Men's Swimming & Diving
- Title:
- Diving Coach
- Email:
- aahintz@davidson.edu
Aaron Hintz, a two-time CCSA Diving Coach of the Year, enters his seventh season in charge of the Wildcat’s diving program at the start the 2013-14 season.
With more than 18 years of coaching experience, Hintz has worked with athletes at every level from novice to nationals and NCAA Division I, and the Wildcats benefit from his wealth of knowledge and experience.
Both Kaliya Burton-Akright and Karen Monuszko broke the program record in the 3-meter and qualified for the NCAA Zone meet in 2013. The duo also finished in the top-10 at both the 2012 and 2013 CCSA Championships, with Burton-Akright claiming top five finishes in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events.
Hintz earned CCSA co-Men’s Diving Coach of the Year in both 2009 and 2010 after coaching Ben Lane to Most Outstanding Diver honors in back to back seasons. Lane won both the 1 and 3-meter events at the 2009 CCSA championships. That season, he also coached Lane to a 26th-place finish at the NCAA Zone B Championships and a new school record on the 3-meter. The following season, he repeated as CCSA Most Outstanding Diver, once again sweeping the diving events at the conference championship. He competed at the NCAA Zone B Championships for a second straight season, finishing 28th on the 3-meter and 25th on the 1-meter board. In 2011, he coached Kaliya Burton-Akright to the CCSA?championship on the 3-meter board at the league championships.
“Aaron’s vision for Davidson Diving is perfectly consistent with my belief that Davidson can sustain a high-achieving swimming and diving program built around the excellence of outstanding athlete-scholars,” Young said. “Able to offer Davidson’s prestigious academics and the chance to dive in one of the country’s premier facilities, I trust that Aaron will recruit the country’s best and brightest divers. Even more importantly, I know he is a coach with whom those divers will improve when they arrive.”
Prior to joining the Davidson staff, Hintz was serving as an assistant coach for 2007 East National Champions “Team Orlando” Diving in Orlando, Fla.
His coaching career also includes head diving coach at Western Illinois University (2003-06), head coach for Noblesville Dive Club in Noblesville, Ind. (1998-2003), assistant diving coach at Ball State University (1997-98), assistant coach for the Tualatin Hills Dive Club in Beaverton, Ore. (1994-97), diving coach at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (1990-92) and diving instructor for the Cedar Rapids Park and Recreation District (1990).
Along the way, Hintz has coached four Diver of the Years and various university record holders. He has coached a diver to Division III NCAAs and two to the Division I NCAA Zones.
At the Junior Olympic level, Hintz has coached a World Team Trial qualifier and three divers in the top-10 at multiple national meets. In a five-year stint as a Junior Olympic coach, he qualified divers to a national level meet more than 20 times.
Hintz received a B.A. in journalism from Western Illinois in 2005, with a minor in creative writing and English.
In addition to his coaching experience, Hintz has extensive experience working in the world of professional journalism, serving as a webmaster for Parkview Homes in Tampa, Fla., as well as a senior writer for the Macomb Eagle, editor in chief for Macomb Seen and a reporter for the Macomb Journal in Macomb, Ill. This experience aided in his development as a communicator, team builder and leader.
Among his accomplishments, Hintz won the Illinois Press Association’s Maurice Scott award for the best coverage of taxation and placed in the top three in three other categories.
Hintz also attended Field Medical Service School to become eligible to deploy with Marines and attained the rank of Non-Commissioned Officer, HM3. He served as a medical corpsmen with the U.S. Marines from 1988-1994.
