MONROE — After 40 years of teaching and 18 years as Monroe High School’s varsity swim coach, Linda Moser is retiring.

“I love, love, love what I do. I didn’t want to lose it,” Moser said.

Knowing that she will still be able to substitute teach to “get that fix” helped with her decision to stop teaching full-time. But coaching might be a little bit different.

Moser teaches a Master’s swim class before school and has helped out at the Monroe Municipal Pool for years with lessons. But her legacy in the water may well be remembered more by the hundreds of high school athletes she coached along the way. 

Moser didn’t just coach to improve a swimmer’s stroke or fitness in the pool, but she coached for camaraderie, teamwork, friendship and family.

“My mom’s expectations for every single person was that you were there for each other,” daughter Danielle (Moser) Marko said. “I swam for two years in college and our team could not have been more divided. It was such a different atmosphere and coaching philosophy.”

Many coaches preach “family” and “unity” to their athletes, though generally it can become a coaching cliché. Moser’s team seemingly lived and breathed that mantra throughout her tenure.

“No matter what she does or where she goes, she will always be there to create that family environment. It’s who she is,” Marko said.

Marko’s classmate and longtime friend, 2006 MHS graduate Ellie (Radke) Cianfrini, said Linda’s coaching style was one she needed herself. Cianfrini won four state titles in the pool for Monroe, as well as a basketball state championship. She went on to play college hoops for Canisius in upstate New York.

“Swimming is a strange sport; some say the loneliest sport there is. You spend so much time around your teammates, yet most of it is spent with your head underwater,” Cianfrini said. “It is extremely important to have a bond as a team when you are ‘on land.’”

Cianfrini said Moser did an excellent job promoting the family atmosphere amongst her teams. 

“We would often spend time together outside of swim practice, whether that was at sleepovers, fun extra events, going to Friday night football games with soaking wet hair, or even Breakfast Club after 6 a.m. practices. We enjoyed each other’s company year after year, and that, I believe, is a reflection of leadership.”

Even when New Glarus joined the program as a co-op in 2014, Moser went to her seniors to make sure they took on an expanded role in leadership.

“I was really nervous,” Moser said. “You have two different schools, and you want them to feel like one — a united team.”

Moser said she talked to her seniors and team leaders, and they decided to hold get togethers, dinners and other activities with their new teammates to help build chemistry and trust. The Monroe team also held practices in New Glarus, and for homecoming rode together in parades for each school.

“It worked. It was hard and nerve-wracking, but it worked,” Moser said.

In a swimming dual, team wins are based on points accumulated throughout the individual and relay events. Monroe was not always known as a top team in the Badger Conference, especially with powerhouses McFarland and Madison Edgewood dominating the sport across the state for much of the past two decades. In Moser’s program, it wasn’t the immediate win or loss of each meet that mattered. Rather, each meet gauged the progression of each swimmer on their path to success — be it personal or postseason.

“Linda had a way of making all her swimmers better, regardless of ability. She valued every athlete on her team, from beginners to those of us who swam year-round,” Cianfrini said. “If you were willing to try, Linda was willing to do anything she could to help you reach your goals. Linda’s programming was well-rounded, she valued incorporating fun into practice, and she truly wanted to see every swimmer set personal bests as often as possible.”

Marko said that her mom had a series of rules for her swimmers to follow, with punishments for infractions. All of which were to help build relationships and a team atmosphere in an otherwise individual sport.

“You throw your goggles, you are benched. We all have bad races, but the expectation from the beginning is you pick yourself up, learn from it, and support your teammate standing on the block right after you,” Marko said. She added that at any meet, athletes weren’t allowed on their phones or to mingle with the crowd as other teams did. “We often saw other teams not sitting with one another and we didn’t understand that because we were focused on us.

“Also, I may be biased, but I have never met a more dedicated coach in all my years of athletics. Even when I went off to college, my mom would come in and watch me practice to help me with my stroke, something I didn’t receive all the time in college because I was a mediocre swimmer. My mom cared for every single person that steps foot on the pool deck.”

Moser was the quintessential prep coach, Cianfrini said. Organized and prepared to challenge her swimmers, as well as willing to be there in the role of “coach, team mom, therapist, counselor and friend — all with a smile.”

“Linda taught me so much, about swimming and about life, but my biggest takeaway is really how tough someone can be. As a person, Linda is one of the strongest women I know,” Cianfrini said. “She brought a positive attitude to each practice, and had an ability to always see the good in every situation.”

Monroe has had its share of state swimming champions, beginning with Ellie’s first title in 2002 and the most recent coming this past season with sophomore Mekenzie Hammer, a New Glarus student who has two titles to her name through two seasons.

“Being Monroe’s first swimming state champion was a surreal experience, and one I will be forever grateful for. Sharing an experience like winning four state titles surrounded by the people you’ve spent months training beside is difficult to put into words,” Cianfrini said. “I was fortunate to have teammates on deck all four years I competed at state, as well as Linda with her red clipboard.”

Marko said her mom learned how to coach swimming by constantly researching different fundamentals and other strategies.

“I don’t know if you have ever seen my mom swim, but it would not match her ability to coach. She does her research all the time,” said Marko, who added that while growing up books on swimming instruction could be found all over the house and that she and Ellie would occasionally hide the literature.

Cianfrini and Marko were friends long before they were teammates in the pool.

“Our friendship only strengthened once we got to MHS. When you are such close friends with someone, that friendship extends to their family as well,” Ellie said. “Spending time at Danielle’s house and being around her family allowed me to build a relationship with Linda that went beyond that of just an athlete and a coach. Linda was more than just a coach, and generally cared for my well-being. She treated me like her own daughter, and I am thankful for the memories made at her house that had nothing to do with swimming.”

Moser coached two of her three daughters — Danielle and Brianna (Moser) Behselich — on the MHS swim team, and her son Tyler helped coach after college. She said with her daughter Kristina, who she was unable to coach, she just watched from the side and took it all in. 

“I got the passion to coach from my children. I will forever be thankful for them, I was missing it in my life,” Moser said.

In retirement, Moser will be able to spend a little more time with her parents, her children and her grandchildren, something both she and her family are looking forward to.

“I’m very excited for her. It’ll be nice to plan weekend trips,” Marko said, adding, “I never thought the day would come that she would retire. She’s been teaching or coaching since I was born, and it’s something that has become a part of us. A little piece of her will always be with her job.”

Monroe athletic director Jeff Newcomer said Moser is “every athletic director’s dream coach” and that replacing her will be a hard task.

“(Moser) is full of integrity, empathy, honor and is full pride for her ‘family’ of swimmers,” Newcomer said. “She coached not to make a difference in the sport of swimming in Monroe but more importantly to make a positive difference in the hundreds of young ladies that went through the MHS swim program. Every student-athlete that has swam for Coach Moser is a better person now than before, that is the type of effect she has on her swimmers.”