As the Ken Stopkotte legacy spirals further and further out of control, with the latest allegations that he siphoned nearly $17,000 in pool rental fees from the school district, the Fishers’ swim teams are moving on. Lost amongst the controversy was the fact that Jay Chambers has been named the new head coach of both Fishers High School, as well as the defending Indiana Swimming State Champions Fishers Area Swimming Tigers (FAST). He will also take over Stopkotte’s role as Aquatics Director, though presumably with new safeguards in place.
Chambers is an excellent candidate to bring some stability to a program that has been rocked by turmoil and almost forced into bankruptcy. He has been with the program since the USS team was founded in 2006, and has an impressive coaching resume that spans 35 years.
He has previously coached at the NCAA Division 1 level with Ohio University. At the prep level, he was the head age group coach for the Carmel, Indiana club team during that program’s heyday in the 1990’s and was the assistant coach at Carmel High School, one of the most storied high school swim teams in the country.
Another sign that things are normalizing: Fishers High School has signed their first 2011 swimmer to a college Letter-of-Intent. Alex Carmack is a Jr. Nationals qualifying breaststroker, and has signed to swim for Purdue. There she will join her former teammate Megan Roach, a fellow breaststroker and 2009 Fishers High grad.
This is a much needed boost for the Tigers’ quest to rebuild their reputation. The program saw their first major fallout when over the summer Erin Moe, who is arguably the best swimmer in program history decided to train with the Carmel Swim Club: Chambers’ former team. She went bests of 52.7 and 57.6 in the 100 free and 100 fly, respectively, as just a freshman in high school, and was invited to participate in this fall’s USA-Swimming National Select Camp.
Jay Chambers is one of the top swimming coaches in the nation! He brings the the experience and dedication to the pool like only few can in the nation. Jay is not afraid to hire assistant coaches that have tremendous talent . Most coaches would be afraid to . We brought our daughters to Fishers not ( Carmel ) . Because we knew Jays coaching is second to none! David Edelman
I’m curious when you are going to update your glowing story to reflect the mess coach Chambers has made of the program…defecting swimmers, slow times, no excitement…?