Sports

Dexter's Michael McHugh Named Coach of the Year

The Dreadnaughts' varsity swim coach is proud of his accomplishments this year.

Fresh off the heals of coaching the Dexter High School varsity swim team to its strong third-place finish at the Division 2 state championship March 12, Dexter's Michael McHugh was named Division 2 Coach of the Year by the Michigan High School Athletic Association this week.

"It was a surprise when I heard that a lot of coaches voted for me," McHugh said. "Every coach strives to be the best, so it's nice to be honored by your peers."

McHugh has been head coach of the DHS swim team for the past five years. Prior to that, he was assistant varsity swim coach at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor for three years.

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"I think the team aspect of varsity swimming has always appealed to me because you have to work together to achieve a goal," he said.

McHugh, a graduate of Bowling Green University and Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, said he translated what he learned from his own swim coaches into the winning strategy for Dexter.

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"My coaches always told me to work hard and do the best you can if you want to be the best," he said. "I've learned a little bit from all the coaches I've worked with and morphed it into my own style."

That style is working as the Dreadnaughts posted a strong regular season, leading up to the team's 13th consecutive Southeastern Conference White Division championship in February.

“It’s our goal every year to win the division championship,” McHugh said.

He said he had particularly high expectations for his team this year.

"We were ranked in the top two or three in the entire state all year, so we wanted to go to the state meet and show that we were a capable team," McHugh said.

"We've always been the hunter, and this year, Pioneer and Huron were hunting us. We won both of our meets against them, which is huge. Dexter has never beaten Pioneer before this year," he said.

McHugh said his team did have to overcome some challenges early in the season, but overall, he was impressed.

"We had some problems staying focused, and we didn't perform at the level that I knew we could early on, but that's OK because you want to have that intensity for the district and state level," he said.

With the season over, McHugh said he has already set his sights on next year.

"The support for our swimming program in Dexter is high," he said. "Dexter is a small, tight-knit community in terms of aquatics, and fans come out to our meets because they want to see us succeed."


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