Notre Dame’s longtime diving coach Caiming Xie is retiring, the school announced today in a press release. Caiming was the first full-time dive coach in program history.
Caiming was the Chinese national team head coach from 1977 to 1990, and served as the Chinese Olympic diving coach in 1980. He spent time at Pittsburgh and Toledo before joining the Notre Dame program for the 1995-1996 season.
The full Notre Dame press release is below:
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — After 25 seasons at the University of Notre Dame, head diving coach Caiming Xie announced his retirement. Caiming coached for 42 years throughout his career, and was the first full-time diving coach for the Notre Dame program.
“Notre Dame is an incredible university filled with wonderful people, and I am grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to represent the Diving program for 25 years,” Caiming noted. “I am proud to have worked alongside amazing colleagues and awesome student-athletes to help develop Notre Dame Diving into a nationally-recognized, remarkable program.”
During his tenure with the program, Caiming molded some of the top divers ever to compete for the Irish who combined for 16 individual conference titles, 11 All-America or honorable mention All-America citations and seven BIG EAST Most Outstanding Diver awards.
“We thank Caiming for his expertise and the standard he set for the Notre Dame Dive program,” Notre Dame head swimming and diving coach Mike Litzinger expressed. “We congratulate him on his well-earned retirement.”
For his efforts, Caiming, the first full-time diving coach in Notre Dame history, was named the BIG EAST’s top diving coach on 10 occasions during Notre Dame’s run in the conference from 1996-2013. He claimed the honor on the women’s side in 1999, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2013 and with the men in 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
“As the first head diving coach in Notre Dame history, Caiming leaves behind a very strong program but, more importantly, he also leaves behind 25 years of students who have benefited from his dedicated care and his wise counsel,” said University Vice President and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick. “We wish him well in his retirement, and we look forward to embarking on a national search to identify our next diving coach.”
Before coming to Notre Dame, Caiming was the head diving coach for three years at Toledo, earning Mid-American Conference Diving Coach of the Year laurels in each of his last two seasons. Prior to his stint with the Rockets, Caiming was an assistant coach for the 1991-92 season at Pittsburgh.
Boasting a wealth of international experience on his résumé, Caiming served as the 1980 Chinese Olympic diving coach. He was a technical consultant for United States Diving since 1994 and has held clinics and presentations for the United States Diving national team. In 2010 and again in 2012, Caiming was a USA Diving National Team leader and coach at the FINA/NVC Diving World Series.
Caiming also helped coach a United States squad that claimed six medals at the 2009 World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia, and again coached at the 2011 World University Games in Shenzhen, China.
The Chinese national team coach from 1977-90, Caiming coached Sun Shu-Wei, a gold medalist in the men’s platform competition at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, and Zhu Jin- Hong, who finished fourth in the women’s platform in Barcelona. Caiming’s divers also have earned medals at the Asian Games, World Cup, World University Games and World Championships.
A 1985 graduate of the Beijing Institute of Physical Education, he also won numerous Chinese diving championships on the national level.
Congratulations Caiming and job well Done – GO Irish!!!
Congratulations Caiming!