager to prove they were legitimate national title contenders. Now, after a third straight and totally uncompetitive Big Ten loss, Wis- consin is reeling. Still looking for their first conference win, the Badgers clash with an Iowa team that is slowly improving. If the Hawkeyes steal this one, it could send Bret Bielema and his team into atailspin. This game has virtually no impact on the conference-title race. But it will be interesting to see whether ornotthe Badgers can start to play up to their preseason potential and whether or not the Hawkeyes' dominating win over Indiana proved they were ready to step out of Big Ten purgatory. PURDUE AT NORTHWESTERN One more win and the Wildcats are officially bowl eligible. Two more, and they'll definitely clinch a spot in a bowl somewhere. With games against the Boilermakers, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois remaining, North- western is almost guaranteed a 13th game. This is exciting stuff for a football program that has consistently been stomped on by the bigboys of the Big Ten. Butthatdoesn'tmakethisgame even remotely exciting. Save your- self a boring three hours and go watch Texas-Missouri, Kansas- Oklahomaor Vanderbilt-Georgia. 6 0 Luom '11rJ LI] I W J ii g1A01k N IIofJ 11u um FOR YOUR CHANCE TO ENTER TO WIN A PASS GOOD FOR TWO, GO TO MICHIGANDAILY.COM AND CLICK ON THE MAX PAYNE CONTEST LINK. No purchase necessary. While supplies last. Employees of promotional partners are not eligible to win. 25 winners will be selected at random and notified by email by October 24th. Contest ends October 21st.