The year was 1965. The first combat troops had arrived in Vietnam. The Sound of Music had its premiere. ABC paid an unheard of $32 million to broadcast NCAA football games for the next four years. And Eastern Illinois has just opened a new pool with a new coach fresh from a stint in New Mexico.

Much has changed since then. Troops are in Iraq, The Sound of Music is on cable, and much of today's NCAA swimming championships are underwritten by a $6 Billion check from CBS for the basketball tournament, but Lantz Pool and Coach Padovan remain constants, even as EIU added a women's team, eliminated scholarships, transitioned from NAIA, the AIAW, NCAA Division II, and Division I and even eliminated the men's team for awhile.

This year, however, Padovan is retiring meaning that for the first time in forty-two years someone else will be patrolling the deck at EIU.

Padovan, the dean of EIU coaches and a former NCAA record-holder, went out in style this season, earning Summit League mens' Coach-of-the-Year honors. During his tenure, he has coached EIU to eight conference championships, including three (two men's, one women's) Midwest Championships. His career dual-meet record stands at 423-329-1. That's just two shy of the number of home runs hit by Hank Aaron.

But his legacy goes beyond the numbers. This is a man who successfully fought for and saved his men's programs. EIU Assistant AD Dave Kidwell discussed Padovan, in the Charleston Times-Courier, saying, “With very few resources and in his humble and quiet way, Ray Padovan developed the Panther swimming program into one the most well respected in the country over five decades. He is an incredibly positive impact on two or three thousand students during his 42-year coaching and teaching career. His swimmers epitomize the true meaning of student-athletes and, indeed, that’s his most important legacy to Eastern Illinois University.”

The men's team, along with wrestling was terminated in 1995. Padovan and others fought to save the programs and ultimately succeeded in reinstating both. He also worked to strengthen the team and put it on stronger footing. In contrast, wrestling faced the ax again last spring. This time they didn't get a pardon - and in a lesson to all men's swimming programs - due in part to academic performance.

That history, along with lack of conference swimming sponsorship, the tendency of state universities to eliminate men's swimming shortly after a longtime coach's retirement, and a new athletic director, would ordinarily place a cloud of uncertainty over the team's future. That apparently is not the case at Eastern.

"We would like to continue swimming as the only OVC school to offer it," said one source within the department. Money, while not necessarily abundant, is not a problem. Though the elimination of wrestling did save the department $146,000, then athletic director Rich McDuffie said the decision was not financial and the team replaced all of their touchpads this year.

That replacement is tenatively slated to have the 'interim' tag next to his or her name.  It's a label that has limited the pool of potential cantidates. Padovan said there are a handful of strong cantidates, with "several wonderful" cantidates, should the "interim" tag be removed.  The interim tag is in place because of several changes that occured between Padovan's decision to retire and actual retirement.  A new president, a fired athletic director, interim athletic director and now the hiring of new AD Barbara Burke, have slowed the process.  She cannot technically hire a new employee until she is on board.  She has told the athletic staff that all programs will be evaluated.

Until then, a search committee is working to narrow down a list of finalists. One name being brought up, according to the EIU student newspaper, is former Panther Matt Boss, a Texas club coach. 

Padovan was named the 1981 NCAA Division II National ‘Coach of the Year’ after directing the Panthers to a sixth place national finish in Eastern’s last year at that level. In 14 years of NAIA or NCAA Division II competition, he has coached the men to nine top 10 finishes, with 24 swimmers earning 124 total All-American honors.

In three years of competition at the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Division II national meet, Padovan led the women to 25th, 12th and 15th place between 1981-83. Nine Panther women earned 32 All-American honors.

A member of the Southern Illinois University ‘Hall of Fame’, Padovan set NCAA records in the 50 and 100-freestyles back in 1961 while earning his undergraduate degree in physical education in 1964 and a master’s degree in health in 1965. He finished third in the 50 in 1961 with a 22.20, a time that would place him 7th on his current team.

He coached one year at Eastern New Mexico where the Greyhounds were second at the NAIA National Tournament.

A native of North Miami, Florida, Padovan competed at the Masters Championships in 1986 where he set five national 45-49 age group records.