Just nine days after they announced her position, USA Swimming announced today that Chrissi Rawak will not become the new CEO.
In a release sent out they stated “Due to unforeseen personal circumstances that we learned about late this week, Chrissi Rawak will not assume the role of President and CEO.” Shana Ferguson will continue acting as the Interim CEO.
The organization first announced her appointment on February 19th, and she still appears on their website in the position.
The rest of the release stated that “While this outcome is not what we expected or hoped for, we maintain the utmost confidence in the strength of our organization, leadership team, staff, and strategic direction. The Board and leadership team of USA Swimming are working closely together to continue advancing the organization’s priorities including our search for the next National Team Managing Director where we are making very good progress.
We reamin fully committed to supporting our members and athletes as we prepare for the World Aquatics Championships this summer. “
If this was a personal issue that caused this then that is unfortunate
If it comes out that they did not fully vet the candidate, then the board should take full responsibility and some or all should step down. This would be the cherry on top of horrible leadership
Hopefully some clarity will come out soon
😢👎🏼📉
I had to check out the “update my email preferences” option after that email from USA swimming
This is getting almost as bad as the post-Larry Nassar USAG CEO debacles.
I worked with Chrissi Rawak at Michigan.
Timing, extremely unfortunate.
USA Swimming…still without a
STRONG, VISIONARY LEADER.
She probably was finally vetted and all of her skeletons came out. Her covid rules that were selectively imposed while at Udel.. Her taking members of the football team, and other revenue generating sports brushing everything under the rug athletes mysteriously off campus after getting caught for violations with no consequences. Her persecution of non revenue generating sports suspending or cutting their budget (swimming, girls lacrosse to name a few). The complaints to the ncaa on behalf of athletes from multiple sports about unfair treatment and the complaints to usa swimming about the present head coach of Udel swimming.
I get that the Delaware alums are still very unhappy about how that COVID thing went down, but there is literally no way that the first time that was brought up was a week after they announced her as CEO.
Braden maybe they finally got answers from the NCAA about the numerous complaints from all sports that were under her
That may be, but how dumb does the Board have to be to make the announcement of her hiring before they got that all settled?
With all the issues that USA Swimming has had it would not surprise me at all that they made a hasty decision. To be honest with everything that has gone down i am surprised she even had the nerve to apply for this high profile job. Did she think she was untouchable? I hope that with this the NCAA and the UDel board takes a look at this
I have no stake in UDel, and am not versed in what went down, but I’d be surprised if she kept her job there.
A certain SEC coach always knew she wasn’t the right choice. He always knew the truth. It seemed like a mistake to include references to Urbanchek and Jim Richardson in last week’s press release. Gutsy af. She may have done a great job in the role. I doubt any of this has to do with anything from this century.
I was wondering if that certain coach knew something.
wouldn’t these issues have been vetted out during the …. vetting and interviewing process?
Not necessarily, swimster.
These would be the conditions for this to have come out in the vetting process:
The candidate needs to tell the truth.
The right questions need to be asked.
The right questions need to be asked of the right people.
Any skeletons in her history (if any truly were there?) the issue was a family personal issue. Let’s move on to find the best next person and hope it doesn’t take 6 months again!
The whole board needs to resign. USA Swimming needs to be dissolved and rebuilt! Lawsuits, poor membership support, zero accountability and leftover corruption from the Chuck Wielgus era…
Exactly! When do we as professionals truly look at USA SWIMMING as the disaster it is. It had a really good run and we all witnessed some incredible things, but the past 6 years or so has been a complete disaster. The whole organization needs an overhaul.
Yes. USA Swimming should be rebuilt from ground up with some very respected coaches that have the foresight of what’s best for future of the sport. Get rid of most of the current BOD. Most of the committees are built from a good ‘ol’ boy network, and many are overlooked.
After years of disappointment and frustration with the direction USA Swimming is headed, it’s time to make a change. USA Swimming has become increasingly focused on corporate interests and elite-level competition, leaving out the swimmers who need the most support and guidance. Whether you’re an athlete, coach, or parent, it’s clear that the system is no longer in tune with what truly matters in the sport: passion, development, and community.
That’s why we’re making the switch to AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), a more inclusive, athlete-centered organization that prioritizes development at all levels of swimming. AAU promotes a positive environment where swimmers can grow at their own pace, compete without the extreme pressures of the mainstream system, and ultimately thrive in… Read more »
Ha! You’d all be bellyaching about AAU in three months time.
The athletes are cared for by their local clubs. Feel bad for the coaches and club leaders buried under USAS bureaucracy. There are tons of quality clubs out there. AAU is just a different umbrella that can claim they’re all about grass roots bc they aren’t the NGB responsible for elite talent.
So I’ve been pretty vocally unhappy with a lot of things about USA swimming for a while now, and had a few conversations with AAU reps. Unfortunately, they did not instill any confidence in me that they are a viable alternative to USA Swimming for swimmers at any level of the sport.
They seemed to have no clear plan or vision for their future in swimming, and just seem eager to capitalize on the discontent within USA Swimming by offering cheaper registration fees.
Which seems a reasonable selling point given that USA Swimming pretty much doesn’t give you crap but gives you high fees. With AAU you can get nothing at a cheaper price.
I can’t really argue with that, but the registration fees are a drop in the hat compared to the overall cost of the sport. Saving a few bucks on the annual registration is not going to lead to this mass-exodus some have been predicting, unless the AAU actually starts offering a superior product in some way.
AAU organizers have obviously been smart enough to read the room on how unhappy people are with USA Swimming, so it would be nice to see them giving a little more effort than simply undercutting USA-S on price.
Nothing for less is better than nothing for more??
In comparison to other countries our elite athletes don’t get much support. USA swimming offers them something. So maybe it’s not nothing.
The salaries at the top are outrageous and not in keeping with any other salaries in the sport outside of Bowman.
How much is the board compensated? Too much judging by problematic decision making.
No solutions, just want to join the pile on.
The Board of Directors at USA Swimming is a volunteer position, though they receive the usual reimbursements when they’re on company business (not sure if that includes a per diem, I assume it does?)
Thank you for that information.