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Notre Dame’s men’s swimming and diving team is reportedly under review according to an email obtained by Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated.
Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua informed the department of the external investigation on Tuesday, citing potential “culture issues” in a statement saying that the university has hired an outside firm to take a deeper dive into the allegations.
What those accusations are, to this point, are unknown. Still, the claims were deemed worthy of an outside look.
“Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua has informed all athletic staff at the school via email that an external review of potential ‘culture issues’ within men’s swimming and diving is underway,” Forde wrote on X. “Bevacqua met with the team this afternoon.”
That email reads that the “Office of General Counsel has retained the law firm of Ropes & Gray LLP to conduct a timely, independent review of the program,” with hopes that the process will be completed by August.
We’ve seen past “culture issues” have severe consequence for other notable programs around the country, most notably Northwestern’s football team after being accused of hazing back in July of last year. Longtime head coach Pat Fitzgerald eventually lost his job amid the claims.
As previously noted, it’s still unclear the allegations facing the Notre Dame swimming and diving team, but the announcement comes at an interesting time.
Notre Dame swimming saw ‘unprecedented’ success at the 2024 Olympic trials.
The Fighting Irish had a “historic week” in Indianapolis as they ran through those Olympic trials.
Rising senior Chris Guiliano provided several highlights, becoming the first male Irish varsity swimmer to make Team USA. He is guaranteed to swim five events in Paris — 50, 100 and 200 freestyle plus the 4×100 and 4×200 freestyle relays — and there may be a few more depending on how the meet lineup shakes out.
With his performance, Guiliano becomes just the second American to swim the triple crown of sprint freestyle events at the Olympic Games. He is the first since 1988.
Tanner Filion was Notre Dame’s other swimmer to advance beyond the meet’s prelims, notching a 15th place finish in the 100 backstroke (54.56).
Assistant coach Chris Lindauer was also named to the Team USA staff on Monday.
The latest report certainly puts a damper on that recent success, forcing the program into the spotlight for an undesirable reason. It will be interesting to see what the review turns up.