Chris Natoli Reviews

I graduated from the program last year and am still in touch with the swimmers as part of Marymount's grad school. Not surprised to hear that he still encourages underage drinking while ripping the serious swimmers apart. If you take your swimming career seriously, it appears to intimidate him, and he places a target on your back. He wants to be the reason you are successful, if you are independently successful, you will be told the team is disappointed in you while he pats people on the back who see the sport as a fun side thing to do. My favorite memory was when he forced the injured swimmers to watch the 6am practices but tell them to "get the f*ck off my deck" if they wanted to come to meets and watch. I also really liked when he told a swimmer with the flu to come or "he isn't a part of this team" and he infected the whole team and practices had to be shut down. His sets are almost the exact same every day and it is evident he doesn't actually know much about swimming. My friends at George Mason said he got reported for his sexism there and came here and did the same stuff. He divides the team between favorites (partiers) and targets (academically strong). We've had 11 quits this year, including the best male and best female athlete. The spray tan does not fool anybody, even favorites know that he lacks knowledge. He's always loudest one trying to relive his college days.

I have been on this team for a while, but I am quitting with some NCAA eligibility left. After our season ended Natoli continued to rage about a kid that isn't even on the team anymore. He kept telling us we were not allowed to complain about his actions to the compliance person, but we had to "say it to his face". Uh, hello? Saying anything to his face results in a tirade full of words I'm not allowed to say. I am just not comfortable here anymore. I should have spoken out earlier, and maybe some of the 5 kids that have quit this year would still be swimming. I have lost faith in my school to keep us safe, so I'm out. Frankly, I'm thinking about transferring schools so none of my money goes to paying him. Sad. This sport used to be the most fun I had all day, now I'm scared to come to practice because we never know what kind of mood he's in. I wish he could just be nice. We are good swimmers, and we work hard, and we want to represent our school and win. We're not getting any faster since being on his team, and it's just no fun. Other teams come to meets with costumes, or silly shoes, or something fun, and laugh and swim and do great. Natoli raged at some freshman last year for having a silly hat. I mean, why aren't we allowed to have any fun?

I really struggled with writing this review, but I think it is ethical to make sure new recruits are not fooled by this coach. Natoli is a great recruiter. He makes it sound like the team is one big happy family, and that is not true. I pretty much avoid him, and he leaves me alone for the most part, but I can't stand what he is doing to other swimmers. It looks like he picks a couple of us each season to bully and berate. If you're one of the ones we call "the favorites" you're fine. But if you're the one he's decided to bully that year -- your life will be a living nightmare. He screams at the couple kids he hates. I don't know why he even recruited them. I know it's easy to get mad and post a bad review, but I really thought hard about this. Don't let your kid swim at Marymount. Unless they get picked as a favorite, they'll either be completely ignored (I haven't gotten to use any of the fancy stuff he shows off to recruits - NO use of underwater cameras, no power towers, nothing) or they'll be emotionally abused, and convinced that THEY are the problem not him. I watched him tell one swimmer he was a disgrace to the whole team because he was injured and missed an interval. Like what? I am personally glad I fly under the radar, but I have finally decided speaking out is the right thing to do now. I should have spoken up 2 years ago, but I thought covid stress, whatever, and he'd ease up. That never happened. He cannot be trusted with your kids.

Sadly, this coach is mentally unstable. He has favorites, and for them, this is a great team. But if you're not one of his 2-3 favorites, you live in a very different world. He has cursed at me, called me "reta-----". He punishes you for missing an interval at a practice. He calls you names and bullies and belittles swimmers. The girls team may as well not even exist for all the attention they get. He is foul-mouthed, angry, bullies anyone he doesn't favor, and he is a terrible coach. He didn't win conference because he's a good coach, he won because he's a good recruiter. He recruited some young, fast swimmers -- and NONE of them has gotten faster. He can't control himself. He's unstable, and a danger to this whole team. I am seriously considering giving up the sport of swimming completely because of him.

Real standup gentleman. Runs a fair and honest program. I had the opportunity to sit in on a few workouts he ran and was blow away by his attention to detail and knowledge of the sport. Truly has done wonders with the program since taking it over. Really put Marymount in a competitive position in NCAA DIII swimming. 10/10 recommend.

Coach Natoli is a world class swim coach. Marymount is lucky to have him. His students excel in the pool and especially the classroom. Any doubt just look up his records and team GPA.

I walked past the pool at my university a few times and heard this coach screaming profanity at the team. I could not believe what I heard. I have always thought the coaching staffs at Marymount were top notch. But this made me a little shaken up. I wonder if admin knows how he talks to athletes.

Coaching is good and his team produces. His relationship with swimmers needs improvement. He has difficulty training/coaching without yelling. He has a short fuse and feel D1 coaches don't act this way. The coach you see on recruitment is not the same one on deck.

He must be a good coach since he won conference. However, he can be belittling to swimmers. He has his favorites and he does not know how to motivate without yelling, cussing, or throwing equipment. There is a training trip and the team immediately splits into groups and not seem very cohesive as a team. I feel overall it is poor leadership. He will promise things on a recruitment trip and it will not occur as his swimmer.