NCAP CEO Tom Ugast Gets Real About the State of Club Swimming

GMM by @SwimOutletcom Let’s be blunt: if you own a swim club in the U.S. right now, this episode should punch you in the gut — and wake you up. Because today on the GMM Podcast, I sit down with Tom Ugast, CEO of Nation’s Capital Swim Club, a team that’s been at the top of USA Swimming’s rankings more years than it hasn’t. But Tom didn’t inherit a machine. He rebuilt one — from the turmoil of the Curl-Burke collapse — and turned it into one of the nation’s top-producing clubs with a long list of Olympic swimmers including the greatest female swimmer in history: Katie Ledecky. This conversation is part of a series I’m doing with club leaders who’ve built empires, not just teams. I’ve already talked with Mike Koleber of Nitro and Chris Davis of SwimAtlanta. Tom rounds out that trio — and he brings something different to the table. Tom didn’t come up through the traditional coaching ladder. He came out of the private sector, running a 200-person publishing business, moving millions of units for brands like Time and The Economist. When the 2008 crash hit, he pivoted — and brought every ounce of that business discipline back to the pool deck. The result? One of the most important club turnarounds in U.S. swimming history.