Coach Bios and Contact
Coach Michael is the head coach of FOX.
Coach Michael started at FOX as the Associate Head Coach, leading our 11-12 and 13-14 groups, guiding many of our 14 and under athletes to new Regional, Age Group Champ and Zone cuts. Some of the highlights his first year included FOX athletes winning multiple Age Group State titles, breaking multiple FOX team records and having multiple FOX athletes ranked in the top 15 in the United States for their age. In the spring of 2022 Michael was named head coach of FOX.
In Michael's time as head coach at FOX, the program has reached uprecedented heights. FOX earned a USA Silver Medal Club distinction in consecutive years for the first time (2024, 2025, 2026), has reached it's highest ever national rankings in the USA Swimming VIrtual Club Championships in both long course and short course, FOX swimmers have broken 12 Illinois Swimming LSC records and dozens of swimmers have gone on to compete collegiately at all levels.
Prior to joining FOX, Michael coached in Palo Alto, California, working with the Stanford University women's team and Alto Swim Club. While at Stanford, the Cardinal won the 2020 Pac 12 title and were ranked the #1 team in the NCAA prior to the cancellation of the NCAA Championships due to COVID-19. Michael also worked as a lead senior and assistant pro group coach with Alto Swim Club, a USA Swimming Bronze medal club, and worked with multiple USA Swimming Senior and Junior National qualifiers. He also assisted 2020 US Olympic head coach Greg Meehan with his professional group at Alto, which included Olympic gold medalists Simone Manuel and Katie Ledecky.
Prior to Stanford, Michael coached in Knoxville, Tennessee in a similar role for the University of Tennessee and Tennessee Aquatics. While in Knoxville, Michael had the opportunity to work with multiple USA Swimming National Team members with the University of Tennessee and worked as a lead senior coach with Tennessee Aquatics, a USA Swimming Silver Medal club in 2017 and 2018. Michael also earned his masters degree in sports management from the University of Tennessee.
Coach Michael swam collegiately at the University of Pennsylvania and began his coaching career at Penn as a student assistant coach after medically retiring during his sophomore year. Michael graduated from Penn's Wharton School with a degree in economics.
Michael grew up in the northwest Chicago suburb of Cary where he was an All-State and All-American swimmer for Cary-Grove High School.
Coach MJ is FOX's lead 13/14 coach and has been coaching since 2005, starting as an assistant for the Naperville Swim Conference's Huntington Barracudas and eventually becoming head coach for the Naperville Tennis Club Orcas. Since then, he's spent several years coaching at Rose Bowl Aquatics in Pasadena, CA, and for the Wheaton Sports Center Stingrays, before joining the FOX in 2023. MJ is a graduate of DePaul University in Chicago, and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He likes pizza, music, and running.
Coach Joel has over twenty-five years of coaching experience, including head coaching experience and coaching and developing swimmers of all ages and abilities. He feels it is important to develop proper technique and fundamental skills at an early age.
He grew up in Michigan and swam at both the University of Tennessee and Oakland University. He's coached both water polo and competitive swimming in schools, YMCA programs, and USA Swimming programs in Michigan and Illinois. Swimming accomplishments include being a 15-time All-American swimmer, 3-time All- American water polo player, and an Olympic Trial Qualifier.
Kate grew up swimming for Duneland Swim Club and Chesterton (IN) High School in a family of four brothers and a sister who all specialized in sprints. This is also where Kate began her coaching career while still in high school. Kate attended the University of South Florida and then Eastern Michigan University on swimming scholarships. Unfortunately, illness forced her to stop swimming for several years. Later, when working on her undergraduate degree at the University of Texas, she coached age group with Irving Swimmers and returned to swimming as a Master’s swimmer, where she was ranked nationally in the top ten for several years in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle.
After graduating in geology and biology from Texas, she returned to Chesterton as an Assistant Swim Coach for both Duneland Swim Club and Chesterton High School. Eventually she coached for the Chicago Park District and was Head Coach of Portage Porpoises in Indiana. Her swimmers produced several State Champion swims. During this time, she earned her Master's in Sport Management from Indiana State University.
Prior to coming to FOX, Kate spent two years in northwest Indiana coaching and teaching high school in Michigan City after being pulled from NASA Wildcats Aquatics where she was Head Age Group Coach for a decade. With Wildcats Aquatics, Kate was ranked by ASCA as one of the Top 50 Age Group coaches in the U.S. with many swimmers ranking in the Top 20 over the years. The team developed from 20th in IL to 6th in the U.S. Her team won Age Group State in her last two seasons with NASA and she had numerous State Champion swimmers and IL State record holders throughout her tenure at Wildcats Aquatics.
Coach Kristian started coaching with Fox in late 2022 as an assistant coach for TDG. Kristian started swimming in his home country of Bulgaria when he was 9, and when he was 13 he and his family moved to Naperville. In those 4 years, he had multiple national titles in 50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle, and all of the relays (always swimming Freestyle). He also had a AAAA Time in the 50 and 100 Freestyle when he was 11 years old. His favorite strokes are Freestyle and Backstroke. Before coaching at Fox, he worked as a Swim Instructor and Manager at Goldfish Swim School for 5 years. His favorite stroke to fix with swimmers is Breaststroke because it is the most complicated stroke for kids. Coach Kristian is currently studying to become a Doctor (either a Pediatrician or Psychiatrist). He is excited to help the TDG swimmers get ready for the Age Group teams, and to work with the 8&U and 9/10's as well!
Coach Jake has been coaching with FOX for about 3 years, beginning with the 13/14 group and now coaching both the 13/14s and the 11/12s. Coach Jake began his swimming career in 2011 and swam for 9 years at FOX, Waubonsie Valley High School, and one year at Carthage College. During the day, Coach Jake also works at Athletico Physical Therapy as an aide and will be starting a PTA program at the College of DuPage in 2024. He strives to implement best practices for strength/conditioning and injury prevention that he learns at Athletico into the dryland program of the 11/12s and 13/14s.
Coach Dominique joined FOX the 2023 season as an assistant coach for 11-12 Gold and 13-14’s. Prior to FOX, she has worked in aquatics since 2015. Dominique has been competitively swimming for over 20 years and currently swims for Elgin's US Masters Team.
Outside of FOX, Coach Marissa teaches science at Wheaton North High School and coaches their high school COOP swim teams. She is excited to be back on the pool deck with FOX this season!
Coach James is in his third season with FOX. He started swimming competitively at age 7, and swam through college. A father of five, Coach James took some time off from swimming to raise a family. Outside of FOX, he "has been working in the elevator industry, saving the world one elevator at a time."
Coach Pat has long been involved with FOX as the father of three FOX swimmers, but was excited to join the coaching staff for his first season in 2022. Pat swam collegiately at the University of Wisconsin, where he was primarily a butterflyer, qualifying for Olympic Trials in the 200 Fly. He also spent time coaching at Wisconsin's swim camp while in college, and coached at the Lake Shore Athletic Club before moving to Naperville.
Coach Myra comes to FOX from Chicago, coaching girls and boys swimming at Lincoln Park High School. She swam competitively through high school. Fun fact: Coach Myra is not only a FOX coach, but a FOX mom, too! "Coaching for FOX ... has been a fun and exciting learning experience. Getting to know the kids and helping them learn to improve their swimming skills is what I love most of all"
