France has some fabulous horse-racing courses – Carolyn Reynier trots of Shvets’ promotion comes after his second season at GW and after helping the Revolutionaries remain at the top of the A-10 in 2025 Olympic swimmer Melanie Margalis Smith will return to Georgia Tech where she previously coached in the 2022-2023 season Contreras finished her third season as the Wolf Pack’s assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in 2024-25 World Record holder Michael Andrew will join the Columbia Missouri-based club once a month in a coaching role Former Texas team captain Brie Powers has been appointed head coach of Kalamazoo College’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams January 17th, 2024 Coaching Changes, College, News, Pac-12 The University of Arizona swim & dive program has severed ties with assistant coach Lara Jackson Jackson, an Arizona alumna and one of the most decorated swimmers in program history, was hired by Wildcats head coach Augie Busch in August 2021 Swimmers on the team are reportedly “very upset” at the news including some walking out of practice after being informed Jackson returned to her alma mater after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at Florida Gulf Coast University where she helped the Eagles win the CCSA conference title in 2021 The now 37-year-old was hired to replace Jesse Stipek who had served on the team’s staff since 2013-14 and transitioned into teaching in 2021 During Jackson’s brief stint on the Arizona coaching staff, the women’s team has finished 19th (2022) and 18th (2023) at the NCAA Championships, though the vast majority of those points were scored by diver Delaney Schnell the Wildcats placed 17th in 2022 and 32nd last season the women finished 21st and the men 12th in 2021 Texas native had an illustrious career during her time swimming collegiately at Arizona including winning two individual NCAA titles in the women’s 50 freestyle in 2008 and 2009 She also helped the Wildcats to seven relay titles and served as a key contributor on their NCAA championship squad in 2008 Jackson won three of her national titles during the same session in the 200 free relay and stood as the fastest swim ever until 2015 It also remains Arizona’s program record to this day Jackson would go on to win the Ruby Award later that year given annually to Arizona’s most outstanding female student-athlete Inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 Jackson also won a gold medal representing the United States on the international stage at the 2011 Pan American Games in the women’s 50 freestyle Jackson spent three years coaching in France with Vichy Val d’Allier Natation where she served as both the head senior coach and the head strength and conditioning coach Arizona coaches have not responded to a request for comment as of publication Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" The topic here is not Augie or his coaching staff It is about an individual who took advantage of their leadership role to groom an amateur athlete to a level beyond appropriate levels The fact that Arizona and other staff didn’t report it should be the conversation Hopefully someone covers this enough to not let her not enter another possible grooming profession again Why this topic is not a highlight of the thread is beyond me A blacklist should exist for such situations Probably because the cause of firing has not been disclosed It appears that you are insinuating that you know the reason what you are suggesting is slander and defamation Taking a story of someone’s misfortune and turning it into a self-serving opportunity to denigrate and degrade is hard to stomach to field D1 athletes who would place team over individuals and thereby grow character and improve team performance If you believe you are entitled to better individual treatment If you cannot appreciate the opportunity you’ve been given If you would prefer to hold others accountable for your shortcomings It becomes less about individual achievement and more about our value to others The best of us are extremely valuable to others The best teammates bring out the best in others,… Read more » The firing of the sprint coach opened the flood gates for people to express their feelings about the coaching staff at Arizona There are some great coaches in the program and they should be commended Previous statements including mine are 100% factual If you are trying to dispute them as a parent which I assume you are you’re grossly misinformed about what is taking place almost daily with the team I encourage you to make a phone call to your swimmer and ask them to dispute any of the things mentioned in any of the posts Augie told the swimmers back in August… Read more » you do not know the facts surrounding the loss of this coach; therefore it is not a fact that the events justify a floodgate event the lack of facts suggests an opportunistic campaign to air grievances unrelated to the event you are guessing that I have a child who suffers routine belittling and disrespect That is two assumptions; that I am a current parent and that all swimmers on the team suffer the same aforementioned abuse The team is not unified in your hyperbolic claim This indicates that your perspective is flawed At least you are clear that your objective is… Read more » Weird for one anonymous commenter to declare that another anonymous commenter “(does) not know the facts surrounding the loss of this coach.” Most people in swimming have commented here at one point or another The head coach blew off the swimmers at Minnesota to sit at the bar before his flight The head coach threatened to deport a foreign swimmer last year after a bad meet The head coach told swimmers don’t worry about the team worry about yourself The head coach frequently verbally attacks swimmers calling them derogatory names when they perform poorly The head coach misses numerous practices because he is tired or just not interested Head coach is disconnected from the team typically avoids communicating with the swimmers Head coach not willing to engage with parents at… Read more » I am a Current parent who needs to remain anonymous for the safety of my kids future The rumor of Augie deportation threat is 100% true Augie threatened to deport a spinter at PAC’s last year Over 30 athletes reported numerous issues to the university last spring How about Augie blowing off long course time trials this past December at the Minnesota Invite He told the swimmers he had early flight for a weekend with his brothers Swimmers arrived at the airport after the time trails only to find Augie sitting at the airport bar Apologized to the swimmers days later saying it was a poor decision Also swimmers have been told since… Read more » My apologies I am new at this and worried about my kids future Help these kids by exposing the many issues with Augie has the head coach As much as the leadership hasn’t done this program justice this situation falls directly on the individual Zero tolerance for her actions and immediate removal the University of Arizona has had every opportunity to explain that and has chosen not to For the protection of the student-athlete(s) and potential legal processes At the expense of Augie’s reputation I get that they probably choose it because it might be the best scholarship offer but you gotta see that it’s probably not the place to grow your swim career I think to answer a lot of these questions with a lot of programs 1) recruiting trips and conversations are sort of like job interviews in that neither is particularly effective at finding best fit 2) Scholarship money still means a lot for the bottom 90% of kids who have no illusions about where their future in swimming is going to take them 3) Brand names still mean a lot to Americans and don’t mean much to internationals Which is to say – telling people your kid got a scholarship to Arizona (and/or sending your kid to Arizona which is a very good education) is still cool and worth a lot Augie Bush is more Hunter Biden than Kyle Shanahan thats for sure Someone had a great story on this forum about Augie passing out drunk wearing his University of Arizona Swimming & Diving polo at a table in a fancy restaurant during the ASCA convention The story sort of sums up his entire coaching tenure… here’s the link to the article & comment section that mentioned Augie passed out drunk at a restaurant at an ASCA clinic… i knew I remembered seeing it https://swimswam.com/ncaa-alleges-lack-of-head-coach-control-against-arizonas-augie-busch/ I haven’t been following college swimming for that long and especially not since Arizona was good – can someone please give me some context Whenever I think of them I think of Kevin Cordes and Margo Geer 10 years ago Will someone please give me some bearcat insight haha They used to be incredible and now are middling at best Tanking a storied program will leave a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths It’s a little strange because it’s not really that much of a storied program It has a strong 50+ year history but they were a power for a stretch with Frank Busch and no other coaching staff has been anything close I think he just struggled to have a recruiting message and brought in a lot of talent that didn’t mesh well and a lot of projects that didn’t pan out with a few big time studs trying to resemble something like the 08 team; an oddball group that rallied as one unit recalling the 04 South African 400 Fr-R gold medal team that… Read more » They were a really strong before the 2000s as well the Arizona women won a lot of relays at NCAAs Pretty sure that Rick is quite content with creating his extraordinary works of art U of A needs an experienced coach that is personable and a good recruiter Inconsistency in the coaching staff has been a big issue No one can deny that time and a consistent message are the building blocks of establishing a culture I was there in the beginning with Frank and it took time for the program to evolve The culture was night and day in 1990 compared to when he left in 2012 The program culminated in 2008 but there were so many people who contributed to that over the decades George DiCarlo won gold and silver… Read more » So much is right and so much is wrong with this post More from James SutherlandSee All Subscribe to our newsletter and receive our latest updates Published: Invalid Date LEON Marchand is seen by many as the natural successor to GOAT Michael Phelps after obliterating his world record in 2023 Here's everything you need to know about the hottest swimmer on the planet right now, who's competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics Leon Marchand, born on May 17, 2002, in Toulouse, France, comes from a family deeply rooted in swimming His father Xavier Marchand is a former world silver medallist and Olympian, and his mother is Céline Bonnet, who competed at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics Leon started training with the Dauphins de Toulouse Olympique Employes Club in his hometown quickly establishing himself as an exceptional talent before securing bronze in the 400m medley at the Junior World Championships in Budapest just a few months later After a promising Tokyo 2020 Olympics where, at the age of 19, he reached his first final in the 400m medley, Leon decided to move to the US to compete against the best university swimmers In September 2020, Leon announced he would study at Arizona State University and train under the guidance of Bob Bowman, former mentor to the most decorated swimmer in the history of the sport, US swimming legend Michael Phelps Leon told Olympics.com: “Bob Bowman is a unique coach because, I've never seen someone as involved... And he's going to always push you to a little beyond "He also makes you feel confident about your work because all the hard work happens during practice." Bowman is also confident Leon can shine on home soil at the Paris 2024 Olympics: "I think Leon is quite capable of handling the pressure and performing well "The main thing that helps these guys that are already good swimmers when they get here "I'm constantly raising the expectation level of what they could do and challenging them in ways that they haven't been challenged." one of the most painful things I've done The move paid off and he excelled at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest claiming gold in the 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly In 2023, he continued his stellar run of form, winning three gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan where he was named the best male swimmer of the gala He also made headlines when he smashed Phelps' 400m individual medley world record at the event Leon has been preparing to become a swimming superstar on the American university circuit with Arizona State University He said: “There's like a lot of energy involved [in NCAA] I get pretty nervous about that because I don't wanna disqualify the team when I do something like that the choice to stay in the American West was motivated by his love of competition He said: "I took the decision not to turn professional this year to try and have more competitions "Having a rhythm of two weeks of training and one week of competition really allows me to get feedback from my coaches and improve "These are small goals that allow me to progress more quickly in the season "So I think it's pretty good to prepare for a big competition like the Olympics." Leon will be representing France in his home Olympics The opening ceremony for the event starts at 6.30pm on July 26 the festival of sport finishes with the closing ceremony which kicks off at 8pm on Sunday August 11 Leon shattered Phelps' 400m individual medley world record by an incredible 1.34 seconds at the World Championships on July 23 He became the first swimmer to finish under four minutes and three seconds, with Phelps presenting him with the gold medal during the ceremony Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/