College Athletic Staff Rating: Matt Donovan at University of Illinois (Chicago)

Women's Swimming & Diving

Matt Donovan

Women's Swimming & Diving Head Coach

University of Maryland (Baltimore County)

NCAA DI • American Athletic Conference | AAC

Passionate About Swimming… Not Great With Swimmers

Date: April 15, 2023

By Other

1.8

Overall

Caring

Motivational

Knowledgeable

Honest

2.0

3.0

1.0

2.0

1.0

Tags

"Very hypocritical and lacks transparency. Says he doesn’t care about garbage yardage then proceeds to give garbage yardage. Complains about his workload, lashes out at swimmers, lacks empathy, and is a poor communicator. Only wants to deal with the “in the pool” matters and doesn’t not want to know personal details of swimmers outside of the pool. "

1

Women's Swimming & Diving

Matt Donovan

Women's Swimming & Diving Head Coach

University of Maryland (Baltimore County)

NCAA DI • American Athletic Conference | AAC

Awkward Coach With No Structure

Date: April 6, 2023

By Other

2.6

Overall

Caring

Motivational

Knowledgeable

Honest

2.0

4.0

2.0

3.0

Tags

Disorganized Poor Communication Cool Direct Fair

"Overall a coach that shouldn't be leading a team at the Division I level. Practices are not consistent with specific training for athletes. Very few swimmers were able to progress under him. Very awkward, and unable to communicate well with his team and hold swimmers and coaches accountable. Great assistant coaching staff but seems like they have no say."

4

Women's Swimming & Diving

Matt Donovan

Women's Swimming & Diving Head Coach

University of Maryland (Baltimore County)

NCAA DI • American Athletic Conference | AAC

Cares About His Swimmers But Training Style Is Simply Outdated And Generic No Individuality. Majority Of Swimmers Have Not Progressed With Him.

Date: April 6, 2023

By Other

2.6

Overall

Caring

Motivational

Knowledgeable

Honest

2.0

3.0

1.0

2.0

5.0

Tags

Disorganized Poor Communication Cool Direct Fair

"A coach that cares about his swimmers but who’s training style lacks individuality. Seems we trained for open water swimming rather than specific races that we’ve specialized in. Believes yards+aerobic ability = success but yards swimming is far past that training style. Sets are mentally draining and the sets made the training environment negative. "

4

Women's Swimming & Diving

Matt Donovan

Women's Swimming & Diving Head Coach

University of Maryland (Baltimore County)

NCAA DI • American Athletic Conference | AAC

Heavy On The Yardage, Passive Coaching Style, Not A Direct Communicator

Date: April 5, 2023

By Other

2.6

Overall

Caring

Motivational

Knowledgeable

Honest

3.0

2.0

3.0

2.0

Tags

Disorganized Poor Communication Cool Direct Fair

"Not good at communication, often not paying attention during practices, “garbage yardage”, not motivating at meets, overall disorganized. You can tell he does care about his athletes and their success but does not show it well. Training is very generic and not very individualized, felt like I didn’t see as much improvement as I should’ve. "

1

Women's Swimming & Diving

Matt Donovan

Women's Swimming & Diving Head Coach

University of Maryland (Baltimore County)

NCAA DI • American Athletic Conference | AAC

Practice Doesn’t Change, Mostly Aerobic And A Lot Of Volume, 0 Anaerobic Work

Date: April 5, 2023

By Other

1.0

Overall

Caring

Motivational

Knowledgeable

Honest

1.0

Tags

Disorganized Poor Communication Cool Direct Fair

"Lying to his athletes, doesn’t care that much, not easily approached, bad communicator"

1

Women's Swimming & Diving

Matt Donovan

Women's Swimming & Diving Head Coach

University of Maryland (Baltimore County)

NCAA DI • American Athletic Conference | AAC

Matt Has Always Been A Very Excited Coach And Loves To Push His Athletes

Date: April 5, 2023

By Other

3.8

Overall

Caring

Motivational

Knowledgeable

Honest

4.0

3.0

5.0

Tags

Disorganized Poor Communication Cool Direct Fair

"Coach Matt is very caring but has a hard time expressing himself and what he wants. Overall though his way of training is great and I couldn’t ask for a better collegiate coach. "

-1

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