Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know where Phil might be headed next? Will he keep coaching?

Asa

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the HC at the site did not like one of the coaches favoring his own children?

The head coach who favored one of his own children? OK.

Facts here for the 2025-26 season:
The head coach of the site didn’t have any children that swam for NCAP- she’s at Texas.
Unless they’re randomly subbing a practice here or there, the lead coaches with kids are Phil, who doesn’t coach his own kids, and Dory who doesn’t coach her own kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would not go so far as to say that they treat any of the kids as garbage, but this is certainly not “in the best interest of NCAP athlete development” as was stated in the email to GP families. Quite the opposite. Phil and Jeremy care deeply about the swimmers that they have been coaching, some of them for several years. Dan S doesn’t even know they exist.

Sorry but Jeremy is a terrible coach and should never be allowed to coach children. GP gets best behavior Jeremy because he’s been on notice. I don’t blame you for being fooled but getting rid of Jeremy is an extremely smart move for NCAP.

Maybe you had a bad experience with Jeremy at TY. Since arriving at GP, brought in to save the GP site from another issue, he has connected well with a group of 9-12 year olds in the B1, some of which were in their first year of club since it is still an entry point. No coach is always going to be all sunshine and rainbows, but he calmly and clearly communicates what’s expected in practices, and the sets challenge the kids in a safe manner geared toward them getting improvements and being happy swimmers who take pride in the details. He gave them all positive, constructive and sometimes very detailed feedback after events, even if they gained or (very rarely) DQ. He is usually very chill and although the kids might say that Phil is more fun, he did make things fun for them this year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While this was handled incredibly poorly and some very good people were cut, that is not the fault of this new guy. That is poor management and poor planning. The
Dan guy might be great. I feel bad that he is walking into such a mess, but that is on the main office and the deciding coaches at GP.

I honestly feel bad for him- he hasn’t even walked in the door yet, and as one of his groups, after 20+ years of working only with collegiate athletes, he’s going to have to coach a group of 11-14 year olds who are going to be entirely comprised of kids who are currently swimming for both Jeremy and Phil (since some of them are already in transition from B1 to S2). Very tough assignment.

The blame here is mostly on the main office, who really should have figured out a better solution if they really wanted to bring him in. And I am pretty sure that only one coach at GP had any input.

It is such a bizarre choice to go from D1 swimmers to these 2 groups, and then add on top of that these are the groups who are unexpectedly losing coaches that they had a good relationship with. I really just can’t make any sense of this decision from all angles.

He has been commuting from Penn to College Park for the last several years. He wants to be reunited with the family.

That’s great. Let him be even closer with them by coaching a club team that has a practice group at UMD- and that is not NCAP. It’s obviously too late now given that what’s done is done, but he could have resigned from Bucknell and been with his family without involving the GP site in it.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the HC at the site did not like one of the coaches favoring his own children?

The head coach who favored one of his own children? OK.

Anonymous wrote:It seems that every May during registration season we should expect some chaos from the top. Also any coach is certainly expendable

Uh, our team has no chaos. This was such a sh*tty move on the part of NCap. Bait and switch and firing Phil, who is beloved.

It seems that every May during registration season we should expect some chaos from the top. Also any coach is certainly expendable

Anonymous wrote:This is just another lesson: If you get to close to the sun, you will get burnt.

Close. It is tartuffery that nailed one of them. That is more accurate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While this was handled incredibly poorly and some very good people were cut, that is not the fault of this new guy. That is poor management and poor planning. The
Dan guy might be great. I feel bad that he is walking into such a mess, but that is on the main office and the deciding coaches at GP.

I honestly feel bad for him- he hasn’t even walked in the door yet, and as one of his groups, after 20+ years of working only with collegiate athletes, he’s going to have to coach a group of 11-14 year olds who are going to be entirely comprised of kids who are currently swimming for both Jeremy and Phil (since some of them are already in transition from B1 to S2). Very tough assignment.

The blame here is mostly on the main office, who really should have figured out a better solution if they really wanted to bring him in. And I am pretty sure that only one coach at GP had any input.

It is such a bizarre choice to go from D1 swimmers to these 2 groups, and then add on top of that these are the groups who are unexpectedly losing coaches that they had a good relationship with. I really just can’t make any sense of this decision from all angles.

He has been commuting from Penn to College Park for the last several years. He wants to be reunited with the family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is devastating news for Prep families. Parents and kids love Jeremy and Phil. This is not how we want to see our community members treated after they have given so much. Spencer's leadership and competence is seriously being questioned.

If this is so painful for you then please leave. The last thing we need is this dragging on and becoming a distraction for those who are going to stick with the club. Spencer may be an idiot but what is done is done.

Wow, toxic and trumpy response. Let's move on even though we treated our beloved coaches terribly. What a great example for the young swimmers to witness. Job well done NCAP and Spencer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While this was handled incredibly poorly and some very good people were cut, that is not the fault of this new guy. That is poor management and poor planning. The
Dan guy might be great. I feel bad that he is walking into such a mess, but that is on the main office and the deciding coaches at GP.

I honestly feel bad for him- he hasn’t even walked in the door yet, and as one of his groups, after 20+ years of working only with collegiate athletes, he’s going to have to coach a group of 11-14 year olds who are going to be entirely comprised of kids who are currently swimming for both Jeremy and Phil (since some of them are already in transition from B1 to S2). Very tough assignment.

The blame here is mostly on the main office, who really should have figured out a better solution if they really wanted to bring him in. And I am pretty sure that only one coach at GP had any input.

It is such a bizarre choice to go from D1 swimmers to these 2 groups, and then add on top of that these are the groups who are unexpectedly losing coaches that they had a good relationship with. I really just can’t make any sense of this decision from all angles.

Anonymous wrote:Would not go so far as to say that they treat any of the kids as garbage, but this is certainly not “in the best interest of NCAP athlete development” as was stated in the email to GP families. Quite the opposite. Phil and Jeremy care deeply about the swimmers that they have been coaching, some of them for several years. Dan S doesn’t even know they exist.

Sorry but Jeremy is a terrible coach and should never be allowed to coach children. GP gets best behavior Jeremy because he’s been on notice. I don’t blame you for being fooled but getting rid of Jeremy is an extremely smart move for NCAP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know where Phil might be headed next? Will he keep coaching?

I heard he had multiple offers immediately. He coaches because he loves the kids so much and truly cares. How many of our coaches at GP can say that?

Phil is at minimum taking the Bullis swim coaching job that Valerie Simon (also former ASA coach) left to move out of the area. Phil would have been taking that position anyway as it would have to have already been in motion for NCAP to include it in the email. But I would also say that every coach at GP coaches because they love and care about the kids, except for maybe one. And that one is not Jeremy, at least not since he’s been at GP.

Anonymous wrote:While this was handled incredibly poorly and some very good people were cut, that is not the fault of this new guy. That is poor management and poor planning. The
Dan guy might be great. I feel bad that he is walking into such a mess, but that is on the main office and the deciding coaches at GP.

I honestly feel bad for him- he hasn’t even walked in the door yet, and as one of his groups, after 20+ years of working only with collegiate athletes, he’s going to have to coach a group of 11-14 year olds who are going to be entirely comprised of kids who are currently swimming for both Jeremy and Phil (since some of them are already in transition from B1 to S2). Very tough assignment.

The blame here is mostly on the main office, who really should have figured out a better solution if they really wanted to bring him in. And I am pretty sure that only one coach at GP had any input.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would not go so far as to say that they treat any of the kids as garbage, but this is certainly not “in the best interest of NCAP athlete development” as was stated in the email to GP families. Quite the opposite. Phil and Jeremy care deeply about the swimmers that they have been coaching, some of them for several years. Dan S doesn’t even know they exist.

I’m just a looky loo from another site, but did they explain how the transition from Bruce to Dan is going to work and who is coaching what group this upcoming season? This whole thing just seems so odd.

Yes- sort of.

Bruce - “not retiring at this time” (but no other details)

Dan - G2/S2
Julie - B1

No other changes. So at some still unknown point Dan presumably moves to G1 and they will again be needing new coaches for G2 and S2.

So a D1 coach left his college gig to coach the HS kids not fast enough to be in Gold 1 and the MS kids not fast enough to be in Silver 1? That makes absolutely no sense.

Reading it that way makes it make even less sense- but that’s sadly accurate.