Arizona State, Olympic swim coach Bob Bowman confirms sexting

Arizona State swim coach Bob Bowman, a Hall of Famer best known for his work with Michael Phelps, has confirmed his involvement in unsolicited sexting to a former female Olympic swimmer, the Arizona Republic reported.

Bowman, who coached the 2016 men's U.S. Olympic team, informed Arizona State VP of athletics Ray Anderson that he was involved in sending the inappropriate, sex-related text messages to Caroline Burckle in May 2011.

The Orange County Register initially reported the sexting incident last week.

Arizona State issued a statement Tuesday saying Anderson “initiated a review of the matter” last week and Bowman admitted he was involved and had apologized at the time to Burckle in front of then-USA Swimming national team director Frank Busch.

Anderson said in the university statement that he “communicated to Mr. Bowman (via letter) that the text message exchange was inappropriate and unprofessional and that no such incidents will be tolerated at ASU.”

Bowman, 54, is best known for coaching Phelps, a 28-time Olympic medalist. Arizona State hired Bowman in 2015 as its men's and women's swim coach.

Bowman said in a statement Tuesday: “I regret the exercise of poor judgment in being involved one evening seven years ago with inappropriate communications. I promptly apologized to the person to whom the communications were sent and my apology was accepted.”

Per the Register report, the graphic texts were sent to Burckle, a 2008 U.S. Olympian who retired in 2010, by Bowman and fellow U.S. national team coach Sean Hutchison via Bowman's phone.

“They were so aggressive,” Burckle told the Los Angeles Daily News, adding that she was "haunted" by the incident.

“I was a 24-year-old female swimmer who had retired way too young but was sick of all the (garbage)," she said. "I wanted to change lives and do different things but felt trapped.

“I was disgusted. I felt violated, felt sad too. This was a sport that I had just left and loved and so I felt very sad.”

Although Busch sent a letter to Bowman in June 2011 about the seriousness of the incident — “the behavior would be considered a potential violation of USA Swimming code of conduct,” the letter read in part, per the Register — the national team director who retired in 2017 was among those who recommended Bowman for the Arizona State job.

It's unclear whether Bowman will face more than a reprimand from the university, although ASU president Michael Crow told the Republic in March that any athletic-department employee guilty of inappropriate behavior would be fired.