"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. "

"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."

"To this comment below Natoli is not top dog he is not an Olympic coach or a d1 coach. He is not coaching any ncas athletes or Olympic trails athletes. There are better world class caches who do not cruise at athletes and do push them but in a positive matter. "Coach Chris has been the step that I needed to get better, he’s pushed me through the toughest times making me feel supported the whole way through. He’s passionate for the sport and making everyone the best they can be. TopDogs!!!""

"The brave swimmers who no one is listening to deserved to be recognized and deserve to be heard out. "

"I’ve been swimming my entire life but by the end of highschool I was ready to be done with the sport because I had hit a block in my training and wasn’t getting any faster but Chris reached out to me for recruitment and changed my mind. He told me he could get me to the time that I wanted within the first year of me training with him. If there’s on thing you should know about Chris is that he know what he’s talking about when comes to the sport of swim. He’s knowledgeable with the sport and knows how to fix you stroke or make it better. He’s also honest. He tells you how it is. If your stroke isn’t looking the best he’s going to let you know (as a coach should). He will never say you can’t do something and he’s always going to try and get you do try your best. Sometimes that thing may outta of your comfort zone but when your on a team you have to be willing to do so for the team. He always going to give reason why he may have you doing something out of the ordinary. He’s loud. In this sport you have to be, your athletes heads are quite literally under water. He is coaching college swim, grown adults, and he going to treat you like a grown adult. Some people can’t handle that come straight from high school and leaving home for the first time but that the reality of it. "

"Chris has made me enjoy the sport of swimming again, since coming to Marymount in 2023, I haven't dreaded going to practice and hopping in that pool. Instead, I feel that I am improving myself in the long term for myself and my teammates. Chris has always been upfront and honest about his expectations and continuously delivers feedback when you ask for it. He ensures that all of his student-athletes are first and foremost students, and checks up on you if you are not doing well and need help in any shape or form. Chris inspires our team culture, and I honestly wouldn't be swimming if it wasn't for the culture he created for myself and my teammates and him and the coaching staff he has. I've done things in the two seasons of being at Marymount that I wouldn't have dreamt of when I was in club or summer swimming, and I believe that he is a great coach and mentor."

"Not only does Chris encourage underage drinking. But he doesn’t put a stop to his athletes taking “band” substances . While he doesn’t provide the band substance at all. If it makes them faster he won’t do anything about it of course he won’t. He doesn’t educate his athletes on a fair game he just wants them to win in the pool and party and “live the college life “ he did. He is a danger to the community "

"Hard for me to write this because its disgusting what this man has done to his athletes that aren't the “favorites” and how he encourages underage drinking but not be academically focused. He cares more about underage drinking and his athletes “fitting in” and “partying at bars” everyweekend instead of their academics. Things he has done He made everyone turn on an athlete that he doesn't like He called a female athlete who went to futures and nationals “grossly out of shape” He yelled at an athlete for asking about his time He tells swimmers to get out of the pool cause they are out of shape He divides the team in half of favorites and non favorites Yells at swimmers for not making the interval Never live streams home meets cause he doesn't want live cameras in his facility Told an injured swimmer to get the f of the pool deck Manipulates swimmers Bullys them "

"I have a hard time writing this review. While I may not be on this swim team I have heard from people who are. He has done so many bad things but the main things that stood out to me was this one comment that he would make to many of the swimmers such as “”get out of the pool your out of shape” or telling injured swimmers “get the f of my deck”. He also bullies so many of his swimmers that they quit. Look at the amount of quits they had and the team getting smaller. We can all thank him for that. "

"He is very stubborn and not willing to try new ideas. Also each year his team gets smaller and smaller all because of him. While iam not a team member of the Marymount swimming and diving program I know people who are. The people I know who are or were because of his actions and his toxic environment have all said “they left because of how he as a coach was treating them”. So he’s the issue here not the athletes. This man tears athletes apart and makes them lose love for the sport. It’s a shame what one man can do to a college swim team program"

"I'm the parent of a swimmer at Marymount University. My daughter would call me every couple of days to talk about coach's outbursts and what insults were thrown towards her and her peers. She tried to talk to Jill McCabe, the athletic president, several times, but was told that maybe it was HER fault he was yelling at her and several others. She was told that "maybe he's just a loud coach." Loud coaches do not call females "clueless f*cking students" and "grossly out of shape." (She swam at Futures, definitely not out of shape)."

"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."

"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. "