TERRE HAUTE —
Brent Noble has made the equivalent of a 50-yard freestyle dash up the college swimming coaches’ ladder, as the former Terre Haute South and Eastern Illinois standout has reached the Division I coaching level in just a few short years.
Noble is in his first year at East Carolina after a successful season as an assistant coach at DePauw, where he primarily worked with the sprint and stroke swimmers. He helped the team obtain a conference title and five swimmers advance to the NCAA Division III Championship meet.
Along with his duties at DePauw, Noble also coached a team of post-collegiate swimmers for the Counsilman Center Swim Team at Indiana University in Bloomington. The swimmers won numerous Indiana State Championships individual titles and achieved multiple Senior National cuts.
Noble grew up swimming in Terre Haute at age 7, loving the sport and developing an interest in learning more about swimming and what people could do to get faster.
“I also grew up admiring all of my coaches,” he said. “I swam at Terre Haute South and then Eastern Illinois, and swimming was really how I identified myself both places.
“High school and college swimming were both great experiences for me, and I have always felt that high school and college sports can do a lot for anyone.”
Noble still holds all-time top 10 spots at EIU in two events, with the school’s sixth-best ever time of 4:10.55 in the 400 individual medley and the ninth-best time of 1:56.96 in the 200 IM.
As much as he loved swimming, coaching wasn’t his first career choice.
He went to EIU to major in political science with the goal of becoming a lawyer, but changed his major after his first year.
“Being around college coaches, I realized that coaching college swimming was a respectable profession,” he said. “I realized that I could continue to help athletes enrich their college experiences while fulfilling my competitive side as a college swim coach.
“I changed my major to exercise science to learn as much as I could about training and the body’s response to it.”
After graduating from EIU in 2009, Noble went to study in Indiana University’s Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming, where he immersed himself “in all things swimming.”
In addition to classes and research centered around swimming, Noble began a series of several coaching positions in and around Bloomington.
Most notably, he was the men’s assistant coach at DePauw under Adam Cohen.
“Coaching at DePauw helped me to grow tremendously in all areas of coaching, and the role I was able to play for the swimmers was everything I hoped it would be,” he said. “While I was in Bloomington, I was also able to coach some elite level post-collegiate sprinters that taught me a lot about that level of swimming. It was during these years that I really discovered the joy of helping swimmers become faster.”
Unlike football, a sport offered by nearly every college with staffs numbering in double digits, obtaining college swimming coaching positions is tougher. Swimming is a sport that has frequently been felled by the budgetary axes.
Noble realizes he is fortunate to have climbed the ladder so quickly.
“At DePauw, I really liked everything about Division III athletics, and now that I’m at ECU I've realized that coaching at the Division I level is everything I thought it would be,” he said. “DePauw is a top-tier D-III program, so the swimmers are very talented and focused, but the biggest difference between the two levels is the amount of talent in the athletes I am working with.”
He took the position of assistant coach at East Carolina last summer after 11 different coaching positions in the last four years, most of them overlapping, and serves as the sprint coach for the Pirates.
“I run our men's and women's sprint program as well as our dry-land training programs,” Noble said. “As a swimmer myself, I was always a mid-distance and distance swimmer, but through my experiences as a coach I have grown to love sprinting more than any other races.”
East Carolina was on a training trip to Jupiter, Fla., this week and is continuing to prepare for the Conference USA meet in February.
“I am very excited about the progress of my group, and one of my swimmers has already broken our school records in the 50 and 100 yard freestyle races,” he said. “Given that we can offer scholarships at ECU, I am very lucky to work with some incredibly talented swimmers.
I am very happy coaching swimming, and I am blessed to have found a career path that is so much fun.”
• Shaffer to all-star game — Terre Haute North grad Jake Shaffer thought his college football career was over when the Wabash Little Giants lost 20-8 to eventual runner-up Mount Union in the NCAA Division III football playoff quarterfinals, but it’s not.
Shaffer will be heading to Virginia next week to participate in the Hansen Bowl, a Division III national all-star game named after longtime football magazine publisher Don Hansen.
Shaffer and several other players from across the country will arrive in Virginia on Friday night and have a full weekend of activities culminating with the game on Jan. 16.
Shaffer was a starting lineman for the Little Giants this year, earning second-team all-North Coast Athletic Conference honors with four other Wabash linemen.
“I was invited for making the all-conference team, and they sent me an invitation packet which my coaches passed down to me,” Shaffer said. “When the season ended, I really didn’t think I would be playing again.
“I took a week off after our season ended, but once I got the packet I started working out again,” he continued. “I was in pretty good shape once the season ended, so I think I’ll be all right.”
Shaffer was a member of a Wabash offensive unit that led the NCAC and ranked among the top-40 teams in the nation in scoring, averaging 34.36 points per game. The front line for the Little Giants helped produce a total of 3,982 yards of total offense, including 1,961 rushing yards for an average of 178.3 yards a game.
Shaffer and the Little Giants went 8-2 in his junior year, not making the playoffs, and he said that experience helped spur the team to its 12-1 record this year.
“I had a great experience playing at Wabash, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he said. “My junior year we had a lot of young players come into starting positions, and we had a big chip on our shoulders coming into this year.
“This year we came out and had to play to our potential,” Shaffer added. “We thought we should have beaten Mount Union, but we did a lot of things that kept us from winning.”
The Hansen Bowl game is played under NFL conditions, and several past performers from small colleges (such as Pierre Garcon of the Indianapolis Colts, who played at Mount Union) are discovered in such activities.
Shaffer has considered a pro career and plans to look into the possibility of going overseas.
“I really want to look into the Euro League,” he said. “If I could do that for a few years, that would be great. One of my coaches has a former player over there now, and he really likes it.”
Whenever Shaffer’s career ends, he plans to use his degree in rhetoric that he will complete this spring and go into the world of sports business or sports marketing.
• Bits and pieces — Illinois center Meyers Leonard of Robinson was named Big Ten Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 19th after a pair of big games against Cornell and Missouri.
Leonard averaged 16.5 points, 14.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.5 blocks and 1.0 steals while shooting 62.5 percent from the floor in the two games to pick-up his second weekly conference honor this season.
Leonard had 19 points, a career-high 16 rebounds and three blocks while hitting 9-of-11 from the field in Illinois' 64-60 win over Cornell on Dec. 19. He followed that up with another double-double with 14 points, 13 rebounds, a career-high five assists, two blocks and two steals in Illinois' narrow 78-74 defeat to No. 9 Missouri in St. Louis on Dec. 22.
• Former Rose-Hulman football coach Ted Karras Jr. was named as the 2011 NAIA coach of the year by American Football Monthly.
This fall, Karras led Marian to its first undefeated regular season before losing in the NAIA semifinals and finishing 12-1.
The Knights also won their first Mid-States Football Association Mideast League championship. Marian led the NAIA in defense, posting five shutouts this season and allowing only 7.4 points per game. The Knights offense averaged over 40 points per game and 427 yards of total offense per game. Not bad for a program that is just five years old.
Karras created the Knights’ first-ever gridiron program in 2007.
Joey Bennett is a former Tribune-Star sports reporter and copy editor who now teaches at Northview High School in Brazil. He can be reached at tribstarcollegereport@yahoo.com.
SWIMMING
Greencastle
Nicholas Stevens, Jr., Ball State — Has the 14th best time among all Mid-American Conference schools in the 200 freestyle in 1:44.65.
Melissa Ball, So., Evansville — Placed fourth in the 50 freestyle in 26.58 against Eastern Illinois.
Terre Haute North
Emily (Morris) Oilar, assistant coach, Rose-Hulman — In third season as swimming and diving coach.
John Huster, Jr., Rose-Hulman — Has team’s top 50 freestyle time of 22.23 in Millikin dual meet, team’s top 100 freestyle time of 48.91 in Illinois Wesleyan dual meet, has team’s top 200 freestyle time of 1:52.82 in DePauw Invitational and has team’s top 100 butterfly time of 52.96 in dual meet against Millikin.
Katie Guell, Jr., Purdue — Finished 11th in time of 17:20.57 in 1,650 freestyle in Ohio State Invitational.
Celeste Kline, Fr., Rose-Hulman — Has team’s best time in 50 backstroke with a 32.02 in Patrick Woehnker Inviational and has team’s top 100 backstroke time of 1:04.48 in DePauw Invitational.
Terre Haute South
Donny Brush, assistant coach, Indiana — In seventh season on the Hoosier staff and third as assistant head coach for the coordination of training and student athlete development.
Brent Noble, assistant coach, East Carolina — In first year as an assistant coach with the Pirates after being an assistant at DePauw last year.
Tyler Gertz, Sr., Purdue — Placed first in 100 backstroke in 52.45 in dual meet against Miami (Ohio) in October.
Addison Bray, Fr., Louisville — Placed second for the No. 11-ranked Cardinals in the 200 breaststroke in 1:58.71 in the Tennessee Invitational.
Cristina Elliott, Fr., Grand Valley (Mich.) State — Has not yet competed this season.
WRESTLING
South Putnam
Chris Hurst, So., Wabash — Has a 3-6 record so far this season.
College
COLLEGE REPORT: South grad coaching swimming at East Carolina
- College
-
-
Indiana State throwers advance to NCAA championships
A pair of Indiana State juniors punched their ticket to Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday as Felisha Johnson finished fifth and Mary Theisen ninth in the women’s shot put at the 2012 NCAA East Preliminary track and field championships on the University of North Florida campus.
“Both were very focused and had great starts,” ISU women’s track coach Angela Martin said. “They did just what we wanted them to … be relaxed, have fun, and do what they have already done this season.” -
Blanked by Blach: ISU drops MVC tournament opener
Things went wrong for Indiana State’s baseball team in its Missouri Valley Conference Tournament opener against Creighton, but one statistic glowed white-hot.
-
MVP of the MVC: Lucas first Sycamore to earn Player of Year honors
Indiana State’s baseball team got the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season hardware last week and it’s hoping to grab more gold this week in its quest to win the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament.
-
Sycamores try to catch Missouri Valley Conference tourney vibe
A Missouri Valley Conference championship season has bloomed for the Indiana State baseball team in 2012. The Sycamores have been dominant through most of the season.
-
FROM THE PRESS BOX: Subtle switch has fostered MVC baseball parity
When Indiana State was crowned as the regular season baseball champion of the Missouri Valley Conference last Thursday, it marked the fifth different regular season champion the league has had since 2005.
-
ISU claims Missouri Valley Conference baseball title
Entering Thursday’s game against Indiana State, Missouri State starting pitcher Nick Petree had gone 72 1/3 innings without surrendering an earned run, an unofficial NCAA record.
-
ISU baseball in familiar territory with MVC title on line
First place is there is for the taking for Indiana State's baseball team this weekend … so is redemption.
-
A time for firsts: SMWC seniors have national title aspirations
Even though St. Mary-of-the-Woods College has won eight national titles in softball in the last 16 years, seniors Sara Goelz and Jessica Jonas are among the many current Woods players who have not been part of a national championship team.
-
Win over SIU puts Sycamores in first place
As Indiana State’s baseball team tried to climb to the top of the Missouri Valley Conference mountain on Saturday against Southern Illinois, it stood to reason that the air would get more rarefied as they neared the summit.
-
Major Clay takes fourth straight MVC high jump title
For the fourth straight year, Indiana State’s Major Clay will climb to the top spot on the awards podium as the Sycamore captured his fourth high jump championship at the 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference outdoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday.
The competition was conducted at Cessna Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University. -
Edgewood takes Western Indiana Conference golf crown
Edgewood and senior Jackson Cowden took top honors in the Western Indiana Conference boys golf championship played Saturday at Idle Creek.
-
North grad wins 10,000 at Big Ten Championships
Terre Haute North alumnus Zach Mayhew ran a Dan McClimon track record at the University of Wisconsin to win the 10,000 meters at the Big Ten Championships.
-
Top-seeded Rose-Hulman falls in opener of HCAC Tournament
A couple of Rose-Hulman streaks came to an end Thursday night in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament action, but the home-team jinx looks to be still alive.
-
ISU's Ort getting hot at right time for Sycamores
Indiana State’s baseball game notes list game-by-game performance for each Sycamore batter. It lists them box score-style: at-bats, runs, hits and RBI.
-
Terre Haute native getting national attention as freshman for Kentucky
On a day where Terre Haute native A.J. Reed returned home to continue his college career, he got plenty of time to be on-stage.
-
Top seed, home field doesn’t guarantee Rose success
On the surface, serving as host for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament would appear to benefit Rose-Hulman’s No. 1-seeded team, which finished the regular season 27-12 overall and 18-6 in the conference.
-
Metro roundup: ISU’s Lucas honored by Missouri Valley again
For the fifth time in the last nine weeks, Indiana State junior catcher Jeremy Lucas has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
-
Sycamores top Shockers in 10 innings in MVC series opener
If free baseball is what you want, Indiana State has what you need. For the sixth time in the span of a month, ISU’s series opener went extra innings.
- METRO ROUNDUP: Rose baseball team takes first game of doubleheader
-
ISU starting pitchers in rhythm heading into Wichita State series
“Gettting into rhythm” is such an oft-used cliché in sports that it’s hard to hear the term and fight the urge to not let it enter one ear and escape another.
-
ISU goes to well too many times
Perhaps the most unnecessary pursuit for a Wabash Valley sports fan during the now-completed weekend was watching the first few innings of nonconference college baseball between Indiana State and visiting Nebraska-Omaha.
-
ISU baseball living on the edge
Indiana State’s baseball team got its game against Nebraska-Omaha in Saturday between morning and evening rain showers. But in the wake of another walk-off 3-2 victory against the struggling Mavericks, one might be forgiven if they felt the Sycamores are walking between the raindrops a bit.
-
PREP ROUNDUP: North Central baseball improves to 10-2
North Central lost a 7-1 game to Vincennes Rivet, and then Nolan Kinnett pitched the Thunderbirds to victory, adding a double and three RBIs against Riverton Parke in a pair of high school baseball games on Saturday.
-
METRO ROUNDUP: Jenkins, Goatee win inaugural Rush the Punter 5K
Steve Jenkins and TaPring Goatee were the 5K winners in the inaugural Rush the Punter event on Saturday at Fairbanks Park.
-
Providing perspective: ISU’s vets have 2009 as window into 2012
Indiana State’s baseball team has reached dizzying heights, but if the Sycamores have any trouble keeping their feet on the ground, they can turn to three teammates who can remind them how dangerous it can be to get complacent.
-
Missouri State wins MVC golf championship as expected
Missouri State was a unanimous pick to win the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Golf Championship, the pollsters citing their experience with four upperclassmen.
-
Uphill Battle: ISU 23 strokes back of MVC leader No. Iowa
Indiana State maintained sixth place after two rounds of the Missouri Valley Conference Golf Championships, but the Sycamores face a tough challenge to move into the top half of the league after today’s final round at the Country Club of Terre Haute.
-
Enter Cummings, exit McWhorter
All it took was a stat sheet to show Indiana State men’s basketball coach Greg Lansing the glaring need the Sycamores had as they built their 2013 team.
-
TH golf community steps up for ISU
The Terre Haute golf community and the Indiana State women’s golf program can be a thriving partnership, and this week’s Missouri Valley Golf Championships have put that potential on display.
-
ISU blue after football scrimmage
One of Indiana State football coach Trent Miles’ stated goals for Saturday’s Blue-White spring football scrimmage was to get through the game unaffected by injuries.
As the 12-minute running clock ticked down — one of the concessions made by the football staff to speed the scrimmage up and get players off the field unscathed — it appeared ISU would make it through its spring game more-or-less unscathed.
But on the last play of the scrimmage, disaster struck. - More College Headlines
-
Indiana State throwers advance to NCAA championships
Raw Video: Toddler Trapped in Washing Machine
Police: Man Arrested in Etan Patz Disappearance
Hurricane Forecast: 15 Named Storms Expected
NJ Official: NYPD Muslim Surveillance Legal
Vegas Grocer Deported to Face War Crimes Charges
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
Raw Video: Soldiers Plant Flags at Arlington
Man Tells Police He Killed Missing Boy in 1979
Texan Ranchers Remain Wary of Drought
Sudden Storm Topples Wisconsin Trees
Chicago U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald Resigns
Search Intensifies for Missing Louisiana Woman
Bloomberg: Man Implicates Self in Etan Patz Case
NYC Protests: the Revolution Will Be Scripted
Neighbors of Etan Patz's Suspect: It's Shocking
FAMU Bandmates: Victim Volunteered to Be Hazed
Raw Video: Wildfire Burns 110 Square Miles
Raw Video: Fight Erupts in Ukrainian Parliament
Raw Video: Fire on Nuke-powered Sub in Maine
Stuntman Makes Skydive Without Parachute in UK
Heidi Klum Goes Sheer
Shark Attacks Australian Fishing Boat
Snoop Dog throws 1st pitch at White Sox game
Kayaker Survives Trip Over Washington Waterfall
Alison Brie Likes To Jog Naked
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Alton's Best Burger Ever
Ellie Kemper's Stripper Surprise on 'Ellen'
Maddie the Balancing Dog On Cross-Country Trip
Crawford's Sexy Leather Look
Boys eyes 'removed with spoon'
"Twilight" Stars Caught Kissing
Etan Patz Case: Suspect Arrested
Britney's Hot Pink Mini-Dress
Wrongfully accused rapist exonerated after 5 years in jail
Actress to Play Casey Anthony
Prince William on The Queen: 'Woman in Man's World'
Fight erupts in Ukrainian parliament over language bill.
