USA Swimming has posted the job for its new National Team Managing Director role, which serves to illuminate what the search committee and Board of Directors are considering for the position.
Pay & Location
The job is listed with a salary of $300,000-$400,000 base plus bonus, which makes it higher than what most collegiate coaches are paid but slightly below the annual compensation of the highest-paid college coach that we know of, Bob Bowman at Texas.
That’s within range of what Lindsay Mintenko, the prior National Team Director, was making. She had a base salary of $293,927 in reportable compensation plus an additional $52,951 in estimated other compensation.
The job also lists “profit sharing,” though as a non-profit it’s not clear what that means.
While previous rumors were that USA Swimming was willing to consider remote work from the right candidate, the job posting says that “this position is located at the USA Swimming headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado.” It is likely, though, that the veracity of that statement will be determined by the new CEO, who has not yet been hired (and there are conflicting reports about which position will be filled first).
The position also says that folks who advance in the process will be asked to make a two quad plan. We don’t know if that implies that USA Swimming is looking for a coach who will be in the role for 8 years or not, but it implies that they are looking down the road.
Job Functions & Requirements
Mintenko, the last National Team Director, deviated from her predecessors in that she only had a few years of coaching experience when she took on the job and served more in an administrative and coordinating role.
An elite athlete with five years of collegiate assistant coaching at USC under her belt, Mintenko was certainly well-versed in the ways of high level sport, but she didn’t have the coaching resume of her predecessors in the role like Mark Schubert or Frank Busch, nor did she really have the functions of those coaches.
But in a parallel to what happened when the National Team Director role was first created after a disappointing performance at the 1988 Olympics, there is a push to return this gig to a high level coach. Dennis Pursley was named the first U.S. National Team Director in 1989.
Among the specific functions listed:
- Direct and oversee the creation of the annual High-Performance Plan together with the USOPC to ensure ultimate success at the highest levels of competition, most specifically in relation to gold medal achievement at the Olympic Games.
- Provide consistent oversight and philosophical direction for the National Team to ensure the continued growth of a winning National Team culture historically characterized by the highest levels of personal accountability, medal-winning performances, professionalism, team spirit and collaboration, and national pride.
Club visits are also listed among the key jobs.
The requirements are the real giveaway about what the Search Committee is looking for, including points like:
- Extensive domestic & international coaching success.
- Minimum of fifteen (15) years as a swim coach, to include considerable head coaching experience.
- Experience working with elite-level athletes and coaches.
- Experience working in international sport.
- Experience working with the USOPC, NCAA, and World Aquatics, and knowledge of their respective structures.
Moving the role back to a coaching role will also help to further repair the relationship with coaches, which was damaged pretty severely during the Tim Hinchey administration.
The job doesn’t abandon its administrative functions, however. The posting seems to want someone who can handle both roles at a high level – the one done by Mintenko, and the one done by her predecessor coaches.
As written, the job would be challenging for any one person to do well, so while the coach chosen for the role will have to be strong administratively, it is likely that a support person will be hired too.
I find the salary RIDICULOUS for these coaches on national level. While at the same time the top 20/30/40/50 swimmers are fighting to stay relevant and make ends meet. Granted that someone like Ledecky has millions in the bank. The same is not true for the top 100 swimmers in the USA. Especially for those out of college.
If it’s alright for the best swimmers to have millions, why would it be a problem to pay the highest ranking coach $350k?
Because like much of the uninformed public, the previous poster believes that swim coaches should make peanuts, work nights and weekends, that it’s not a real job, not a competitive industry with a pyramid of talents in their top ranks. Texan, you nailed it.
Oh, and let’s not forget that many top football coaches (who will never coach an Olympian) make $350K per MONTH. But of course that’s acceptable. Top swim coaches in this country should make less than six figures and like it.
Eddie … you bored yet with retirement?
If you don’t know Ed, this probably just seems like a funny joke. But if you know Ed, you realize he’s probably still looking at the meet results of 10 and 12 year old boys and girls from meets last weekend, including their splits. Ed once said about the Olympic head coach position that to do it well, you had to think more about USA Swimming in a week than most people do in a year. If he came on in the role, he’d definitely have a plan for the next 8 years, even if he stayed for only two of them. I’m not advocating for this to happen. I’m just saying that’s Eddie.
Just curious, but why such a large salary for a coaching position which effectively doesn’t coach any swimmers?
No season plan to create, no practices or meets to attend (more like visits to check in on other coaches and swimmers), no facility issues, etc.
Maybe I am thinking this position is more of a supporting, advisory role until International events occur. And then coaching experience comes in to play.
It also reads as though an administrative assistant or staff will be hired or assigned (from current staff of USAS, maybe).
I am all about coaches getting paid, but this is a lot of money for a person not coaching on a daily basis, etc.
Because this is what it costs to get a top coach off the deck these days.
If the job is $150k, your candidates are associate head coaches from NCAA programs outside of the top 10.
The scope of responsibilities for this position, and the expertise/experience required, more than justifies the salary. The National Team Director is not a deck-coaching position. The work centers around essentially developing the overall excellence of the entire national governing body. In the interest of brevity, I won’t list the myriad of duties this role will entail. It’s heavy.
Could you please list the duties for this position.
It’s hard to understand how coaching or national team directing is the explanation for Team USA’s decline. It makes more sense to chalk it up to clubs/coaches/facilities from the rest of the world catching up. And then the fact that Phelps happened to be American and Marchand not.
USA swimming can pay a new director but it’s mostly just going to come down to hoping they get their share of the next few big superstars.
Agree. IMO, a new NTD isn’t going to the “one” who determines the success of the future of US dominance on the world stage, instead, it’s the work of those on deck, leading and guiding athletes. And especially the work done by the athletes day in and day out.
An NTD can be a resource, offer guidance, and help create a long term plan.
But USAS really dropped the ball in the last quad by not promoting the stoies of the sport to the general public: Return of Dressel, Successes of Walsh sisters/UVA, following up on the teen sensations from 2020(1), just to name a few. Not even mentions of Ledecky… the world standard in women’s swimming.
If US swimming… Read more »
Oooooh maybe ASCA can write a letter….
“As written, the job would be challenging for any one person to do well, so while the coach chosen for the role will have to be strong administratively, it is likely that a support person will be hired too.”
Braden nails this. The National Team Director will be a “big name, big time coach” with gravitas and experience. As he/she absolutely should be. Defining ‘strong’ administratively might be another matter. Having a crackerjack administrator working for the National Team Director will keep the trains running on time.
Such a person would need some high-level coaching experience, as well as running a big club/association. That role will be huge to keep all the organizing and communicating on track.
Fine… I’ll do it. Twisted my arm but I’ll take the gig.
John Atkinson