After a short stint in Hawaii, former U.S. National Team Director Mark Schubert will return to his roots in Southern California as the National Team Coach for the Evolution Racing Club.
The team is located in Mission Viejo, where Schubert first made his mark in coaching in 1972 where he grew the team from 50 to 500 members, with his swimmers winning 17 Olympic medals and 124 event U.S. National Championships.
The Evolution Racing Club was founded in 2014 by two-time Ecuadorian Olympian Felipe Delgado. Delgado says that “Schubert will be working with a mix of athletes, including swimmers following him from Hawaii, returning club swimmers, and collegiate athletes once their NCAA season wraps up.
“Together, he and Evolution Racing Club will focus on building a strong foundation of high-performance athletes with their sights set on local and international competition.”
The club trains out of Santa Margarita Catholic High School, the five-time defending California High School State Champions in girls’ swimming and diving.
Schubert was previously leading a pro group based out of The Swim Team in Orange County, California. After the Olympic Games, Schubert launched a pro group on the Hawaiian island of Oahu based out of the American Renaissance Academy. He named that group the Podium Swim Club and began that role in September. At the time, he said that “three or four” families from TST would be joining him and that he hoped that Paris 2024 Olympian David Johnston would join him in Oahu after he completes the 2024-25 season at the University of Texas.
Schubert launched TST in connection with Saddleback El Toro Swim Team in 2021 after retiring from nearby Mission Viejo. He took a temporary leave of absence in 2022 to coach Chinese swimmers abroad.
While a full roster of swimmers from the Podium Swim Club was never made available, among the swimmers who represented the club in USA Swimming competition were high school senior Anthony Ramirez, who previously trained with The Swim Team, and a local high school junior named Kevin Yu.
Evolution Racing Club has a bit more of a high level group already baked in, including Korean Minkyu Noh, who has best times of 20.51 and 44.14 in the 50 and 100 yard frees (23.97 and 50.26 in long course meters).
The team was represented by Humberto Najera and David Schmitt at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. Schmitt grew up training with Evolution and now attends Harvard.
Schubert was the USA Swimming National Team director from 2006 until 2010. He was also previously the head coach at USC and the University of Texas. He served as a member of the US Olympic Team staff at the 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympic Games. He also led the Mission Viejo Nadadores to nine national team titles in his first stint with the club, and coached swimmers like Janet Evans, Shirley Babashoff, Brian Goodell, Mike O’Brien, Sippy Woodhead, Kaitlin Sandeno, Jessica Hardy, Larsen Jensen, Erik Vendt, Lindsay (Benko) Mintenko, Ous Mellouli, and Dara Torres.
Mark has aways been transparent and honest with me as a competitor – One of our great coaching minds. Perhaps not everyone has had the benefit of seeing his human side. While we have butted heads on occasion, he is a remarkable person and in my world very likable.
There is no doubt the Dagny Knutson thing was a mistake. Easy for us all to say in hindsight. I don’t remember a bunch of people shouting what a bad move it was at the time though. I’m sure lots of people thought it may not be smart, but there was no loud public outrage until way after the fact. Certainly Dagney herself and her parents are the ones that made the big mistake. I believe at the time Mark believed its what was best and had good intentions.
I’ve been around Mark while he was coaching occasionally over many many years. Mark today is pretty good at not needing the angry meltdowns or loud ego to get his… Read more »
I worked with Mark & his wife Joke a few summers at USC, back in the late 90’s when he was National Team Director. The entire staff there (Montrella, Leibowitz, Lamont) was just amazing to me. I learned so much from all of them, and have nothing but respect for Mark. I don’t really coach much anymore, as life has taken me in a different direction, but those summer memories of USC are some of the fondest I have. Mark, I wish you and Joke the best in all that you do and get to experience!
Fun reading all the comments..not even sure how many even know him! The glory days of Mission Viejo happened at the right time in US swimming..Mark recruited great talent locally and internationally! He also nurtured homegrown swimmers..there is no question that ” strong personalities ” will be loved or hated” and there can be no doubt that he was a great coach..good luck to him, and I don’t see him ever voluntarily retiring!
I know him personally and respect his coaching a great deal. Thank you for writing a reasonable post!
NEXT!
Her coach asked about the Center. She was not recruited. She was given free room and board and college tuition. Unfortunately she had a severe eating disorder…sad.
Could somebody give me the sparknotes version of why everybody hates this guy?
Not everyone hates him, but a lot who do will take the time to let you know in the comments. He’s a legendary coach who is a strong personality. He’s pissed off a lot of people over the years. The criticism of his …advice?… to Dagny is absolutely spot on. He was also very controversial as national team coach in some of the things he implemented. It cost USA Swimming a lot of money. I think if you polled his athletes, like with most successful and high profile coaches, you would find a majority who respect and appreciate him, but also a not insignificant number who feel like he was mentally and/or verbally abused them. He is a very good… Read more »
This is very astute and accurate summary
Not everybody dislikes Mark the majority of the people that say they dislike are simply jealous of the accomplishment that he has had in swimming. I will admit that sometimes he’s hard to get along with, and when he comes into a program He has a tendency to take everything over..
bro please just RETIRE
Not a chance. Retirement is OVERRATED!! 😂