Tributes to the Late Jason Turcotte

Morning Splash by David Rieder.

On May 7, longtime Dynamo Swim Club head coach and CEO Jason Turcotte tragically passed away in his sleep. He left behind a wife, Heidi, and three children.

Since he died, a GoFundMe page was set up to support his family and has raised more than $130,000 in less than two weeks. And on May 12, many from around the swimming community made their way to Atlanta to pay their respects to Turcotte in a memorial service.

Over the past two weeks, Swimming World reached out to many of those close to Turcotte to offer them a chance to share tributes to their friend. In part one of the tributes, hear from two of Turcotte’s assistants at Dynamo and several of his coaching colleagues from around the country.

Rich Murphy (Coach at Dynamo Swim Club)

Jason Turcotte had led Dynamo since 2006. Under his stewardship, Dynamo has had a golden decade, placing more athletes on international teams that at any other point in the long, storied history of the program. 2016 was particularly strong for Dynamo as four Dynamo athletes competed in Rio — Gunnar Bentz (USA; gold medal), Matias Koski (Finland), Jay Litherland (USA) and McClain Hermes (USA; Paralympian).

A man of integrity and good will, Jason built a culture of hard work and respect. His Cleveland, Ohio, roots rang true in how he led — no nonsense, hard work, coupled with genuine, authentic care for the people whom he coached and with whom he worked.

Jason’s coaching accomplishments were many including head coach for the USA women’s Pan Am games team in 2015, the USA Swimming Developmental Coach of the Year in 2014, as well as head coach for the USA at 2013 World Junior Championships, 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, 2012 FINA World Cup and at 2014 National Junior Team camp.

Jason cared for many people and in such a selfless way. His warmth extended far and he cared deeply. His biggest source of inspiration came from his parents, and his biggest source of joy came from his family. The complete version of Jason that those close to him got to see illuminated what his values were and who he was at his core. It is this compass made of family ideals and influences that allowed him to lead so wisely and care so completely.

Beth Winkowski (Coach at Dynamo Swim Club)

Many people will remember Jason for his coaching accolades. He was an incredible coach with unmatched passion. He was one of the few people I met who is competitive as I am. However, I will remember Jason for so much more than his coaching talents and presence.

I will remember Jason for his compassion. He had a special talent for reaching out to others. Countless are the times he reached out to help a coach struggling professionally or an athlete who didn’t fit into a specific social or athletic box.

I will remember Jason for his ability to “nerd out” with me. Beyond swimming, we talked about everything under the moon including politics (even though we rarely saw eye to eye), documentaries (we shared a love of sports documentaries), and he listened to and tolerated my love of volcanoes, National Geographic and Smithsonian videos.

I will remember his jokes and sense of humor. Jason always had a way of laughing with you and not at you. He had a hysterical laugh that you couldn’t help but laugh along with him — even if the joke was on you.

Most of all, I will remember Jason for his love of family. We spent countless hours talking about our families. I will never forget the day he excitedly told me he was having twins or the day he told me his twins were both girls — with a pale concerned face. I loved watching his girls run around him on the deck while he coached practice. While his girls were “Daddy’s girls”, Jason always had all the time in the world to nurture and grow a passion for sports with his son. They spent countless hours at Falcons practices and games.

Coach Jason coached the whole person, appreciated the humanity of those around him and lived an impactful life wherever he went. This is why and how I will remember him — Jason my friend — not just Jason the coach.

Ian Murray (Coach at Carmel Swim Club)

I had the privilege to know Jason for almost 20 years and he had a powerful impact on who I am and why I coach. I swam for JT in college, and he helped me rediscover my passion for the sport. His encouragement first planted the seed for my own coaching career. He was also the first person who made me believe that I could be successful at coaching. My time working for JT at the Stanford Swim Camps was what really sold me on being a professional swim coach and like him, I am very proud of my coaching start at Lake Erie Silver Dolphins.

Jason was a great mentor and his continued guidance through the years was always the encouragement or reality check that I needed. I know that each instance I walked away from spending time with Jason, I was motivated to do a better job. JT was simply someone I aspired to be. He coached the person, not the athlete. He had a tireless work ethic while leading with passion, and was constantly making those around him better. And he never let any of it get in the way of him being a great father and husband. I am grateful for knowing him and he will continue to influence me each day.

Mitch Dalton (USA Swimming National Junior Team Director)

Jason Turcotte was one of swimming’s finest. He led with love, humor and made compassion cool. One needs only to spend a few minutes on deck with the Dynamo team to realize that’s what Jason stood for. Thanks to his guidance, the Dynamo program is tough as nails with very high expectations, but there is a lot of love on that pool deck. Jason was one of a kind and will be truly missed by the entire swimming community.

Gary Taylor (Associate Head Coach at NC State University)

From day 1, Jason Turcotte had a winning vision for the Dynamo program. Championships would be forged through a daily process of education, incredible work ethic, a desire to dream big, and most importantly, a team built on the “family” concept. It comes as no surprise that Dynamo went through a great awakening under his leadership. Regardless of new milestones and achievements, Jason always seemed to have an ever evolving vision for the program which is a big reason for the sustained success. I have no doubt that Jason would have lead the team to even greater heights in the future, and his passing is not only a loss for the Dynamo Family, but USA Swimming as well.

I had the pleasure of working with Jason during his first 2 seasons in Atlanta and I could not have asked for a better leader, coach, mentor, or friend. Jason entered my coaching career at a pivotal moment and I am grateful for this experience. I learned so much in terms of building relationships, stroke development, training, and season planning. Beyond this, he was exceptional in 2 other key areas:

Jason had a knack for inspiring those around him, instilling his vision for them and making people feel special/valued. He was able to get the most out of his coaches, athletes, and team because he had so much belief in you that you didn’t want to let him down. You absolutely knew that Jason cared and he gave you everything he had and more.

He was also remarkably humble. Jason never felt that he had “cornered the swimming market” and was always receptive to new coaching techniques and training ideas. It was his goal to take a couple of new ideas from others and implement these at Dynamo. Even with all of Dynamo’s tremendous success in recent years, he never acted above others in the profession.

Another attribute of Jason’s, was his amazing work ethic. I have never worked with a more driven, selfless person in my career. He gave his time and effort to so many others, rarely focusing on himself or his own needs. This was a part of Jason that I greatly respected and I often think of. Jason set the bar extremely high, and I certainly aspire to walk the path he led.

Jason’s passion and love for the sport certainly had a major impact/influence on my coaching career. I am beyond proud to call him my mentor and a really good friend and will miss him dearly.

David Marsh (Head Coach at Team Elite & Coach of U.S. Women’s Olympic Team)

I’ve known Jason for a long time. One of his primary mentors was the same as mine, Richard Quick. He had Richard at Stanford, and I had Richard at Auburn in my early days. I think a lot of the style and passion and curiosity was developed under Richard’s tutelage. I think Jason really lived that out the whole time.

Probably more important to me with Jason was his strong principles. He had a strong belief, and it didn’t matter if you were one of his swimmers, a rival coach or a friendly coach. He was one of those guys who talked straight. He believed in the holistic approach to our sport and looked out for the people. Sometimes he had to discipline the people. I felt like he and I had a very W

When I first moved to SwimMAC, the team had done a dual meet with Dynamo for years and years and years. Jason was a guy who was already at Dynamo when I got here, and the team at Dynamo for the dual meet just wasn’t very good. The first year, we killed them. Jason had just arrived a year or two before that. In the next three years, Dynamo accelerated. During ’06 to ’09-’10, they accelerated and kicked our butts. We went from the first year where we slaughtered Dynamo to looking at Dynamo to examine what methodology they were using to help us become a better program.

Just watching Jason as a father and husband and knowing that he looked at his family as the centerpiece yet worked extremely hard, put in incredible hours at Dynamo. Jason Turcotte is really the Dynamo legacy, and he’ll always be that.