Birthday greetings to the first guy I ever recruited to Carthage!It was March 2001 - I was an assistant at Indiana University and had just been hired to become Carthage's new men's coach. I needed some guys and I needed some guys fast.
A couple of days later, Bloomington North coach (and all around great guy) Dave Tanner tells me he's got a couple of guys who haven't decided. Days later I'm in a living room giving Jordan Bissell and Adam Schau my vision of Carthage swimming. Next thing you know, on one of my weekly commutes between Bloomington and Kenosha, we're crammed into my car for a visit. One of our rising seniors - Brad Wipfli - took them on a late night tour of the pool that was being constructed.
Jordan chose Carthage and his work ethic, enthusiasm, and academic curiosity really helped set the tone for what we were trying to do here at Carthage. I remember spending hours in the office debating any host of topics from swimming to philosophy to IU basketball to politics. I don't know if I ever got him to take an Economics course or not, but I'd shudder to think of how I'd fare in those debates now as he finishes up his PhD in Philosophy.
