Secret's Out: The Florida Gators Swimming Program Lands Katie Ledecky

Former Florida Gators linebacker James Bates had growing suspicions when he ran into Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky on one of his flights back to Gainesville.

“Don’t ever tell my husband a secret,” former Florida Gators swimmer and wife to James Bates, Tina Bates laughed. “It’s like a running joke in our family. He can’t keep a secret.”

So when James Bates texted his wife asking if there was a reason Ledecky might be on his flight, she had trouble tiptoeing around the answer.

Together, the couple has two daughters in the Florida Gators swim program. And as if that’s not enough to be plugged into the program, Tina Bates’ past as a Florida Gators swimmer and award-winning high school coach in the Gainesville area meant that she had heard the whispers of Ledecky coming to Gainesville to train and join the staff as a volunteer coach.

“I was trying to text and say, ‘Yeah, but don’t say anything, don’t say anything!’,” Tina Bates said of trying to keep her husband from prematurely spilling the beans that shook the swimming world on Wednesday afternoon.

After spending her college swimming career at Stanford, Ledecky, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, announced that she’d be picking up shop, and moving her training base from Stanford to the University of Florida.

Ledecky’s move to Gainesville, which puts her closer to her family in Washington D.C., comes just weeks after she bagged four medals in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Ledecky, who stands as one of the most decorated swimmers in the world, specializes in mid-distance and long-distance freestyle swims. The former Stanford Cardinal swimmer holds the fastest-ever times in the 500-, 1000-, 1500- and 1650-yard freestyle events.

The 24-year-old swimmer has also broken 14 world records.

So why move now? What happened to, “if it’s broke, don’t fix it?”

As Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde (who has a daughter that swims at Stanford) reported, Ledecky hinted at a move last May.

“I think each [Olympic] cycle feels different,” Ledecky said then. “Different circumstances, different approach. I kind of like it that way, though. You don’t want to go eight or nine years with everything the same.”

And as Forde mentioned, had Ledecky stayed in Palo Alto, she would have done just what she said she didn’t want to do -- stayed eight or nine years with everything the same.

“I think everyone knew that there was a possibility that she’d look here,” Tina Bates said. “I think for her, it’s like a no-brainer. I don’t think there’s a better place in the world for her to train up until the next Olympics or even after that.”

There’s a number of reason’s Ledecky’s move to Gainesville makes sense.

Sure, the facilities are great. And the proximity to Ledecky’s family is much closer than what it was when she was on the west coach.

But what it boils down to is Florida’s personnel -- both on the pool deck and in the water.

The Florida Gators swimming programs went from a separate women’s program and a separate men’s program to a combined program late in the spring with Florida’s former women’s coach Jeff Poppell left to lead the South Carolina programs.

And according to Tina Bates, the decision to combine the two programs under Anthony Nesty couldn’t have been a better choice. Not only was it good for the university’s programs as a whole, but Bates believes it likely played a major role in Ledecky’s decision to come to Gainesville.

“I think people are saying that maybe he might be the front-runner, and you never know of course, but for the next head Olympic coach come 2024,” Tina Bates said of Nesty.

Courtesy of UAA

And if what people are saying comes to fruition, no one can say they’d be shocked.

As many recall, the Florida Gators had quite the showing in the 2020 Olympic games.

Four swimmers tied to the University of Florida, whether as current student-athletes or former student-athletes, brought home Olympic medals from their performances in Tokyo.

As former Florida Gator Caeleb Dressel left Tokyo with five medals in tow, the three others in Bobby Finke, Kieran Smith and Natalie Hinds added to Florida’s total with Finke’s two gold medal being the biggest surprise and perhaps the biggest testament to the impact Anthony Nesty can have as a coach.

“It’s funny because if you watch those races, you can see Ledecky up in the stands going crazy over that race,” Tine Bates said. “It’s cool. You can say that she was inspired.

“I think it comes at a neat time in her career. She graduated after a special career at Stanford and obviously did well. And it’s kind of a neat change of pace for her and Florida, just the success that Florida has had top to bottom in freestyle, the event that she really specializes in, is really tremendous.”

The Florida Gators currently have three men’s swimmers that are on the national team roster that are freestylers in Bobby Finke, Brennan Gravely and Kieran Smith.

“That doesn’t even come close to the depth that she's going to be swimming with,” Tina Bates said. “I guess what I’m saying is that they’re stacked in talent in the events that she swims. And not just men, but they have some really good up-and-coming women that really show some good promise.”

The Bates’ eldest daughter, Talia Bates, is one of those swimmers on the women’s team that could bridge the gap this coming swim season.

Last year, as a junior, Talia Bates took second place at the NCAA swimming championships in the 200 freestyle.

And as fate would have it, Ledecky is America’s top 200 freestyle swimmer.

“How neat is that?,” Tina Bates said. “I mean what a neat, neat inspirational opportunity for Talia to know that she’s training against the best 200 freestyler in the country right there.”

When the University of Florida announced the addition of Ledecky as a volunteer assistant coach, Bates says there was some backlash on social media as people questioned why the athletic department “couldn’t afford to pay her”.

But those naysayers come from those unfamiliar with the dynamic Ledecky is about about take on.

“I just think it speaks volumes. It speaks volumes about the coaching staff. And if not just the coaches, but everyone around the coaches… the support staff. So that is what, being a volunteer assistant, she will be taking advantage of,” Bates said. “She’s going to be training. Let’s face it. She is there for training. She is there to prepare for the Olympics.

"Will she support the program? Absolutely. Just by being there she’s going to support the program because she's so accomplished… You can imagine. That’s just going to rub off and hopefully the girls will just be sponges. And not just the girls… the girls and boys.”

Secret is out, Batesy.

We know it was a hard one to keep.