Greg Meehan Redefining Role of USA Swimming Coaches

In First Fall on Job, Greg Meehan Redefining Role of USA Swimming Coaches

Part of the enchantment for USA Swimming in hiring Greg Meehan, past the three nationwide championships and slew of Olympians mentored, was his familiarity with what a coach wants. His 13 seasons at Stanford required an expansive view of this system, of athletes on completely different timelines, of prepping for the current and the long run.

As USA Swimming’s National Team Director, the scope of Meehan’s job is even broader. At the conclusion of his first half-season on the job, his expertise of being one of many coaches that he now has to interface with is much more vital.

The conclusion of a busy summer season within the first yr of the Olympic quad is a pure recalibration level for Meehan, employed in April. He spent his first summer season on the job gauging the depth of the expertise pool by watching performances on the World Aquatics Championships, World Junior Championships and World University Games. With no choice meet subsequent summer season forward of the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships, swimmers could have an prolonged coaching block via the spring.

By that point, Meehan and his employees could have a greater thought how USA Swimming’s nationwide group employees and the high-profile coaching teams across the nation can work collectively in aligning this system’s sights on the 2028 Olympics.

“I think right now it is more internally within the national team division, what do we need to do better? What are the services that we can dive into?,” Meehan mentioned final week in an interview with Swimming World, including that the purpose for his employees is, “really trying to help support those coaches and athletes and finding the things that we can assist them with.”

This summer season has been about assessing strengths and weaknesses. The expertise in Singapore, the place the U.S. persevered via a extreme bout of gastroenteritis, introduced Meehan and his employees many classes. As a coach who relied closely on knowledge at Stanford, the lull in competitors this fall is an opportunity to evaluate the info and glean extra insights.

Meehan is aware of from being on the opposite facet of the desk what he doesn’t need to do on this course of. When nationwide group rosters are launched this month, he gained’t present up within the places of work of coaches with vital populations on the group and begin dictating modifications. He additionally gained’t stroll into conferences with nothing to supply.

“As a coach, it always drove me nuts when someone would walk in and be like, OK, how can I help you?,” he mentioned. “No, that’s the worst question.”

Meehan is aware of that, as does a employees that features former Wisconsin head coach Yuri Suguiyama and former Cal assistant Kim Williams. Instead, his purpose is collaboration. With the time, knowledge and freedom from day-to-day trivia that may lavatory down a university employees, Meehan’s group can provide insights to school and membership coaches about their athletes. They’ll additionally get extra details about these swimmers from the coaches who see them each day versus only a six-week summer season snippet.

The hope is that collectively, they will triangulate the most effective path ahead for athletes.

“We want to be partners in this,” Meehan mentioned. “We want to be partners with coaches and athletes. We don’t want to tell them what to do. We don’t want to walk in and say, here’s a blank slate, how can we help you? Because that’s too much. We’re trying to narrow the focus on some tangible things, and whether that’s technical, race strategy, preparation, strength and conditioning, the whole 360, that’s our goal. And we have to continue to get to know those athletes before we can really dive into it.”

Meehan assumed his position earlier than the job above him was crammed, USA Swimming solely hiring Kevin M. Ring as CEO final week. Ring’s experience isn’t in swimming. He’s there to develop the membership and develop industrial alternatives.

Having the sporting facet sorted out, then, is a boon for Ring by way of the place his attentions will likely be spent within the early weeks upon taking the workplace on Sept. 17.

“Greg is obviously an incredibly established coach, and I think having him in place, knowing the respect that people have for him, that’s something that I don’t think that I have to worry about in terms of people and staff,” Ring advised Swimming World final week. “What I have to think about is, what does Greg need? What does Greg need to grow?”

Meehan likes the label of 360-degree considering for his mission. That encompasses the day of the race, the week of the race, the month of the race and the months lengthy earlier than a race. It entails tweaks to race technique uncovered in Singapore and coaching changes within the lead as much as a serious occasion. (One concrete instance of a big-picture change is transferring the summer season with out a choice meet from 2027 to 2026, permitting direct choice to the 2027 World Championships in Budapest as an alternative of Pan Pacs.)

As Meehan and his employees outline their roles extra solidly, the duties will embody what to do within the months the place there is no such thing as a competitors on the horizon. How does the U.S. employees discover methods to contribute to, say, the coaching of Katie Ledecky in October when she gained’t race for one more two months? Or what perception can USA Swimming present a younger swimmer – a Rylee Erisman or a Thomas Heilman – to enhance their each day work?

Meehan walked away from the 2024 Olympics in Paris “bummed” on the state of the U.S. program’s tradition. He sees the resilience in Singapore the face of sickness and exterior criticism, led by a gaggle of veterans on the ladies’s facet particularly, as indicative of change.

Meehan now has an opportunity to form that tradition. And earlier than he and his employees do, they’ll spend time figuring out one of the simplest ways to have an effect on that change.

“There is that sort of intangible piece of culture building within USA Swimming,” he mentioned. “That’s very important. It’s very important to me. I know it’s important for the staff. I know I feel that from the athletes. … That’s the piece that, as national team coaches, we can only have so much impact on things. But this is an area where we want to make sure everybody’s on the same page and we’re all working towards the same thing, and that’s getting back to being a dominant force.”