From Blue-Collar Roots to Buckeye Leadership: Bill Dorenkott on Resilience, Family, and the Power of Sport

Real Talk for Sport Parents Podcast

Hosted by Samantha Livingstone

 

Ep. 11 - From Blue-Collar Roots to Buckeye Leadership: Bill Dorenkott on Resilience, Family, and the Power of Sport

 

In this episode, Samantha sits down with Bill Dorenkott, the Director of Swimming and Diving at Ohio State University, to discuss the complexities of parenting athletes within the world of sports. Bill shares his extensive coaching experience, his personal athletic journey, and insights from being both a coach and a sports parent. The conversation delves into the importance of balancing process over outcomes, understanding developmental stages of young athletes, and maintaining open communication between parents, coaches, and athletes. The episode concludes with advice for parents on navigating the secret 'menu' of sports and giving themselves grace and space in their parenting journey.

 

·       02:07 Personal Connection and Reconnecting with Bill

·       05:03 Bill's Background and Upbringing

·       07:30 Discovering Swimming and Athletic Journey

·       15:49 Transition to Coaching and Early Career

·       22:44 Balancing Coaching and Family Life

·       30:52 Learning from Michael Dravet

·       32:10 Parenting and Coaching Insights

·       33:18 Navigating Learning Disabilities

·       35:34 Parenting Differences: Boys vs. Girls

·       37:24 Parental Role in College Athletics

·       40:02 Developing Independence in Kids

·       44:35 The Secret Menu of Sports Parenting

·       53:35 The Journey is the Reward 

 

Quotes

• “ And so I went down and met with him and he said, look, he goes, you'll probably never graduate from college and you'll probably never swim for us. But I'll, I'll give you a shot. And he didn't know it at the time. That was the greatest thing anybody could ever say,..” [12:49]

• “ First week that I started coaching, I knew I'd do that the rest of my life..” [17:21

• “ Improvement happens at the edge of your ability. Mm-hmm. And, and that feeling at the edge of your ability is productive discomfort.” [53:55]

  

Social Media and Links

·       RTSP Instagram

·       samanthalivingstone

·       Ohio State Buckeyes Women's Swimming & Diving

·       Dr. Michael Gervais website: findingmastery.com

Bill Dorenkott’s Bio:

 

Bill Dorenkott, who has 35 years of experience coaching at the collegiate level, enters his 18th overall season at Ohio State in 2025-26; he enters his ninth season as the Director of Swimming & Diving after spending nine seasons working with the women's team exclusively. His programs are among the best, if not the best, in the Big Ten Conference. Consider:

Dorenkott has also guided the women’s team to 10 Top 20 finishes at the NCAA championships, including a program-best sixth in 2023, and he has coached the men’s program to a Top 10 finish four times. 

 

Dorenkott has guided eight teams to Big Ten championships, including the Penn State women three times – in 2002, 2005 and 2006 – in addition to the Ohio State women in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025. Dorenkott has coached 87 individual Big Ten Conference champions, including 47 Buckeye champions, in addition to 30 relay championship teams. He has coached 449 total NCAA qualifiers. Dorenkott took over as the head coach of Ohio State’s women’s swimming program in 2008, and in March 2017 he was announced as the director of swimming and diving for OSU’s new combined men’s and women’s program.