YOTA Restructures, Moves On From Coach Jamie Bloom

The YMCA of the Triangle Area (YOTA) swim team has moved on from coach Jamie Bloom and announced a major restructuring. The club is consolidating its Chapel Hill and Raleigh Senior 1 training groups into a single group based at the Finley YMCA in Raleigh.

YOTA, a multi-site club in North Carolina's Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill region, communicated the changes to parents and swimmers last week. The messages came from Jeff Little, YOTA’s Associate VP of Aquatics, and Jerry Foley, the Association Director of the YMCA of Triangle competitive swim team.

New Coaching Structure

The first message outlined a new strategic coaching direction. It showed a vacant Assistant Director of Competitive Swimming role to be posted on September 8. The message confirmed Jerry Foley as Association Director of Competitive Swimming and Rachel Muller as Head Age Group Coach.

It also hinted that Tom Hazelett, who has coached the Senior 1 Group in Durham and Chapel Hill since 2019, would no longer be in that position. The note stated he and Muller would continue supporting their current teams during a transition period. There was no mention of Jamie Bloom, who had coached the Senior 1 Group from the Finley YMCA for a decade.

Specifics of the Transition

A second message from Foley provided more specific details on the new structure. Foley himself will take over the role previously held by Bloom, coaching the new combined Senior 1 group from the Finley YMCA site.

Tom Hazelett will support his Senior 1 athletes at the YMCA at Meadowmont in Chapel Hill for two more weeks. After that, he will transition to coaching Silver, AGS, and Senior-level groups at the Northwest Cary YMCA. The message invited current West Senior 1 athletes unable to train at Finley to join Hazelett at Northwest Cary or with coach George Vlahos at Hope Valley Farms.

Fallout and Disbandment

According to a source close to the program, these decisions and their communication have led the Senior 1 group to mostly disband. Swimmers are reportedly looking at joining other clubs, including North Carolina Aquatic Club (NCAC), Marlins of Raleigh, and New Wave Swim Team. A few may go to the TAC Titans, while others are considering quitting swimming altogether.

The source said swimmers and parents communicating with YOTA leadership heard that Bloom was fired, but a reason was not shared. YOTA leadership was also reportedly disappointed with the team's performance at the 2026 YMCA National Long Course Championships in late July, though both the girls' and boys' teams finished in the top twelve.

SwimSwam has reached out to Jerry Foley for comment. Jamie Bloom's YOTA email address is no longer active.