Q&A: A Discussion With Associate Head Coach Doug Wharam of the Nashville Aquatic Club
As associate head coach at the Nashville Aquatic Club (Tenn.), Doug Wharam has had a big hand in molding some of America’s biggest swimming names. Among his rewards are coaching assignment selections at USA Swimming national camps and for international team competitions.
Doug Wharam
Associate Head Coach & Competitive Director
Nashville, Tennessee
- University of Virginia, B.A., history, 2005; SUNY-Cortland, M.A., sport management, 2011; United States Sports Academy, Ed.D., 2019
- Associate head coach and competitive director, Nashville Aquatic Club, 2010-present
- Volunteer assistant coach, Vanderbilt University women’s team, 2010-11; University of Virginia, 2009-10; Brown University, 2008-09
- Director of Competitive Swimming, Shenandoah Marlins Aquatic Club (Waynesboro, Va.), 2009
- Head age group coach/assistant senior coach, Seacoast Swimming, Providence, R.I., 2008
- Head age group coach, Waves of Wilmington, N.C., 2007
- Assistant age group coach, Machine Aquatics (metro D.C.), 2005-07
- Adjunct professor, University of Southern Tennessee, 2021-present, Columbia State Community College, 2020-22
- Board member, ASCA
- USA Swimming Coaches Advisory Council
- USA Swimming assignments: assistant coach, Pan American Games, 2019; head coach, 18 & U FINA World Cup Team, 2017; national junior team camp coach, 2016, 2019; national select camp coach, 2013
- Southeastern Swimming senior coach of the year, 2018, 2019, 2021
- USA Swimming developmental coach of the year, 2016, 2018
- ASCA/Fitter & Faster national age group coach of the year finalist, 2014, 2016
- ASCA Level 5 coach
- In concert with head coach John Morse, the two have produced athletes who have secured medals on the international stage, including the Olympic, Pan American, FINA World Cup Series, Junior World Championships and Junior Pan Pacs
SWIMMING WORLD: Your coaching résumé speaks for itself, but how did you get started as a swimmer?
COACH DOUG WHARAM: My mom grew up in rural North Carolina and was a non-swimmer. When I was young, she put me in lessons for safety. I showed some interest and aptitude. The rest came from there.
SW: What were some highlights in your competitive career?
DW: They were mostly lowlights to be honest!
SW: With a history degree from the University of Virginia, how did you come to coaching?
DW: I started coaching summer league when 14 and worked my way up to head coach as a junior in high school. I was also a lifeguard at night when Dan Jacobs (Machine Aquatics in the Washington, D.C. area) was coaching age group kids. His energy and passion were infectious, and I knew I wanted to impact people the way he did. I didn’t know it would be via coaching! When I dropped out of graduate school, my high school coach, Jeff Haynie, was coaching for Machine and offered me a job with him a few nights a week. It paid $18 an hour 20 years ago, so I was all in.
SW: Who were some important mentors?
DW: In no particular order: Jeff Haynie, Ray Grant, Dan Jacobs, Charlie Hodgson and TJ Liston and Craig Nisgor. All played a major role in helping me develop a fundamental understanding of stroke technique and how to get age group and senior kids to swim fast and have fun. I was lucky to have Mark Bernardino and Don Easterling mentor and help me get my first full-time coaching job. And then there is John Morse in Nashville. Without his guidance, I wouldn’t be anywhere near the coach or person I am today.
SW: Why pursue a doctorate degree?
DW: I felt coaching could be volatile, and I needed a backup plan.
SW: And with the Ed.D., how has it positioned you to be a more effective coach?
DW: It has forced me to be exposed more regularly to the scientific side of things. It allows me to bring more of a science-informed approach to what happens in practice every day.
I learned to coach as an “art,” and the science side has a lot of catching up to do with the art side. Science can back up the hunches you have as a coach and can provide a better understanding of factors that impact athlete development. My research interests focus on how club administration can influence high performance. We have made adjustments at NAC based on what I have learned that have enhanced our ability to sustain high performance.
SW: You and John Morse really complement one another, producing a lot of talented athletes (the Walsh sisters, Ella Nelson, Allie Raab, et al.).
Photo Courtesy: Nashville Aquatic Club
DW: We’ve been doing it for 13 years. We also have different strengths and weaknesses. John is really, really good at driving the group or the athlete forward. My strength lies in driving details forward at the right time.
We don’t agree all the time. In fact, sometimes we really disagree behind closed doors. But at the end of the day, we both respect and trust each other enough to understand that sometimes you just have to go with what the other person thinks is best if they feel strongly.
From a practical standpoint, we split the workout writing 50/50. Regarding talented athletes, they do the hard work, are coachable and focused and make us look good!
SW: How do the two of you address group culture and expectations?
DW: In theory, this is very easy; in practice, very hard. We want our group to be hard-working, focused and respectful of one another. We also want them to have a good time. For us, the goal of practice is to impact how you perform—and how you perform is dictated by how you practice. So with high performance as a goal, we have to have a group culture that is focused there.
We expect our athletes to be at practice. We also understand that life happens at times. Since I have a family, I understand I have limited emotional capital. I want to invest that capital in athletes who want to be at practice and who want to maximize their swimming potential. Having athletes who don’t adopt that mindset is just a no-go in the top group.
One of the things I’m most proud of is that our athletes seem to be happy people who still enjoy swimming. We have many who come back to coach with us. I think that speaks highly of our culture.
SW: What are some of the hard conversations that go into maintaining your team culture?
DW: We don’t have too much trouble here because our coaching staff has been so stable through the years. It does happen occasionally, though! It’s important to remind athletes and parents who may be concerned about group placement that our groups are training groups—not rewards. We want to build training groups that allow each athlete to maximize potential. There’s a lot that goes into that—it’s not just times in a meet, attendance or time on the team.
SW: And how do you handle them?
DW: In my experience, two things are true: (1) you can only be honest, and (2) honesty can breed contempt. Regarding difficult conversations, I was once told that you have to plan ahead and think about the “well” of energy you want to pull from during that conversation. So instead of, “You’re not meeting expectations, and we want you out of here” and having a bit of a knock-down, drag-out with a parent and athlete, the “well” of energy might come more from “Why aren’t you meeting expectations because you would be capable of doing X”…then see what they say.
Sometimes the parties want to meet that expectation, sometimes they don’t. At NAC, we pride ourselves on having a spot for nearly everyone who wants to swim. We offer a variety of commitment and competitive levels. As such, I don’t lose sleep over those conversations. That’s because as a coaching staff we make these decisions together and place athletes in spots to be successful. Moving kids TOO early can be a hard problem to solve.
SW: There are all different kinds of leadership. How do you develop and support the different forms of leadership among your athletes?
DW: As a coach, the key to developing leadership is identifying each athlete’s strength and then encouraging that. Many times, athletes have natural leadership tendencies. Nurturing those in a positive way is critical.
More often you see athletes with undiscovered leadership tendencies. Putting them in positions where they can learn about those tendencies through experience can be valuable. For some, it’s working hard. For some, it’s socially. For others, it’s vocal leadership.
Whatever it is, we want to foster and build upon it. We work with a sport psychologist who does a lot of work on group culture and leadership. We also offer opportunities for our senior athletes to get involved with the team on a variety of different levels!
We never want to put a kid in a position to lead if they aren’t capable or ready. Our preference is to have the athletes lead themselves because that is when the group is most successful. However, when a void exists, as a coach we need to jump in and be the group leader…not hope or wait for an athlete to step up. If the void isn’t filled, it goes right back to that culture component—and you don’t want to lose that! We frequently remind our athletes that they don’t need a title to be a leader.
SW: Coaches often struggle with work/life balance. How do you manage that personally?
DW: My wife, Sarah, was a high-level swimmer herself (a Florida Gator), so she understands what I do for a living and how important it is to be with the athletes at times. As important, we have a culture at NAC that allows us to take time to be with our families or take time away as needed. We trust our awesome coaching staff (Tony Carroll, Jack Folcarelli, Cory Pierce) to do things the right way. This allows everybody a little flexibility.
I think the work/life balance actually does exist, just not at the same time. You have to look at it from a longer horizon. There are times of the season/an athlete’s career where there is no chance of having balance at home if the team/athlete is going to achieve to their potential. It’s also important to recognize where you can find time/a season to slow things down a little, and, hopefully, your club leadership supports that.
SW: At 13, Gretchen Walsh was the youngest swimmer at 2016 Olympic Trials. What is the value in moving a very young and talented age grouper to the senior group?
DW: There are tons of benefits! One is a direct coaching/guidance path that allows the building of early relationships with athletes and parents. As the athlete progresses, these relationships prove to be invaluable in navigating the ups and downs of a high-performance career.
The No. 1 challenge is that it is a LOT more work for the coach. You can’t daily throw a talented 12-year-old in with a 17-year-old and expect the same results. Doing so requires considerable manipulation of practice to ensure that the athlete is happy, successful and injury-free! Happily, this is one of the things we are best at—and the results speak for themselves.
SW: How has NAC developed world-class international long course swimmers?
DW: We love long course swimming. We are intentional for those who show that kind of potential. It is also a focus for our training group overall.
SW: Some of those same athletes have become national-class sprinters. How has fast short course swim training advanced that process?
DW: Our running joke is that we never run out of endurance. That plays to our strengths during the long course season. The skills required to be successful in short course are equally as important if you want to be a high-level international swimmer. You have to kick underwater, swim a race well strategically, be able to turn, change speeds and be capable of competing start to finish. Sounds like what we do in practice!
We like to find a good balance between short and long because each has a place for the developmental athlete.
SW: What has been the benefit from your numerous USA Swimming national and junior national team assignments?
DW: Each assignment has been the result of an athlete/athletes doing an amazing job day-in and day-out. Easily, the biggest benefit is helping all kids continue their progress and helping fulfill their career potential. I love learning from other athletes and coaches, and watching on deck. You can always pick up a tip or two that you can use back with your own group. The relationships built are extremely valuable. Some of my best friendships in this business were forged as a result of a camp, team, trip, etc. It’s also an amazing opportunity to represent the United States on any level. It’s very humbling, and I’m so grateful for each opportunity.
SW: On the domestic front, you drive Saabs.
DW: Saabs fit my personality because I’m a non-conformist—at least that’s what I’m told. I like driving something you don’t see on the road very often, and I have a passion for fixing and keeping them going. I have two Saabs because one is usually broken. My “hobby” away from home responsibilities is to work on the cars. It’s quiet, frustrating, but also ultimately productive, so I appreciate the challenge.
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Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach, golf and swimming writer. His critically acclaimed coming-of-age golf novel, “Too Much Loft,” is in its third printing, and is available from store.Bookbaby.com, Amazon, B&N and distributors worldwide.
Great article on so many fronts. Thank you for writing it, and thank you to Doug for the candid answers. Truly enjoyed it.