World Champion Hubert Kos has announced his decision to transfer from Arizona State to the University of Texas following the departure of head coach Bob Bowman from the Sun Devils to the Longhorns. Kos, a sophomore at Arizona State, was a standout performer at the 2024 NCAA Championships, scoring 48 individual points. He placed 2nd in the 200 back, 3rd in the 200 IM, and 4th in the 100 back.
As a freshman, Kos finished 4th in the 100 back, 3rd in the 200 back, and 11th in the 200 IM. One of Kos’s notable achievements was breaking Ryan Murphy’s NCAA record in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:35.69 at the Pac-12 Championships. Following Coach Bowman’s move to Texas, Kos began training with him as he prepares for his transition to Longhorn Nation.
In addition to his accomplishments on the collegiate level, Kos also claimed first place at both events during last year’s World Championship meet in Tokyo with times of 1:54.14 and 53.87 respectively. The addition of Kos to Texas team addresses some gaps that they faced last season as their only finalist in backstroke events was freshman Will Modglin who finished ninth and sixteenth respectively on their behalf on both races . Furthermore , Texas had no entries in 4×50 medley relay at last year NCAAs which is an area where Kos can bring value and fill that gap with his versatility and talent .
The potential partnership between Hubert Kos and Luke Hobson could prove to be a formidable combination as Luke is one of Texas top swimmer who contributed significantly towards their point total during last season with individual points . Hubert’s impressive split time of 1:32.2 would make them even stronger together especially considering that it is faster than some splits recorded by other texas swimmers . With this partnership , texas men’s team has bright future ahead for them as they hope to improve upon their seventh-place finish at last year NCAAs while also competing for national titles next season