Mark
Schubert
And then some.
Since Schubert came on board at Troy in 1992, he has directed his men’s squads into the top seven at the NCAA Championships seven times and has guided the women’s team into the top seven eight times, including its first-ever national championship in 1997.
He led the men’s program to a fourth-place finish last year at the NCAAs (its highest ever under Schubert) and guided the women’s team to a sixth-place mark. The men’s squad finished second and the women were third at the Pac-10’s, arguably the toughest conference in the country.
Since he has been at USC, the men’s and women’s swimming programs are a combined 114-28 (.803 winning percentage).
Schubert is also one of the United States’ most recognizable and successful coaches of all-time. He most recently came off a noteworthy stint as the United States men’s swimming head coach at the 2000 Summer Olympics, where he helped guide the team to seven gold, six silver and three bronze medals.
Schubert has continued to bring success to USC and the swimming world continues to take notice.
He earned a trio of Coach of the Year awards in 1999, coming from the United States Olympic Committee, the American Swimming Coaches Association and United States Swimming.
Two years earlier in 1997, he was honored with five Coach of the Year awards: ASCA, USOC, USS, NCAA and Pac-10.
Named the head coach of the USC men’s swim team in 1992, Schubert took over the combined men’s and women’s programs in the spring of 1993 and currently serves as the head coach of both teams. He is also the director of the highly successful Trojan Swim Club, which won the 1999 U.S. Summer Nationals women’s and combined team championships.
Both of USC’s men’s and the women’s teams remained among the elite in the nation in 2000-2001. The men’s team featured nine swimmers who earned a combined 23 All-American honors, highlighted by Klete Keller’s NCAA titles in the 200y and 500y freestyles.
The women’s squad came away with seven All-American swimmers who earned a combiend 17 All-American honors. Michala Kwasny was the top women’s performer, posting three top three finishes in the 200y IM, 400y IM and the 200y Fly. She also earned All-American honors in the 400m medley relay.
One of the world’s most highly respected coaches and the most successful club coach in U.S. history, Schubert’s tenure as the head coach for the U.S. men’s swim team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, was his sixth consecutive USA Olympic coaching position. Schubert, who coached the U.S. men’s squad at the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships, was an assistant coach at the 1996 Atlanta Games. He served as the 1992 USA Women’s Olympic head coach, guiding the American women to two gold medal relay world records, four additional American records and an impressive world-leading 14 medals, including five gold. In January of 1998, he served as assistant coach for the U.S. women’s team at the World Championships in Perth, Australia.
For his career efforts, Schubert was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., on Jan. 10, 1997 as “Honor Coach.”
Among Schubert’s top swimmers in 2001 included two-time World Championship bronze medalist Klete Keller and silver medalist as well as World University Games medalists Ryosuke Imai and Mark Warkentin.
In his 32 years of coaching, Schubert has placed 28 swimmers on U.S. Olympic teams; these athletes have won 18 gold and eight silver medals, plus five world championship titles. Even more impressive, Schubert’s swimmers have broken 25 world and 107 American records and have won more than 200 U.S. national titles. Among the Olympians he coached in Sydney were three-time gold medalist Lenny Krayzelburg, gold medalist Lindsay Benko, silver medalist Erik Vendt and silver and bronze medalist Klete Keller.
Atlanta performers Schubert coached included Brad Bridgewater, Kristine Quance (both gold medalists) and Janet Evans (a gold medalist in Barcelona and Seoul). He also coached Erika Hansen (now a USC assistant coach), Lawrence Frostad, former Olympic champions Mary T. Meagher (a triple gold medalist in 1984) and double gold medalist Tiffany Cohen, Trojans Sippy Woodhead and Mike O’Brien as well as Olympic champions Brian Godell and Shirley Babashoff.
Krayzelburg, one of Schubert’s most recent phenoms, set the swimming community ablaze when he broke three backstroke world records at the 1999 Pan-Pacs. For her part, Benko won five medals there and was part of an American record relay. Warkentin held his own by winning four gold medals at the 1999 World University Games.
Overall, Schubert placed 12 swimmers on various U.S. National teams in 1998 and 1999, including 1998 World Championship participants Krayzelburg, Bridgewater and Benko. Krayzelburg, Bridgewater, Bret Awbrey and Warkentin all competed for the U.S. at the 1998 Goodwill Games. Pan-Pac participants from 1999 included Krayzelburg, Benko and Bridgewater. Leonardo Costa and Karen Campbell made Schubert proud at the 1999 Pan Am Games, eaching taking home a gold. Rounding out the international competition were Corrie Murphy and Gabe Woodward at the WUGs and Paige Francis, Mike Williams, Philippe Demers and Costa at the 1999 World Short Course Championships.
Schubert’s international coaching experience is highlighted by his six consecutive coaching appearances with the U.S. Olympic swim teams. Before heading the men‘s team in 2000, he was as an assistant in 1996 and was head coach in 1992. Schubert was an assistant for the combined men’s and women’s teams in 1980, 1984 and 1988. He was the head coach of the 1982 U.S. World Championship team and was an assistant on the 1978, 1982, 1986, 1991, 1994 and 1998 World Championships staffs. His Trojan swimmers captured four medals in Rome and four more in Perth, Australia.
Schubert came to USC from the University of Texas, where his swimmers won two NCAA team titles (1990 and 1991) and four Southwest Conference championships in his four years there (1989-92). His Longhorn swimmers won 12 NCAA individual and eight relay titles and Schubert was named 1990 NCAA Coach of the Year for his efforts. Among the swimmers Schubert coached to NCAA titles were American record holders Leigh Ann Fetter and Whitney Hedgpeth. He also served as the head coach of the 350-member Texas Aquatics U.S. Swimming club team which won 10 national titles during his four-year tenure.
Prior to taking over at Texas, Schubert was one of the top club coaches in the U.S., serving as the head coach of the Mission Bay Makos Swim Team in Boca Raton, Fla., which won nine national team titles from 1986-89. Schubert helped design the Mission Bay Aquatic Center and directed daily operations of one of the world’s most comprehensive aquatic centers, including competitive swimming, diving and master’s programs.
Schubert initially made his mark on the national level as the head coach of the internationally renowned and highly successful Mission Viejo (Calif.) Nadadores from 1972 to 1985. While there, he coached such talented swimmers as Cohen, Meagher, Babashoff, Brian Goodell, Mike O’Brien, Jesse Vassallo, Sippy Woodhead and Dara Torres. His teams won a national-record 44 national team titles during his tenure. Schubert was named national Coach of the Year by the American Swimming Coaches Association in 1981, 1976 and 1975.
Schubert coached at the high school level at Cuyahoga Falls (Ohio) High from 1971 to 1972 and at Mission Viejo (Calif.) High from 1973 to 1975, where his team won the 1975 CIF title. He is a 1971 graduate of Kentucky with a B.A. in education (he swam there from 1967-69), and he began his coaching career with the Wildcats, serving as an assistant coach from 1969 to 1971.
His swimming-related duties include serving on the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Board of Directors since 1975. He is a former vice-president and member of the Board of Directors of the College Swim Coaches Association of America.
Schubert was honored by NACDA (the National Association of Athletic Directors) for his role in the success of the 1992 and 1996 USA Olympic Team.
During the summer, Schubert oversees the Trojan Swim Club, USC’s U.S.S. club team, where he has worked with swimming legends such as Janet Evans. He also conducts the “Swim with SChubert” swim camp at USC’s McDonald’s Swim Stadium.
Schubert and his wife, Joke, live in Seal Beach, Calif., with their daughters, Tatum, 24, and Leigh, 22, both former swimmers. Joke was the head manager for the U.S. swimmers at the 2000 Olympics and was an assistant manager for the U.S. swim team at the 1996 Olympics.