COACHING STAFF
MIKE HILDE
Title: Diving Coach
Mike Hilde wrapped his fourth year as diving coach at the University of Michigan. He oversees both men's and women's divers. With an emphasis on platform diving and dryland training, the program has made significant strides in Hilde's tenure.
Under Hilde, the women's team has sent at least two divers to the NCAA Championships in three consecutive years, including a pair of freshmen (Nikki Canale, Christy Cutshaw) in 2018. Under Hilde, Michigan's women's divers have earned nine qualifying spots to the NCAA Championships, matching the total from previous 20 years prior to his arrival (1995-2014). On the men's side, Hilde coached Ross Todd to NCAA Championships berths on three-meter and platform, becoming the first Michigan men's diver to reach NCAAs in 14 years.
Hilde has had the most success with platform divers, as Christy Cutshaw (10th in 2018), Kristen Hayden (11th in 2017) and Carey Chen (8th in 2015) have all scored at the NCAA Championships. In 2017, Hilde coached Allie Murphy (three-meter) and Hayden to CSCAA All-America Honorable Mentions, marking the first time since 1994 that the women's program has had two different divers score points at the same NCAA Championships. Chen was the program's first NCAA Championships finalist in any of the three diving events in 19 years.
Hilde came to Ann Arbor after three years with the Mission Viejo Nadadores in Mission Viejo, Calif., where he was the National/International Team Director and an assistant coach. In Sept. 2014, he served on USA Diving's coaching staff for the 2014 FINA World Junior Championships, held in Penza, Russia.
He sports 14 years of experience as both an athlete and coach. With the Mission Viejo Nadadores, Hilde designed training programs and provided technical instruction and guidance to Junior Olympic and Senior-level athletes. Last August, he was named National/International Team Director, serving as Communications Director for the Junior Olympic and Senior programs, while also serving as the team's correspondent to USA Diving. He also formed training schedules and planned travel for national and international competitions. Since 2012, Hilde has additionally served on the Committee of Competitive Excellence within USA Diving.
He coached his divers to three top-four finishes at the J.O. National Championships (2011-13) and a top-five finish at the 2013 USA Diving Senior National Diving Championships. In addition, Hilde's divers took first as a team at both the 2013 Age Group National Championships and 2013 Junior Olympic Games. Prior to his appointment in Mission Viejo, Hilde was head diving coach for one season at the University of San Diego (2010-11).
He was an accomplished collegiate diver at the University of Southern California (2004-07), where he was a four-time NCAA Championships qualifier. In his 12 career diving events at the NCAA Championships, Hilde scored in nine of them, including an NCAA All-America honor in 2006 on the three-meter springboard. Prior to USC, Hilde dove for the Mission Viejo Nadadores, where he was mentored by Olympians Hongping Li and Janet Ely. There, he was a five-time J.O. U.S. National champion, six-time U.S. West National champion and qualified for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials (three-meter).
He graduated from USC in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in public policy, management and planning.
DR. JOSH WHITE
Title: Associate Head Coach
Dr. Josh White concluded his 10th season on the Michigan coaching staff, serving the last six years as associate head coach for the men's program. The previous four years (2009-12), White was the assistant head coach for the men's team.
White has kept the strong tradition of distance swimming at Michigan alive. In his ten years, his distance swimmers have won 22 Big Ten individual titles across the distance freestyle events (200, 500, 1,650), with another eight coming on the 800-yard freestyle relay. The distance program was instrumental in helping Michigan win its national championship in 2013, as its swimmers held four of the top nine spots in the 1,650-yard freestyle and five of the top 16 spots in the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships. One month earlier at the 2013 Big Ten Championships, Michigan placed 1-2-3-4 in the 1,650-yard freestyle, 1-3-4-6-9 in the 500-yard freestyle and 1-2-3-4-6 in the 200-yard freestyle. Additionally, White tutored the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Connor Jaeger, Anders Lie Nielsen, Justin Glanda and Michael Wynalda to a then-NCAA record at the 2014 Big Ten Championships.
Michigan had the nation's top distance program during the 2017-18 season. The Wolverines went 1-2-3 in the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard IM and 1,650-yard freestyle at the 2018 Big Ten Championships and had three swimmers (Felix Auböck, PJ Ransford, Ricardo Vargas) make the podium in the 1,650-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships. That year, Auböck was national runner-up in both the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyles, while Vargas was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. In 2017, Auböck recorded the second-fastest mile time in history at the NCAA Championships (14:22.88) and was named both Big Ten Swimmer of the Year and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Ransford, a back-to-back NCAA Elite 90 Award winner, was named to the U.S. National Team in back-to-back years (2016-17, 2017-18) under White's guidance.
Beyond the NCAA, Michigan distance swimmers have achieved great international success, led by Jaeger, a two-time U.S. Olympian and 2016 silver medalist in the 1,500-meter freestyle. White coached four of the top nine milers at the 2012 US Olympic Trials and three of the top 11 in 2016. After his appearance at the 2012 Olympics in London, Jaeger vaulted to the top of the American distance swimming scene, winning three NCAA titles, five medals in international meets and setting American records in both the 1,500-meter freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle before retiring after the 2016 Olympics.
At the 2012 Olympic Games, White served as the head swimming coach for Barbados, coaching former University of Florida standout Bradley Ally in the 100-meter backstroke, and the 200- and 400-meter individual medleys.
Athletes coached by Dr. White have also had great success in Open Water competition. He was the head open water coach for the United States at the 2011 and 2013 World University Games, and was named an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2012 FINA Short Course World Championships. The biggest beneficiary of White's coaching is Sean Ryan, a multi-time U.S. National Team selection who qualified for the 2016 Olympics in Rio in the 10K race. Emily Brunemann, the 2008 NCAA champion in the 1,650-yard freestyle, was coached by White in 2009 when she won the 10K at the US National Championships and in 2010 when she placed third at the Pan-Pacific Championships. White also put Cameron Stitt on Team USA's roster for the 2015 World University Games.
Prior to his arrival in Ann Arbor, White was head coach of the men's and women's swimming teams at Division-III Pomona-Pitzer (Claremont, Calif.) from 2006-08.
In 2006, White attained his Ph.D. in human performance from Indiana University, studying in the Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming. His graduate research focused on the power generated during swimming and swimming power training.
While pursuing his Ph.D. at IU, White spent three years as a volunteer assistant coach with the Hoosier men's swimming team. Additionally, White coached at Bloomington South (Ind.) High School and has club team experience with The Indiana Swim Team and Bloomington Swim Club.
RICK BISHOP
Title: Associate Head Coach
Rick Bishop concluded his sixth year as associate head coach, primarily working with the women's swimming and diving team. In his tenure, Bishop has been instrumental in helping restore the women's program to a national powerhouse with three consecutive Big Ten championships and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2018.
With Bishop's guidance, the women's program jumped from 36th in 2013 to 10th in 2016, and peaked with a fourth-place finish in 2018, the program's highest in 22 years. The Wolverines won their third consecutive Big Ten title by 235.5 points -- the largest margin of victory by any Big Ten team in seven years -- for the program's firs three-peat in 20 years. Bishop's swimmers also have completely re-written the record board, as all 19 school records (in short course yards) have been broken, including 12 in 2018.
Bishop served as an assistant coach for USA Swimming at the 2016 Swimming World Championships (25m) in Canada and at the 2017 World University Games in Taiwan. Several swimmers under his guidance have represented their countries internationally, including 2017-18 U.S. National Team members Ali DeLoof, Sierra Schmidt and Miranda Tucker; Siobhán Haughey and Claudia Lau (Hong Kong; 2016 Olympics); Clara Smiddy and G Ryan (USA; 2015 Pan American Games); Marni Oldershaw (Canada; 2013 World University Games); Samantha Yeo (Singapore; 2017 World University Games, 2015 FINA World Championships) and Jamie Yeung (Hong Kong; 2017 World University Games).
Prior to coming to Michigan, Bishop spent the last four years with USA Swimming. Bishop's role with USA Swimming had expanded every year since his arrival in Colorado Springs in 2008, including serving as a sport performance consultant for the Club Development arm of USA Swimming for two years before moving on to the national team in 2010. There, Bishop was performance support manager for one year (2010-11), managing the national team performance staff at the 2010 Short Course World Championships in Dubai. Most recently, Bishop was Manager of Coach Services and Education (2011-2012), where he was responsible for choosing the 2013 World University Games team.
Over his 20-plus years as coach, Bishop has garnered significant international experience. He spent two years on the Brazilian National Team coaching staff, first serving as an assistant coach at the 1995 World Championships in Rio de Janeiro and 1995 Pan-American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina, before heading up the Brazilian Olympic Team at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. He also served as an assistant coach for Jamaica at the 1998 Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, and was the head coach for the Netherlands Antilles at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.
Bishop began his coaching career by serving a three-year stint as an assistant men's swimming coach at Harvard (1988-91) before moving to the University of Memphis Tiger Swimming (MTS) Club (1992-96), where he coached six swimmers to the Top 50 of the world rankings between 1994 and 1995.
In 1998, Bishop moved to Jacksonville, Fla., where he began a four-year stint as an assistant coach for The Bolles School, a private college preparatory day and boarding school. He assisted with high school national championship and state championship teams, coached high school All-Americans and U.S. Nationals finalists, and was co-Director of The Bolles School Summer Swim Camps. He went on to serve as head coach and aquatics director at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tenn., beginning in 2002, and also served as program director for the Baylor Swim Club, the school's club team. In 2004, Bishop guided Baylor to a first-place finish (combined team) at the Tennessee State High School Championships, and coached 20 men's and women's All-Americans from 2003-04.
Bishop returned to The Bolles School in 2006 as head coach of the high school team and aquatics director of the club team, the Bolles Sharks. In his first year, both his boys and girls teams won the Florida High School 1A State Championship. The next year, in 2007, Bishop guided Bolles to a second-place finish at the 2007 USA Swimming Spring Championships (combined team), with Bishop guiding four Olympic Trials qualifiers and five swimmers ranked in the Top 105 in the world rankings.
Bishop attended the University of Massachusetts (1988), receiving his B.S. in exercise science, with a concentration in exercise physiology. At UMass, Bishop was team captain on the first team championship in the program's history (1987).
Bishop and his wife, Pamela, have three sons - Liam, Aidan, and Kilian.
NIKKI KETT
Title: Assistant Coach
Nikki Kett is in her first year as an assistant coach for the University of Michigan swimming and diving program. She was announced to the staff on June 26, 2018, after spending three years in the same capacity at Penn.
At Penn, Kett primarily worked with the women's sprinters, while also serving as recruiting coordinator. This past year, she coached Virginia Burns to her fourth consecutive Ivy League title in the 500-yard freestyle and Quinn Scannell to an Ivy League record in the 200-yard backstroke. On the men's side, she helped tutor Mark Andrew to a sweep in the 200- and 400-yard IMs, earning qualification for the NCAA Championships. In 2016, Kett's first season at Penn, Chris Swanson became the school's first national champion in the 1,650-yard freestyle.
Prior to her stint at Penn, Kett was an assistant coach at Johns Hopkins University for three years. During her time in Baltimore, JHU had three top-five team finishes on the women's side and three top-eight team finishes on the men's side. The program broke 47 school records and two NCAA D-III records, while she helped coach 59 All-Americans and 15 national champions (eight relay, seven individual). Additionally, Kett was named Women's Assistant Coach of the Year at the 2013 College Swimming and Diving Awards.
Kett was a four-year letterwinner and 11-time All-American at Kenyon College, graduating with a degree in biology. As a senior, she finished third in the 200-yard breaststroke and fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke at the 2012 NCAA D-III Championships.
She has a master's degree in kinesiology with a concentration in exercise and sports psychology from A.T. Still University in Mesa, Arizona. Additionally, Kett will graduate from Penn in August 2018 with a master's degree in organizational dynamics, with her capstone project creating connected, high-performing teams.
SAM WENSMAN
Title: Assistant Coach
Sam Wensman wrapped his second season as assistant coach for the University of Michigan men's and women's swimming and diving programs. Prior to 2016-17, Wensman spent three years (2014-16) as the volunteer assistant coach and two years (2012-13) as a program assistant. He also coached professional swimmers with Club Wolverine Elite leading into the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
During the 2017-18 season, Wensman worked closely with the breaststroke group and helped several members of the team's sophomore class reach the NCAA Championships. Jacob Montague, Jeremy Babinet, Charlie Swanson and Tommy Cope all finaled in the 200-yard breaststroke at the Big Ten Championships and qualified individually for the NCAA Championships; Cope set a school record and made the podium in the 200-yard breaststroke, while Montague and Babinet each scored points in the consolation final of the 100-yard breaststroke.
Wensman also has international coaching experience. In July 2017, he coached Felix Auböck at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, guiding the Austrian to finals berths in the 400- and 800-meter freestyles.
Wensman, a native of Durham, N.H., was a four-year letterwinner for the Wolverines, swimming from 2008-11 and specializing in the breaststroke. During his tenure, Wensman helped Michigan win three Big Ten titles (2008-09, 2011) and finish among the top 10 at the NCAA Championships all four years.
Wensman graduated from Michigan in 2011 with a degree in sport management.
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