Drew Johansen, Olympic Head Diving Coach, Worried About His Sport’s Future

Drew Johansen, four-time U.S. Olympic Head Diving Coach, thinks the sport’s future is jeopardized by NCAA revenue sharing, a change in championship models, and no seat at the table for diving coaches.

“Diving’s vulnerability has always essentially been outside of our control,” he told SwimSwam.

Championship Model Change

Conferences across the country are trending towards valuing divers lower than they used to at conference meets. For example, the SEC has a 1:1 ratio between swimmers and divers for roster spots. The ACC guarantees three divers a roster spot per team, but after that they also use a 1:1 ratio. 

Divers can contribute to the team in at most three individual events, while swimmers can contribute in three individual events plus four relays. To Johansen, who serves as Indiana’s Head Diving Coach, the 1:1 ratio “reduced the opportunities for divers at those meets and therefore the need to support a diving team.”

In an attempt to increase diver’s values, Johansen said the diving community wants to add new diving events. 

“In the last 10 years the diving community has lobbied the NCAA and the major conferences to add events to [the] championship schedule, like a synchronized 3-meter event or the team event,” Johansen said. “If scored as a relay, this would give divers similar opportunities that swimmers have, and we could make the math easier. Diving cannot survive a one-to-one counting system without adding events for diving.”

Revenue Sharing

In a USA Today opinion piece, Johansen argued that revenue sharing with student-athletes in lucrative sports would take away funds from Olympic sports. 

The revenue-sharing model that worries Johansen comes from the House v. NCAA ruling on name, image, and likeness (NIL). Under this ruling, which has been a road map for athletic department decisions, universities have the option to share up to 22% of their athletic revenue with student-athletes. The ruling also calls for universities to pay $2.8 billion dollars to former athletes from the last ten years to make up for missed NIL opportunities. The bulk of revenue and payouts would go to athletes from revenue-generating sports, football and basketball. These policies are expected to be implemented soon.

In his article, Johansen claimed that top athletic departments could lose 20-25% of their funding to these policies. He’s worried that to make up for the loss, schools would cut non-revenue Olympic sports. If this happened on a large scale, Johansen argued, diving and other Olympic sports would lose their development model.

“The support and resources of [the] NCAA have been the backbone of a lot of our Olympic sports: world class facilities, coaching positions, education for our athletes,” Johansen wrote. “I’m worried that I could lose my profession.”

No Seat At The Table

In the midst of revenue and weight changes that could affect diving, Johansen feels the sport has no say so in its own future. He has unsuccessfully tried to get his sport a seat at decision-making tables in the NCAA and within swimming & diving. Currently, Johansen said that swim coaches hold the power for decisions that affect both swimming and diving, such as the conference ratio rules.

“There is a vacant diving seat on the CSCAA (College Swim Coach Association) board that I have applied for, the board decided not to accept my application and I was told they wanted to ‘move in a different direction’,” Johansen told SwimSwam. “My hope was to join the group so we can all work together to navigate the transformational period that we are in. I am anxious to see what direction that will be.” 

In his opinion article, Johansen suggested litigation as a potential action to save diving programs, but only if necessary. 

“(Diving) programs were dropped during COVID, leading to litigation against some schools. It is important that we take the necessary steps to avoid any considerations of litigation,” he told SwimSwam.

Johansen served as the head U.S. Olympic Diving Coach in the last four Olympics. He has also been the head diving coach at Indiana since 2013, where he won CSCAA Diving Coach of the Year three times. At the 2023 Men’s NCAA championships, Indiana divers combined for two national titles, five medals, and over 30 points more than any other diving program.