Butler grad Calhoun wins D-II diving Coach of Year
CLARION — Taking over the diving program at Clarion University, Heath Calhoun had some sizable shoes to fill. The 2010 Butler High School graduate remembers one piece of advice in particular.
“He said, ‘Remember, they hired you to be Heath Calhoun. Not Dave Hrovat. Not Don Leas,’” Calhoun said of a congratulatory card he received from Westminster swimming and diving coach Pat Smith. “I think I try to remind myself that a lot of what those two coaches did was obviously absolutely incredible.”
Calhoun has been forging his own path while in charge of the Golden Eagles’ divers, one that this past season earned him College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Division II Women’s Diving Coach of the Year.
The honor, he said, was a culmination of the meetings and training that led to success on a wide-scale level.
“When you look back at the program, you have Dave Hrovat before me and Don Leas before that, and they kind of set the standard for what the coach is expected to do here at Clarion for the diving program,” Calhoun explained. “Really, it’s just kind of a nice thing for us to know ... that our plan we set forth at the beginning of the year really paid off and the athletes were able to execute.
“Because, really, all that award is is our women athletes executed better than the majority of people in the country.”
Freshman Luna Castellanos won the national championship on both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives. Anna Vogt was an All-American on both boards, and Alexa Gonczi placed in the top-10 in the 3-meter dive.
“I view it as a major honor to be the coach here,” Calhoun said. “The standard when I took over was, ‘Hey, we’re going to send kids to nationals and they’re going to perform well at nationals.’ It’s nice that our athletes kind of have throughout the last year and a half, two years of me being here have really learned more about the history of the program.
“There’s a standard that we strive to uphold every day in the water.”
Calhoun doesn’t focus on individual coaching goals. He’d actually rather stay out of the limelight to leave more attention for his student-athletes.
“I tell all the kids at the beginning of the year, my goal is just to help them achieve their goals,” Calhoun said. “My goal is really for everyone just to be excited for them and no one know my name ... It’s a testament to them. They performed well at that meet and I was just kind of there to manage emotions and expectations and give them a few pieces of advice.”
Calhoun also won a CSCAA Division II Men’s Diver of the Year in 2014. Being recognized for his work out of the pool brings things full-circle.
“That’s kind of a neat thing,” Calhoun said. “My previous teammate (at Clarion), Logan Pearsall, had accomplished that as well. I don’t think there’s too many people that did. I think, more importantly for me, everything just revolves back to the program ... It was able to give me so much in terms of maturing as a young man, in terms of giving me my start in coaching.
“The dream job was always to come back here and give back to the program that gave me so much.”
He relishes in the chance to work with his student-athletes.
“There’s not many people in the world that get to say they love going to work every day,” Calhoun said. “I can tell you I love going to work every single day. I’m excited to get to my office. Every day I get to look out at the pool ... The thing I enjoy the most is I get to see these young athletes grow up and mature.”
