Jim Richardson has been in his opponents' shoes before.
As the Michigan women's swimming coach prepares his team for a home meet with Eastern Michigan and Notre Dame on Saturday, he can sympathize with Eastern coach Scott Teeters and Notre Dame coach Bailey Weathers.
"(They are) rebuilding," Richardson said. "(They are) in a similar situation I was in when I first came here (three years ago)."
Although the fifth-ranked Wolverines are favored Saturday, Richardson said that their opponents will be more formidable in the future.
"He's doing a wonderful job of rebuilding," Richardson said of Weathers, who is in his second year in South Bend. "He's one of those coaches who's really paid his dues, coaching under (some of the best) coaches in the history of swimming."
Richardson said that Teeters, who just began his tenure at Eastern this year, is also starting to build a successful program.
"He's finding out who wants to do it his way," Richardson said.
For the Wolverines, the meet against two rebuilding programs will be a well-needed break from a grueling last few weeks in which they have lost three straight dual meets to ranked opponents Stanford, California and Georgia.
Nevertheless, Richardson expects his team to face some competition Saturday.
"On paper, we have more fast swimmers than them," he said. "But we should be pushed a little."
The Wolverines have been worked hard recently. After having to swim two tough meets at the end of an exhausting training trip in Coronado, Calif., they have had normal practice back in Ann Arbor, as well as a meet against No. 4 Georgia.
The Wolverines' hard work will continue today with a tough workout, followed by a normal workout tomorrow and the meet Saturday.
Richardson does not mind making his swimmers practice so hard now because the regular-season meets really have little bearing on the post-season.
"We don't use meets, really, to showcase anything," he said. "They're a part of our training.
"We don't go into meets with a full tank. We basically see how well we can do running on fumes. I really like the things I'm seeing in workouts right now."
As much as the Wolverines' coach is impressed with his team's practice sessions, he does not expect it to dramatically improve on its meet last weekend.
"Against Georgia, we looked better (than we did in California)," he said. "However, I don't expect our times (on Saturday) to be any faster than then."
Unfortunately for Teeters and Weathers, they aren't in a position to not worry about improving each and every regular-season meet, like Richardson.
Maybe, however, when they watch Richardson and the Wolverines, they are looking into the future, just as when Richardson watches them and their rebuilding teams, he's looking into the past.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan's two-time All-American junior Karin Bunting and the rest of the women's swim team will host Notre Dame and Eastern Michigan on Saturday. The fifth-ranked Wolverines are heavily favored over the Irish and the Eagles. While the Wolverines are among the country's elite programs, their opponents are both going through rebuilding processes. The meet should be a relief for the Wolverines, who have dropped their past three dual meets to ranked opponents.