On December 9, 2025, the men and women of the Millikin Swim Team received a message from their coach, Ed Pacey. This message was to inform the swimmers that Coach Pacey would be on medical leave, with hopes to return in January, in time to prepare for the CCIW Championship swim meet. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
Right before Millikin went on winter break, Lori Kerans, the Vice President of Athletics, had a Microsoft Teams meeting with the swim team. She explained that she had made arrangements for the swim team, which allowed them to continue and finish their season. However, it would be done with a different coach, Jason Burrow.
This news was met with shock by a few swimmers.
“I was definitely surprised. I was happy that we had some sort of structure to go on with the team,” Dawsen Loafman (MBA) said.
Similar to Loafman, men’s team captain sophomore Gavin Dobson also met the news with some hesitation.
“I met it with positivity. The news that Edward Pacey was on medical leave was pretty shocking, so it left a lot of uncertainty about how the rest of the season would go and things along that line,” Dobson said.
With a mix of uncertainty and a little positivity from the swimmers, Burrow was dealing with his own emotions.
“My initial reaction was concern for the head coach,” Burrow said.“I knew him as a coach as well as someone that I looked up to for a while, and my first thought was that I hoped that he was okay.”
Even with his own concerns, Burrow was able to step in and do what he could to help the team. Not only was Burrow coaching Millikin’s swim team until the end of their season, he was also running the YDSC Gators Swim Club as their head coach. Even though some might think that balancing two teams is difficult, Burrow was able to do it.
“I have been able to balance both because I have a very strong passion for coaching and helping athletes become the best version of themselves,” Burrow said. “And so it’s an easy thing that I’m willing to sacrifice extra time to make sure and prioritize these athletes.”
Before Burrow officially started coaching for the Millikin swim team, he was able to gather an idea for what the team needed.
“I had a good idea of what needed to happen and where we needed to go, as the club team that I coach trains at the same place that Millikin trains,” Burrow said. “I was able to look at their training, their attendance, all sorts of different things, and I was able to kind of formulate a plan of how to execute it so that we could perform to the best of our ability at conference.”
When it comes to the differences of coaching styles between Pacey and Burrow, Burrow was aware that a few athletes might not adapt as easily as others.
“There’s been several athletes who have been able to rally behind my style of coaching very well and adapt very well,” Burrow said. “There have been other athletes who it took them slightly longer to be able to accept and adapt to my coaching style.”
For Dobson, he wasn’t fully able to get something out of Jason’s coaching.
“Personally, I haven’t seen improvement, but I can’t speak for other people,” Dobson said., “I’ve been swimming for a while now. It’s maybe been… maybe five or six years, so, personally, I’m just falling back on what I’ve known. You know, I’ve been on some national ranked teams, so my coaching and everything is on me.”
On the other hand, Loafman has been seeing improvement compared to previous years. However, Loafman was not fully sure if it was because of Jason’s coaching, or if it was because of the trajectory of how he has been performing every year.
Loafman was able to describe the differences of Pacey’s coaching versus Burrow’s coaching.
“They’re both good coaches. They both have national swimmers under their belt. They’ve both coached a wide variety of people. Ed is very comparable to my club coach, as it’s more of a laid back architecture of the swim team,” Loafman said. “He gives you as much as you give to the sport. So, if you’re just there to show up and swim laps, you’re gonna get that from him. But, if you’re actually wanting to really improve and stuff, you get that.”
Meanwhile, Burrow seems to have a different approach to coaching.
“Jason has more of a demanding type of coaching, which he shows up, he runs that practice. He’s shouting times. He’s pushing people, whether they want to be pushed or not, to try to get us those times that we’re gonna want when it comes to conference times,” Loafman said.
In review of the season, the Millikin men’s and women’s swim teams had good results, despite the changes in coaching. A few of the swimmers saw new personal bests at the CCIW Championship meet, which held a sense of relief for the team after everything that happened. While a few questions surrounding the swim team still remain, these athletes are now able to take time to reflect on the season.
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