With the recent escalation of accusations against Ken Stopkotte, an Indiana swim coach who seems to have falsified swimmers’ times, it got me thinking: How wrong is making up times? It’s obviously not on the level of sexual abuse, but on the spectrum, how bad is it, and what’s an appropriate punishment?

Without trying to attack any specific person, including Mr. Stopkotte, without their due process, how bad do you think any coach falsifying a swimmer’s times, for official purposes, is? In general terms?

Here’s the case for each of the options. Leave your comments below, and be sure to vote in the poll on the right side of the screen!

If You Ain’t Cheatin’, You Ain’t Tryin’.

A coach’s job is to get his swimmers every advantage possible. If a coach fudges a few times to get his kids into a faster meet or to get his kids a little better seed in a meet, then he’s just doing his job.

Case of a Coach Losing Sight of His Priorities.

Sure, coaches are supposed to do anything they can to gain an advantage for their swimmers…within the rules. This is obviously outside of those rules, and this coach needs to remember that he’s not just teaching his swimmers about how to move fast through the water. Most of them will go pro in something besides swimming, so lessons about integrity and fairness are just as important. A simple retraining on these facts will do the trick.

It’s Pretty Bad, But Everyone Deserves a Second Chance.

A coach fudging his or her swimmers’ times to gain an unfair advantage is bad, but not bad enough to ruin the career of a quality coach. Perhaps we could turn this into a positive, and a few Saturdays volunteering with Cullen Jones’ Make-a-Splash program could atone.

A Year Out of Coaching Will Make Sure He Learns His Lesson.

Should the guy’s career be over for a case of poor judgment? No. But a suspension for a full cycle might make sure it doesn’t happen again. A suspension will remind the coach of how lucky he is to have one of the best jobs in the world, and also allow him to get back to it in the future.

Immediate Lifetime Ban.

Falsifying times not only teaches poor lessons to the children, it destroys the integrity of the sport and the entire time-standard system that USA-Swimming uses. Falsifying enough times can shift time standards, leaving deserving swimmers out. Think Tim Donaghy wagering on NBA games that he officiated. It’s that bad.

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