Coach Jake Gibbons ‘15, also known as @Coach_Jake_Swim among his Instagram followers, becomes Varsity Head Coach for the nationally ranked Bolles swim team, while also closing in on 30,000 followers on his coaching page.  

Gibbons accepted the promotion at the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, but his connection to Bolles goes back to his high school years. Gibbons first joined The Bolles School when he moved from Connecticut and began competing for the swim team. From there, he signed to continue his athletic career at Yale, but quickly found the Ivy Leagues were not what he was looking for in a school. Halfway through his first year, Gibbons transferred to Texas A&M and immediately knew he belonged there.

At the time, Texas A&M was at the bottom of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), but by the end of his first year the program began to rise. Gibbons began taking every opportunity to guide the team to excellence, and by the end of his first year, the team’s intensity and enthusiasm was unparalleled.

“We went from seventh my freshman year to second my sophomore year,” Gibbons said. At the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships, Gibbons helped lead Texas A&M to finish third overall, paving the way to many more wins for the team.  

Coming out of college, Gibbons had no intention of going into coaching. Instead, he looked to become a college athletic director, working with athletes searching for professional job opportunities. However, by graduation, COVID-19 had limited most of the jobs in that field. Fortunately, he was offered a volunteer coaching position at Texas A&M that allowed him to “stay close to the people that supported me.” And so, the following season, Gibbons returned to the swim team— this time, as a coach.

A few years later, Gibbons accepted a job offer back in Jacksonville working to help athletes enter professional careers. Seeing how his job brought him “right down the road from Bolles,” he soon connected with Head Coach Peter Verhoef and began coaching the club team. 

“It was an opportunity for me to stay connected to the sport and coaching,” Gibbons said. “Despite working full hours at my regular job, I was still excited to come work another three hours at night. The best part of my day was finishing at Bolles.” 

After working both jobs, and despite support from both organizations, Gibbons decided to leave his “regular job” and committed fully to Bolles swimming. “It wasn’t an easy decision to switch to full time coaching. But as soon as I did, there was a sense of ‘oh my gosh, now I’m in the right place,’” Gibbons said.  

Since rejoining Bolles, Gibbons has been implementing values in his athletes that he learned throughout his swim career— the most important of which he believes is selfless service. For a team to pursue excellence, Gibbons emphasizes how each person must not focus on their own personal performance, but rather aim to contribute to the development of the team as a whole.

“I began to learn that lesson here at Bolles when I realized that my leadership and ability to influence my teammates was going to have a big impact,” Gibbons says. “We pride ourselves in winning the state championship and chasing national championships… I’m glad to be back at Bolles where people buy into that.” 

Not only does Gibbons have plans to grow and represent the team on deck, but also online. Gibbons first began his Instagram page when he wanted to document his swimming travels on a page that was not his personal account. 

When Gibbons first started the account, many of his swimmers called it “boring” and said he should have “more fun with it.” Now, his Instagram page includes videos teaching drills, techniques, set structures, and much more while putting his own twist on it.   

“From there, it started to pick up a little bit of traction. I started making videos and realized that there was a whole audience of swimmers, coaches, and parents that were interested—not necessarily in what I was personally doing, but what Bolles was doing,” Gibbons said. 

Gibbons created his favorite video when one of his swimmers left her good-luck teddy bear, Murremand, in the dorms on the way to a swim meet. When she asked if he could drive Murremand down to Ocala, he responded with “say less,” so long as he could document its travels. “We had a sleepover, I fed the bear breakfast, I let it drive the bus…. The last picture is him reunited with his mom,” Gibbons said. “That video blew up.” 

Gibbons most enjoys creating content that says more about the team culture than the work side of the program. “It shows that we are more than swimmers and coaches. There’s relationships and love behind all of that,” Gibbons said. 

Gibbons’ responsibilities as head coach include calculating meet entries, handling eligibility issues, and regulating early dismissal. Previously, as assistant coach, Gibbons enjoyed managing the logistics of the team and looks forward to being fully in charge of the technical side. “It’s a little bit of science and a little bit of art,” Gibbons said. 

Gibbons describes his most important role as Varsity Head Coach as supporting Coach Peter and making himself available to every athlete. “If I can be the best coach and the best leader I can to each individual, then I can provide the best opportunity for the team to rise,” Gibbons said. “There’s no magic trick that I can pull to make everyone better at once, but if I’m more available to everybody, that will have lasting effects.” Putting emphasis on each individual on the team is how Gibbons plans to continue the tradition of excellence.  

Gibbons finds that one of the most challenging parts of the job is calculating meet entries— especially for select meets. “About 90% of our swimmers on our high school team would make the state roster for any other high school in Florida,” Gibbons said. “With our team, that’s not the case… We have to leave people off the state team that have the talent to compete at that state level.” Much collective planning between the coaches goes behind select meets, ensuring the team can earn as many podium spots as meet regulations allow. 

This year, Gibbons plans to defend the state championship titles for the 37th (boys) and 34th (girls) year consecutively, while also placing in the top three high school swim teams in the nation. He describes the best way to achieve this is to “pour into every individual.”

Pouring into each athlete looks like establishing strong relationships between swimmers and coaches. “Trust that is built over many personal interactions will mean that when that swimmer is feeling something or needs something from me, they’re more likely to seek my help, and then I can be a coach.” 

Gibbons has many plans to grow both his Instagram page and the Bolles Swimming program while looking to become more readily available to any swimmers at all times. Gibbons has been drawn back to Bolles time and time again and is ready to see where the next years as Varsity Head Coach take him and the team.