The surprise for me was that Cal made a coaching move at all. I saw no indications that they were moving away from Derek Starks, the previous diving coach who was hired right when Legends opened.
As for the Stanford ties, Cal actually does that relatively frequently with non-revenue coaches since Cal obviously prefers to get coaches with existing ties to the Bay Area. Women's Rowing Coach Al Acosta is the latest successful example of that (after Texas poached our previous head coach).
Very exciting! I am amazed that Cal pulled this off. I was hopeful that once they had finally built actual diving platforms at Cal that they could then focus on getting a top coach. It’s frustrating to see your program concede all the points in diving and then have to try to make up the difference in the pool.
Seems like a solid hire. Ruey, why was it a "bit of a surprise"? Was there someone else you expected, or was it because 'Furd ties?
The surprise for me was that Cal made a coaching move at all. I saw no indications that they were moving away from Derek Starks, the previous diving coach who was hired right when Legends opened.
As for the Stanford ties, Cal actually does that relatively frequently with non-revenue coaches since Cal obviously prefers to get coaches with existing ties to the Bay Area. Women's Rowing Coach Al Acosta is the latest successful example of that (after Texas poached our previous head coach).
Very exciting! I am amazed that Cal pulled this off. I was hopeful that once they had finally built actual diving platforms at Cal that they could then focus on getting a top coach. It’s frustrating to see your program concede all the points in diving and then have to try to make up the difference in the pool.