The break-up between USA Swimming and former national team coach Mark Schubert is about to get ugly: Schubert has called a news conference this morning at the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to discuss his dismissal.

Chuck Malkus, a public-relations specialist who arranged the news conference for Schubert, told AP that the former coach has been the victim of "misinformation and innuendo" from the leadership at USA Swimming. "There has been information relayed to the board members that is incorrect. We're talking about a coach who has dedicated his life to athletes and others coaches and made a difference in the world of swimming."

Schubert, whose contract ended Monday, told SwimNews that he had been obliged not to talk to peers in the sport or the media during the 60-day break imposed on him by the federation. Notice of his dismissal came through before the temporary lay-off period was over and speculation about the reasons for him having lost his job have been rife, particularly in the absence of any explanation from USA Swimming.  "I'd like to set the record straight," he added.

One source told SwimNews that Schubert had been accused of heavy handed treatment of staff and of showing a lack of respect for sponsors. There are those who back that view and say they were victims of the head coach's approach or witnessed poor treatment of staff. There are those, too, who back what is likely to emerge as the other side of the coin, namely that you can't run the same social rules that apply in a kindergarten to high-end performance sport and that sponsors are bound to rub up against coaches and others when their demands on athletes threaten short- and long-term athletic performance. 

As one source put it to SwimNews: "Sometimes it's a head coaches job to be an asshole ... it gets the job done."

USA Swimming now intends to hire a national team director "charged with providing vision and leadership for America's top coaches and elite athletes with focus on their performance at the Olympic Games and other international competitions".

At a distance, Schubert appears to have been well-qualified for that role, to say the least. One among many of his achievements was to ensure that the efforts of the best of the best served as ripples across the whole pond: he would regularly update coaches around the US on the latest in-training efforts of Michael Phelps, pass on words of wisdom uttered by the likes of Bob Bowman, Eddie Reese and others. 

The other role he played was to represent the interests of his athletes and coaches, both down the years when speaking out on controversial issues such as doping, among many other topics that stood in the way of the best-interests of athletes and the sport of swimming. Among those who welcomed the LZR Racer in the work that he did with sponsor Speedo, Schubert was then instrumental in the campaign to get the shiny suits banned by the time the suits crisis reached a peak at Rome world titles in July last year and all had understood that the sport was on a bad path.

One of his mantras has long been that it is "always important to do the right thing, no matter how hard that is". Of late, Schubert rubbed up against authority the wrong way when he stood up for the rights of athletes to control their own destinies and bank accounts in a way that did not suit some sports politicians and others in power at bodies such as the US Olympic Committee. There is likely to be more of that at the conference today. 

Schubert's date at the Hall of Fame, a symbolic location that will serve to press home the man's credentials, falls at the end of a troubled season for USA Swimming, one in which the federation was accused of mishandling the sexual abuse crisis that blew up in the wake of coach convictions and further allegations, some related to cases pending against coaches.

The tragic death of Fran Crippen in a 10km FINA race off the coast of Dubai last month brought many in the US swim community together, though even there, what happens in the wake of an independent inquiry now underway is the subject of debate. Some believe that a subtle approach to change in FINA is the right answer, while what appears to be a majority want a troubling culture at the heart of the international federation to be replaced by a transparent and democratic form of governance in which fear and favour play no part. 

Schubert is known to favour the latter, his take on Fran Crippen's death: "It looks like institutional homicide". Many of those who swam in the race that dreadful day back on October 23 find it hard to disagree, after the warnings they delivered about race conditions resulted in no response from FINA and organisers in terms of making any changes to the time the race was run, paying heed to the high water temperatures and increasing security levels to a one-on-one vigilance of the kind that existed between pilot boat and swimmer on the Swan River almost 20 years ago at the first FINA open water world title race in Perth, Western Australia. At a recent world titles event, a leading light in open water swimming complained to the highest authority in FINA that a swimmer "almost drowned" because the conditions were so poor and the race "should never have been allowed to start". The response: "You're exaggerating."

Meanwhile, at a wholly different level on another difficult dawn for USA Swimming as Schubert finds himself free to speak, it is understood that former USA Swimming president Jim Wood, interim national team leader, will not be among those considered for the permanent job at the helm of the world's No1 swim team.