Rapid Reaction: Top Candidates For USA Swimming National Team Director

USA Swimming’s National Team Director Frank Busch announced this morning that he would be retiring from his post at the conclusion of this summer’s season. Already, plenty of speculation has begun to swirl about his potential replacements. Though plenty more still has to happen in USA Swimming’s hiring process (including a selection of a new Executive Director in the same time frame), here are a few of the top names who could be in line for the job:

David Marsh, former CEO and head coach at SwimMAC

David Marsh Marsh has recently stepped back from his roles with SwimMAC has been a mainstay of American swimming at multiple levels for decades. Most recently, he’s headed up SwimMAC in Carolina, one of the nation’s top age group clubs as well as a high-level professional swimming hub. Marsh also coached Auburn University to seven men’s NCAA titles and 5 women’s titles. Without much information given publicly about the specifics of his new role with the club, meaning he could be in position to jump to USA Swimming as soon as he’s needed.

Bruce Gemmell, coach at Nation’s Capital Swim Club

Best known recently as the coach for superstar Katie Ledecky, Bruce Gemmell has plenty of experience with USA Swimming at the club level, and has coached a number of high-level age groupers. With Ledecky leaving NCAP for Stanford this year, Gemmell might be in a position to move into a role with USA Swimming that allows him to continue working with Ledecky and other athletes at her elite level.

Sergio Lopez Miro, assistant coach at Auburn University

Hardly a high-level coaching gig opens up where Sergio Lopez‘s name isn’t at least mentioned. Longtime coach of the legendary high school program at the Bolles School in Florida, Lopez has guided some of Team USA’s best and brightest young swimmers (Ryan Murphy, Santo Condorelli, Caeleb Dressel) as well as Singapore’s Joseph Schooling. Lopez also has experience leading a national program after spending 2015 and 2016 with Singapore. He’s now an assistant with Auburn, but would be a highly-respected name to take on Team USA’s top job.

Gregg Troy, head coach at the University of Florida

It’s hard to say if Gregg Troy would leave his post at Florida, but it would feel a lot like when Busch originally left the University of Arizona to head up USA Swimming’s national team. Troy has produced multiple top-tier swimmers including Olympians Ryan Lochte, Elizabeth Beisel and Caeleb Dressel, while serving as an Olympic assistant coach in 1996 and 2008 and heading the 2012 men’s Olympic swim team.

Teri McKeever, head coach at the University of California

Cal’s Teri McKeever has been one of USA Swimming’s most prolific coaches over the past few Olympic cycles, and her Golden Bear teams have been some of the NCAA’s strongest in the same time frame. McKeever has plenty of experience working with high-level athletes, especially after recruiting national teamers like Missy Franklin, Elizabeth Pelton, Rachel Bootsma and Abbey Weitzeil. McKeever would also have to step away from a college program she’s got firing on all cylinders, but she could also have a big cultural opportunity to represent a female head coach of a national sporting institution that could make the position more appealing.

Bob Bowman, head coach at Arizona State University

Trainer of Michael Phelps for about two decades, Bob Bowman‘s name will certainly be mentioned in connection with the job. With Phelps retired, Bowman would finally be freed up to take on a new, more wide-ranging role without leaving the greatest swimmer of all-time in the lurch. It would require Bowman leaving his Arizona State job after just two seasons, which seems unlikely. But Bowman’s last NCAA gig was similarly short-lived: Bowman spent three years at the University of Michigan from 2005-2008 before jumping back into the club realm with North Baltimore Aquatic Club.

Dave Salo, head coach at the University of Southern California

Legendary sprint coach Dave Salo could also be in the mix, though he, too, would have to leave a college program where he’s had considerable success. Salo heads up both the men’s and women’s programs at USC, plus leads the Trojan Swim Club, which has become one of the biggest professional training hubs in the nation. Salo coaches a wide range of international stars, but has been on USA Swimming’s staff for multiple World Championships and Olympic Games.

Jack Bauerle, head coach at the University of Georgia

It’s hard to imagine the Georgia Bulldogs without Jack Bauerle, but he could also be in contention for the job. Bauerle has been a multiple-time Olympic coach for Team USA and has coached the Bulldog women since the ’70s and the men since the ’80s. He’s consistently put swimmers on the national and Olympic team, and his women won the NCAA title just last year in a big upset of Stanford.

Others

Those are far from the only names that could take the job, though other top candidates would seem to have more reason to stay at their current posts. California coach Dave Durden is a rising star in the coaching world, but might be too young for a National Team Director gig, and also seems very entrenched at a Cal program he’s built into a perennial NCAA contender. In the same boat is Greg Meehan, the head coach of the Stanford women. Meehan is fairly young and has a shorter coaching resume than some other contenders, but has proven his ability, especially in the past Olympic cycle. Meehan would have to give up the fruits of one of the most legendary recruiting efforts in NCAA history, though, and it seems unlikely he’s pass up years of coaching a Ledecky/Simone Manuel-led Stanford team. Meanwhile Eddie Reese is on the opposite end of the spectrum – he’s one of the most-respected coaches in the nation, but is 75 years old and seems very much settled at a Texas program he’s led since 1979.