East is meeting West in Michigan club swimming, as the coach of the best team in Western Michigan Jim Whitehead is joining the staff of the best team in the Eastern half of the state, Club Wolverine. Whitehead will be joining the Club Wolverine staff as an associate head coach.
The merger brings together two of the state’s top coaches, with Club Wolverine in Ann Arbor led by Gunnar Schmidt. The two are among the few club coaches in the state who have coached multiple athletes on to the USA Swimming National or Junior National Teams.
Whitehead was previously the co-head coach of Michigan Lakeshore Aquatics in Holland, where he worked since 2015.
Whitehead himself swam collegiately at East Carolina, though he ultimately graduated from Alabama.
“For youngsters 12 and under, our goal is to get them to fall in love with swimming and have fun,” Whitehead said of his philosophy at MLA. “When they get a little older, we just want them to keep coming back and focus on what is going on inside our walls. Then, by the time they are senior-level swimmers, we are helping them realize a dream – whether they want to swim in college or internationally or nationally.”
Among MLA’s best-known recent alumni are brothers Derek Maas and Kyle Maas. Derek Maas, who just finished his senior season at Alabama, was 7th at the 2023 NCAA Championships in the 100 breaststroke. Kathryn Ackerman, a 2023 NCAA Championship qualifier for Michigan, also did her club training with MLA.
Whitehead and MLA also provided a home for Devon Nowicki after he forewent his college eligibility and turned pro in 2019, and Pac-12 Champion Cameron Craig in a comeback attempt.
White was previously co-head coaches at MLA with Ian Townsend.
Club Wolverine, which trains primarily out of the Canham Natatorium at the University of Michigan and the Mike Jones Aquatic Center at Eastern Michigan University, has a long list of notable alumni who have swum in college and beyond. Much of the team’s history is connected to the college and pro groups that have represented the team, the club team has produced a number of well-known swimmers as well. That includes Olympic gold medalists Kara Lynn Joyce and Allison Schmitt, multiple-event Junior National Champion Sierra Schmidt, and Junior Pan Pacs teamer Cameron Craig (who later trained with Whitehead at MLA).
Among current Club Wolverine swimmers is University of Michigan commit Hannah Bellard, who was 3rd at Winter Junior Championships – East in the 200 fly.
Club Wolverine won the recent Michigan 14 & Under age group championship meet, while MLA was 3rd.
Schmidt was promoted to head coach of the program in December 2016 after previously having served as the interim head coach.
Big moves. Congrats, Jim!
Jim, you’re the best and will be missed. Best of wishes to you and Laura as you transition back to the other side the state. You’ve been great for MLA but have left it in great hands. CW is lucky to have you.
Annie Lazor was on the Junior National Team – Dave Eichenhorn was her high school coach and did a lot of the heavy lifting that last year.
Great news!! Go club dub
MLA and CW are among the lucky few teams to have access to 50m pools in the state.
“ The two are among the few (if not only) club coaches in the state who have coached multiple athletes on to the USA Swimming National or Junior National Teams.”
Jeff Cooper coached Randy Lam to the 1999 USA Swimming Junior National Team, and of course Peter Vanderkaay, who needs no introduction.
Other than that, I can’t think of any MI coaches to add to this list…
thats cap my boy
I actually didn’t know who Peter Vanderkaay was, so I looked him up. GREAT career! Except he had all his success under UofM and CW according to Swimming World.
OOOH good one. We came up with a lot of “if you stretch the definition a bit” coaches for the list, but couldn’t find one that fit. That’s the best suggestion I’ve heard. Was PVK on the Junior National Team/National Team while training with OLY/Cooper though? I can’t find the list and it’s not mentioned in his Michigan bio. I have to believe he was, given his times, but…
If we expand to “people who went on to make a Junior/National Team,” there’s at least one other on the list: John Fodell at the Grosse Pointe Gators.
PVK was training with Club Wolverine at that time.
Hey wasn’t with the YMCA program through high school then?
He qualified for the 2001 World University Games team while representing OLY (he was 17), but didn’t attend. Not sure how you want to count that.
However, Megan Fox of OLY (yes that is her name) made the 2009 USA National Junior team and went on to swim for ASU. So that one DEFINITELY counts.
Another to add to this list: Brad Brockway of Kingfish Aquatics (KAW) had both Camden Murphy and Madison Wright make the USA Junior National team.
Brockway also had Ava Ohlgren when he was at Bulldog Aquatic Club. She was on the Junior National team before heading off to Auburn.
Oh thank you! You confirmed my recollection that he was still with the Y team through high school.
I think Adam Cooper with Courtney Weaver may also be on that list. Not positive though?
Always excited to see my home state and the coaching community there excel! Keep it Moving🤛
There’s a lot of ones. The original stat was about who has two. Though obviously one is a monumental feat that 9x% of coaches never achieve!
I see! Thanks for clarifying two kids.
Great stuff all around.
This is like if Superman and captain America had a team up
For those who aren’t familiar with the Michigan club swimming world, this is the equivalent of Ryan Day leaving Ohio State to join Harbaugh’s staff at Michigan
Except I think that Gunnar and Jim will probably get along a lot better