In light of our post earlier today, we thought this old post from the Screaming Viking was very appropriate. It is from January 11th, 2011, right after news broke of Mark Schubert's departure from his position as National Team Director, and also right after the silly backtracking about the Hutchison/Jewell story at FAST that caused such an uproar among the media outlets who reported on it. Enjoy:
Despite a press release directly from the USOC offices in Colorado Springs, a press conference at the International Swimming Hall of Fame, numerous articles in reputable news sources such as the Washington Post, USA Today, ESPN and Swimming World that stated otherwise, and even though all media concerned gave direct quotes from Schubert and USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus in which they had stated in no uncertain terms that Schubert had moved on, the whole ordeal has been dismissed by both parties as rumor. Schubert will stay on through 2020.
"What was actually said that was so misquoted is that Mark Shubert was taking a well deserved six day vacation after the success of Team USA at the Pan Pacific Championships." said Wielgus, "I don't know how any of this nonsense about Mark being forced to take a sixty day leave of absence and his subsequent termination came about. Oh well, leave it to the media to never take enough of an interest in Olympic sports to put reporters on the job who might actually take the time to get their facts straight... do you know how many times I have read articles about high school kids breaking world records in the 20 yard Intermediate Medley? It's just silly. And don't even get me started about ABC's 20/20!"
When asked about his press conference held on November 17th in Fort Lauderdale, Mark Schubert stated that "none of those quotes that all those reporters had exactly the same and none of the statements that you can clearly hear and see me state on the video can be directly attributed to me. It is all just speculation by a bunch of sloppy reporters out to make a quick buck."
When asked if he would give Mark Schubert a positive reference, Wielgus replied, "Absolutely! Our National Team is in good hands!"
All of this comes during a time of rocky transition for USA Swimming, as the organization is struggling to maintain stability in their recently conceptualized "post-graduate centers of excellence." The news media has also falsely reported the dismissal of the head coaches of each of those high profile training centers with the most recent being Sean Hutchison at FAST in Fullerton, California who was obviously misquoted by several news sources to be "taking his dog and pony show elsewhere.
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