Coaching Staff

Doug assumed the Head Coach role at NAC in 2025, becoming the fifth head coach in the club’s history.  Doug spent fourteen seasons as Associate Head Coach and Senior Coordinator.  During his tenure in Nashville, the Senior group has developed dozens of winter Junior National and summer Junior National qualifiers, over a dozen first time summer Senior National qualifiers, fifteen 18&U Olympic Trial qualifiers, and had hundreds of USA Swimming Top 10 swims, including more than forty #1 rankings.  In addition, NAC has also had international success with athletes securing three Junior World Records and multiple gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Pan American Games, FINA World Cup Series, FINA World Junior Championships and the Junior Pan Pacific Championships.

Doug has been named to the coaching staff for several USA Swimming teams, including as an assistant coach for the 2019 Pan American Games and the Head Coach of the 2017 18&U FINA World Cup Team.  Doug has been named to the coaching staff for several USA Swimming Camps including National Select Camp (2013) and National Junior Team Camp (2016, 2019).  Doug has also been the Head Coach of USA Swimming’s Zone Select Camp.  In 2018, 2019, and 2021 Doug was named Southeastern Swimming Senior Coach of the Year.  In 2014 and 2016, Doug received recognition as an ASCA/Fitter & Faster National Age Group Coach of the Year finalist.  In 2016 and 2018, Doug was recognized by USA Swimming as Developmental Coach of the Year.

Prior to his tenure with NAC, Doug was the Director of Competitive Swimming with the Shenandoah Marlins Aquatic Club in Waynesboro, Va., the Head Age Group Coach and Assistant Senior Coach at Seacoast Swimming in Providence, R.I., Head Age Group Coach with the Waves of Wilmington in Wilmington, N.C. and Assistant Age Group Coach with Machine Aquatics in the Washington, D.C. area. Collegiately, he has served volunteer assistant coach posts at Brown University, the University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University’s women’s swim team.

A 2005 graduate of the University of Virginia, Doug earned a master’s degree in Sport Management from the State University of New York at Cortland in 2011, and his Doctorate in Sports Management from USSU in 2019. He is certified as an ASCA Level 5 coach, was selected as a 2009-2010 ASCA Fellow, and has previously served on the ASCA Board of Directors.  Doug also serves USA Swimming as a member of the Board of Directors Nominating Committee, Operational Risk Committee, and previously served on the Coaches Advisory Council.  Doug has two dogs, a totally rad wife, two daughters, and sometimes drives Saabs.

Coach Cory is the Red Group Lead and RACE Group Lead. He grew up in the Nashville area swimming for NAC and is excited to be back home. Cory is thrilled to work with all the current Nashville swimmers and share his passion and knowledge of the sport. Coach Cory is happily married and enjoys fishing in his free time.

Prior to NAC, Coach Cory was the lead senior coach with the Lakeside Seahawks in Louisville, Kentucky for five years. While there, Lakeside was awarded Gold Medal status four times within USA Swimming’s Club Excellence Program, he was Nominated KY Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year, and helped swimmers to Olympic Trials, Nationals, Open Water Nationals, Jr. Nationals, Sectionals, Zones, Open Water Zones, and Several Kentucky LSC Records.

Nate has been swimming competitively for 18 years and coaching for five. He swam and captained the University of Tennessee swim team from 2016-2020.  He began coaching at SwimMAC in 2020, and then for South Carolina Swim Club from 2021-2025 where he was the head coach for 2 years. At SCSC, Nate facilitated multiple top 3 18 & Under National performances. On deck, he draws a lot of inspiration and guidance from his previous coaches, as well as from experience on the National stage as an athlete.

Nate has been blessed with a fantastic set of coaches, each of whom has left an imprint on him regarding how to compete, how to conduct himself with passionate energy, how to train effectively, and how to win. He uses these experiences as his compass in teaching swimmers how to do their best, have fun, and learn something every day.

He and his wife, Emily Murray, are so eager to get planted in Nashville and become a part of the NAC community! In their free time, they love to be in nature, to hike, and to compete against one another in board games. You can often find Nate running, weightlifting, competing in sports of all forms, and reading whenever he gets the chance (although it’s admittedly only a few pages at a time)!

Sarah, 2015 Southeastern Swimming Coach of the Year, is entering her thirteenth season with the Nashville Aquatic Club as SwimFit & PreComp Coordinator.  Sarah swam for the Nashville Aquatic Club for 11 seasons, and during that time was a member of the National Junior Team and a 2008 Olympic Trials Qualifier.  Sarah grew up in Franklin, and was a high school All-American and team captain at Franklin High School.

After graduation, Sarah attended the University of Florida where she swam for coach Gregg Troy.  While at Florida, Sarah was a 3-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, an NCAA All-American, and a member of the 2009 SEC Championship, and 2010 NCAA Championship team.  Sarah graduated with a degree in advertising.

Ashley was an National Junior Team qualifier as an age group swimmer with NAC. She still holds the Southeastern record in the 200 freestyle for 13-14 girls. Ashley swam for the Bolles School, where she qualified for a spot on the US National Team from 1995-1998. She competed in a variety of national and international competitions and won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics in the 800 freestyle relay. Ashley was a member of the 1999 NCAA Championship team swimming for the University of Georgia and completed her collegiate swimming career at the University of California-Berkeley.

A three time Olympic Trials qualifier, Ashley now focuses much of her efforts on training, racing, and coaching for open water swimming. She earned a spot on the 2009 US National Open Water team and has won several open water races around the country. Ashley has coached hundreds of adult swimmers to successful triathlon and open water finishes from sprint to multi-ironman distances. Ashley especially enjoys helping adult swimmers achieve their goals whether they include learning freestyle to participate in their first race or prepare a bid to qualify for World Championship multi-sport competitions. Ashley is excited to bring her swimming and coaching experience back to the team where her competitive swimming career started.

Ashley also enjoys her time as head coach of Nashville’s Seven Hills Barracudas summer league team.  Ashley has two daughters who are a part of NAC's age group team.

James Loveless grew up in Westchester, NY swimming for Badger Swim Team under coach John Collins. James was a Junior National Qualifier in the freestyle events as a ninth grader. By twelfth grade, James expanded into individual medleys and Senior Nationals/Olympic trial times in the freestyle events. James attended UC Berkeley (CAL) where he trained under Nort Thornton and Mike Bottom (Michigan). There, he was a PAC-10 finalist and was nominated for rookie of the year. After being offered a full scholarship for swimming, James moved to Syracuse University for his remaining years where he was team captain, top five finalist in the Big East Championship and a Big East Academic All Star. After college, James received a fellowship to Fordham University in 2004 where he completed a Master’s in Education for grades 1-6. For the past 6 years, James has been teaching science to elementary/middle school students in the New York area. During this time, he has also been able to coach with for the Badger age group team and coaching country club and high school teams as well. James has coached over 300 age group swimmers to success as well as coaching swimmers to become Junior National Qualifiers and All-American athletes. James swims everyday and truly believes that swimming can improve one’s quality of life.

Lexie graduated with her Juris Doctorate degree at Belmont University College of Law and currently works for the Metropolitan Department of Law.