Phil Yoshida Reviews

Best coach for Swimming Cal Poly signs mediocre athletes Most Cal Poly professors could care less about athletics

Best coach ever Ignore the cry babies!

Thankfully he’s not currently coaching and the team culture has DRAMATICALLY improved. He is extremely disorganized, did not have the athletes best interest, bullied athletes, pushed several into mental health issues and did all he could to get athletes to quit the team. Did not care one bit about getting anyone faster, did not give them any proper Nutrition on travel meets, and generally just didn’t care about the team or its future.

Phil changed after 19 years as an assistant and then becoming head coach. It seems a little power was all he needed to exact revenge. He may have been OK when he was an assistant, but it can't explain how toxic he became when left in charge. He was always negative and demeaning, and chased out many great swimmers. Team morale was at an all time low. It is a shame he didn't learn much in those 19 years.

I had the pleasure of swimming for Phil when he was an assistant coach, and I then worked alongside Phil as a volunteer coach for a season. If you care about the sport and you put in effort, Phil's passion for coaching and your success is clearly evident. Phil is tough, but fair, and his coaching extends beyond swimming, preparing you for life's challenges and opportunities. Swimmers have earned a reputation outside of the sport for being incredibly tough, disciplined, and able to grind. Swimming for Phil will help you develop that discipline, resilience, and self-belief that will serve you in all aspects of life. I would absolutely hire a swimmer who swam for Phil for 4 years.

Where there's smoke, there's fire, so when the masses are saying Phil Yoshida is a problem....he's a problem and a threat to the welfare of anyone he attempts to coach or work with. While I believe he would like to be a superstar coach, lead his teams to break school records and personal bests, he is not. Just because you want to do something, doesn't make you qualified. Please note that he was fired by the very swimming club he started in San Luis Obispo for all of these issues an more, that have been high lighted below by so many. I strongly advise against entrusting your student athletes with this person. Phil simply isn't qualified professionally or emotionally to be in this by default role. I wouldn't trust my kids with him and I don't believe anyone else should. I watched him as his toddler fell in the pool right in front of him, not once, but twice. The second time he just watched as she sank to the bottom of the pool in front of the swimming team and club divers. He refuses to accept help that could raise him up and instead takes out anyone, athlete or coach, that he feels threatened by. It's deeply disturbing and sad that he is single handedly destroying the morale and dreams of so many student athletes. Cal Poly's reputation is such that people are literally willing to throw away their competitive career just to get into the school through the swimming & diving program. Make no mistake, he is not honest, he is not ethical, he is not mature, he manages by extreme fear and intimidation, he threatens athletes and his assistant coaching staff routinely. His normal mode is to keep everyone in constant fear with micro aggressions, bullying, outright lies, manipulation of facts, and uncontrolled emotional outbursts. He is not organized, he is insensitive to nutrition and recognizing the dietary restrictions of the group he's responsible for. His number 1 concern is BUDGET and not results. Hence he buys absolute garbage food for the team that are nothing more than empty calories and sugary snacks that have negative results when elite athletes fail to be properly nourished for competition. Cheap generic garbage in, crappy performance out. He would appear to be protected for some reason, perhaps by the Athletic Director Don Oberhelman, who has been aware of this problem for the past two years that Phil's been in this role. While other universities like Cal Berkeley, Northwestern and more and more, have chosen a zero tolerance to bullying, hostile coaching, constant micro aggression, Cal Poly and their administration, to date, knowing all of these factors, has done nothing to stop this. In an age of equality, Title IX, anti bullying, anti harassment and intolerance to this kind of behavior, once must ask how this is happening within such an incredible university. I am a seasoned professional with decades of experience and knowledge in these areas and cannot understand how someone like Phil Yoshida is allowed to remain in this role. Worse yet, Cal Poly's administration knows about this. The only records he's set are for having lost the most swimmers and divers annually, for the past two years running now (40+) than any other division 1 school. Either he's a horrible recruiter or he's a incapable coach, or both. I challenge the administration to stop this negative cycle, to remove this person from his post and walk the walk of what you say. It's deeply disturbing to see this continue and I again, highly suggest staying away from the Cal Poly Swimming & Diving program until his is removed. I'd rank him as ZERO and a major threat to the wellbeing of the people he's responsible for, both assistant coaches, people he bullies internally at Cal Poly, and the athletes he's responsible for.

the reason the resources are tight is because he sold his soul to get the job and let the AD severely cut the budget from what it used to be and so doomed the program for failure. so coming here risks having no swim team in the near future

Phil clearly cares about the swimmers and divers. His transition from Assistant Coach to Head Coach was difficult and Covid added to the challenge. Phil has a young team with a lot of potential and they’re poised for serious growth in the next few years. Phil could benefit from coaching and administrative support. Expect the team to build as the culture improves.

Phil Is a great guy who could grow into an awesome coach, he has limited resources and a small staff making his job very difficult.

Do not recommend! Not honest with team members. Derogatory towards biracial team members. Screamer. I have nothing nice to say about this man!

Phil is far too incompetent for his position and is ultimately running the swim and dive program into the ground. He makes the most questionable decisions and is outright selfish. It seems like anyone could do his job better than him.

Honestly if I could I would give him 0 stars. He was a terrible coach and the reason why I quit the team. I love diving and still do and he wasn’t even my coach. In fact he had our INCREDIBLE dive coach fired for NO REASON. He is very disrespectful and will be rude directly to your face. Our team even attempted to get him fired the past year. He is terrible at communication and does not respect anyone unless you are one of his favorites. I had a conversation with him talking about how I was mentally struggling because of the loss of my mother and grandfather and was told “It happens to everyone” and “is a part of life.” As someone who has gone through this, that is NOT something you should tell them. He’s not worth it. If you are getting recruited by him, I would look elsewhere it’s not worth the degrading and disrespect. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE Cal Poly but he made my experience miserable.

Phil Yoshida is an embarrassment to Cal Poly and to Division 1 Swimming & diving. His reputation is known coast to coast and it’s terrible. Despite ongoing an investigation regarding his harassment and bullying of swimmers, divers and coaches, he is still allowed on the pool deck. He is quite literally destroying student athletes dreams that they’ve worked most of their young lives to arrive at this moment. He is destroying Cal Polys reputation and it is an absolute tragedy. He should absolutely not be allowed to coach as he is completely disorganized, lacking competence and managing completely by fear and by threats and intimidation. Worse he’s violated multiple Safe Sport Codes of Conduct and Cal Polys own codes of conduct. He is not honest and is immature and refuses to listen, learn, grown and benefit from assistant coaches. Cal Poly is an excellent academic school but your kids should absolutely 100% steer clear of a swimming or diving career until he is gone and no longer associated with Cal Poly in any way. The only records he’s set is in regards to the highest number of swimmers and divers that have quit the team in a single season. More than 40 have left in the short time he’s lead this team. He has zero idea of nutrition and feeds us all absolutely empty calories that have no benefit. He demands professionalism, appropriate attire and exceptional work ethic and attitude yet he fails himself in every one of these.

Great school & location, but horrible experience for swimmers. Plays favorites, takes away scholarships for no reason, targets athletes and bullies them, far too much garbage yards, doesn’t know how to train or taper, treats other coaches & athletes horribly, punishment culture, so bad that many quit and end up with mental health issues, so bad that athletes end up hating swim and the sport. He completely ruins athletes. Stay far away! Not honest either.

Please note Phil coaches BOTH Men's and Women's teams but you have to select only 1 to write review. The men's team is in even worse shape. Horrible culture, atmosphere and experience and will totally ruin your love and passion for the sport of swimming! Stay far away!

Not fit to coach anyone let alone D1 athletes. Horrible experience, always blaming the athletes for everything. It's a punishment culture and there is a reason 42+ have quit in the past 3 seasons since he took over. Worst experience an athlete could ask for. Stay far away from here until a new coach is in!

After Phil became the coach, my swimming career was turned upside down. I became incredibly slow due to the lack of knowledge he holds regarding training, technique, communication, leadership, and supporting his swimmers/divers. It seemed as if he didn’t care about anything at all and was so oblivious to how the team was declining. When I came to Phil with thoughts of doubt about my swimming career and poor mental health, he nodded uselessly and never offered assistance or guidance. He was unable to mentor as a coach should and couldn’t offer a single solution for something I had worked so hard to be apart of and sacrificed so much.

Phil is very difficult to communicate with. It is very hard to understand where his head is at, making communication very nerve racking. His decisions do not have much reason leaving many athletes confused. For example, getting rid of the dive coach. The dive coach was beloved by the swimmers and divers and was fired randomly for no reasons that have been disclosed to the team. His meets are disorganized and he is generally disliked by the team. The team would benefit from a new swim coach as he has done a terrible job creating a positive team atmosphere.

Phil is the worst coach I have ever swam under in my 12+ years as a swimmer. He is a terrible communicator, lies to his swimmers, and shows zero regard for their wellbeing. He injures his swimmers with his sets and pulls their scholarship because of their injury. He has clear favorites who he keeps on the team despite being on academic probation every single quarter while simultaneously cutting swimmers from the team for a single bad grade. On top of that, he doesn’t do anything worthy of being called ‘coaching’ besides providing repetitive sets that only cater to a select few and ignores the rest of his team.

Extreme control over the other coaches. Does not let anyone put input. Lack of general care for the team well-being.

Coach Phil lacks clear communication and tends to be disorganized in general and at meets. He can be a bit random and difficult to predict and isn’t very understanding nor accommodating. It is extremely difficult to talk to him as he either isn’t responsive or doesn’t seem to care. Despite not enjoying him as a person I would still be alright with him as a coach if he was at least proficient. Several times he has poorly planned meets and schedules.

Phil Yoshida is one of the worst coaches ever. He is terrible at communication, terrible at budgeting for team trips, unfair to many athletes on the team, has favorites, fired dive coach for no valid reason, and countless other things. He rules out of fear and intimidation which makes him well hated on the team and receives zero respect from the athletes. Cal Poly needs to do something about him and the head of athletics needs to open his eyes to the complete mess of a program Phil has created.

He is disorganized. Treats others without respect and disregard for how they feel. Makes everyone miserable everyday. The only reason he is still at his position is because of his friendship with the athletic director.

Phil is a horrible coach and the reason why I know no longer wish to swim. He’s completely irrational and never communicates with his swimmers. If your used to a club coach or school coach you can talk to or joke around, forget it all before meeting Phil Yoshida. On our countless interactions I can’t even count on one hand how many were awkward. That is just outside of the pool, I’m personally a passionate swimmer, I’ve never had a problem with any coach in my entire life until my time with Phil. Even in the pool any suggestions or explanation you want from training he will blatantly ignore. He rules by attempting to be intimidating whilst being completely oblivious to the fact that everyone wishes there was someone else in his position, it’s embarrassing. He makes to effort to change, reconstruct, or even consider. Please reach out to swimmers or knowledgeable coaches when considering swimming at Cal Poly, look for an honest opinion. There’s a list of things I wish were different to elevate this program. The problem lies with the man who insults, ignores, and disrespects his athletes, Phil Yoshida. Honest opinion shared by many.

This coach has absolutely destroyed my passion for swimming. His coaching is not beneficial to anyone’s training style. He is not good at being organized and communicating with his swimmers. Despite all of this he has no confidence in his swimmers abilities saying discouraging things to his swimmers.