Courtesy: Bryant Athletics
Head swimming and diving coach Katie Cameron announced the retirement of head diving coach Chuck LoCurto on Thursday afternoon. Christo Law will become the assistant diving coach beginning in the 2020 academic year.
“I could never express my full gratitude for Chuck and his devotion to the Swimming and Diving program. During the last eight years, he has spent countless hours coaching, mentoring, driving, and preparing his athletes and our entire staff for so many different things, Coach Cameron said”. “He was so much more than a diving coach; he was a true-life coach for all of us. His upbeat and positive attitude is contagious, and his perseverance showed his determination to build the diving program from the bottom up the right way. The success of our divers demonstrates what a great coach and leader he is. As I respect his decision to retire and begin another chapter of his life, I anticipate he will always be a great resource for myself, and the program he is ALWAYS welcome on deck, once a Bulldog always a Bulldog!!”
In 2012, LoCurto recruited the first-ever Bryant women’s diver, thus creating the Bryant swimming and diving team, and he now leaves the Black and Gold as one of the top diving programs in the Northeast.
LoCurto served as the head diving coach for eight seasons at Bryant University. During his tenure, he was named the Northeast Conference Diving Coach of the year three times and was a member of the NEC Coaching Staff of the Year two times.
LoCurto built the Bryant women’s diving team into a perennial powerhouse in the NEC. He coached one of the greatest Bulldog divers of all-time in Kelci Abernethy, who under LoCurtos wing won three gold medals at the NECs total and qualified for zones during the 2018-19 season. At the 2019 NECs, the women’s diving team scored 171 points and took six of the eight top spots in the one-meer dive helping the Black and Gold achieve their second straight NEC Championship. In 2020 freshman diver Kyrianna Chambo won both the one-meter and three-meter dives at the NECs and was named the Diver of the Meet.
LoCurto also helped the Bryant men’s diving team rise to prominence in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. At the 2018-19 MAAC Championships, Trevor Hazlewood placed third in the one-meter dive, and freshman diver Evan Clark was named the MAAC Diving Rookie of the Meet, which helped the Bulldogs finish in second for the first time in school history. Hazlewood also qualified for the zones during that season.
LoCurto ends his career at Bryant, having produced five diving conference championship titles, six NCAA Zone “A” qualifying scores, two NCAA Zone “A” competitors, over 120 first-place finishes, and dozens of NEC and MAAC diver of the week honors.
