James Edward "Doc" Counsilman (December 28, 1920 – January 4, 2004)[5] was an Olympic and hall-of-fame swimming coach from the United States. He was the head swimming coach at Indiana University (IU) from 1957 to 1990.[6] He served as head coach for the USA's Olympic swim teams for 1964 and 1976; and was inducted as an Honors Coach into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1976.[7]
Counsilman was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but grew up and learned to swim in St. Louis, Missouri.[8] He swam collegiately for Ohio State University under Hall of Fame Coach Mike Peppe, and while in college set world-records in the 50 and 300 yard breaststrokes. Peppe was an exceptional coach and mentor for Counsilman. During his tenure, Peppe's Ohio State teams won 11 NCAA Championships and between 1943-63 finished first or second in national competition in all but two years.[8] During World War II, Counsilman served in the United States Army Air Forces in Italy as a B-24 Liberator pilot with the 455th Bomb Group of the Fifteenth Air Force.
Post Ohio State, Counsilman went on to earn a master's degree at the University of Illinois (1947), where he also served as an assistant coach, before pursuing a doctorate degree in physiology from the University of Iowa where he was also the assistant coach under David Armbruster(1948-1951).[9] It was at Iowa that Counsilman coached his first two Olympians-Wally Ris and Bowen Stassforth. Following award of his doctorate, the now-dubbed "Doc" began teaching and coaching at Cortland State University, where he stayed from 1952 to 1957, before beginning his career at Indiana University.[9]
While at Cortland State, he coached freshman George Breen in 1953. Breen was molded by Counsilman into a standout athlete, and broke the world record for the 1500 meter freestyle.[10] Breen, qualifying for the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, set another world record in the 1500 meter freestyle with a time of 17:52.9 during the preliminaries, but was unable to match the time in the finals and received only a bronze medal.
Once at Indiana University, he continued to train Breen for the 1500, an event for which he would receive a second bronze medal in the 1960 Olympics in Rome. Ultimately, Counsilman was credited with molding Breen into one of the finest Olympic distance swimmers in United States history.[11]
At IU, Counsilman coached the men's team to 6 consecutive NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships (1968–1973), and 20 consecutive (1961–1980) and 23 total Big Ten Conference titles.[6] While at IU, Doc coached over 60 Olympic swimmers, including Mark Spitz.
He served as the Men's Head Coach of the USA's swimming team at the 1964 Olympics (where the USA men won 9-of-11 events) and at 1976 Olympics (USA men won 12-of-13 events).[9]
Doc Counsilman is known as one of the greatest swimming coaches of all time. He was an innovator in the sport,[14][15] pioneering underwater filming, and watching swimmers underwater, as can be seen in Royer Pool at Indiana University today. He was the primary instigator of hypoventilation training, a training method which consists of swimming with reduced breathing frequency.[16]
Counsilman died in Bloomington, Indiana, in 2004, after developing Parkinson's disease.[5]
