Jeff Thompson will resign his position as aquatics director and swim coach with the famed Germantown Academy swimming program in June 2025 to become the head coach of the Southeastern Swim Club in Fishers, Indiana.
An unusual club announcement almost 10 months out from the change, the decision gives Germantown time to search for and hire Thompson’s replacement in what should be one of the more high-profile club/high school hirings in the last few years.
Thompson came to Germantown in fall 2015, taking over for the legendary Dick Shoulberg, who left in 2015 after being investigated by the school for alleged abuse, suspended, and eventually reinstated to the job.
Thompson’s tenure leading the program has been lived in Shoulberg’s shadow, with a vocal group of alumni being unwilling to accept the replacement for the man who, at the time, was the only head coach in the 43-year-old history of the program.
The prestigious prep school located in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia produced eight Olympians during Shoulberg’s tenure and at one point placed a swimmer on the US National Team for 12 straight years.
Among the most-famous names to come out of the program are the Crippen family of Olympians and NCAA Champions (Maddy, Claire, Theresa, and Fran); 1988 Seoul Olympic silver medalist Dave Wharton; and University of Virginia associate head coach Tyler Fenwick.
While there was an initial dropoff in the team’s performance after Thompson’s hiring amid a number of transfers, the program has had more success in recent seasons. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams are the three-time defending Inter-Ac champions, with neither team having lost a dual meet in three seasons. One of the program’s top swimmers, Landon D’Ariano, is committed to swim at the University of Texas this fall, while others are committed to or already attending high profile programs like Indiana, Penn, Auburn, Georgia, Harvard, and SMU.
The position at the Southeastern Swim Club came open Christian Hanselmann left to join the staff at BYU and when Dorsey Tierney-Walker left to take over at Tide Swimming in Virginia from Jack Roach as part of what has been an unusually-high profile offseason on the club coaching carousel.
In the meantime, Rich Wolfred will lead the Southeastern Swim Club, coming out of retirement for a season to fill the gap. Wolfred spent 19 years coaching at Lawrence and 16 years coaching at Noblesville, where he built powerhouse programs.
The role is not necessarily, but often does, overlap with the head coaching position at Hamilton Southeastern High School. The girls’ team at Hamilton Southeastern finished 6th at last year’s Indiana State Championship meet while the boys finished 10th.
Germantown Academy graduate, Olympic silver medalist, former world record holder, Germantown Academy HOF member and 8+ time NCAA champion at USC, Dave Wharton should qualify as “among the most famous names to come out of the program”. Dave continues to be a great representative and ambassador of all things Germantown Academy.
I am thrilled to hear that Jeff Thompson is coming to SSC. This will be astronomical for their program. The previous head coach Christian Hanselmann, ran the program into the ground. As his years progressed, the team got worse and worse. This was a team who placed 1st overall for 10&U Girls. Now, they had very few Age Group Swimmers specifically in the 11-12 boys age group. Hanselmann did almost nothing beneficial other than hiring Dorsey Tierny-Walker to lead their top swimmers as he could not do the job. Looking forward to seeing how Thompson will rebuild the club after Hanselmann destroyed it
Jeff Thompson is not the messiah.
Parents, be very patient and very careful before going all in on Jeff Thompson. Good luck SSC!
Jeff Thompson is the greatest high school swim coach ever. He is amazing. He tells the truth ALL THE TIME. He gaslights no one. He never ever holds a grudge. Jeff is so attentive to the girl swimmers, they all love him. He is so hands on. Jeff love those silly girl’s group chats.
Jeff gave Donny B such a great career boost. Wow. It will be hard to replace such an icon like Jeff Thompson. He is truly irreplaceable.
Oh Jeff what a great guy
Best coach on planet earth
Jeff Thompson has truly been an inspiration to my my entire swimming career and I feel his presence every time I enter the natatorium. From a very very young age Jeff took a very hands on approach to teaching me how to swim. He called each of us on the team his little swimmers which gave us a truly impeccable sense of community. Jeff loves each of us as his own and shows it in all the ways he knows how, by playing jokes, messing with us in the locker room, and even hanging out with us individually outside of the pool. Jeff Thompsons impact on maturing and developing swimmers is truly a testament to how much he wants to… Read more »
Pretty sure the men’s team had a couple questionable dual meet “wins” over the past few years if I can recall
I’m sure Southeastern is excited to have Jeff joining the program!
To clear up one small inaccuracy, while Dorsey has left for Tide, Christian Hanselmann was the previous head coach and has headed west to take a job on the BYU staff.
Both will be missed, but SSC should be excited to have some great coaches coming in to work with a great group of kids and parents!
Thanks for the note about Christian.
Christian Hanselmann was not qualified to be a head coach and ran that program into the ground. Christian didn’t leave on his own. He was forced to resign and everyone knows it. The club has been losing swimmers for years because of his lack of leadership and the board did nothing. Thompson is a strong leader and can turn that club around.
100% accurate