The Penn State athletics community is mourning the loss of a former diver and coach.
Craig Brown, who was a diver for the Nittany Lions in the late 70s and early 80s and the diving coach for the program from 1985-2013, died on July 7 at the age of 65 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
According to prodivingcoach.org, Brown coached more than 20 NCAA qualifiers and was named Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year in both 1994 and 1999.
Brown was a three-time most valuable diver for Penn State before graduating in 1981, according to Penn State’s school newspaper, The Daily Collegian.
He went on to serve as the men’s and women’s diving coach at Penn before taking over for Bob Goldberg as Penn State’s diving coach for both men and women in 1985.
Brown also was an instructor in Penn State’s College of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
A 2009 article by The Daily Collegian described Brown as a coach who conducted “high-energy” morning practices with both the men’s and women’s teams before doing sessions with one or two divers at a time later in the day.
“We just try to pick a certain type of kid that isn’t as interested in what the pool looks like and is more interested in what they can get out of themselves,” Brown said in the article. “It takes a little longer with those kids to get them up to speed, but we’ve been real fortunate. I’ve been one of the luckiest coaches helping no-name kids do really well for us.”
Brown’s wife, Kim, was also a collegiate diver and coach, diving her way to an All-American career at Wisconsin before having coaching stints at Purdue and Wisconsin.
Brown’s daughter, Kim, was a diver for both Missouri and Georgia, with her last college season being in 2021-22.
In 2021, Brown finished 16th on the 3-meter and 27th on the 1-meter at the NCAA Zone B championships.
Brownie- May you rest in peace. You scored a perfect 10 as a coach in my book.