Villanova Adds Todd Michael as Diving Coach

Villanova, Pa. – Todd Michael comes to Villanova with a wealth of diving experience under his belt. It is not every day that a one-time top five world high diver and cliff diver joins the coaching staff.

So far, Michael has enjoyed his time with the Wildcats.

“It’s a lot different then what I’m used to,” Michael said. “I’m coming from a junior club team coaching people anywhere between six-years old and sixty. I’m more based in the youth side and coming to the adult side everyday is different. My verbage can be different so I don’t have to paddy-cake around, and I can let them [student-athletes] know how it is.”

Michael arrives on the Main Line from TNT Diving which is a year round junior Olympic program in Upper Dublin, Pa. and neighboring areas.

Michael, who still serves as head coach at TNT, has had numerous divers achieve record breaking performances and championships. He has coached high school divers to the PIAA District and State Championships, USA Diving East National Championships and AAU National Championships.

As far as Michael remembers, diving has always been in his roots.

His father, Jack Michael, taught himself how to dive and was a walk-on diver at Bowling Green University. Michael’s brother Tommy and his sister Tracy were also divers. His brother is now the junior national team coach in Australia.

Naturally, Michael was next in line to follow the family tradition.

“I wanted to follow in my brother’s footsteps,” Michael noted. “He was my idol growing up, and I always looked up to him. The older I got the more intrigued I got.”

Michael would later go on to dive internationally for Red Bull Competitions in Hawaii, Acapulco, Monaco, Croatia and Italy. He placed fifth at the World High Diving Championships in Veracruz, Mexico in October of 2008, and in 2007 he placed fourth in Acapulco, Mexico competing in the Cliff Diving Championships.

Off all the places he’s been around the world, Michael said his experience in Croatia in 2000 was incredible.

“Croatia was probably one of the coolest setups,” Michael exclaimed. “It was in Dubrovnik and the city is surrounded by a castle. It was torn apart by the war and it still wasn’t built back up yet. They made the platform off of the fort, and it was probably fifty feet long to get out to the water. You could see where the bombs hit and there were bullet holes in the wall. It was amazing and surreal.”

Before competing for Red Bull, Michael was doing high diving shows. He worked at Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J. as a high diver for six years, and before that he was all over Europe.

Michael’s very first high diving show took place in front of a crowd of 10,000 plus people at a circus in Berlin in 1990 right after the Berlin Wall came down.

As Michael recalls, it didn’t necessarily go according to plan.

“It was tri-ladder [TV antenna wire] up and they took a couple of tiles out of the ceiling so part of your body was in the ceiling,” Michael said. “There was just a spotlight for the dive, and I landed flat on my stomach. I emptied a foot and a half of water out of the pool from the splash. I got out and passed out.”

The only other hiccup or crash Michael has had while diving occurred at the 1994 World Championships in Silver Springs, Fla. At the time, Michael was the youngest competitor at the event at 23 years-old.

“The competition heights were 80, 90 and 100 feet,” Michael said. “The first round was from 80. The second round was from 90, and the third round was from 100. My second round dive was from 90. The platform we stood on was one foot by one foot. As I went to jump, it wasn’t locked down. When I pushed it went down and I couldn’t finish my rotation, and I landed on the water cupped. I pulled my back out and I almost bit my tongue off. Then eight minutes later I had to go up and do it again.”

There is no doubt that diving is not for the faint of heart. Michael admitted that when first started he was afraid of heights. Not deathly afraid, but as he said “the higher you go the heart rate rises.”

The highest Michael has dove from was a 134 foot cliff in the South of France. In competition, the highest he dove from was 100 feet.

“Looking down over something that you think you shouldn’t be jumping off of is just enough to get your heart rate to beat there,” Michael noted. “To jump off it is ten-fold knowing that you’re flying in the air without anything attached to you except for your mind and soul. You have to trust your abilities to land safely in the water.”

“Diving is 95 percent mental and five percent ability. That’s what I think. Other people may think differently, but if you don’t have the mental component you don’t have diving. I encounter it every day. I’m like why can’t you go, why can’t you go. Not everybody is like me. The left side of the brain fights the right side of the brain especially in diving.”

The Villanova dive program will be competing again in 2015-16 after a year long hiatus. Michael takes over for former head coach Gary Edler. One of Michael’s biggest challenges in restarting the program is on the recruiting trail.

“These are kids that are coming into the college that I didn’t recruit so I didn’t know their background prior,” Michael noted. I am acclimated now with the two new freshmen who came in and our personalities don’t clash which is a good thing. The biggest challenge for me is to recruit and get kids into the school. It’s very tough academically to get in. Hopefully, next year I will have couple of really good student-athletes.”

Away from the pool, Michael enjoys playing and spending time with his daughter Riley and his son Zachary.

The Wildcats will kick off their 2015-16 season at La Salle on Wednesday, October 21.

Swimming news courtesy of Villanova Swimming & Diving.