Bowman’s move anticipates ‘post-Michael’ era

had the sense that if he thought it was a good idea, that was probably a sign it really was a good idea.”

Phelps said he felt no hesitation. “I’m not going to swim for anybody else,” he said last week after teaching a water safety lesson to children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore, part of his foundation’s #imsafe initiative.

Phelps gently coaxed the pack of grade schoolers through laps in the pool at Meadowbrook Aquatic Center, a familiar setting he’ll soon leave. Heseemed upbeat as he talked about searching for a house near a golf course in Arizona and working on a year-round tan in the desert climate. He’s viewing the move as the kind of temporary one many adults make for their jobs.

“I didn’t know what [Bowman] was going to do,” he said. “I know after I’m retired again, he is still very excited about coaching. We can see it here. And he wants a change. He wants to get back into the college atmosphere. He said it to me, and I was like: ‘You know, if that’s what you want, I’ll follow.’ ”

Other top NBAC swimmers, including 2012 Olympic gold medalist Allison Schmitt and 2013 World Championships silver medalist Chase Kalisz, also will move to Arizona, where Bowman will start work in August. Phelps felt out of sorts when he and Bowman went to Michigan in 2005, but he was still a kid in many ways. He’s now about to turn 30, engaged to longtime love Nicole Johnson and working on a sober life after he was arrested for drunken driving last year.

“I think we were both kind of looking to shake things up a little bit,” Bowman said. “He sees it as a fresh start, and I do, too, in many ways.”

Bowman, 51, believes the move will allow him to simplify his life. Others at the university will help with funding and logistics, so he’ll have more time to think about only swimming. He figures he has at least 10 good years left in coaching.

His most immediate and scrutinized task will be fine-tuning Phelps for a fifth Olympics. Bowman says his star pupil continues to train harder than he has since 2008, banging out nine or 10 workouts a week. He never did more than six in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics or during his comeback to competition last year.

But the grind has not produced stellar results in Phelps’ first two meets since he returned from a six-month suspension for his DUI arrest. He particularly struggled at the May 14-17 Arena Pro meet in Charlotte, N.C., where he failed to qualify for evening “A” finals in three of five events.

A frustrated Phelps said his legs felt disconnected from his upper body. “When I see people tearing away from me off the wall, I know something’s not right,” he said to NBC commentators after his last race.

“He didn’t look good,” NBC swimming analyst and former Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines said. “He was pissed, and it was the first time I haven’t heard him find a silver lining. … But there have been times before, five or 10 years ago, when he didn’t look good. Andhealwayscamebackfromit.”

Bowman said he’s unconcerned, noting Phelps’ body is no longer used to the workload undertaken in recent months. He’s swimming more slowly than he did last year in part because he’s actually tired from workouts. But Bowman has faith, based on nearly two decades of observing Phelps, that the work will pay dividends when the biggest meets roll around.

“I think it’s surface frustration,” Bowman said. “We both feel like he’s doing the right things and just not seeing the fruits of it yet.”

Phelps still hates to lose, regardless of the setting or the broader explanation. “I guess it’s a learning experience, and it’s good that it happened there and not at a bigger meet,” he said last week. “The frustration that I’m having now, it’s: ‘I’m not 17 anymore and I can’t just bounce back from the work that I’m doing.’ ”

Phelps will swim again June 18-21 at the Arena Pro meet in Santa Clara, Calif. But he’ll look to make his big splash for the year at the Phillips 66National Championships in early August. Bowman said that meet, in San Antonio, Texas, will be an important step for Phelps as he tries to build confidence entering final preparations for Olympic Trials and the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“Even if you’re Michael Phelps, you can’t endure having your brains beat out forever,” Bowman said.

Asked whether he needs a more satisfying meet in the near future, Phelps responded with a self-deprecating laugh. “It would be a confidence-booster,” he said. “It would show me that what we’re doing is actually working. I mean, do I know the stuff we’re doing is beneficial? Yeah. I’ve gone through it for a long time. Some of the stuff that I’m doing I know will pay off. It’s just a matter of time. But it is frustrating at meets just getting destroyed every time.”