Huber carries on Billingsley legacy, earns fourth coaching award

The 43-year-old diving team has made a name for itself nationally with numerous victories and a reputation of excellence. And only two coaches have been behind every success.\nFrom 1959-1989, coach Hobie Billingsley anchored the IU squad to 15 NCAA Championships and 19 Big Ten Championships. Billingsley also racked up nine U.S. National Diving Coach of the Year awards.\nCoach Jeff Huber took over for Billingsley in 1990 and has kept the success and accolades rolling in. During the last four years, Huber's teams have won eight consecutive (four indoor, four outdoor) U.S. Diving Combined Team National Championships. Huber was recently named the 2001 U.S. Diving National Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive year.\nBut Huber gave credit to his athletes, saying the 2001 award was the most rewarding because his group of divers was outstanding. \n"It was great," Huber said of the award. "Of course, it is based on what your athletes do, so I was just really pleased. It is probably the best of the four, this group was just terrific. They really came together this summer as a team and trained hard."\nHuber has helped to guide junior Sara Reiling to All-American status and was a U.S. Olympic coach in 2000 after Reiling made the Olympic team.\nReiling credited Huber with her success, but said she doesn't feel any pressure to perform for Huber or in the shadows of IU's historic diving program.\n"He's taken me a long way," Reiling said of Huber. "I was a little rough on the edges when I first got here. He has been able to set (me) back and make me look at what I have been doing. I was real choppy when I got back in the water last spring, and I cannot believe how far I have come in the last two months."\n"I don't feel that it is my duty that I have to put pressure on. I am doing what I like to do and he is coaching and it is a great relationship as far as friends go."\nSenior Erin Quinn is another of Huber's All-Americans. Last year, Quinn garnered the Athlete Performance Award for Outstanding Diving at the U.S. Outdoor Nationals and the Women's All-Around Award after placing no lower than fourth in each of the four events she competed in.\nQuinn said Huber pushed her to reach milestones she had never before envisioned.\n"I don't think I ever dreamed of getting to the point in my career that I am at," Quinn said. "I guess I owe it all to him, I don't know how else I would have gotten there."\nAfter placing third in synchronized platform at the U.S. Outdoor Nationals and eighth on platform at the same competition, sophomore Cassandra Cardinell is looking to have a successful second year as a Hoosier. Huber believes Cardinell's success over the summer has made her realize her limitless capabilities.\n"I think making finals at outdoors on tower allowed her to see what she is capable of doing," Huber said. "She has come back and really raised the level of expectations on herself."\nAt the Northwestern dual meet earlier this year, Cardinell set a new school record for dual meet one meter competition. Cardinell also believes she is now realizing her abilities and said that diving for Huber and the IU program does bring a good amount of pressure, but she welcomes the challenge.\n"It makes me realize that I am able to do it, I never realized how high my goals should be, but now I have more perspective on it," Cardinell said. "There is a good deal of pressure, but I think the pressure makes me dive better. If I didn't have someone there constantly pushing me and reminding me how good we are and (how) good this team has been that we created a legacy, I don't think I would be as good as I am"