BOISE, Idaho – Boise State swimming head coach Jeremy Kipp announced Monday the addition of Brandon Blaisdell as the program’s diving head coach.
“One of the most important things in collegiate athletics are the coaches who help develop and mentor young athletes before they ever step foot onto campus. As a club coach Brandon was instrumental in the development of many Division I divers,” Kipp said. “Brandon knows specifically what it takes for young divers too mature into elite college athletes. As a club coach working in the trenches, Brandon is going to have a significant leg up in recruiting as he has seen hundreds of potential prospects developing. As a volunteer at Minnesota, Brandon was exposed to one of the most elite diving coaches in Wenbo Chen and one of the most elite programs in diving.
“Like any profession or art, being surrounded by the best and being exposed to what elite truly looks like can ignite a spark and Brandon has certainly taken advantage of that experience. Like our new assistant Meghan Hawthorne, I am excited to give Brandon his start in collegiate coaching and look forward to what his passion brings to the Bronco divers.”
Blaisdell arrives in Boise with a decorated resume at the senior and junior national levels as well as the collegiate level. He has served as the program manager and coach of the Mile High Diving Club in Littleton, Colo. since 2013, and is currently coaching a USA Diving Regional Dry-land Training Center.
From 2010-13 Blaisdell pulled double duty, serving as head coach at the Minnesota Diving Academy while also working as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Minnesota.
While in Minnesota Blaisdell assisted in the training and development of U.S. Olympian Kelci Bryant, who would go on to claim the silver medal in the women’s 3-meter synchronized diving event alongside Abigail Johnston at the 2012 Olympics in London. Bryant and Johnston also claimed the 2012 USA Diving national title in the same event.
He has had 18 divers go on to earn scholarships to dive at Division I programs, and has coached over 60 divers to the Junior and Senior National Championships. While at Minnesota, Blaisdell helped coach men’s and women’s divers to five Big Ten titles and three runner-up finishes. In 2011 and 2013, Golden Gopher women’s divers swept the 1-meter and 3-meter events as Bryant (2011) and Maggie Keefer (2013) each pulled the feat, while Kris Jorgensen captured the men’s platform title in 2012.
Overall, at the collegiate level, Blaisdell helped coach Minnesota’s divers to nine All-America honors, had 11 NCAA Championships qualifiers, five women’s NCAA finalists, two women’s runner-ups and a NCAA 1-meter diving champion (Bryant, 2011).
Swimming news courtesy of Boise State Swimming & Diving.