MARYSVILLE — Exactly what separates Scott Knowles from other swim coaches seems to be a mystery.

“I don’t really know what it is,” said Marysville-Pilchuck senior and swim team co-captain Brandon Caldwell. “He just finds a way to relate to and motivate everybody.”

And maybe that is enough, as a swim coach has to keep tabs on approximately 60 athletes every year. Some swimmers need to be pushed, while others may need more of a prodding, but every one needs attention.

“Scott can name the top time of any event by any swimmer at any point in the season,” said Marysville athletic director Craig Erickson. “He takes the time to make sure that every one of those kids gets what they need. That is special. He is the institution here. When you think of Marysville swimming, you think of Scott Knowles.”

But that is about to end, as Knowles, who has coached M-P swimming for 30 years, announced his retirement at last week’s 4A state meet.

“It’s just time,” said Knowles as the state meet finished at the King County Aquatic Center, soaking in M-P’s 10th-place finish. “I’m not disappointed. I’m happy and healthy, and it just feels right.”

The Tomahawks’ finish this year was the ninth top-10 state finish in Knowles’ tenure. With Knowles at the helm, M-P finished in the top 20 teams at state more often than not with it’s best finish coming in 1983 at fifth.

Over the years, he has seen every one of M-P’s swim records set and re-broken, coached the school’s first individual state champion in Trevor LeValley and said he will be around next season, just not in a coaching capacity.

“We all kind of thought this might be his last year,” said senior and M-P’s other co-captain, Oliver Durand. “Just because we weren’t sure if he was going to comeback last year, but he let us know earlier in the season.”

Knowles told his team and his colleagues about his decision just before the district swim meet.

“It’s a good thing Brandon got up there and said just how much we appreciated him and what he meant to us,” Durand said. “Because I couldn’t. I don’t think I could have held it in.”

And while this year’s team, which won the Wesco North title, finished where many have come to expect M-P to finish, Knowles couldn’t help but say how great those boys made his final year. He attributes his longevity in the position to the people worked with, singling out both the type of people involved in swimming, and more selectively, those in the Marysville area.

“Just being given the opportunity to work with some really great kids,” Knowles said, recalling what he’ll remember the most. “Swimmers are usually great students and easy to work with. They’re coachable and involved. And the parents and community has always been great.”

Maybe what separated him from the rest is the unique way he worked with people, which would hold true because most one-of-a-kind’s are hard to characterize.

“I don’t even know how to describe how he works,” Durand said. “It’s just Knowles.”