Raw Deal

I never thought I would be typing these words. Mark Schubert is out as National Team Director, and I think he got a raw deal. Although I've disagreed with a number of decisions that Mark has made during his tenure, the secrecy that surrounded his firing is just another example of the dangerous precedent being set in Colorado Springs.

Schubert was not without his failings as National Team Director. I criticized him for what I believed was an overly paternalistic and conservative attitude toward adult athletes. Earlier this summer, I made note that the Post Graduate Training centers by any quantifiable standards were failing. I also disagreed with his very public waffling over the speed suits. I saw him over the course of the year come out heavily in favor of them when his sponsor Speedo looked poise to monopolize the market and then later lead the charge to have them stricken when Speedo's market share was heavily threatened.

In short, I thought Schubert represented many of the weaknesses at the highest level of American Swimming: an overly powerful old boys network that valued their own arbitrary opinions even when they flew in the face of objective evidence that was beholden to a corporate sponsor.

While USA Swimming, as it is apparently wont to do, has not released anymore than cursory details about Schubert's hiring, all signs point to a certain sequence of events. Two months ago, Schubert was put on paid leave at precisely the same time that USA Swimming was charged with repairing its athlete partnership agreement. The original agreement, which provided added financial support for top swimmers in exchange for required meets and appearances to appease sponsors. Schubert had worked to change the agreement to lessen the responsibilities for athletes but not the compensation, an action that had apparently put him in the cross hairs of USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus.

What makes this action disturbing to me personally is that it was precisely the moment that Schubert acted in defiance of all the weakness I and others perceived in him that led to his dismissal. This was not a corrupt man beholden to sponsors- this was the National Team Director looking out for his athletes. This was a move to a future where athletes might expect a slightly larger piece of the pie that had grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade but mostly gone to USA Swimming bureaucracy.

Even more disturbing is the precedent. I believe that Wielgus will replace Schubert with a yes man who will do his bidding. Agree or disagree as I might with Schubert's decisions, his coaching resume is only shared by a handful of others in the entire world. He has been replaced temporarily by Jim Wood, who has seemingly been rewarded for his unfailing support of Wielgus while Wielgus very publicly embarrassed all of swimming.

Who becomes the full time National Team Director at this crucial juncture will say a lot about the future of the national team in 2012 and beyond.