By Jesse White
Minnesota Athletic Communications

There are three new faces on the Minnesota Men’s Swimming and Diving roster this season, all providing major, immediate impacts on the defending Big Ten Champions’ season thus far. This trio will have a major say in how the team’s final chapter will be written this season.

Juniors Josh Griffey, Stephen Miller and Jon Roberts are all in the midst of their first season donning the Maroon and Gold, though they arrived in Minnesota under very different circumstances.

Unfortunately, more and more NCAA Men’s Division I athletic departments across the country have adopted the feeling that there is just no room in their programs for sports such as men’s swimming, wrestling, men’s gymnastics and baseball. Failing budgets and cutbacks in athletic opportunities have been the common reasons for elimination of many men’s athletics programs over the last 20 years.

For two then sophomores Josh Griffey and Stephen Miller, the news that the Rutgers Men’s Swimming and Diving program would be one of the most recent programs to fall to this fate came as quite a shock last season.

“We had a team meeting in the spring of our freshman year where it was announced that the University was going to undergo huge budget cuts,” said Miller. “I remember that Josh actually asked our coach if there was a chance our team was going to get cut, and he responded by saying there was no way that was going to happen. Then it did and it was strange because I had always heard of teams getting cut, but you never think it’s going to happen to you.”

Griffey and Miller were both in agreement that they would have never signed with Rutgers if they would have known the program was going to get cut only two years into their eligibilities.

While Miller admitted the thought of hanging up his suite and goggles crossed his mind, he and Griffey were not about to let their lifestyles as student-athletes wither along with the Rutgers’ men’s program.

With a wide variety of schools to choose from, Miller and Griffey weighed their transfer options carefully. The two formed a tight bond both as teammates and friends during their tenures with the Scarlet Knights, and they both knew they were going to enroll as transfer students in the same program. The only question was where.

The pair eventually elected to pack their bags to Minneapolis and become Gophers, joining the team for workouts last summer. In the end, Griffey and Miller cited Minnesota’s tradition of winning and displaying class as the soul reasons they elected to make Minnesota their new homes.

“The fact that Minnesota won the Big Ten Championships last year was a big draw,” said Miller, who specializes in sprint freestyle. “Being part of a championship team and training with proven winners was something that really appealed to me. Last season at Rutgers, there was no team element, and we found we were pretty much swimming for ourselves. It couldn’t be any more different here in Minnesota because this is one of the tightest teams I have ever been a part of.”

Griffey also cited Minnesota’s impressive national reputation as the paramount factor that led to him becoming a Gopher.

“Minnesota has always had a national reputation as one of the hardest working programs in the country so there was no question that it would be a great fit for Steve and myself,” Griffey added.

Griffey said he has nothing but respect for the Rutgers’ previous coaching staff and admitted to making huge strides as an athlete in his first two years swimming at the collegiate level; however, he described coming to Minnesota as “coming to the next level” because of the amazing training environment Minnesota provides.

“Fast swimming is contagious,” said Griffey, who will likely compete in both individual medleys and the 200 backstroke at the Big Ten Championships. “Often times you will have guys shouting and encouraging guys on opposite ends of the pool. As an athlete, when you surround yourself in that type of training environment good things are going to happen. Here we push each other harder than I thought possible.”

Another point Miller raised was how the competition within the team for Big Ten entry sports acts as another factor that consistently pushes everyone on the team to get to the next level. Miller admits that he has been doing things in practice that a year ago he thought was impossible.

Griffey and Miller were not the only new faces to join the Gophers this season, as Roberts elected to leave the defending National Champion Auburn Tigers after placing as a finalist at the last year’s NCAA Championships in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes.

Auburn’s head coach recently decided to step down after a tenure of 15 years, which was one of the big reasons Roberts cited for his desire to transfer, but Roberts also mentioned how even as an NCAA finalist in multiple events, it was easy to get lost in the shuffle at Auburn.

“At Auburn I was All-American, but I felt like a small fish in a big pond,” said Roberts. “I wanted to be a big contributor to a team and a person that my teammates looked up to. I was also looking for a team with a tighter team atmosphere, and Minnesota presented me with those opportunities.”

The relationship between the Gophers and Roberts has worked very well for both sides. While Roberts gained the program and university that he was looking for, the Gopher swimming program acquired an instant Big Ten and national contender in several events. Roberts was named to the U.S. National Team in October in the 100 breaststroke and competed for the United States at the Japan International Grand Prix. He made a name for himself at the meet, clocking the 10th-fastest time in the world at the time and the second-fastest by an American.

Roberts, along with Griffey and Miller, have provided Minnesota with a tremendous amount of depth to a team that will be defending its Big Ten Title starting on February 28th in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The three had no problems adjusting to their new environments, as each athlete credited their new teammates as being very welcoming and open to their additions. By spending time training in Minnesota over the summer, the three were able to hit the ground running and fit in right away to head coach Dennis Dale’s system.

“We picked up three transfer swimmers that not only add depth to our team, but also represent Minnesota with a ton of class,” said Dale. “In regards to Miller and Griffey, you couldn’t ask for guys with better work ethic. They do everything I ask them to do, and they raise the level of character on the team. Roberts was a finalist in last year’s NCAA Championships, and you can’t ask for a better transfer than that.”

Dale said he was very sorry to see the Rutgers program get cut, along with any other men’s swimming programs that have been phased out, but he was quick to point out how fortunate Minnesota has been not to have cut a men’s program in 30 years and gave a lot of credit to the athletics leadership at the U of M.

With the addition of these three upperclassmen, the Gophers have added leadership and depth to an already potent roster. At the same time, Minnesota has provided a needed change of scenery for one athlete and haven for two swimmers in need of a new home.