Staff Directory
- Title:
- Diving Coach
Mike Hilde wrapped his eighth 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.
During the 2022 season, Hilde sent Ross Todd to the NCAA Championships on the 1-meter springboard and the platform where he finished 20th on the platform and 31st on the 1m springboard. On the women’s side, he sent Lucy Hogan and Allie Klein to the NCAA Championships. Hogan competed on platform where she finished 24th, while Klein competed on the 1m and m springboard where she finished 32nd on the 1m board and 45th on the 3m board.
During the 2021 season, Hilde helped Ross Todd to a fifth-place finish on the 1m, sixth on the platform, ninth on the 3m at the Big Ten Championship, and 17th on the platform at the NCAA Championships. On the women’s side he helped Allie Klein to a 16th place finish on the 1m board, 16th on the platform, and 23rd on the 3m board at the Big Ten Championships.
On the men's side, Hilde coached Ross Todd to a historic season in 2020, as the junior from Australia became the first man in program history named Big Ten Diver of the Year. Diving played a huge role in helping Michigan recapture the Big Ten title that year, as Todd, Jake Herremans, Chris Canning and Nick Leavell combined to score 167 points on the boards. Todd was named Big Ten Co-Diver of the Championships after winning three medals, including a title win on one-meter, the program's first Big Ten champion diver in any event in 16 years. In 2019, Michigan sent two men's divers (Herremans, Todd) to the NCAA Championships for the first time in 20 years. The year prior, in 2018, Hilde coached Todd to NCAA Championships qualification as a freshman, becoming the first Michigan diver to reach NCAAs in 14 years.
Under Hilde, he has guided the women's divers to 14 qualifying spots at the NCAA Championships, more than the total in the previous 20 years before his arrival (1995-2014). At the 2020 Big Ten Championships, seven divers (Nikki Canale, Christy Cutshaw, Camryn McPherson, Allie Klein, Lucy Hogan, Lauren Cheetham and Paige Sundermann) combined to score 195 points, accounting for nearly 20 percent of the team's points in individual events.
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.
