Marc Bucat has braved the wilds and cold of Alaska, and the heat of Iraq. Encounters with bears and moose barely seem to faze him.

And yet there’s one thing the former Marine-turned-swim coach hasn’t gotten used to yet – the heat of a Mississippi summer.

“I was sweating like a dog yesterday,” Bucat said Thursday with a laugh. “It’s been warm, but the people here have been top-notch.”

Bucat will have plenty of time to adjust to the warm weather and the warm hospitality. The native Alaskan has been hired as the new coach of the Vicksburg Swim Association’s Coke Racers.

Bucat, who has been coaching swimming for 10 years, was selected after a search by the VSA that included coaches from around the country and even one from China.

“He’s a very energetic, very enthusiastic fellow with a good track record. He turned out some phenomenal swimmers in a tiny town with the last team he coached,” said Craig Fischenich, president of the VSA.

Bucat, 37, was born and raised in Juneau, Alaska. He swam in high school, then spent six years in the Marine Corps – including service in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 – before returning home to Alaska in 1994.

While working in construction and as a commercial diver, his old high school coach contracted cancer. On a visit to his hospital bed, Bucat promised to help out and went to work as an assistant coach for a local club team.

“I asked him what I can do to help him, and he told me to go see the assistant coach and help her,” Bucat said, adding with a laugh, “I’ve been stuck with it ever since.”

Bucat eventually became head coach of a club team in tiny Petersburg, Alaska, population 3,000. His recruiting efforts helped grow the team to nearly 70 members and drew the attention of the VSA in its search for a new coach.

“He’s got an interesting dichotomy in terms of personality. He’s kind of hard-nosed, so that’ll help with the older swimmers,” Fischenich said. “At the same time, he has an attractive quality to young kids. So that will keep them engaged.”

Bucat said the chance to take the VSA program to the next level intrigued him.

The Coke Racers currently have about 40 members, enough to turn out a few strong competitive swimmers but rarely enough to compete for team championships against deeper teams from Jackson and Cleveland.

With the facilities already in place around Vicksburg, however, he sees plenty of potential in the VSA team. Some of his plans for the program include strengthening the youth program and holding recruiting drives.

One of his first acts as coach was to drop off more than 6,000 fliers advertising the VSA at area elementary schools. Open tryouts are also planned for May 21 at City Pool, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.

“With all the pools we have in this town, it could be huge,” Bucat said.

While the competitive side of the program is the team’s bread and butter, Bucat said it was just as important to get children of all skill levels involved.

“Too many people say ‘I need to be good.’ You just need to do your best. Not everybody is going to be Michael Phelps,” Bucat said, referring to the American swimmer who won six gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics. “We want to set reasonable, attainable goals. That’s what we shoot for.”