Michael Phelps' former coach Bob Bowman lauds Olympian's sons Boomer and Beckett on successful sports season

The former coach of Michael Phelps, Bob Bowman, shared his reaction to the swimmer’s Instagram post featuring his kids. Bowman, the Director of Swimming and Diving and Head Men’s Coach at the University of Texas, expressed his wishes for their achievements as their soccer season concluded.

The iconic coach guided Phelps to numerous achievements. Along with his legendary Olympic feats, Phelps has 33 World Championship medals, 32 Swimming World Cup medals, and 21 Pan Pacific Championship medals.

Bob Bowman expressed his reaction to Michael Phelps' kids, Boomer Phelps, who is 8 years old, and Beckett Phelps, who is aged 7. While acknowledging their hard work and triumph in their soccer season, Bowman mentioned:

“Nice work boys and coaches!!”

Screenshot of Michael Phelps Instagram post featuring Bob Bowman's comment | Credits: IG/m_phelps00

Bowman was the men’s head coach for Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the assistant coach at the 2004 Athens Olympics, 2008 Beijing Olympics, and 2012 London Olympics.

He is also a veteran collegiate-level coach with more than ten years of experience and guided the Arizona State Sun Devils men's swimming team to its first NCAA Championship title, a feat which was achieved for the first time under Bowman in 2024 as per the Texas Longhorns’ official site.

The former coach of Phelps has now taken over the prominent Texas swimming program, which was built by the legendary coach, Eddie Reese.

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Michael Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman shared his take on learning from failures

Bob Bowman and Michael Phelps at the Arena Grand Prix at Charlotte - Previews - Source: Getty

Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian and greatest athlete under Bob Bowman’s guidance. During his appearance in a SwimSwam segment with the legendary swimmer, Bowman expressed his thoughts on learning and pushing yourself through failures. He additionally shared how he trained the former swimmer through these situations.

“You don't really learn anything from your successes. Almost everything meaningful in your life you learned through your failures or your setbacks. If you don't have a good practice, there's a reason for that, and when you can recognize that then you can make a change to be a better athlete.”

Bowman continued:

"When someone has a problem and they're emotional about it, I'd like that because it, it's important to them and that is the motivation for then finding a way to do it better."

According to the coach, when Phelps displayed emotions, it indicated he was "engaged" in the sport. In 2010, Bowman was inducted into the ASCA Swimming & Diving Hall of Fame.