Club Wolverine head coach Jim Whitehead is no longer the head coach of the program, departing after more than two years in charge. He was removed from the role by the parent board, and associate head coach Tony Carroll has been promoted to interim head coach. An email to the team was vague about the reasons for the split, though an insider described it as an interpersonal conflict with a member of the board of directors.
“This decision was made after thorough debate and review, with a focus on ensuring the best long-term interests of the club,” an email to the team said. “It has the unanimous support of the executive committee of our board of directors. We want to reassure you that we have a plan in place to ensure a smooth transition for our swimmers, families, and coaches.”
Whitehead told SwimSwam he was heartbroken by the decision, enjoyed his time at Club Wolverine and wants nothing but the best for the club’s swimmers.
Whitehead joined Club Wolverine in 2023 and became head coach when Gunnar Schmidt joined the varsity staff at the University of Michigan. At the time, that brought one of the most successful coaches from the western part of the state, Schmidt, to the most successful program in the eastern part of the state, Club Wolverine.
Whitehead was previously the co-head coach of Michigan Lakeshore Aquatics in Holland, where he worked since 2015.
Whitehead attended East Carolina before ultimately graduating from Alabama.
Carroll also joined Club Wolverine in 2023. He has twice been named to the US National Junior Team coaches’ list in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 when he was coaching at the Lakeside Swim Team in Kentucky.
Club Wolverine was named a bronze medal club in 2024, making them one of the top 200 clubs in the United States.
Club Wolverine has approximately 250 swimmers who train with the team at any given time. The team won the 10 & Under, 11-14, and 15 & over LSC Championships earlier this season.
As a CW parent of a swimmer on Whitehead’s team, I got to see a lot of his approach toward coaching, spoke with him, and spoke with my child about it many times. From our shared perspective, Jim Whitehead is one of the greatest coaches we’ve known. We are very sad to see him go and wish him the very best. Our thoughts and sympathies are with Jim. As far as where this leaves CW, well, not in a good place. This is at least the 3rd highly excellent coach that has been forced out by the CW board in the last few years, subsequent to CW bylaws changes that eliminated parental input to the board, which now runs itself… Read more »
This comment is laughable. So many complaints, safe sport reports, and elite swimmers quitting his program to join other teams. This “CW parent” and the “insider” mentioned in the article seem very fictitious because anyone who has been on a practice deck with this coach knows what he’s like. Don’t speak on behalf of the CW membership who doesn’t agree with you.
And SafeSport’s response to the complaints was to recommend that the club remove the family in question, because the complaints were that asinine.
Anybody can complain to SafeSport. 95% of SafeSport complaints are retaliatory nonsense. I wish USA Swimming would start to crack down on that stuff.
We have a swimmer who swam with him everyday – they had no negative experiences.
Attacking my comment and the article itself. More attacks. Classy.
Well, there was NO sanction by SafeSport against Coach Whitehead whatsoever, and the board president’s letter merely contained vague innuendo. What really happened here? A small clique of rich, entitled elites who will run the club into the ground in pursuit of whatever selfish gain they think they can get for their kid, to the detriment of other swimmers and, importantly, the Club itself.
fmr SwimSwam writer Tony Carroll!?
Tony is a great coach, Wolverine is in good hands!
@bradenkeith To clarify, are you referring to a current board member, or recently departed board member?
“Interpersonal conflict with a member of the board”. This is going to become more common. Problem is you have to do everything if you want to own your team. There are good parent boards out there, but rub someone the wrong way and they’ll have you in their cross hairs. Like you’re the problem 4 kids made cuts and theirs didn’t.
You interpreted that phrase a lot differently than many who know his history.
Tell us please!
It was a unanimous executive board decision so it seems unlikely to be a single board member v. the coach.
The board saying their decision was unanimous should be investigated.
Swimmin’ in the south, your comments on this thread, like the decision of the board, are not supported by evidence. Find some facts then try again 💅🏻
everyone knows why
Jim’s one of the best is USA Swimming. What a loss for CW. Board seems volatile.
Jim assembled a great staff that will keep the swimmers moving for the remainder of the season, but he will be missed.
Rumors and comment trolls are no fun. Thank you Jim for all you did for CW. We will miss you.
General curiosity, what did he do? Like tangible results