Frank Busch, USA Swimming’s National Team Director since 2011, announced today he will retire from the position effective Sept. 1, 2017.

Under Busch’s leadership United States swimmers topped the medal table at the 2016 and 2012 Olympic Games and three straight long-course FINA World Championships, totaling 145 medals across these five major international events.

“Frank has constructed a National Team culture that is rooted in personal accountability, integrity, hard work, teamwork, goal-setting and the values that come with the continual striving for excellence. The results speak for themselves with the great success we had at the 2012 London Olympic Games and again this past summer in arguably the greatest performance ever by an Olympic swim team with 33 medals in Rio,” USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus said. 

Team USA won 64 medals – 32 of them gold – over the past two Olympic Games, including 33 total medals last summer in Rio de Janeiro and 31 at the 2012 London Games. Over the past three long-course FINA World Championships, Team USA has combined for 81 medals, 38 of them gold.  

Busch will continue in his current role through this summer’s 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

“I’m forever grateful to Chuck for giving me the opportunity to lead USA Swimming’s National Team division. It was the gold standard internationally long before I arrived, and the people that I’ve been able to work with over the last six years are remarkable people and the best in the world at what they do,” Busch said.

“In my coaching career I believed that every athlete’s personal growth was as important as their success in the pool, and that’s an underlying current of everyone that works in the National Team division. Working with the best in the world is a dream come true for anyone, and I have certainly lived that dream. It’s been an incredible team effort with everyone that works at USA Swimming. They all believe in achievement and they all work hard toward it.”

Busch added, “The National Team division has grown three of its most important areas – high performance, National Junior Team development and athlete services – into truly great models that every swimmer and coach in this country can be proud of.”

Prior to joining USA Swimming as National Team Director on May 1, 2011, Busch was a standout collegiate and club coach, most recently at the University of Arizona from 1989-2011. There, he guided the Wildcats to men’s and women’s NCAA team titles in 2008 and a combined 25 top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships. His club affiliate, Tucson Ford Dealers Aquatics, also earned USA Swimming national championship titles under his leadership.

During his coaching years, Busch was named to numerous coaching staffs for USA Swimming, including the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In addition to his contributions to American swimming, Busch has coached athletes from over a dozen other countries to international success. 

Busch has been the recipient of multiple coaching awards including United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and USA Swimming Coach of the Year. He is a six-time NCAA Division I Coach of the Year and earned the Pac-10 Conference Coach of the Year award 11 times. He was inducted into the American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) Hall of Fame in 2008.