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Weathering the Storm: Ex-Tulane swim coach primed for new post as West assistant
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
Plano West assistant swim coach Lena Guarriello is no stranger to the unexpected.
It's something she's dealt with throughout her coaching career, from her days as an assistant and head coach at Tulane to a career crossroads that has brought her on board as the newest member of the Wolves' swim staff.
"My husband and I had been talking about making a transition back to this area," Guarriello said. "I met my husband here, his parents and our kids are here. We were thinking about trying to settle down a bit more and finding a place where we could establish our roots."
"It was either stay in college and stop growing our family," she said, "or go to the high school level, be able to teach and spend more time with our girls."
Hoping to avoid the potential of moving every few years depending on her job and also having applied for a head coaching spot at the University of Arkansas, Guarriello's concerns were eased with a happenstance visit to the TISCA website, during which she stumbled upon a note for an assistant opening at West.
With the school roughly a mile from her husband's parents' house, Guarriello reached out to West head coach Kris Jones, albeit with some hesitance.
"I figured he'd take one look at my resume and think that this really wasn't for me," she said. "That was my biggest fear in applying for this job, is that I would be perceived to be overqualified. I've been an assistant as many years as I've been a head coach, I take direction well and am quick on the learning curve."
Jones was plenty receptive to the inquiry, bolstering his coaching staff with an assistant that has no shortage of experience in area with no shortage of talent.
"Texas high school swimming is so competitive that I don't feel like coming back to the high school level is a step down for me," Guarrielo said. "It's certainly a different level of competition, but it's the highest at the high school level."
During her three years as head coach at Tulane, Guarriello helped the program break school records in eight events. Her squads have combined for 156 lifetime-best performances, boasted one mid-major All-American, three NCAA Provisional qualifiers, plus a Conference USA Newcomer of the Year and Freshman Diver of the Year.
That rise didn't come overnight for the Green Wave or Guarriello.
She was tasked with helping rebuild the program after its operations were suspended in 2006 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Guarriello was in her second year as an assistant at Tulane when the hurricane struck in August 2005.
"We really didn't have any time to think," she said. "Freshman move-in was the morning we evacuated. Katrina kind of snuck up on New Orleans; it wasn't like they had time like they did with Gustav or other hurricanes."
Guarriello's plan was to go to Shreveport to stay with her sister. She had plenty of company along the way, initially taking three girls from the team, which grew to five. As the storm worsened, roughly half the team was en route to join Guarriello for shelter. By the end of the first week of the hurricane, Guarriello was given notice to send the kids home as the university was closed down and eight athletics programs were suspended.
The teams were moved to four universities in Texas and Louisiana for the reminder of the year, while still competing under the Tulane banner. The swimming program was relocated to Texas A&M, where the support shown was immediate.
"Within about 18 hours of arrival in College Station," Guarriello said, "A&M had set up our kids with meal cards, books, registration and some were even in class by the next afternoon."
The drastic change in scenery took a while to get used to.
"You go from a smaller campus with a real artsy, fartsy feel to it to a concrete jungle," Guarriello said. "It took us a while to get used to the rules and traditions there. One time, my iPod broke on a run and I just decided to start counting red shirts. Within three minutes, I counted 53 maroon t-shirts, so I was done with that game."
The soul-searching experience also helped Guarriello grow as a person, learning the leadership and perseverance required to take her career to the next level.
"Being what was hopefully the biggest disaster I'll ever experience, it was probably also the biggest blessing I've ever had in my life," she said. "In times like that, you see the worst and best in people. That's when I decided I needed to be a head coach. I was able to stay on my own two feet and emerge as a leader whereas I had always been an assistant.
"I really learned what I was made of."
In 2006, Guarriello first dipped her toes in the Metroplex varsity swimming scene, taking over as head coach at Keller. Her first meet with the Indians was against West, with Jones in his first year as the Wolves' head coach.
She returned to Tulane in June 2008 to help restart the Green Wave's program, which resumed operations in the 2009-10 season.
Also having served as a graduate assistant at TCU from 2002-04, Guarriello now embarks on a new sect in her coaching career, balancing her duties with the Wolves with teaching physical education at Mitchell Elementary.
Now, she is tasked with coaching a new set of athletes at a different developmental level than those she has grown accustomed to.
"Over the past couple weeks," Guarriello said, "I've noticed that kids in high school are much more excited. A lot of these kids are eager and information sponges."
But the expectations and aspirations remain the same.
"I want to keep building," Guarriello said. "It's something I've prided myself in as a coach and looking at what West has been in the past, this is a great building phase and a great opportunity for Kris and I to work together and build a powerhouse program."
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