Who Could Take Over as the Next USA Swimming National Team Director?

With breaking news that USA Swimming’s National Team Managing Director Lindsey Mintenko will be leaving her position ahead of the next Olympic quad, the new hottest swimming job in the country is now available.

It’s unlikely that there will be much movement on a replacement until USA Swimming finds a new CEO to replace Tim Hinchey, but the consensus (if not unanimous) feeling across the country is that USA Swimming needs to revert this position to a veteran coach after lagging results at the 2023 World Championships and 2024 Olympic Games.

Sources tell SwimSwam that USA Swimming is willing to hire someone remote – with the idea that they should be spending a lot of their time on the road at clubs and colleges across the country anyway – and acknowledging that Colorado Springs might not be the ideal spot for an otherwise-ideal candidate.

There are a few wrinkles when examining who might fill this role next. One is that collegiate swim coaches now make way more money at the top level than they did when it was last filled.

Still, Mintenko’s base of $293,927 (with estimated other non-reportable income of $52,951) from 2022 will still attract attention from big name coaches, especially ones who might be ready to evolve their career to a new stage without the grind of daily collegiate or club coaching. Owners of big, successful club programs are also making a lot of money these days, so don’t presume that this is some kind of “salary tripling” opportunity for every one of them.

This is not an emeritus job. It’s still real work (or it should be when done well). But it’s not the same as the grind of season planning and daily 5AM wakeup calls and recruiting and accounting. It’s a job that moves at a more human pace.

The other is practicality. The coach hired won’t be the best coach (which in itself is a bit fraught because it pulls the best coach off deck). Rather, the person hired for this position tends to be a huge-name, older coach who has produced a number of successful athletes for a long time.

They tend to want that ‘sizzle,’ and given the pressure to turn things around, that pull will be even bigger this time.

I’ve limited my list to coaches who are at least 40. I suspect that in reality, coaches won’t be considered much younger than 50 unless someone really wild made themselves available.

Older coaches tend to have more connections and relationships that are crucial to this job. They also have more experience, have watched the sport evolve, and on average (though not without exception) are probably less ego-driven about their training methods.

The final criteria to consider is that the coach should probably be well-liked, or at least well-respected. The coach should be relatively without scandal, given the scandals that fraught a previous version of this centralization of coaching in the U.S.

I’ve also heard that the decision-makers in the room are initially narrowed in on David Marsh, Jack Bauerle, and Gregg Troy. For me, and with the mountains of owed respect for what they’ve accomplished, those aren’t perfect choices for various reasons, but that gives the mindset of the kind of heavy hitters that the Board is looking at, and also maybe the age and level of engagement of the individuals who are making this decision. In other words, they remember the biggest names when they were in the game the same way in 20 years, a young coach today might immediately think Durden or DeSorbo.

Those three certainly match the profile of Frank Busch, the prior coaching occupant of this position, very late in their careers, and retired or almost-retired from college coaching.

For what it’s worth, Chris Brearton, the President of the USA Swimming Board of Directors, swam for Bauerle at the University of Georgia.

So without further ado, a totally non-exhaustive lists of candidates who I think would make sense – bilaterally – in this position.

Matt Kredich, Head Coach, University of Tennessee

Kredich has been at Tennessee for a while, and has had a lot of success. No NCAA team titles, but he’s done about everything but, including a history-making Olympic bronze medal from breaststroker Mona McSharry in Ireland. While he does well at Tennessee – his base was recently raised to $270,000 – the USA Swimming gig would probably still come with a pay increase. He’s well-respected across the coaching sphere, basically has only positive associations, and has the coaching credentials and experience to do walk onto any deck in the country and help. His kids have all graduated college. I think Kredich is as happy at Tennessee as any coach in the country is with their job, but it could be time for a new adventure.

Bill Dorenkott, Head Coach, Ohio State University

Another coach without NCAA team titles, but a coach of consistent top 10 NCAA teams. Known as a really good organizer, he would be a good balance between Mintenko’s version of the role and a more coaching-focused version of the role. Being from Ohio State, he also understands intimately the business of sport and the evolution of college swimming beyond his four walls, which could be a useful contribution and insight to USA Swimming in general

David Marsh, Associate Head Coach, Cal

Marsh is probably the most-accomplished coach in the country who is not currently a head coach or isn’t rather old. So that maybe makes him the most available coach of this caliber in the country, and he is certainly well-connected. The knock on Marsh is the rumor and innuendo that has followed him since he left Auburn and several moves raising questions about his ability to manage clubs at a really high level. But 20 years ago, if you told USA Swimming Dave Marsh would be available for this job, he would have been essentially guaranteed the role.

Chris Plumb, Head Coach, Carmel Swim Club

Collegiate coaches and programs have a lot of resources. But if the biggest value of a National Team Director is getting athletes to a National Team level rather than from the National Team level to the Olympic level (we presume our college coaches are capable there?), then a club coach could be a good hire. Especially one like Plumb who, thanks in part to being in one of the most affluent suburbs in the country, has built a professional, elite training environment at the Carmel Swim Club. If he’s able to fly around the country and sort of help other clubs build out their version of the Carmel infrastructure, that could provide a huge structural value to the sport nationally.

Braden Holloway, Head Coach, NC State

Holloway and his wife are attached to NC State at the hip. I have to assume that opportunities for more money have come his way given his teams’ consistent top 5-10 success at NCAAs, and especially with Katharine Berkoff getting on the podium at the Olympic Games. This could be an opportunity to stay close/connected to NC State and live in Raleigh and take on a larger role. He’s mentored a lot of really successful coaches who have gone on to success at other programs (Bobby Guntoro, Todd DeSorbo) and that feels like part of this role.

Bruce Gemmell, Head Coach, Nation’s Capital Aquatic Club

He’s got Katie Ledecky on his resume, and that’s a great start. He’s also been the top coach at the country’s biggest and most-powerful club, NCAP. He’s coached other Olympians besides Ledecky – including his kids Erin and Andrew, is on USA Swimming’s Board of Directors, and seemingly has a good relationship with ASCA and could maybe help repair those relationships.

Greg Meehan, Head Coach, Stanford

He’s coached Olympians all over the place. He’s coached Katie Ledecky. He road the wave of the career of Torri Huske. The men’s team is the current biggest problem in USA Swimming, but he coached with the Cal men when they were a dominant force too. The grind of the Stanford pressure will get to anyone eventually, and Meehan could occupy this position for 20 years.

Jack Bauerle, former head coach, Georgia

Bauerle is another universally-respected coach, won a bunch of NCAA titles, has coached both men and women to the top of the mountain, and wouldn’t be leaving a deck anywhere to take this role. He fits the profile perfectly in almost every way, with two exceptions: he’s 72, and he had some health issues when he stepped down at Georgia. His health is better now, but what is the ideal age for a role like this? One big thing for Bauerle is that he collaborates well with Bob Bowman (the two have shared a lot of athletes). Bowman is obviously the hottest coach in the US right now, but probably also the most-ungettable for this position. If there are two coaches who know how to navigate the double taper – which was a problem this year – it’s those two.

Steve Bultman, former head coach, Texas A&M

Bultman is a coach who put swimmers on Olympic teams in the 1980s and the 2010s. A coach with a career spanning multiple generations, he recently retired as the head women’s coach at A&M. I think if this was 2016 and he were in the same spot, the job might be his. His team was one of the hottest in the country. He was developing National Teamers at the college level. The program didn’t have as much success at the tail end of his career, and he has always coached a bit more in anonymity than he deserved, so it might not be the splash that the board is looking for.

Other Names I considered, but didn’t quite make sense to me

• Brent Arckey, Head Coach & CEO, Sarasota Sharks – Has had wild success, including coaching the world’s best female swimmer Summer McIntosh, but I think he’s still a bit young for what the BOD will be looking for.
• Carol Capitani, Head Coach, University of Texas – With the shakeup in Austin, she could be available, but it’s going to be a hard sell for a coach who hasn’t had great success of putting athletes on the US Olympic Team. If everyone above declines, though, they could certainly do worse.
• Yuri Suguiyama, Head Coach, University of Wisconsin – I think that he’s really done a great job at Wisconsin. He’s built a good culture, he gets along with people, and lest we forget – he was the coach who put Katie Ledecky on the map (do you sense a theme?). It feels like he’s got more to do at the college level, though. He might be the next, next guy though.
• Tyler Fenwick, associate head coach, Virginia – If this was to be treated as a working position, a ‘servant’ position designed to service the community, Fenwick would be a perfect pick. His role at Virginia has included a lot of work on the back-end of the program, building the aura of Virginia swimming, fundraising, recruiting. But if I’m sitting in the heads of the decision makers, unless it’s a really unique case like Marsh, I’m probably not giving an associate head coach a second look. This is viewed as a borderline-ceremonial position for the king that outlasted the other kings.

I’m confident that there are names that make sense that I’m missing. Put them in the comments, and the ones I really like, I’ll add to the article.