Tim Hinchey is expected to be out as the President and CEO of USA Swimming, sources tell SwimSwam. Additionally, Lindsay Mintenko has is reportedly planning to resign from her role as National Team Managing Director.
Several sources have told SwimSwam that the organization will undergo these significant leadership changes, and Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated also reported the news on Thursday.
The news comes one week after letters from the USA Swimming’s Coaches Advisory Council and the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) demanding changes from USA Swimming’s leadership were leaked to SwimSwam. USA Swimming responded to the letters with a letter of their own, addressed to the membership, responding to some of the concerns raised. That response letter has since occupied all four slots in the top slider of the USA Swimming home page.
Hinchey assumed his role in 2017 and took over as the CEO of the USA Swimming Foundation in 2019. In March 2021, Hinchey extended his contract with USA Swimming until 2025.
Mintenko was also hired in 2017 as the Managing Director rather than National Team Director.
Under Mintenko, the title not only changed but the role shifted from a coaching position to more of an administrative and coordinator position. Mintenko was an assistant coach at USC before joining the USA Swimming staff in 2006 and did not have the same resume as coaches who held the previous version of the National Team role.
Pay
In 2022, the most recent year for which USA Swimming has released its 990 forms, Hinchey made $910,568 in reportable compensation and an additional $62,895 in “estimated amount of other compensation from the organization and related organizations.”
Mintenko was the organization’s 4th-highest paid employee listed on the 990, earning $293,927 in reportable compensation, plus an additional $52,951 in estimated other compensation.
With lagging results in international competitions in 2023 and 2024, many stakeholders have questioned whether the shift of the position away from a coaching role and to an administrative role was impacting American results in the pool.
Hinchey’s tenure at the helm of USA Swimming has been rocky, especially as the organization navigates a post-pandemic world. The big gamble on holding the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana was viewed as a success, at least through the lens of the scale of the spectacle. As a joint venture with Indy Sports Corp and the USOPC, it’s hard to know how much the USA Swimming was responsible for the event’s success, or what the economics of the event were. Under Hinchey, USA Swimming also figured out a pathway to protect itself from some sexual abuse lawsuits, which impacts the financial health of the organization.
But as the letters expressing concern from USA Swimming’s Coaches Advisory Council and ASCA show, there has been growing dissatisfaction with USA Swimming’s leadership. Hinchey has lost the support and trust of many coaches amid struggles with USA Swimming registration, which not only contrasts other countries, but AAU, whose membership has grown as clubs have departed USA Swimming.
In its letter, USA Swimming released registration information from 2005-2024, which showed that while the increase in membership is “the first time since 2012, we saw an increase in athlete membership growth in a non-post-Olympic year,” as USA Swimming said, the last two years have seen the lowest registration numbers since 2012. In the last 19 years, registration reached its peak in 2017. Hinchey was hired in September of that year and registration waned year over year from then until the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, there are fewer select camp opportunities at the developmental levels, and the Junior National Team Director position has been vacant for about half of Hinchey’s time as chief executive.
On the financial side, according to the most recently released tax documents, USA Swimming had a 45% decline in its assets in 2022, falling from $39,250,078 to $21,583,773. Hinchey notably made over $1 million in 2021, accounting for 2.8% of USA Swimming’s revenue, the 2nd most for a CEO of a major American sports governing body.
Reports on membership and finances, foretelling bad news, have been delayed and released more slowly than in the past.
Hinchey swam four years at UC Irvine and served as a graduate assistant swim coach at the university, but his career as a sports executive has seen him take on many other sports. During his three decades in the sports industry, Hinchey held leadership roles in organizations such as Major League Soccer, English Premier League, National Basketball Association, and National Hockey League.
His position immediately prior to taking over at USA Swimming was as the president of the Colorado Rapids Soccer Club of Major League Soccer.
Hinchey succeeded Chuck Wielgus as the chief executive of USA Swimming when Wielgus died after 20 years in charge of the organization. To find Hinchey, USA Swimming created a volunteer task force to seek out a new CEO along with consulting search firms. The task force included two former athletes, one current coach, a former USA Swimming president, a swim club founder, and two men with legal experience, who shared their recommendations with the Executive Committee and Board of Directors, the bodies responsible for the final choice.
