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One of the top diving instructors in the country, Dr. Rick Schavone begins his 30th season on The Farm as the head coach for both the men and women's diving teams in 2007-08. Throughout his illustrious career Schavone has molded Stanford into one of the top all-around diving programs in the nation year-in and year-out. Schavone has coached his men's and women's divers to a total of eight individual NCAA championships and 76 All-American honors during his tenure with the Cardinal. He has had at least one All-American on the women's side for 12 straight seasons and in 24 of his last 25. Stanford divers have also combined to win 32 individual Pac-10 titles. Schavone was the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Diving Coach of Year, while earning the Pac-10's top coaching honor on the women's side four times in the last 11 seasons and for the men in 1994-95. "Rick is one of the best diving coaches in America, and we are lucky to have him here at Stanford," says head coach Lea Maurer. "His divers always perform at the NCAA Championships and the international meets. He has been a huge reason for Stanford's swimming and diving success." The success of the women's divers coached by Schavone continued last year with Cassidy Krug picking up All-American honors in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events to earn the fourth and fifth All-American honors of her career. Schavone also coached Krug to a fourth-place finish in the 3-meter at the U.S. Summer Nationals, qualifying her for the 2007 World Championship team. Krug was also seventh in the 3-meter at the 2006 Fina Diving World Cup. Schavone's record of three or more All-American honors earned by his divers was extended to 10 consecutive season when men's diver Dwight Dumais added two on the men's side by finishing ninth in the 1-meter and 14th in the platform at the 2006 NCAA's. The 2004-2005 season also saw Krug pick up a pair of All-American honors in the 1-meter and 3-meter, as well as Ashlee Rosenthal earn All-American recognition in the 3-meter to finish her career as a five-time All-American and as one of only three women's divers in Stanford history to earn at least one All-American honor in each of her four collegiate campaigns. Three women's divers also earned All-American status in 2003-04. Rosenthal and Krug were both All-Americans in the 1-meter, while Sara Bowling earned the same status in the platform. Krug also picked up her first Pac-10 title with a victory in the 1-meter competition at the 2004 conference meet and was named the Pac-10's Co-Freshman/Newcomer of the Year. Schavone coached Rosenthal (1-meter, 3-meter) and McKenze Murphy (1-meter) to a combined three All-American honors in 2002-03. Erica Sorgi and Kim Powers earned All-American honors in the platform in 2001-02, while Rosenthal added All-American status in the 3-meter. In 2000-01, Schavone's divers earned four All-American honors with Erin Sones also capturing both the NCAA and Pac-10 titles in the platform. Sones (Pac-10 Diver of the Year) and Murphy (Pac-10 Diving Freshman/Newcomer of the Year) swept the conference's diving honors in 1999-2000. Powers, who earned six All-American honors during her career, was a co-winner of the Pac-10 Diver of the Year in 1998-99. Schavone's crew had arguably its best showing in 1997-98 when Stanford had women's divers place in the top eight in all three events at the NCAA's to help the Cardinal win the national title. In 1996-97, his women's divers also earned All-American honors in all three events to make him Pac-10 Women's Diving Coach of the Year. Schavone was named both the men and women's Pac-10 Diving Coach of the Year in 1994-95 as Stanford divers David Johns and Eileen Richetelli earned the league's Most Valuable Male and Female Diver honors, respectively. Richetelli finished her career with five national titles, and earned the maximum 12 All-American honors by picking up the status in all three diving events in each of her four seasons. The women's diving corps also proved to be the deciding factor during the Cardinal's run to its fourth straight national title in 1994-95 as Stanford divers accounted for 64 team points while runner-up Michigan did not enter a diver. Stanford ended up winning the meet with 497.5 points and Michigan placed second at 478.5. In addition to his work on the Stanford campus, Schavone has served as the head coach for several United States' diving teams. The top events he has coached in have included the 2006 World Cup Championships, as well as, competitions in Rome and Vienna with the U.S. National Team in 1999, the 1997 World University Games in Sicily, and the 1990 Goodwill Games. He has also headed the U.S. National Team at the 1993 World University Games, four World Age Group Championships (1984, '87, '88, '89) and the 1985 European Youth Championships in Aachen, Germany. Schavone was one of the very few coaches who have qualified divers for the past five U.S. Olympic Trials, including the 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Trials. In the summer of 1995, he traveled with the U.S. National Team to China and served as a coach at the World Cup in Atlanta. He has also been involved in the administrative side of diving, having held many positions with USA Diving as well as receiving numerous prestigious awards. He received the prestigious Coaches' Whosam Award in 2003, given annually to a coach that adheres to the highest standards of physical and mental wellbeing. The award is given annually in honor of Sammy Lee, a 1948 and 1952 Olympic gold medalist, and long-time diving coach. Schavone has also developed Stanford Diving into one of the top age group diving programs in the nation, coaching eight age group national champions. He was selected as USA Diving's 1984 Coach of the Year, an award that honored his work with divers between the ages of 12-17. One of the few Ph.D. holders in his profession, Schavone was introduced to Stanford Diving as a graduate assistant to veteran coach Clyde Devine in 1975. Schavone was named head diving coach on The Farm in 1977 and completed his Ph.D. at Stanford in 1978. After leaving The Farm to become the head diving coach at Princeton for one season (1978-79), he returned to Stanford at the beginning of the 1979-80 campaign. A 1971 graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Schavone is single and resides on the Stanford campus.
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