JACK ROACH
Consultant & Coach and Athlete Development
Jack Roach joined TIDE full-time in January 2017 as Head Coach and Senior Program coach. In August 2019 he was named Director of Coach and Athlete Development for TIDE. Jack has over 35 years of coaching experience and is perhaps one of the most accomplished and experienced coaches in USA Swimming. Throughout his long coaching career, Jack has gained experience at every level of swimming – club, age group, and senior, college, the USA National and USA National Junior Teams, and the USA Olympic team in 2008, 2012, and 2016.
Jack Roach, a former beach lifeguard, and Marine, served as Head Age Group and Junior National coach at Mission Bay Aquatics from 1986-1990 alongside legendary coach Mark Schubert. Together they won nine national team titles from 1986-1989. Jack served as an Assistant coach at the University of Texas women's swimming team from 1990-2000. The UT women won two national championships and were runner-up once during his tenure as Assistant coach. Simultaneously, he served as Head Coach and Director of the USA Swimming Club Texas Aquatics in Austin, Texas. Jack coached from 2003-2008 in Mexico as Head Coach and Aquatics Director at La Loma Centro Deportivo. He coached the Mexico National Team and also hosted top international coaches and swimmers for training camps at La Loma. In 2008 Jack was named the National Junior Team Program Director at USA Swimming. Talk with any of the top US coaches and they will point to the creation, administration, and execution of this National Junior Team concept as a key to the United States's success in London and Rio.
In preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympics, Jack moved into a role working exclusively to help prepare the coaches and athletes as the Consultant of Athlete and Coach Relations. As SwimVortex.com wrote:
"In the ranks of the quiet contributors to surround success in swimming, there's a man called Jack Roach, who has led a USA juniors tour and training program for several years – and now has a role doing what he's so good at doing: talking to talent and mentors one-on-one, telling it like it is, honesty harnessed not as a challenge but as a strength."
Team USA's performance in Rio speaks for itself and the role every coach and athlete played, including Jack Roach. Ask any Olympian and they will attest to the key role Jack plays in developing elite swimmers.