Irle starts first year as FSU swim coach

October 27, 1992
Originally published by the Daily Collegian

Rebuilding a program or even building upon one is a tough, demanding task for any coach who wants to have a winner.

Meet Daniella Irle--she has the blueprint. As the new Bulldog head swimming coach, she will begin the process on Saturday when the season opens against Pepperdine and USC.

Irle's background has prepared her well. She was an assistant at Texas and Louisiana State University at the collegiate level. With Texas, always a strong swimming program, she helped the women's team to a second place finish at the NCAA tournament last year. Irle also coached American record holders, NCAA All-Americans, and 1992 Olympians while at Texas.

"It was very challenging being in that environment," Irle says. "That level will make any coach strive to improve. Any time an athlete achieves his best in any race," I'm excited.

"That was the highlight of my career, but I eventually expect FSU to be at that level."

She added: "Our goal is to move this team in the top 20 and qualify people for the NCAA's. I'm more excited because this is my program. I get to make decisions and live with them."
This is Irle's first year as a Division I head coach. What is her outlook on coaching for the first time at this level?

"As far as I'm concerned," coaching is coaching, whether it's Division I or high school.

"There are quite a few more administrative responsibilities, obviously. Head coaching is much more different than being an assistant. There are small changes to be made, but the adjustments should be real smooth. Nothing is new to me, and I don't see having any problems in the head coaching position," Irle said. "Athletes are athletes, coaching is coaching, and paperwork is paperwork--no matter what level."

At LSU, the team was weak when she arrived. "We had nothing," Irle said. "In two years, however, the team climbed to 20th and 14th in the rankings."

Irle is quick to point out that she wasn't the only reason for the sudden success. "I credit the entire staff for that," she said. "What we did at LSU we are going to try to do here. We built on our strength and eliminated the weaknesses. But I don't see this as a rebuilding job. This is a program that is continuing to build and has been steadily moving forward for the last three years.

"I see my role as protecting that process and producing outstanding athletes," Irle said.
At Texas and LSU, she also had possibly the most important job in any program--the recruiter.

"When I was at LSU, that was the way we had to build, because we had to get more talent," Irle said. "Your potential to improve is only as good as your recruits. So we put a big focus on improvement in recruiting better players. At Texas, we recruited the best in order to stay the best. The majority of your success will come from getting top players to add."

With the season starting, what are the expectations and plans?

"Early in the season, I don't expect anything flashy, just good, solid performances. We'll still be putting it together, so we've got to be smart, think, and do the little things right. The speed will be there at the end," Irle said.

And she has her own plan for bringing success to the Bulldogs.

"We are continuing to build this program, and the process started three years ago. The previous coach (Terri McKeever) did a great job and I don't want to take anything away from her. We will make recruiting a huge focus and continue to recruit better athletes to this program. I demand self-discipline and that you give 100 percent all the time, not just some of the time. That's something I demand of myself, so I expect my team to do the same. The harder and better I work, the harder and better they will work. That, ultimately, leads to success."