 How did you get started in coaching?
At the age of 13, I joined the YMCA Leaders Club at the local “Y” and began teaching gym and swim classes. I enjoyed it very much and decided before entering college that I wanted to be a teacher and coach.
You have coached some of the country’s best divers, what has been one of your favorite Olympic moments?
Seeing Greg Louganis on the award stand with the national anthem playing, after he just completed his second Olympics winning double gold medals.
What helped you become one of the most successful Diving coaches in the World?
While getting a Ph.D in Physical Education (Ohio State University-1967), with an emphasis on Exercise Physiology, Kinesiology, Anatomy etc., I realized the importance of science in the training and preparation of athletes. I spent my whole career studying research findings from all areas related to athletic performance. Since there was little research done in the sport of Diving, I adapted information from other sports, Sport Psychology and various other areas of skill mastery.
You developed Greg Louganis and many other prominent divers from a very young age through their career. What were some of the key stages of developing him as an Olympic champion?
Helping him deal with personal issues in his teen years and keeping him focused on reaching his potential while going through some tough times. After he won two gold medals at the 1984 Olympic Games, I had to get him to refocus on becoming the most prolific diver in history. We discussed what previous great divers had accomplished, that he could exceed all the records for number of national and international titles and become the greatest diver in the history of the sport.
What are some of the changes that are occurring globally in Diving and how are they affecting the US ranks?
Over the past 20 years, other countries (China and Russia especially) increased the amount of time in training and with government support changed diving from a part-time to full-time situation. In the US, because of our commitment to education, our training time and emphasis on sport stayed relatively the same. We have now learned to better balance school requirements with training, so that our training time has increased for many of our divers to 35+ hours per week.
The difficulty of the dives has continued to increase, for both men and women. A diver wishing to compete for a gold medal needs to spend a great deal of time improving their physical profile to be able to execute these difficult dives. Many of our divers now place a lot more emphasis on their exercise program.
 One of the famous sporting moments was when Greg hit his head on the diving board. As his coach, what went through your head at that time and how did you get him re-focused on the next dive?
My first reaction was for his safety, as I didn't know the severity of the injury. Once the doctors determined that it was a laceration and there wasn't anything more serious, I asked Greg if he wanted to continue. His answer, "we worked too hard to get here I don't want to quit now". He expressed concern that given the low score received on the dive he might not qualify for the finals.
I told him I would go out and check his position, which I did, and reported that he was still in 3rd place and would make the finals if he continued. The doctors temporarily stitched his wound and said he was clear to do his last two dives. At that point he and I took a walk down a dark corridor to an adjacent swimming pool not being used. He jumped into the cold water to jolt himself back to reality.
We joked about the situation and I told him hockey players get 50 stitches in their face and then go out and finish the game, surely he could do two more dives. I knew from our long history together that Greg has a great sense of humor and that is the best medicine for him when under stress.
His next dive was the same type of dive (reverse) he did when striking the board, so I strongly urged him to move the dive out away from the board more than usual. He did the best dive of all the competitors in the preliminary contest, but it was still too close to the board. His last dive was also a reverse type of dive, so I more than strongly told him to make sure his distance from the springboard was exaggerated. He did the dive well and safely. The rest is history!
How did the Big 10 rivalry between Diving coaches influence you and the sport?
During the time I was a coach in the Big Ten, it was far and away the best diving conference in the country. The Big Ten Championship was a war and a prelude of the upcoming NCAA Championship. The work ethic of the other coaches pushed me every day to make sure my divers would be prepared for the championship season. As a result of the competition between the coaches, the US was also the leader in new dives done, changes in the direction of the sport and dominant in world level competition.
Who was your mentor and what was the greatest piece of advice that you received?
I was lucky to have three mentors at different stages of my life. Their influence was not in any specific advice they gave me, but the example they provided. The first major influence was the Physical Director and his assistant at the local YMCA (Don Geyer and Jim Traylor). They loved teaching and coaching and instilled me with a passion for it. They got me involved in teaching and helped me improve at it. It was because of them I became a teacher/coach. When I went to Ohio State, Mike Peppe was the head swimming and diving coach. He became my role model and I watched how he did things while competing as an undergraduate and graduate student.
This observation taught me three very important things,
- when you get several good/great athletes together in a competitive training environment, the daily competition in practice produces great results
- you cannot create motivation in people, you find those that are motivated and tell them what they have to do and they will do it, and
- never gloat when winning or make excuses when losing.
What has kept you coaching at such a high level for so long?
A love of the sport and how intensely individual it is. The challenge of solving the problems involved in such a complex performance sport. The concept of pursuing personal perfection, both in me and the athletes under my direction was a driving force. I coined a philosophy about perfection as the years went on and perfection was unattainable but still the goal, "Seek perfection, learn to accept less and be kind to your self along the way."
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