Send us Fan Mail 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 eat...

Send us Fan Mail 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 contin...

Send us Fan Mail 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, t...

Send us Fan Mail 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: • Coac...

Send us Fan Mail 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 sh...

Send us Fan Mail 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 socie...

Send us Fan Mail 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 unsupport...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 learn...

Send us Fan Mail 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.