Oftentimes, coaches say they coach because they want to help someone grow into the best person they can be; they want to help people to reach their potential, to move beyond their current athletic, academic and personal status to something greater.

That's the case with this Panther coach, no doubt. However, the question is not often asked: who fostered their growth? The coach's growth? Who made the coach extend beyond their average to their something greater?

When asked who their mentors were or what made them enter into the sport that has defined their profession, it's been so long since they first picked up the bat or dove into the pool or attempted to bounce the basketball, that it's hard to pinpoint just one individual or moment that was the caveat to their taking the next steps. For Matt Bos, EIU Men's and Women's Swimming Coach, that push came from many individuals and happenstances, not unlike coaches across the country. 

Bos has a few of those memories: growing up in the south suburbs of Chicago, Bos' neighbor, Jimmy Parejko, was the “cooler older guy” that many young boys aspire to be just like. Except this “cooler older guy” drove a Corvette, was an all-state swimmer, and, lucky for Bos, was happy to take him under his wing. 

“Swimming was a sport my parents knew nothing about so, when Jimmy took me to one of his practices right after I turned seven and I could keep up with the kids that had been swimming for months, I got pretty excited. I won the first race of the first swimming meet I competed in and afterwards Jimmy gave me a high five. His dad took me to watch him compete at the high school state meet – an event where thousands of people are packed into pool bleachers where only hundreds of people have business being. It was an awesome atmosphere. I was hooked.”

That admiration and spark grew into Bos' development into a collegiate-level swimmer. He was recruited by a few programs out of high school, notably by EIU's Ray Padovan whom, at that time, had been at the helm of the program for 30 years. 

“I was a pitcher in high school and wasn't sure if I would play baseball or swim in college. At (Oak Forest High School) I was the best in my (swimming) event and, with that, put a lot of pressure and expectations upon myself to succeed. During my senior season, I didn't live up to what I thought I should have and that left me a bit burnt out.

“I decided to go to Eastern, but not to swim. When word got to Ray about my being on campus, he called me into his office and encouraged me to just give it a shot. I wouldn't be near the fastest on the team in my events so, with that, there wasn't the expectation and pressure that I put on myself in high school. I could just go to practice, work hard, and race in the meets. At that time, it was the change that I needed to bring me back to why I got into the sport in the first place.

“When Drew Shepherdson, then the school record holder in my best event, the 100 breaststroke, graduated after my sophomore year, I was ready for the pressure. It brought on a new challenge: one where I again expected myself to perform.” As a member of the 200 medley relay, Bos helped break an aged school record; one that he held, ironically, until he coached the 2008-09 EIU team to breaking.

And so Matt Bos, the coach, was born.

“During the summer right before my senior year, in 1999, I worked with Hickory Willow, an age-group team that swam out of Stagg High School in a south suburb of Chicago. What started as just a summer job was the reason I'm doing what I am doing today: at our conference championships, the kids on the team had a great meet. I remember standing there, watching how they reacted to their success and realizing that it was a pretty fun, powerful thing to be a part of.

“Part-way through my senior year at Eastern, Ray, again, called me into my office to discuss what my plans were after I finished my undergraduate degree. He needed a graduate assistant and asked me if I'd consider taking the job. It was just like my freshman year… he opened the door and gently offered an opportunity. Honestly, if it wasn't for Ray, I probably wouldn't have swam and I probably wouldn't be coaching.”

Bos' path following his two years supporting his alma mater's program brought him first to Trinity University – “The coach, John Ryan, did things completely different than Ray did and still had successes. That taught me that there's many different ways to train people and that my experiences, even though they had brought wins, may not have been the only way.” – and then to Niles West High School where he happened upon Keith MacDonald. MacDonald had a résumé that many coaches dream of: swimmer at Southern Methodist University, then a coach there and then an assistant at Northwestern for a men's team that catapulted from the bottom of the Big 10 to the Top 10 in the nation. 

Keith had recently assumed the role of head coach of the Niles West swimming and diving team. He hired Bos to assist him and to start up a club team to feed his strong high school program. “Keith definitely is the biggest influence on my coaching style because from him I learned how to manage a team yet manage individuals and their talents within the team at the same time. 

“We had the gamut on our team: high school All-Americans to guys who were just learning how to do a flip turn. 

“He always was willing to try new things, to change it up to not only make the kids go faster, but to see what would happen. It's a lesson that impacts me and my swimmers each and every day: if I need help with a particular athlete's training, I'll call up another coach or research how other programs have been successful. That's the thing: there's a lot of successful programs out there and no two are doing it the same way so there's plenty of good tips and lessons to learn out there; you just have to ask.” 

But, for every coach, there comes a time where you just have to go it alone: to see what you can accomplish on your own two feet. Bos found this opportunity first in New Zealand. He took a position as the head coach of the Wanganui Swim Club, located on the west coast of the north island in a largely-agriculturally focused town of 40,000. 

Swimming in New Zealand “is mostly centered on individual accomplishments.   That differs from swimming in the United States where, even though our meets are composed of many individual events, the team element overrides that. Whether people are at the side of the pool, hollering for their teammates to GO!!! or just through the uniforms and goofy team shirts that are made, swimming in the states is team-oriented. 

“There was a lot of trial and error – thankfully not too much error – but the lesson taking a group of individuals that loved the sport and turning them into a team that supported each other was the best part about coaching in New Zealand.”

And then there's the other Jimmy in Bos' swimming past.

It's ironic, actually, that Bos was able to coach with Keith MacDonald. Had he not, the national high school records in the men's 50 and 100 yard freestyles might not have been set by Jimmy Feigen. Upon Bos' arrival in San Antonio to take over the 200+ member San Antonio Wave team that had recently experienced a fair amount of coach turnover, Jimmy found himself faced with yet another new coach, yet another new swimming program to adapt to. 

“The lesson that Keith taught me – to make the team as strong as it could be yet still be able to coach individuals within the team to their potential – proved invaluable. With the Wave, I was able to coach a great group of high school swimmers with awesome talents that either currently swim for or have swum for Hawaii, USC, Texas, Texas A&M, and others that were a blast to help. Jimmy was exceptional. He set two national records his senior year – records that have withstood the era of the “super-suits” that have led to so much swimming controversy – and participated in the 2008 Olympic Trials. 

“Yet while it was awesome to be a part of that, it was just as exciting to develop the junior high school swimmers that are still loving the sport and are now looking to continue through college.”

A coach Bos had the privilege to learn from is perhaps the most notable coach in the sport: Eddie Reese. Having led the University of Texas men's team to seven national championships, swimmers to countless Olympic gold medals and the United States to international dominance as the coach of the 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta and 2008 Beijing Olympic games, Reese oozes swimming knowledge and has the generosity to share it with those able to ask.

Jimmy was heavily recruited by, and ultimately chose, the University of Texas and Reese. To this day, like Yoda to the young Jedi, Bos bounces his swimming “I wonder…” off of the man so many revere. “Since having the awesome opportunity to return to where I first got my coaching chance, EIU, I have valued Eddie's guidance and insights. Not many people have the opportunity to give back, in a coaching manner, to their alma mater. I think it's obviously very important to be at a place where you feel you can make a big impact and that is what I am working towards at Eastern.”

Thus far, only two seasons into his coaching tenure at Eastern, Bos' men's team has rewritten the record books 13 times and the women's team 18 times. Records have fallen that were set in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s and athletes have achieved lifetime bests that seemed dreams away just a short while ago.

Bos, thanks to the Jimmys of his life, the moments uniting a New Zealand team and the eye-opening lesson learning that what you know isn't all there is to know is put to the benefit of the Eastern Illinois University Panther swimmers each day. He pushes them to their potential, just as many have pushed him.