Johansen’s ‘dream’ comes true, becomes third IU diving coach

As new IU Diving Coach Drew Johansen began to pack up his North Carolina home this week to head to Bloomington, he uncovered a picture from around 15 years ago that will be the first item on his desk at Indiana.

After settling into Columbus, Ohio, in the early part of the decade, Johansen had legendary IU Diving Coach Hobie Billingsley come give a clinic for his club team.

For Johansen, it served as an opportunity to meet one of his idols for the first time.
“He put his arm around my shoulder when I first met him, he said, ‘Drew, if you want to be a great coach, go get a great diver,’” Johansen said.

Now, that picture with Billingsley’s arm around Johansen’s shoulder from that day represents a lineage of IU diving coaches and will be the first addition to Johansen’s office. Director of Athletics Fred Glass announced Johansen as the new coach Monday.

He is the third diving coach in IU history.

Billingsley coached at IU from 1959 to 1989, putting Indiana on the map as the first head diving coach in its history. As a coach, his divers won 15 NCAA titles and more than 100 national diving titles.

He was welcomed into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1983.

Now Johansen is trying to fill his mentor’s shoes.

“It’s been a dream job of mine for pretty much my entire career,” Johansen said. “The Big Ten, and Indiana specifically, is where collegiate diving really got its birthplace with Hobie Billingsley.

“From all the successes, the history of the program and the support of the program, and then when I got on campus and got to meet the administration and really get a feel for how things are operating there, it’s just everything I dreamed it to be.”

Johansen is coming off a stint as the U.S. Olympic Diving Team coach, where he led the U.S. to four medals at the summer 2012 London Olympic Games — the most in U.S. history since 1988.

Before coming to Indiana, Johansen spent the last six seasons as Duke’s diving coach. There, he coached Nick McCrory to three NCAA titles, including one in March.

Johansen also coached McCrory to a bronze medal in the summer Olympics in 2012. Under Johansen, McCrory has also been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Diver of the Year for the past three seasons.

Johansen also coached Duke diver Abby Johnston to a silver medal in the last summer Olympics. She won six ACC titles during her time as a Blue Devil.
During his time at Duke, Johansen has led the Blue Devils to 15 ACC titles.

“What it takes to succeed at the NCAA level and what it takes to succeed at the Big Ten is the same thing that it takes to succeed internationally,” Johansen said. “The two go hand-in-hand. It’s one of the reasons that IU is a dream job for me is because it’s in the best diving conference in the country and it’s the best diving school in that conference. The goal to achieve in the Big Ten and achieving at the NCAA level is equal to the international standard.”

Johansen also spent seven years as the U.S. National Team coach and coached the U.S. in the 2011 World Championships.

He started his coaching career at Florida Atlantic in 1991, staying until 1995.
His next collegiate coaching job came at Illinois State, where he coached from 1999-2001. In 2001, he opened the U.S. Elite Diving Academy in Columbus, Ohio, which won the U.S. Diving junior title in 2005, and won both the junior and senior titles in 2006.

In 2004, he took on a volunteer assistant position at Ohio State, where he stayed until 2007. He has been at Duke since then.

The decision to leave, especially with McCrory’s one year of eligibility remaining, proved to be tough for Johansen despite IU being his dream job.

“That was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life,” he said. “It’s still very fresh right now.”

Johansen said he is excited to get to Bloomington and hit the recruiting trail. He said he wants to work on getting to know the team, and to figure out how to continue to lead the team to success.

“It’s an unbelievable honor to be part of the IU diving program now,” he said. “My goal is to build on the history and tradition of the program and bring my style of coaching and my passion for the sport and my love for the NCAA to Indiana to continue to keep it at a premier program in the country.”

Reflecting back on that picture with Billingsley, Johansen said he’s glad he found it. At that time, he stood by the former IU Diving Coach.

Now he is the IU Diving Coach.

“It’s still a little numbing,” he said. “I can’t wait to get on campus and really meet the team. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime for me. I can’t wait to get started.”