New WW-P North swim coach is retired pro
By: Justin Feil
Complaints from West Windsor-Plainsboro North swimmers to Tiffany Brennan are not met with a sympathetic ear.
That’s because for the past five years the new Knights’ head coach was a professional marathon swimmer.
"There’s nothing I have asked my swimmers to do that I haven’t done twice as long and faster in the last year," said Brennan, who takes over for the departed Cheryl Reca.
In Brennan’s last big race, her third Atlantic City Around the Island swim that was held in July, she covered the 22½ miles in 7 hours, 32 minutes, 18 seconds. She was the sixth female overall and the top American finisher. She was 10th at the 2001 World Open Water Championships.
"I don’t think they really get it until I tell them," Brennan said of her new team. "They were whining about the practice we did after Thanksgiving. I told them that the one I did last year after Thanksgiving, it was five times longer. They say, ‘She’s not a has-been. She can still swim.’"
Despite her success, Brennan believes she won’t return to marathon swimming though she still rises in time to put in an hour and a half in the pool every morning at 5 a.m.
"I think I’m retired," Brennan said. "I swam my best race ever in July and hated every second of it. You’re by yourself for eight hours."
Now Brennan spends her eight hours teaching math at WW-P North, then coaches in the afternoon. She swam in high school for Bridgewater-Raritan and enjoyed success individually and as a team.
"We were state champs my freshman year," she said. "We lost in the state finals my senior year. I had the high school record that stood until about two years ago in the 500 free. I also swam for a club year-round. I got things out of high school that I couldn’t get out of club. Camaraderie is a big thing on high school team."
Brennan is promoting that aspect in a Knights program that is still in just its fifth year of existence. She’d love to develop WW-PN into the sort of power that B-R is, or even that neighboring WW-P South is, the type of program that sends swimmers on to the college level. Brennan is also familiar with success collegiately. She was Female Rookie of the Year for Rutgers in 1996 and in 1999 graduated with the Rutgers Alumni Swimming Award given to the Scarlet Knight who displays the best leadership. Brennan made her mark as a distance swimmer, but took distance swimming to a new level after graduation.
"One of the assistant coaches had always talked about it," Brennan said. "They said I should I do it; that I would be good at it. I realized it was just for crazy people, and I was one of them. The first time I did it, it took nine and a half hours."
Brennan also gave higher level coaching a shot. She was a graduate assistant at Rutgers and an assistant coach at Villanova before getting away from coaching the last two years.
"I realized I can’t have my whole life be swimming," Brennan said.
She spent the last two years in San Diego with her husband and former coach, Sean, who was training to make the 2004 Olympics U.S. kayak team. Both grew up in New Jersey, and Brennan is thrilled at the chance to return close to her roots and pass along her knowledge to her first high school team though she has coached at all levels.
"I had coached YMCA my first year of teaching," Brennan said. "I coached summer clubs in high school and during college. Except for last year, I coached every year since 16. I didn’t last year because I had too much training on my own."
That part of her swimming background has been scaled down though she still trains. Some of the Knights’ club swimmers see her on her early-morning swims at Princeton University. And while that brought her some instant credibility, her ability to teach also got their attention quickly.
"I started the year working on technique with them," Brennan said. "A lot of kids haven’t had lot of feedback on technique. They could tell I knew what I was talking about. The workouts are harder than what they’ve done. They’re ahead of where they were last year. We’ll see. Hopefully they can keep it up."
They have to. Tiffany Brennan won’t take any complaints, particularly because even in retirement she’s still swimming more every day than she’s asking her WW-P North swimmers to.

