Todd Michael begins his 10th season at Villanova in 2024-15..
Michael is a six-time Diving Coach of the Year, receiving the accolade at the BIG EAST Championships in 2017 with the women's team and five straight years with the men's teams since 2018.
He has coached four Wildcats to Most Outstanding Diver laurels at the BIG EAST Championship. On the women's side Birdie Dunn was the recipient in 2019. For the men, Michael Perra was a three-time winner from 2018-2020 followed by Michael Ackert in 2021 and 2022. Nick Jubilee added to that list in 2024.
The first Most Outstanding Diver under his tutelage came in 2018 when Perra won gold in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives.
At the 2019 championships, Michael coached Perra and Dunn to two individual championships apiece. Perra and Dunn each placed first in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. The next two seasons brought more championships on the men's side.
In 2020, Perra wrapped up his career as a six-time gold medalist in at the BIG EAST Championships, sweeping the 1-meter and 3-meter dives for a third consecutive year.
The 2021 championships, Ackert kept the winning ways alive for Michael's Wildcats, sweeping gold in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives. Ackert went-back-to-back in 2022, earning the award again after a gold-medal performance in the 1-meter.
The streak of successful divers extended with Jubilee in 2024 when he won gold in the 1-meter on the final night of competition by a slim two-tenths of a point, helping him to Co-Diver of the Meet honors.
Michael comes to Villanova from TNT Diving which is a year around Junior Olympic springboard diving team representing the Upper Dublin neighboring youth in AAU and USA Diving competitions. TNT offers lessons and training in one-meter, three-meter and platform including the most novice to High School, Junior Olympic and Masters levels.
Prior to TNT Diving, Michael was the head coach of Liberty Diving & Red Dragon Diving plus has coached in several summer and winter leagues in the suburban Philadelphia area. He has coached high school divers to PIAA District and PIAA State Championships including eight qualifiers and five medal winners in 2009. In his first year as the Liberty Diving Head Coach, Michael had five divers qualify for USA Diving East National Championships and four qualify for AAU National Championships. Michael was a Michigan state champion at Erie-Mason Consolidated High school and was ranked among the top five in the world of high diving and dove internationally for Red Bull Competitions held in Hawaii, Acapulco, Monaco, Croatia and Italy. He placed fifth at the World High Diving Championships in Veracruz, Mexico in October, 2008 and in 2007 he placed fourth in Acapulco, Mexico competing in the Cliff Diving Championships.
Michael and his wife Tarra reside in Horsham, Pa., with their daughter Riley and son Zachary.
