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Erica Rose has been named the new head coach of the men’s and women’s swim and dive teams at Maryville University. Maryville launched the women’s teams in 2013, and the men’s teams in 2014.

Rose is already familiar with Maryville’s swim and dive teams, having served as a substitute coach for the Saints last season. “I hope to make this a program people will believe in. We’ve got a lot of good competition in this league, so we have work to do,” she says.

“I hope to make this a program people will believe in. We’ve got a lot of good competition in this league, so we have work to do.”

Her own college experience will help inform her coaching, Rose says. “I had such a great experience as a college athlete,” she says. “It was like having a family away from home. The work I put in to achieve that success and camaraderie was very special—it was one of my best decisions.”

As a student-athlete at Truman State University, she helped the Bulldogs to three top-five finishes in the NCAA Division II National Championships, including runners-up her senior season. As an incoming freshman, Rose had not intended to join the swim team at Truman. But when she accompanied a friend on a recruiting trip—a friend who ultimately decided not to swim—Rose was impressed by the program and joined the team as a walk on, earning scholarships for the sport in her junior and senior years.

Currently an instructor for the Parkway Swim School, and an assistant coach at the Cedarmill Swim Club, Rose has been a master’s swim coach for Rockwood Swim Club, and has coached for the club team at Parkway Swim. She is also the former head swim coach at Visitation Academy. Her first coaching experience came as a student assistant coach at Truman.

“As a coach, I don’t focus on the sport—that’s secondary,” she says. “The lessons you get outside of the sport are what’s most important. You learn best when you fall and you get back up again. In doing so, you have to ask, ‘What went wrong?’ ‘How do I turn this into a success?’”

“A positive coach gets a positive reaction” is a motto Rose learned from her collegiate coach. She intends to honor that creed at Maryville. “You have to help student-athletes achieve a balance. Sports can’t be your world, because there is so much more to you than that one game or season. You are also a sister, student, friend, employee.”