As an update to the previous news that Mark Schubert has taken a 60-day leave of absence as the head of the National Team program, USA-Swimming CEO Chuck Wielgus sent an email to all U.S. National Team members telling them that they were to have no contact with Schubert during his 2-month hiatus.
From the Washington Post:
Schubert, one of the most prominent U.S. coaches in the sport’s history, has come under fire in recent weeks for his operation of the national team program, according to a source close to the situation. Schubert, who coached Olympic legends Dara Torres, Janet Evans and other stars, has alienated a number of officials with outbursts and other behavior that some considered unprofessional, and was told Wednesday morning either to take the 60-day leave or face being fired, the source said.
Schubert has a history of a short-temper, and has been accused by some of trying to use intimidation to impose his will on the USA National Team program. Wieglus’ email said that Schubert’s break would be for “at least” 2-months, and that restricted contact included e-mail, text, and phone calls.
Multiple sources have confirmed that his leave has no connection to the sexual-abuse scandal. This was the right time for USA-Swimming to make this move, as the next meet for which the National Team will officially gather are the Short Course World Championships in Dubai from December 15th-19th, and even that is likely to be a dilluted squad. If USA-Swimming is considering a change, and they will surely be biding their options during this 2-month leave, this is the right time to figure that out. Making the transition now would be easier than doing it in the run-up to the London Olympics in 2012.
Ah, Mark Shubert. He ruined swimming by condoning cheating from day 1. Back in the 70s all of a sudden it became impossible to beat is ‘roided up Mission Viejo swimmers like Jesse Vassallo. Jokes around the pool were Jesse’s balls were going to fall off from steroid use.
Not to digress but in the past hasn’t USA swimming come out with the rosters for the national team and the International teams by now? Dubai (very curious about this one), Wugs , World champs etc..
Not sure about the timing…things change so much in 4 years that’s it’s hard to compare the timing of these announcements from one cycle to the next…
They’ve announced the selection procedures. One could pare through and figure out the rosters for each of these events if they really wanted to, I suppose. For SC Worlds, it comes down to who wants to go, which is not always everyone.
I agree that there’s probably more going on, but USA-Swimming is being very tight-lipped on it. Haven’t heard much of an indication if there was a precipitating incident, but there certainly seems to have been a build-up over time of people getting increasingly frustrated with his demeanor.
Whatever he did or said MUST be more than what this article states. Mark Schubert is one of the founding fathers of contemporary USA swimming, and is respected greatly throughout the swimming community as such. For him to be asked to take leave for 2 months or risk being fired, there has to be something big going on here. I am sure at some point this will make headlines outside of the swimming world. Instead of ESPN having a piece on who is better, Phelps or Lochte, they will probably have a piece on “Why USA swimming is falling apart”. Obviously Mark Schubert being forced to take a hiatus is not a good thing, and without the facts behind it,… Read more »