BATON ROUGE, La. – Drew Livingston, who led the Virginia diving program during the Cavaliers’ back-to-back Women’s NCAA titles, has been named the head diving coach at LSU, head swimming coach Rick Bishop announced Tuesday.
“We are excited to have Drew return to LSU,” Bishop said. “Over the past several years, Drew has developed great divers at Princeton and as part of a National Championship Team with UVA. He brings great technical and teaching skill that will help carry on the legacy of success that Doug Shaffer established. Drew will be a great partner as we continue to develop the LSU Men’s & Women’s Swimming and Diving programs.”
“I want to thank Rick Bishop and the administration for this opportunity to return to Baton Rouge and lead the LSU Diving program,” Livingston said. “Rick has an exciting vision for the future of LSU Swimming and Diving, and I can’t wait to join Rick and the rest of the coaching staff. Doug Shaffer has built LSU Diving into a national powerhouse. I am honored to continue building on this legacy and provide the best environment possible for our student-athletes to develop in and out of the pool. Geaux Tigers!”
Livingston spent the last four seasons in the same position at UVA and spearheaded the program’s unprecedented success. During his time in Charlottesville, he coached 8 divers to the NCAA Championships. At the ACC Championships, Livingston saw six divers earn ten All-ACC honors by finishing in the top 8 of an event.
He led Virginia’s female divers in setting new school records for all three events.
Before arriving at UVA, Livingston served as the head diving coach at Princeton. Livingston oversaw three divers for the 2018 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, sending the program’s first male divers to the national meet since 1991. Over the span of his two years, the diving program saw a 41 percent increase in points at the Ivy League Championships.
Prior to Princeton, Livingston worked as a graduate assistant in Baton Rouge under LSU’s legendary head coach Doug Shaffer. In his two-year stint, he assisted the program’s diving team to three of the six school records. Livingston’s time at LSU was highlighted by the 2015 season when the Tigers led the crowd in diving points and medals at the SEC Championships. The team advanced a diver to the conference final for each event.
Livingston began his coaching career at his undergraduate alma mater, Texas, where he served as a volunteer assistant coach from 2013-14. He aided in practice planning and athlete development for both collegiate and post-graduate divers while coaching under NCAA Men’s Diving Coach of the Meet Matt Scoggin. The team captured 10 NCAA All-America honors, which included two individual NCAA titles by Diver of the Meet Michael Hixon.
Coming from a strong collegiate career, Livingston is a two-time NCAA champion on the one-meter springboard and a 10-time All-American. He was named the 2012 NCAA Diver of the Year after capturing the national title on one meter, finishing second on three-meter and fourth on platform at the national meet. During his career, he set an NCAA record in the platform, scoring 542.95 points at the 2009 Big 12 Championships.
In addition to his collegiate career, Livingston qualified for the USA Diving National Team nine times and is a two-time USA Diving National Champion.
Livingston graduated from LSU with his MBA in 2019. He earned his bachelor’s of science degree in sports management from the University of Texas in 2012 while he served as a team captain on the swimming and diving team. Academically, he was named to the Big 12 Conference All-Academic first-team and was a two-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
(Courtesy: LSU Athletics)
