Diving Coach John Bransfield

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Now entering his tenth season directing the UConn diving program, John Bransfield is coming off another successful season on the boards.

Most recently, Bransfield was named the 2006 BIG EAST Women’s Diving Coach of the year.

Developing champions is not something new to Bransfield. In his thirty-one years of coaching, Bransfield has had many conference champions and at least one conference champion at each and every school that he has worked at, including Army, Maine, Springfield College and Northern Michigan. He has coached several national qualifiers including a four-time NCAA Division II Champion. In 2003, Melissa Kull became the first Connecticut diver to compete at the NCAA National Championships.

Having not graduated any divers this past year, the outlook for the upcoming season has Bransfield excited.

Returning for the Huskies is 2006 BIG EAST Most Outstanding Diver Allison Coleman and junior Liza Marianni, who last year was the BIG EAST runner up on both the one-meter and three-meter boards. Marianni is also the school and pool record holder from the three-meter board. Both Coleman and Marianni were Zone Championship finalists last season.

On the men’s side, senior Michael Clifford is expected to set the pace. Last season, he was a BIG EAST finalist in the one-meter dive and runner up at the Terrapin Cup on the one-meter board. He is joined by Stephen Ferreira, who is returning for his sophomore season. Ferreira was a finalist at the BIG EAST Championships in the three-meter dive.
The incoming freshman class contains top recruits Jessica Hovancik, Andrew Culmo and Adam Genuario. This group is expected to push the starters.

Bransfield’s background extends beyond the collegiate realm of diving. He enjoyed many years of success with U.S. Diving as a Junior Olympic coach, and was the recipient of a stipend in 1988 to work with two U.S Olympic Coaches. In 1992, Bransfield was appointed as a Regional Technical Director of United States Diving, and while at West Point, hosted numerous clinics for U.S Diving Coaches. In 1998 he served as the Competition Manager of the Goodwill Games in New York. Bransfield currently teaches coaching clinics for Grass Roots fundamentals, Spotting Training and Safety Certification.

In the summer of 2003, Bransfield spent close to three weeks in the People's Republic of China. The opportunity allowed him to closely observe the training programs at two Provincial sites and attend the Asian Junior Championships.

Bransfield is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., where he received his bachelor's degree from St. Francis College. He earned a master's at Northern Michigan University and continued to study biomechanics while at Springfield College. Bransfield and his wife, Ginny, have four sons, and presently reside in Storrs.