The man credited with revitalising Australian swimming after a "toxic" London Olympic campaign has confirmed he will vacate his post after the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Dolphins coach Jacco Verhaeren says he will depart Australia after the Olympics for his homeland the Netherlands to be with his young family and pursue other opportunities.
Dutch master mentor Verhaeren took over the Australian swimming reins with the Dolphins at their most vulnerable in 2013.
The coach of Holland's Olympic gold medallists Pieter van den Hoogenband, Inge De Bruijn and Ranomi Kromowidjojo was lured Down Under following a horror 2012 London Olympic campaign.
Verhaeren was hired after two reviews that were launched unveiled shocking cultural problems in the wake of Australia registering just one gold at London - their worst performance in the Olympic pool in 20 years.
The Dolphins have since undergone a radical cultural change under Verhaeren.
He introduced swimming trials that are barely a month before a major meet, mirroring the successful American system.
Verhaeren also raised qualifying standards, ensuring athletes only received a team selection nod if they met a top-eight time from the previous world championships.
Verhaeren vowed that Australia would be the No.1 swimming nation by 2020 after signing on as Dolphins coach seven years ago.
They almost reached that goal back in 2015 when Australia fell just one gold short of the table-topping United States at the world titles in Kazan, Russia.
The Dolphins appeared to take a back step when they claimed just one gold, finishing a distant eighth on the medal table for the 2017 world titles at Budapest.
However, Australia seem to be primed again to threaten the Americans' dominance at next month's world titles in South Korea following an impressive selection trials campaign.
Australia now have four world No.1 ranked swimmers, five at No.2 and another two in the top five before July's world championships at Gwangju in South Korea.
Besides guiding Australia to the world titles, Verhaeren must also juggle the athletes' workload ahead of the new International Swimming League which begins in October before his 2020 swansong.
Verhaeren did not believe the lucrative new league would be a world titles distraction for the 20-plus Dolphins who are set to contest the breakaway competition.
"It's great for swimming to have a professional league," he said.
"Everyone needs to appreciate that this is the first year that they are doing it."
