 "Photo: Elizabeth Hernandez")
Editor's note: This is the fifth part in a two-week series featuring Texas coaches.
They were in the weight room when it happened.
Texas diver Nikki Triplett had been practicing handstands when head diving coach Matt Scoggin invited her to participate in a friendly handstand contest. The other divers knew what would happen.
"No one can beat Scoggin," freshman Brian Smith said.
"He can hold a handstand for a good five minutes," sophomore Ali Bunting said.
Thirty seconds passed. Forty-five. A minute. A minute and a half.
Triplett began to wobble; her face turned bright red.
And then it happened.
Scoggin fell over a second later.
"I can really only hold a handstand for a minute and a half if I really have to," Scoggin said in his defense. "And sometimes when you're competing with the divers, you have to. But Nikki won fair and square."
Aside from competing in handstand competitions, Scoggin is also an accomplished diver and coach, now beginning his 11th season at Texas. The former Olympian first considered coaching after spending a summer as a counselor at diving camp.
"I remember coach Mike Brown's wife told me she had gotten lots of good comments about me from the campers," Scoggin said. "I thought I might have decent coaching capabilities, so I started helping out and volunteering with the club team."
Soon after, Scoggin became the head coach of Longhorn Aquatics. The rest, he said, was a matter of luck. After hearing a rumor that the diving coach for the Texas swimming and diving team was leaving, Scoggin applied for and earned the position.
Through Scoggin's coaching, the Longhorns have captured 12 NCAA individual championships and 26 individual Big 12 titles. Scoggin has also produced a two-time Big 12 conference Woman Diver of the Year and coached several divers to the Olympics, most recently Texas exes Troy and Justin Dumais and Vera Ilyina.
Scoggin is so well-respected for his diving and coaching abilities that sometimes just his name can convince young divers to attend the University.
"He's the reason I came to Texas," freshman diver Brian Smith said. "For what I wanted to study, the other schools were academically comparable. Here, I had the best chance at winning NCAAs and going to the 2008 Olympics. Matt is easily the best coach in the country."
Scoggin said the secret behind his coaching is he models himself after his favorite former coaches.
"My first coach was Don Q-something, so everyone called him Q," Scoggin said. "He spent time with me before and after workouts, reminding me of what I could accomplish. That has always stayed with me, so I try to use a similar style."
Smith said he can definitely see that in his coach.
"Some coaches are really loud and aggressive or throw chairs," Smith said. "Not Matt. He is really positive and always tries to find the positive in dives. He always wants you to learn from your mistakes."
During the 1987 National Championships - in one of his favorite moments - Scoggin learned the role attitude can play in the sport.
After completing five of 10 dives, Scoggin was ranked dead last. His hopes for making the 1988 Olympic team were all but dashed with diver Greg Louganis 83.5 points ahead in first.
Scoggin approached his coach and calmly told him he would be retiring at the end of the event.
"He told me to just go and do my best," Scoggin said. "I did, and I got 9s on the dive. I got out of the water and said, 'Great. What now?'"
Scoggin's coach told him to be aggressive on his next dive. Scoggin did and performed another strong dive. His attitude improved, but he was still unsure.
The coach told him to relax. Scoggin completed another dive for 9s and 9.5s.
"My attitude improved more," he said. "I remember thinking, 'Hey, this is working.'"
On his second-to-last dive, Scoggin scored more 9s and 9.5s. By now, Scoggin had a completely different outlook than the one with which he started the competition.
"My attitude was great," he said. "I told myself to just attack my final dive. I did, and I did one of the best dives of my life. I was underwater, and I could hear the roar of the crowd."
Louganis needed 8.5s and 9s to beat Scoggin. He ripped his final dive, but it wasn't good enough. Scoggin won the national championship.
Since then, some of his best and worst moments in coaching have focused on divers' attitudes.
His favorite coaching moment occurred at a dual meet with the Aggies. David Clark, a walk-on from Mission, came to the team without much experience or a wide repertoire of dives. At the meet with Texas A&M, Clark was not favored to win his event. But he nailed his dive with the entire Texas swimming and diving team seated around the diving well.
"Clark was one of the hardest workers I had," Scoggin said. "It was great to see someone who walked on, worked so hard and won that dual meet."
Conversely, Scoggin finds it frustrating when a talented diver consistently comes to practice with a disposition that doesn't allow for progress.
While Scoggin enjoys coaching, he also enjoys taking breaks from the monotony and commotion of the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
"It's not uncommon for me to come in for practice at 6:15 a.m., be in my office until 2 p.m. and then practice again from 2 to 5:30 p.m.," Scoggin said.
The coach often takes to running on the Barton Creek Greenbelt or trails around Town Lake. Scoggin, who enjoys the greenbelt for its solitude and closeness with nature, can't help but set goals for himself, even while he's taking an afternoon jog.
"I'm not as fast as I would like to be," Scoggin admitted. "My goal is to keep up with my 52-year-old woman neighbor. She beat me last year in the Motorola Marathon. The funny thing is she doesn't even know that I try to keep up with her."
Texas women may have an edge over Scoggin when it comes to running and handstands, but as a coach, Scoggin's success is unsurpassed.
By the numbers
1 Times elected 1992 Athlete of the Year for diving by the U.S. Olympic Committee
2 Times honored as NCAA Men's Diving Coach of the Year
3 Number of SWC Championships won by a Scoggin team
4 Times recognized as Big 12 Conference Women's Diving Coach of the Year
5 Number of times to earn conference Coach of the Year honors
11 Seasons at Texas
12 Longhorns who have won individual NCAA championships under Scoggin
26 Individual Big 12 titles by Texas divers since Scoggin's arrival
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