"I would not recommend any swimmer actually swim at ECU for Coach Jabs. He is rude, disrespectful, and doesn’t care about the swimmers. He picks and chooses favorites- and they are the ones who get coached. He causes drama amongst all the girls by choosing favorites- and doesn’t care. It doesn’t matter if you work hard, if you are not chosen as a favorite then he will actually do everything to try to make you quit. He doesn’t create a positive swim culture. It is an extremely toxic environment- stay away!"

"It seems that the tags are not available to describe the negative attributes of Coach Jabs. He has an old school mentality, not in a good way. He does not know about female bodies, nor does he care. He is not interested in honing his coaching skills as shown by his complete lack of participation in D1 Coaching resources. Reading through these comments, it's obvious that the team disagrees on what kind of Coach Jabs is. If he were a good coach and a positive influence on young athletes, I don't think there would be such disparity in the comments. There is absolutely favoritism and a toxic environment at ECU! Jabs frequently uses basketball analogies--- Pretty sure countless athletes have not left UConn or quit their beloved sport because of Gino Auriemma's negativity. This is not D1 sports. The world has evolved. Being harassed by a person of authority is not ok in the year 2025. Jabs is negative, rude, and immature. I do not know how he continues to have a job. Good for the confident women who expect more! They are the true leaders of this team. "

"He treated the swimmers like garbage — screaming, belittling, and breaking them down daily while pretending it was “discipline.” No. It was abuse. Psychological warfare, day in and day out, orchestrated by a man whose only real talent was making people hate the sport they once loved. The swimmers I know would come home completely drained — not just physically, but emotionally — because this hollow, soulless man made it his mission to ruin their spirits. He is the reason people quit sports, lose confidence, and start associating competition with trauma."

"Jabs negative record speaks volumes; many talented and passionate swimmers quit the sport they loved(and/or left the school) under his toxic leadership. He is immature, lies, plays favorites and breaks NCAA rules. I find it amazing the level of talent, discipline, and sacrifice required to swim at a mid D1 school, yet Jabs' outdated coaching, toxic and NEGATIVE culture, and immature ways are overlooked/protected by the administration. Come on ECU, You can do better! Even the athletes who support him, acknowledge that he is toxic. That is NOT D1 athletics. Shame on them for name calling their teammates, and perpetuating a toxic culture and coach. Name calling your teammates is a good and honest demonstration of what the team is really like, so I am sure future prospects will be able to read between the lines to clearly see the noxious pool that Jabs has fostered at Minges. How pitiful that these young athletes do not have enough confidence to demand a better situation for themselves and their team. Fear of retaliation much? Shout out to the athletes who continue to persevere despite the favoritism, negativity and the unfairness, keep getting stronger and faster! "

"Shouldn’t be coaching!! Toxic and no respect for swimmers or parents. Nothing positive!! "

"For anyone reading the nice comments below, please don't believe that & refer to the real comments even farther down about his poor coaching and being a poor excuse of a human being. The ones leaving the nice comments are clearly the ones who contributed to the toxic culture by being enablers. Jabs enables toddler like behavior such as tantrums & hissy fits because that is how he behaves as well! Athletes who bow down to him & meet his every need are the ones who get coached, it is not based on hard work at all. Exhibit A. shown below are the ones who clearly have had positive experiences from sucking up & worshipping the ground Coach Jabs walks on. If you want to get away with poor behavior this is the school for you!"

"I genuinely have nothing nice to say about this man. I always thought that if a grown man was drinking on the job with being in charge of 25 girls then that would immediately raise a red flag but no. The girls that are coming on here and praising him have not been through 4 years of his terror. He shows very inappropriate favoritism and the girls that are coming on here saying “it’s just D1 athletics, it’s just how this works” make me sick. This man said “I only want to hire men because that’s how things will get done right” and then coaches an all women’s team and these girls still respect him is crazy to me and shows how crazy this team actually is! These negative comments go all the way back 2019. I have never been treated this badly like I was at ECU. "

"Coach Jabs shows inappropriate favoritism to certain girls on the team and has been since I was an athlete at ECU. (2016-2020) He only cares for certain swimmers and is incredibly rude to anyone outside that close circle. He does not make decisions that are best for the team or program, he only makes decisions that are best for him or his favorite group of athletes. Would not recommend this school with this coach unless you want to have a miserable 4 years. He consistently asks the alumni for money for his new program without having any contact or speaking to us at events we attend. Multiple athletes raised concerns to the athletic department about hiring his as the head coach when the program was reinstated and they did not listen. "

"Horrible women’s coach. Extremely misogynistic which is pretty bad given he’s coaches only WOMEN. Jabs favors certain girls in a predatory way. He treats the ones he doesn’t like dirt on the ground. Also he is so narcissistic and should not be in charge of us. Also, he drinks on the job and on team trips. He’s broken 4 NCAA violations. He is the most negative person I’ve ever interacted with. DO NOT be fooled by his initial normalness."

"The worst coach I have EVER had. Favoritism runs rampant throughout the program which in turn causes girls on the team to pitt themselves against each other so team culture is incredibly toxic and it’s all because of how he treats certain individuals. Makes D1 athletics 1000x harder than it already is just for his stupid male ego and because he thinks he runs the world because he’s the head coach of a Mid-major women’s swim team. Speaking of coaching women, he’s an extreme misogynist despite ONLY coaching an all girls program. Will not even speak to certain swimmers (for reasons unbeknownst to them) or if they had a bad practice. Your day will be amazing if he’s feeling amazing (rarely) but it will be horrible if he’s in a bad mood (99.99% of the time). Then hypocritically says that positivity comes from us (the team) and will yell and berate his group of 25 young GIRLS for not being happy positive, and uplifting during practice despite the miserable environment he creates. Chose not to like me before I even got to college and made it obvious (I work hard and am very coachable never once had issues with any coach in my lifetime). Once I started being something for the team he showed me a sliver of attention but not even a quarter as much as he shows his favorites. Made us practice at TEN PM on New Year’s eve just to ruin the holiday for us even though we were all already so depressed after having only a week at home and having to leave our families during the holiday season. Perpetuates team drama by only listening to one side of the story and the yells at the same people every time in a massive effort to protect his favorites who he can’t afford to not please. Made us 7 miles as punishment (NCAA violation). Has been caught drinking on our training trip among other occasions. Did not even speak to me or my teammates at our ring ceremony nor said goodbye to us or wished us luck for the rest of our lives. Despite all this, you’d think maybe he’s still a good coach? No. Has SURFACE LEVEL knowledge of this sport. Uses practices for 30+ years ago that are pure garbage yardage. Any improvements I have made were from the weight room not from the pool/his coaching. Matter of fact, he doesn’t even acknowledge 90% of the team at practice. You know he wants nothing to do with you when he puts you in Lane 8 so you are quite literally as far away from him as possible (he only stays on the side with Lane 1). Doesn’t speak to you before/after races, feedback is the same every time (if you beg for some). Even then, he’ll just tell you to “kick more” or “increase your tempo” ???!!!! Despite being an complete jerk he could at least be a decent coach but he isn’t and his resume shows it. Never coached anywhere but ECU, clearly doesn’t care to better his profession as he attends no coaching clinics or anything of that matter. Lied to ECU legal team and Athletic Director yet somehow still has a job (so don’t expect him to get fired they don’t care about this program and don’t want to hire a new, actually half decent, coach). I could literally go on for 25 more pages. I am begging you. If you are young aspiring college swimmer, do not commit to this school as long as this man in a position of power because all he does is utterly abuse it. It pains me to think of all the girls who he LIES to when he recruits them, and I’d hope more than anything I can prevent that from happening. No young, hard working, passionate, female athlete should have their love for this sport ripped from them in their final years competing by some lowly egotistical misogynist. PLEASE do not commit here if you want a happy ending to your swim career. I beg you. He’s a liar."

"Actually had to go on medication because of this man. Always yelled at us. Can count on my hands how many times he was in a good mood at practice within my 4 years here. The favoritism is also INSANE. I barely improved within my 4 years here because he was constantly focused on the faster swimmers. He made the drama on the team so much worse and caused so many issues. Always had a negative attitude and put pressure on us. Also broke several ncaa violations as a cherry on top. "

"Jabs starts off as a nice coach until he has had you for a few years and then he shows his true colors. He is dishonest, rude, arrogant, displays favoritism, and ruined my passion for swimming. He is also disrespectful to parents and only cares about those families of the athletes who score the most points. Everyone else could swim in circles all day and he would not know. He is degrading, extremely negative, and uses workouts from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s as if the sport has not changed since. He also has an terrible impact on the team culture. He also speaks to his women athletes condescendingly and treats them like men. Made a comment about wanting an all male staff because “women do not know how to coach”. Has also gotten in trouble for drinking on Training Trips when athletes were present. "

"Was very different on recruiting trips, chooses favorites, does not know how to handle certain situations, demeaning, rude, & brings others down"

"He puts on a front to the recruits and when you get here is very rude and demeaning. He doesn't listen or care for anyone's needs and is only concerned with his own benefit. He hasn't helped me grow as a swimmer at all and shows favoritism. He disrespects us and yells at us and other coaches. If I could do it all again, I would not choose here. "