Frank Busch is USA Swimming’s National Team Director, a position he has held since 2011. Before this appointment he was Swimming Head Coach at the University of Arizona for 22 years (1989-2011), and coach at University of Cincinnati for nine (1980–89). He was a coach for the USA Olympic teams in 2004 and 2008, and was named NCAA coach of the year six times.
Q: The ebb and flow of generations is a complex picture that rarely means that a team has bullets to fire from every barrel. The flow of swimmers into clubs and programs keeps the stream flowing but what measures does USA Swimming take to actively build strength wave after wave, season after season?
A: Fortunately for us the sport is growing, and has had steady growth for probably the last 20 years. Since 2000 I think Michael Phelps and Chuck Wielgus (USA Swimming Executive Director) have been instrumental in the sport’s growing popularity over the past 12, 13 years. Michael has become something of an icon in American sports, we’ve never had a swimmer like him before, and Chuck’s vision was to expose our sport to the masses through television. So with Michael’s performance and Chuck’s vision it’s been a great combination.
The reason I think we have…
