The Swim Brief

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What does it take to keep good coaches in swimming—and how hard are we really looking for the people we say we want to hire?

UCLA associate head coach Bex Freebairn joins Chris to discuss the everyday choices that shape coaching culture. From paying coaches enough to build sustainable careers to actively seeking out women for opportunities, Bex challenges the idea that our individual influence is too small to matter.

We also explore her journey from rural New Zealand to American college swimming, how she earned trust and re...

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Are we debating how much salt to put in the soup while the guests are on fire?

Ricki Clausen returns to The Swim Brief for a bonus episode about what’s holding Scandinavian swimming back. His argument: coaches are better educated than ever, but the swimmers they develop run into school demands, cultural pressure, and financial barriers that better coaching alone cannot fix.

We discuss why the transition to high school drives swimmers out, whether Denmark’s four-year school pathway actually helps athletes, and what it means to celebrate worl...

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Cal Brown’s posts about swim training have occasionally gotten under my skin. So I invited him onto The Swim Brief to explore the experiences behind his message—and where we actually disagree.

We talk about training volume, recovery days that aren’t really recovery, and what strength coaches hear from athletes that swim coaches might miss. Cal explains how he and his brother approach athletic development at Aqua Strength Performance, from mobility and jumping to leaving something in the tank.

But the heart of this conversation is why athlet...

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Juliet Suess returns for the second half of our Ted Lasso conversation, exploring who gets the freedom to coach differently—and who still has to prove they belong.

We dig into Alice Chilton’s development, disagree over Ted’s handling of her suspension, and consider what her promotion reveals about opportunity in coaching. Ted’s decision to step back opens a broader conversation about head coaches, assistants, and whether flexibility is something everyone deserves or a privilege reserved for the person in charge.

We also discuss competing without surrendering your lif...

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You can’t wait until championships to teach swimmers how to handle championships.

Wisconsin head coach Dr. Jack Brown joins Chris DeSantis to discuss why mental skills deserve the same deliberate practice as physical ones. Drawing on his own struggles as an elite swimmer, Jack explains why “just focus” often fails, how coaches accidentally amplify performance anxiety, and when goals stop helping athletes and start getting in their way.

They also explore Jack’s transition into head coaching, a disagreement over the development of elite female swimmers, and what it takes...

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Milo Cavic looks back at his younger self and sees an athlete he wouldn’t necessarily enjoy coaching: self-centered, fiercely invested in success, and determined to learn things the hard way.

The Olympic medalist joins Chris to discuss how he understands that athlete differently today, what he needed from Dave Salo and Mike Bottom, and why believing in your training matters. He explains why his own late-career coaching change makes him sympathetic to athletes who choose to leave successful environments.

They also discuss the balance between strong training partners an...

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Tracy Slusser has coached three NCAA championship teams. She has also experienced a coaching culture that made having children feel incompatible with doing the job at the highest level.

We talk about the expectations she absorbed early in her career, what happened when a fellow coach brought her child onto the deck at Nationals, and the changes Tracy wants to see—from emergency deck passes to better coverage when coaches take leave. 

Today, Tracy works with coaches on leadership, confidence, and the skills needed to build a career they can...

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What is a developmental coach actually trying to finish?

Longhorn Aquatics head coach Mike Laitala joins Chris DeSantis to discuss why producing fast young swimmers is not the same as preparing athletes for long-term success. They explore the risks of early specialization, the difference between developing strength and simply “lifting,” and why athletes can advance beyond their own developmental awareness.

Mike also explains how he prepares swimmers for college, another coach, and eventually the ability to direct their own careers. The goal isn’t to exhaust every tool available—it’s to...

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Jack Roach has spent a lifetime learning from coaches—and helping coaches and athletes learn from one another.

In this conversation, Jack reflects on his time leading USA Swimming’s National Junior Team, where he helped create developmental experiences that connected young swimmers with senior athletes and brought coaches into a broader web of relationships. But his philosophy extends well beyond any particular program: coaches shouldn’t simply provide answers. Their job is to ask questions, deepen awareness and help reveal the wisdom already developing within the athlete.

We discus...

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What makes swimmers want to keep showing up—not because an attendance policy requires it, but because they genuinely want to be there?

Jonathan Kaplan, head coach and director of SwimRVA, joins Chris to discuss a collaborative approach to coaching built around athlete ownership. Jonathan explains why he has never used an attendance policy, how coaches can teach swimmers to manage the psychological demands of practice, and what happens when an athlete’s entire identity becomes tied to results.

They also explore confidence without false modesty, the damage created by p...

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What does it take to build a championship-level program without allowing college swimming to become purely transactional?

Stanford men’s swimming head coach Dan Schemmel joins Chris DeSantis to discuss his unlikely path from Hawaii to one of the most prestigious jobs in the sport—and the moment he finally felt that he belonged there. They explore how Stanford is navigating NIL, the transfer era, and the growing pressure to treat the athlete-coach relationship as an exchange of immediate benefits.

Dan also explains why recruiting athletes who genuinely love swim...

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Ted Lasso returns with a new challenge: building a women’s team inside a sporting structure created for men.

Chris DeSantis and Juliet Suess discuss what the opening episodes of season four reveal about coaching, leadership and the systems surrounding women’s sports. They explore Coach Chilton’s technical strengths and relational blind spots, Rebecca’s failure to consider a woman for the head coaching position, the limitations of copying and pasting from the men’s game, and how Emma Hayes has turned a deeper understanding of female athletes into a competitiv...

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Swimmers spend hours in the pool, yet many still aren’t eating enough to support the work they’re doing.

Alicia Glass, Sport Dietitian for USA Swimming, joins to explain why swimmers need to think more like endurance athletes—and what happens when training volume and fueling fall out of alignment. We discuss early-morning practices without breakfast, why sugar and sports drinks can be valuable performance tools, and the practical barriers that keep exhausted athletes from eating consistently.

The conversation also explores why effective nutrition advice must account for the in...

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Swimming has spent decades asking coaches to become more professional. But has the profession done enough to support them in return?

Doug Cornish is a former swim coach, financial planner, and the creator of the 2025 Swim Coaches Compensation Survey. His findings expose how precarious coaching has become: 38% of respondents reported working without a current contract, while 80% had no cost-of-living adjustment built into their agreements.

Doug and I discuss why coaches continue accepting these conditions, how poor financial stewardship limits what clubs can provide, and why coach retention is foundational...

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Margo Geer’s path to becoming the head coach at the University of Alabama was anything but conventional. When she took over the program at 28, plenty of people questioned whether she was ready.

Six years later, Margo joins me to discuss what prepared her for the opportunity, how her experience as an elite athlete shaped her leadership, and why she was able to deal with the criticism surrounding her hiring.

We also talk about protecting the health and performance of coaches, the value of letting athletes experience different environments, an...

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Don Wagner spent more than fifty years coaching swimmers at every level of the sport—from developing young athletes to coaching Olympic champion Janet Evans during the most dominant stretch of her career.

In this conversation, Don reflects on the moments that defined his coaching journey, how training philosophy has changed over five decades, what he believes today's coaches get right (and wrong), and the lessons that mattered most after a lifetime on deck.

We discuss:

• Coaching Janet Evans during her world-record years
 • Why today's swimmers may nee...

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Todd DeSorbo has built one of the most dominant programs in college swimming history—but he says there was never a master plan.

In this conversation we explore what it actually takes to sustain excellence year after year, why coaching elite athletes is more about what you do with the data than long term planning. Listen for how he thinks about recruiting, athlete development, emotional control, and building a culture that keeps producing world-class performances.

Todd also shares why he believes plateaus are often a sign that an athlete is...

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What can The Odyssey teach us about leadership when every available choice carries consequences?

Chris is joined by Juliet Seuss for a different kind of episode: a conversation about Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and the questions it raises about responsibility, power, guilt, and shame. They examine whether Odysseus accepts responsibility for the people who follow him, how Penelope exercises power within an unjust system, and what Sinon’s story reveals about the shame society places on marginalized people.

Along the way, they explore one of leadership’s hardest realit...

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For years, conversations about athlete welfare have rightly transformed the way we think about coaching. But there's another side of the equation that receives far less attention:

Who protects coaches?

This week I'm joined by coach Sophia Parr (@swim.coach.sophie) for one of the most vulnerable conversations we've ever had on The Swim Brief.

Sophie shares the story of being removed from a high school coaching position after months of conflict, isolation, and feeling unsupported by leadership. Rather than focusing on a...

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Why do parents keep intervening in coaching decisions—and why does giving in usually make the problem worse?

In this solo brief, I describe the fear underneath parent pressure: the belief that failing to secure every possible opportunity means failing their child. I explore how coaches unintentionally reinforce that anxiety, why concessions invite more intervention, and how proactive communication can prevent conflict before it begins.

The episode offers a practical framework for defining the roles of coach, parent, and athlete—allowing parents to support their child meaningfully without feeling they...

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Dave Salo has coached at every level of the sport—from NCAA championships to Olympic medals—but this conversation isn't about workouts or sets.

Instead, we explore the decisions that define great coaching.

We discuss why process matters more than outcomes, how a single sentence can change the way an athlete experiences failure, the transition from assistant coach to head coach, what it means to lead people instead of simply managing performance, and the lessons Dave has learned from both success and adversity throughout his career.

Whether you...

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The head coach of Swimming and Diving at the University of Illinois Jeana Kempe joins to talk influences and the path of her coaching career. 

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David Marsh tells all about what his retirement actually looks like, and what he had planned if he was National Team Director.

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Tracy Menzel joins to talk GAIN, Diversity and why she’s back coaching in her hometown.

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Recapping the day I spent following around USA Swimming National Team Director Greg Meehan at last week’s Indy Pro Series event.

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Dave Durden joins to discuss how he approaches his unconventional start at Cal and his approaches to recruiting and hiring.

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Megan Devito, a high school swim coach and performance mindset coach, joins to talk shop on the value of coaching.

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The CEO of USA Swimming joins to share what he’s learned in his nine months on the job and what he thinks is possible for the future.

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Former National Team and World Champion rower Cara Stawicki joins to talk shop and even turns the tables on me.

Links for Cara:

Website: https://carastawicki.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carastawicki/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cara-stawicki-6059196/

Book a Discovery Call: https://calendly.com/carastawicki/discovery?month=2026-04

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Organizing my big picture reflections on the stupidest event in swimming history, and all the losers who tried to make it work.

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Big shout out to the IDGI Podcast with Nate McKay and Kyle Johnson for helping me out with this week’s pod. Listen to hear me get interviewed by the guys, plus some thoughts on the top about the Loser Olympics.

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Glenn Mills, the owner and founder of Goswim, 1980 Olympian and all around man about the sport, joins to talk about what he sees in the swimming world.

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An old friend of the podcast, Kyle Johnson, returns to share his wisdom. Kyle also has a podcast, which you can follow for me to be on soon.

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James Marshall of GAIN and Excelsior Athletic Club joins to talk how he came to coach three sports, knowledge sharing and the athletic insights of Nassim Taleb.

Check out his website: https://excelsiorgroup.co.uk/

Link to James’ substack newsletter.

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First podcast of the book club, featuring USA Swimming’s Corey Manley. We discuss previous guest Kristoffer Henriksen’s book All You Need to Know About Talent Development. The book was co-authored with Carsten Hvid Larsen and Louise Kamuk Storm.

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In preparation for book clubbing with Corey Manley, I break down how I communicate about talent with coaches and athletes.

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Celebrating 1000 followers on instagram by taking listener questions. Want to have your question answered on the pod? Listen to the end of the pod for instructions!

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The recently named CSCAA Division III Coach of the year, Peter Casares of Bates College, joins to recap the year and talk about getting a walk on to a National Championship. Plus, a bonus at the end for all D3 Swimming nerds.

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Northwestern Swimming and Diving Head Coach and College Swim Coaches Association President Rachel Stratton-Mills to share her approach to coaching.

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Dr. Randy Wilber is a Senior Sport Physiologist at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. He has worked with numerous Olympic medalists across multiple sports. I press him for insight on overtraining and blood analysis.