Penn State Adds Assistant Swim Coach, Head Diving Coach to Staff

Penn State has announced the addition of two new coaches to its swimming and diving staff. Penn State alumnus Josh Graham joins the program as an assistant swimming coach, while Jeff DiNicola will become the program’s head diving coach.

Graham comes to the program after serving as an assistant coach at Davidson since the summer of 2012. There, he coached the teams’ men’s and wmoen’s middle-distance and distance groups.

That makes him an apt replacement for Erik Posegay, who left the program this summer to take an assistant position at the University of Wisconsin. Posegay was the primary coach of the Penn State distance group.

That group last year included junior Ally McHugh, who finished 2nd behind Katie Ledecky in the 1650 free and this summer won the 400 IM USA Swimming National Championship and earned a spot on the Pan Pacs team that begins competition on Thursday in  Tokyo.

During Graham’s time at Davidson, he coached 15 conference champions and his athletes broke more than 30 school records.

Prior to Davidson, Graham was the lead senior coach at SEVA in Newport News, Virginia, where he worked primarily with swimmers transitioning to the team’s senior group.

Graham graduated from Penn State in 2009 with a degree in criminology, where he was a 4-year member of the varsity swim team. In high school, he set a Virginia state record in the 200 free.

DiNicola comes from Dallas, Texas where he spent the last year-and-a-half with the Mustangs in the Sun Diving Team. He previously was the head diving coach at Arkansas from 2013-2016 where he coached the team’s first NCAA qualifier since 2008. In 2014, every single one of Arkansas’ divers qualified for zone competition. From 2003-2005 he was the diving coach at Nebraska, and before that he worked at New Mexico and his alma mater Southwest Missouri State. In his first season there, he was the Missouri Valley Conference Diving Coach of the Year. As an athlete, he was a two-time MVC Diver of the Year.

DiNicola replaces Dennis Ceppa, who led the Penn State diving program for 4 seasons.

The Penn State women finished 29th at NCAAs last year, with 26 points all earned by McHugh (their only NCAA qualifier). The Penn State men placed 30th with 14 points: all scored by their only NCAA qualifier diver Hector Boissier.

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Swimmer
5 years ago

757 BABY! Congrats Josh!

NM Coach
5 years ago

Jeff did a GREAT job while he was at NM!!! Good luck my friend, excited to see what you do at Penn State!!!

Mark Wallberg
5 years ago

Great hire with Josh! Outstanding coach.

SUNY Cal
5 years ago

And how about a new pool, which they soooo badly need???

OLLIEPOP
Reply to  SUNY Cal
5 years ago

Unless something has changed, Penn State has planned to add a 10 lane indoor 50 meter pool within the next 5 years. The construction is part of their 20 year master plan. Swimswam posted an article about it maybe a year ago.

So I’ve Heard
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 years ago

Not off the rails, but funding realities are, well, real. Who wants to step up and write that $50 million check?

Absent a sugar daddy, funding options resort to 1) loan with debt service, 2) student activity fees for a “university community” facility, or 3) a public/private aquatic cooperative to serve the Centre region. All 3 options involve significant negotiation, multiple stakeholders… and time.

The other sticking point is campus location for the pool. Athletics prefers a new location near the track and football stadium. This would allow for ample parking for events and community use. PSU admin prefers a location near the existing pool – to be more convenient for student & staff use. That disagreement must be… Read more »

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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