USA Swimming Replaces CEO Tim Hinchey, Team Manager Lindsey Mintenko

In the wake of an uninspiring performance at the Paris Olympics, major leadership changes are coming at USA Swimming, sources say. Sports Illustrated MagazineCEO Tim Hinchey and national team manager Lindsay Mintenko are expected to leave the organization in the near future, though nothing has been officially announced yet.

The United States won more swimming medals than any other nation (28) and more gold medals (eight), but those numbers did not match the typical American Olympic performance. It was the lowest number of gold medals in American swimming since 1988 and the lowest total medals since 2004, and there are now three more events on the Olympic program than there were then.

This comes after a dismal US showing at the 2023 World Championships, where Australia won the gold medal 13-7. There were some within the national swimming ranks calling for change after that meet, but US swimming has largely held its ground. Heading into an Olympics that will conclude with the Summer Games on home soil in Los Angeles, the need for improvement has only grown more urgent.

Sources say Mintenko, who has been in her position since 2017, has already told some colleagues she intends to leave USA Swimming. Mintenko now has the responsibility for U.S. competitive performance, and recent results make it difficult for her to return.

Many USA Swimming members considered Mentenko’s lack of coaching experience and overall leadership skills to be a setback. In the past, the position had been held by former coaches who provided practical feedback to swimmers and coaching staff on the pool deck.

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Hinchey, who has served as CEO since 2017, is set to renew his contract through 2025. Hinchey and the board are expected to announce whether they intend to move forward with a new deal by Sept. 30, but both parties appear set to make a decision to explore other options, according to the sources.

An innovative marketer, he led the dramatic move of the U.S. Olympic Trials from the basketball arena in Omaha to the American football stadium in Indianapolis, Lucas Oil Stadium. That led to record crowds and rave reviews from swimmers, likely cementing the event as a stadium-sized event in the future. (The 2028 Olympic swimming competition will be held at SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers.)

But the financial success of the event is another matter. But Hinchey’s fate was largely tied to the American performance in Paris, and it was uneven at best.

The women performed well, winning five gold medals, four of them in individual events: Katie Ledecky in the 800m and 1,500m freestyle; Kate Douglas in the 200m breaststroke and Tori Huskey in the 100m butterfly. The quartet of Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Huskey also set a world record in the 400m medley relay on the final day of competition.

But the men were in danger of being eliminated from the individual gold medal race for the first time since 1900 until Bobby Finke won the final individual event of the championships, the 1,500-meter freestyle. Their only other gold medal came in the 400-meter freestyle relay on the first night of the championships, and their silver in the 400-meter medley relay was the first time in Olympic history that the United States had not won that event.

There was Controversies within the USA Swimming Club membership and training classes The Coaches Advisory Council also recently wrote a letter expressing “a lack of confidence in our current leadership of USA Swimming,” and the USA Swimming Coaches Association has also expressed concerns.

The decision USA Swimming makes regarding the appointment of a national team manager will be interesting. Bob Bowman, the most accomplished coach in the country, is certainly off the market.

The man who coached Michael Phelps to 23 gold medals just coached France’s Leon Marchand to four gold medals, and the 22-year-old Marchand is likely heading into the prime of his career. Plus, Bowman just took a job as Texas’s swimming director, which he’s certainly not leaving before he even gets started.