North Carolina State University Athletics
CARR: Teal's Passion for NC State Runs Deep
10/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming
Oct. 25, 2010
RALEIGH, N.C. - Most people's swimming careers begin with a splash. Brooks Teal's started with a smash.
As a tree-climbing six-year old in Tarboro, he hung from a limb that snapped and sent him free-falling into a sharp-pointed branch. That crash landing resulted in gashes that required 230 stitches, most of them to sew up internal wounds.
Needing therapy to regain arm strength, Teal's doctor recommended swimming, which was a major sport in Tarboro. So young Brooks started logging time in the pool and soon saw his passion for baseball fade into an affinity for aquatics.
"I was fortunate to get the full use of my arm back," said Teal, who became a walk-on swimmer at NC State in the early 1970s and currently is in his 11th season as Wolfpack men's and women's coach.
With a degree in engineering, Teal could have chosen to stay high and dry wearing a coat and tie and working in a plush office. But being raised in a swimming community and subsequently participating in Don Easterling's nationally prominent NCSU program, he was instinctively drawn to the water.
"I had no idea what else I wanted to do,'' said Teal, a `75 NCSU graduate. "So I decided to give (coaching) a shot."
That was more than three decades ago and he's still deeply immersed in the sport.
MAKING WAVES
Before returning to NC State in 2000, Teal enjoyed successful coaching stints at Tarboro, the YMCA in Raleigh, and as an assistant at nationally acclaimed Indian River (Fla.) Community College.
That led to his first collegiate head job at James Madison, which he guided to six conference titles in seven years and earned a spot in the Dukes' Sports Hall of Fame.
Teal's NC State squads have yet to win an ACC team championship. But his Wolfpack men and women have created more than a ripple of excitement, setting 51 school records and winning 13 individual and relay titles in conference competition.
He also has tutored six All-Americas, two national champions and two Olympians, Dan Valez and Cullen Jones, a gold-medal winner in the 2008 games.
Teal served as Jones' personal coach just one year and helped put him on a record-breaking pace and path toward Olympic gold and glory.
He tweaked his prize pupil's stroke technique and devised a training plan that included the 100-meter-freestyle in addition to the 50. That year Jones won an NCAA title in the 50, later set an American record, qualified for the Olympics in the 100, and wound up winning a gold medal in the 4X100 relay.
Several years earlier, when coaching the YMCA team, Teal trained David Fox, who went on to star at NC State and capture a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics.
"He helped me tremendously,'' said Fox, now living in Atlanta and working in Goldman Sachs' wealth management division. "He was a master technician and got me focused on the details of every aspect of the race.
"He trained you in a way so you could swim well when you were young and peak well when you were older. He also worked with me a couple of summers when I was at State."
Seeing athletes reach swimming's gold standard is gratifying for any coach. But Teal's goals transcend medals and record-breaking times.
"I've worked with great ladies and men who have accomplished a lot in the classroom, the community and the pool,'' he said. "I want them to enjoy school, get a degree, and have a fulfilling swimming experience."
EVEN KEELED
Teal, physically fit from a regular workout regimen, was wearing a Wolfpack red pullover jacket and sitting in his office. Brightening the decor is a framed picture bearing the words: "Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."
The coach's even-keeled style fosters a positive mindset. He is easily approachable and doesn't scream, rant and rave. His chief method of motivation comes through one-on-one sessions and formulating sound strategy and training plans.
"He won't yell at you; he is very level headed,'' said former Wolfpack standout Erica Smith, who graduated with four school records. "Do everything he says and it (pays) off."
Smith, now a graduate student at Central Florida, also remembers how Teal would stay after practice to help fine-tune her skills.
"Whatever I needed he was always there for me," she said.
In shaping his philosophy, Teal says he has gleaned ideas from lots of coaches. They include his NC State mentor, Easterling, who won 17 ACC titles and demonstrated what the "drive to win, work ethic and emphasis on technique" can bring.
While driven and committed himself, Teal carves space for other interests. He values family, time with his wife and two children, worshipping at Fuquay United Methodist Church, getting in his fitness workouts and watching basketball.
"I'm a big basketball fan," he said. "I was here in '74 (when State's men won the national title) and around the corner at the Y in `83 (national champs again)."
Pack pride? Teal has long had that. As a young boy he used to visit the campus with his father, Jennings, who served as student body president in 1948.
He understands the school, its athletics and academics, and treasures the swimming tradition that includes 22 men's and two women's ACC championships.
ON A MISSION
Although his NC State swimmers have achieved lofty individual goals, missing out on the team titles is a thorn in Teal's competitive side.
"None of us are satisfied with where the program is,'' he said. "We are all committed to getting it back to where Coach (Willis) Casey and Coach Easterling had it.
"We want to get in the top half (of the ACC), then start contending for championships. There's no reason we shouldn't have that as our goal at State."
Last year the Pack men sank to 9th place, which Teal described as an "embarrassing collapse" that has fueled greater motivation. It triggered an examination of every facet of the program to "make sure that never happens again."
Having since signed what he calls a "great recruiting class," Teal envisions the men rapidly resurfacing and steadily climbing up the ACC ladder.
He expects the women, also boosted by solid recruits, to continue their ascension after re-writing most school records the last two seasons.
In other words, making more big splashes is Teal's deal these days.
