Michael Phelps ‘ former manager is swimming in the deep end in Austin, Texas —or at least, the strong hands.
Bob Bowman appears to have taken the economic result in undergraduate swim training, with a six- time deal as the University of Texas ‘ men’s coach that will begin paying him$ 400, 000 annually. The agreement includes extra opportunities that may increase Bowman’s compensation also past half-a-million dollars.
The new deal, obtained through a public records request, may see his basic compensation improve by$ 10, 000 in each successive month through 2030. Moreover, Texas will cover whatever buyout funds Marshall may owe his former boss, Arizona State, which paid him$ 320, 500 in 2023- 24, plus$ 95, 000 in extra payment.

With the assumption that Texas would need to make a splash in order to pull the legendary coach from ASU, which he had just won a national championship, Bowman’s UT pay was of utmost curiosity within NCAA swimming circles.
Up until now, the highest- paid collegiate swim coach of a public university program was Cal’s Dave Durden, who makes$ 380, 000 per year, according to SwimSwam. Durden, the website reported, received a six- figure salary bump in 2022 after taking over coaching the women’s team from coach Teri McKeever, who was put on administrative leave and later fired in the wake of athlete abuse allegations.
ASU hired Bowman as its men’s coach in 2015 after Phelps won its first NCAA title this March. He helped lead that program to its record-setting 23 Olympic gold medals. He succeeded the Longhorns ‘ longtime pool manager Eddie Reese, who retired after almost a half-century at the university, two days later, on April 1. According to SwimSwam, Reese had been earning a base salary of$ 279, 425 since September 2021.

In addition to leading the men’s basketball team at UT, Bowman will also take the newly created position of director of swimming and diving, similar to the one Durden is currently doing at Cal. Bowman, in addition to his salary, will also be entitled to receive “exceptional performance incentives” if the men’s and women’s programs attain “certain levels of achievements”, the employment contract states. Each would owe the other party liquidated damages equal to the remaining salary on the contract if the school fires Bowman without cause or the coach abruptly terminates the agreement.
Texas ‘ men’s and women’s programs had a cumulative budget of$ 5.4 million in the fiscal year 2023, according to the school’s financial disclosures to the NCAA. Among public FBS universities, UT trailed only Ohio State and Tennessee in the money ($ 2.83 million ) it reported spending that year on men’s swimming and diving.
Bowman may be the highest-paid swimming coach in the country, but he will be making relative salaries in comparison to other coaches in Texas ‘ high-rolling athletic department, which had a budget of$ 232 million in FY23. Steve Sarkisian, the head of UT football, is expected to make at least$ 10.3 million this year, or 25 times what Bowman will, after receiving a pay raise.