When Lynn Gulbrandson made the move from freshman football coach to Austin girls swimming and diving coach 34 years ago, he couldn’t have imagined he would’ve stayed on the job for more than three decades.

When he first took over as head coach, Gulbrandson was a little out of his element, but a great group of swimmers helped him out.

“It was a little scary because it was so new,” he said. “I had some great girls in there and they kind of helped me learn some of the ropes a little bit. Then I wanted to stay.”

Now Gulbrandson has finally walked away from the team. He announced his resignation before this season and he leaves the program with a group of coaches who all competed for him as athletes — head coach Alexa Dolan Peterson and assistant coaches Amanda Hemry, Bailey Corey and Michelle Swank. Swank and Dolan Peterson have both won a Section 1A assistant coach of the year award in the past.

Gulbrandson, who will still coach the Packer boys swimming and diving team in the winter, said it was hard to walk away from the girls team.

“Before I made a commitment to leave I talked to all of [the coaches] and they all agreed they would stay with the program. The program’s in great hands,” Gulbrandson said. “I think they have a great future.”

When Gulbrandson first started coaching swimming in the 1980s the sport was a lot simpler and practices usually involved just swimming. But as the years went on, the sport grew more complicated as the Packers began to run drills that focused on different parts of swimming strokes.

“The best techniques win,” Gulbrandson said. “The sport has progressed a lot.”

Gulbrandson coached a lot of swimmers over the years, but he couldn’t single out just one or two of them. He remembered many of them and there are some that he and his wife still keep in touch with.

“It was a real passion,” Gulbrandson said. “I got to know so many truly amazing student athletes and their families. There’s so many names and we stay in touch with so many of them still.”

Gulbrandson was in the stands during the Packers’ first home meet of the year and he said he felt a little different being in the crowd instead of coaching. But he said it was also a good feeling to be able to sit back and watch and talk to some of the parents in the crowd.