Head Coach Brad Kale hails from Nashville, Tennessee, where he had been the Senior Assistant Coach at the Nashville Aquatic Club. Coach Kale brings over thirty years of coaching experience, including senior, age group, and masters coaching experience. Over the past thirty years, he has coached swimmers to Age Group top 16 performances, Southeastern records, YMCA National qualifying times, Junior National qualifying times, National qualifying times, as well as Olympic Team Trials.

Coach Kale has been the Head Coach of the Jefferson City Barracudas in Missouri, Age Group coach at the Pine Crest Camp in Ft. Lauderdale, and Head Age Group Coach of the Williamson County Aquatic Team, and Head Age Group Coach and Senior Assistant at Nashville Aquatic Club before coming to the Emerald Coast in 2010. In 2000, Brad was named Southeastern Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year, and in 2025, Coach Kale was named Southeastern Senior Coach of the Year, making him one of only two coaches to have won both awards.
 
Coach Kale grew up swimming in the Middle Tennessee area with Jack Hazen at the Middle Tennessee Swim Club and John Morse with the Nashville Aquatic Club. Following high school, Coach Kale continued his swimming career at the University of Kentucky. Through his four years of eligibility, he qualified for finals at the Southeastern Conference Championships several times and was a Senior National qualifier in multiple events. 
 
Coach Kale enjoys the outdoors, the beach, the water, and spending time with his family and his dogs.

Coach Will Breehl comes to COAST after four years at Darton State College in Albany Georgia.  During that time both men and women’s teams finished in the top 5 at the NJCAA national meet every year.  In 2014 both men and women won the non-scholarship national championship, while the men also claimed runner up in the overall national championship.  In Breehl’s tenure a total of 21 school records were broken, along with 3 region coach of the year honors, 6 region swimmers of the year honors, 81 All Americans, and 1 NJCAA athlete of the year.

Before Darton, Breehl spent two years coaching at Union College in Barbourville Kentucky, while earning his masters degree.  At the NAIA national championship meet, the Union men and women placed 10^th and 12^th respectively in 2009 and 2010.  Union participated in the Appalachian swimming conference, composed of NCAA division II and III as well as NAIA schools, placing in the top 6 both years.

Coach Breehl was born and raised in Louisville Kentucky, home of the Louisville slugger, Muhammad Ali, and the Kentucky Derby.  He started competitive swimming at age 11 for the Clarksville Seagulls with Vlad Semenov, then with Triton Swimming and Mike Essig, where he also coached during the 2007-08 short course season.  He swam collegiately at the University of Louisville and got his start coaching in summer league at Plainview Swim and Dive team.

Coach Kathy Ritacco has over 20 years Coaching experience. She coached the SEALS Swim Team in Panama City and coached year round, summer league teams, and high school teams in Maryland and Virginia before joining the Barracudas in 2005. In 2006, Coach Kathy began coaching Ruckel Middle School and in 2008 she began as the Head Coach of Niceville High School. She has coached Cross Country and Track & Field as well. She continues to enjoy running and racing.

Coach Kathy taught Spanish at Niceville High School, where she now substitute teaches.

Maureen grew up swimming and competing in New Mexico at 7 with her club team Duke City Aquatics. She then went on to swim for the University of New Mexico where she graduated with a degree in Emergency Medicine. 

Coach Jackie White joined the Coast Aquatics Coaching staff in 2020, bringing her almost 20 years of competitive swimming experience with her.

Jackie began swimming at the age of four with the Tanoan Tarpons summer team in Albuquerque, NM. She spent the majority of her competitive career training in Arizona with Scottsdale Aquatic Club, Tempe Rio Salado, and Phoenix Swim Club. During that time, she became a Junior National Champion in the 800 freestyle and earned High School All-American

honors three times.

Jackie went on to swim collegiately for the University of Alabama from 1996–2000, where she scored at the SEC conference championships in multiple distance events all 4 years. After graduating, she moved to Destin in 2001 and quickly embraced the coastal lifestyle.

She has served as the Manager of the Taj Renee Community Aquatic Center since its reopening in 2017 and has been part of the Coast Aquatics Masters Team since 2016. She currently coaches the Novice group in Destin and assists with the Junior and Senior groups as needed. Jackie enjoys helping swimmers of all ages grow in the sport she has loved her entire life.