Brooks Teal’s ties to N.C. State even outdate his own lifetime.

Father attended StateTeal’s father, Jennings Teal Sr., started attending State around the time of the Great Depression, but because of the economic crisis, had to go back home to support his family.The elder Teal, who would also enlist in the Air Force and would have fought in World War II if not for coming down with rheumatic fever, later returned to N.C. State on the GI Bill. His influence played a great role in his son’s decision to one day attend State.”He’s not with us any longer, but definitely had a lot of big impact on my life, his influence, had a big strong love for N.C. State,” Brooks Teal, now the swimming and diving coach, said.

State from the startTeal recalls attending a football game in Riddick Stadium as a kid and being at the first game at Carter-Finley Stadium in 1966. The price of kids’ season tickets then, according to Teal, was a mere $5. He even remembers being in the “Wolves Den” children’s section where the JV cheerleaders would “baby-sit” him and the other young fans.

College daysHe would start his own time at N.C. State in the fall of 1969. And while he would swim for two-and-a-half years before coming down with mono, struggling with grades and deciding his heart was no longer in it, Teal said he was “definitely the very far end of the bench” when he was on the team.”My contribution was more in the team morale area,” Teal said. “I definitely was not a point-scorer.”At the time, his coach, Don Easterling, didn’t see indications from Teal that he might one day want to coach. But it’s the not-so-overwhelming swimming skills that would allow Teal to become an effective coach in the future, Easterling said. “He was like me. He didn’t have a lot of talent, but he persevered. He stayed in there and worked at it, and I think sometimes some of us coaches who’ve had success weren’t always very talented at the sport itself,” Easterling said. “And I think that’s good because then we had to think what we were doing.”

Maybe this can be a careerAfter coaching some teams during the summer in college, Teal decided he’d give coaching a try as a profession. He said watching his father leave in a coat and tie for eight hours of work behind a desk every day made him want to do something a little different. “I was looking for something different. And coaching was fun,” Teal said. “And so I just kept doing it one more year and one more year and one more year.”Eventually, when his 1988 Raleigh YMCA men’s swimming team won the national championship, Teal started to think college coaching might be for him. One of the top swimmers on that team was David Fox, who would go on to swim at N.C. State and win the 50-yard freestyle national championship in 1993. “I really went from being a small-time coach into being a coach that had national-caliber athletes,” Teal said.

Coaching moves lead to StateWhen he was an assistant coach at Indian River Community College in the early 1990s, Teal accepted a job to coach a club team in Raleigh. He took the position because he thought he was no longer a candidate for the James Madison head coaching job, and because his wife wasn’t happy in Florida and wanted to get back to Raleigh. But two days later, James Madison offered him the position. He explained the situation to the club, which allowed him out of his commitment.Then, after being the head coach at James Madison for two years, Teal applied for the State job when Easterling retired in 1995. He was among the candidates considered, but his former teammate Scott Hammond got the job.But looking back, Teal said it was probably for the best. “It was tough. I wanted the job. But in hindsight, I wasn’t ready for it. The more time at James Madison helped me grow more as a collegiate head coach and helped me be more ready for it the second time,” Teal said. “And so all things happen for a purpose, and I’m not sure if I would have come in here and handled it.”That second time would come when Hammond left State after the 2000 season. Easterling said hiring Teal was the natural move for the school.”It was the logical way to go, and he was available and had college experience and was successful,” Easterling said. “So it was a good go, a good catch.”

Struggles with the PackSince his arrival for the 2001 season, Teal has finished no higher than fifth on the men’s side and no higher than sixth on the women’s side. But he has coached Cullen Jones, who was an All-American and 50-yard freestyle national champion last season, and the men’s team also finished 21st at NCAA championships in 2006.Sid Cassidy, who swam with Teal at State and has hosted the men’s and women’s teams for their last two winter-break training trips in Florida, said he considers Teal a brother figure. And he said Teal’s success in his coaching career goes beyond any standout swimmers he has coached. “The fact is he’s been very successful, not just with Cullen Jones and David Fox, but as an overall coach of teaching young people the right way to do things,” Cassidy said. “And the by-product is they swim fast. But the reality is, he’s a great teacher, and he’s a great friend.”And as far as Teal’s demeanor in his job, Cassidy compared it to that of the coach of recent Super Bowl-champion Colts. “I see him as kind of a Tony Dungy of coaching. I look at him as a very fair, even-keeled, let’s-keep-things-in-perspective kind of coach, where the outcome will take care of itself. He does his homework,” Cassidy said. “I see him as a very committed and fair type of coach.”Meanwhile, Easterling said part of Teal’s struggles have to do with a lack of up-to-date facilities.”You find one [sport’s facility] that hasn’t been upgraded. The only one I can think of is swimming, and in spite of that, he’s done well,” Easterling said. “This is not criticizing the school — I mean, that’s just the way it is. He doesn’t have the benefit of a lot of the improvements that everybody else does on the campus.”But Teal knows there is still work to be done after a fifth-place showing for the men and an eighth-place finish for the women last year at ACC championships. “Nobody here is by any means satisfied with where we are in the bottom half of the conference. That’s not where N.C. State belongs,” Teal said. “And we’re all — coaching staff and athletes — committed to continuing to try to find ways to recruit better, work harder, work smarter, swim faster, dive better and move up in the conference.”

Keeping up with familyEven while facing those challenges, Teal said he’s also trying to stay as involved with his family as he can, despite his intense workload. He has a 15-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son.He said his son, who has taken up competitive swimming, serves as a large motivator for him to stay in shape. “My goal is to try to keep up with my 13-year-old son as long as I can,” Teal said. “And so that stimulates me to try to stay fit.”Teal noted, though, his age group coaching experience has taught him not to push his son too hard in swimming. “I saw way too many pushy parents that pushed their kids out of the sport. And so I think I learned from them that it’s got to be his decision. And if it goes that route, great, but he’s going to do something good with his life,” Teal said. “And if it’s not swimming, that’s totally fine.”