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Meet Head Coach John Taffe
John Taffe enters his 21st season as the head coach of the men's and women's swimming teams at Springfield College. He also serves as an assistant professor of physical education.Under Taffe’s leadership, the Pride has returned to its status as one of the best collegiate swimming and diving programs in Division III. 11 SC squads have finished among the top 20 teams in Division III over the past 12 years. Taffe guided the men’s squad to its first-ever New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship in 2005, for which he was named the NEWMAC Men’s Coach of the Year. The 2005 team placed ninth at the NCAA Div. III Championships at Hope College in Holland, Mich. That ninth-place finish was the highest ever recorded by a Pride team.
Most recently, Taffe has guided the tandem of Roy Burch and Justin Zook to international success as the duo went to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Burch represented Bermuda in the pool while Zook competed in the Paralympics for the United States.
The women’s squad won its ninth consecutive NEWMAC Championship in 2009.
Taffe has coached countless NCAA All-Americans and conference champions at Springfield College. In 1991 and 1994, he received the Charles E. Silvia Award as the New England Men's Coach of the Year, and was named the New England Women's Coach of the Year in 1994 and 1998. He also received NEWMAC Women’s Coach of the Year recognition for four straight years from 2001 to 2005.
Taffe served as the head coach for the Netherlands-Antilles squad at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, coaching SC All-American Howard Hinds, a 2000 graduate.
Prior to joining the Springfield College staff in 1989, Taffe served as the men's and women's coach at Mount Union College in Ohio for one season and head women's coach at East Carolina University for two seasons.
A native of Haverhill, Mass., Taffe attended the University of Rhode Island, where he was a five-time New England swimming champion as well as a two-time All-New England water polo selection for the Rams.
Taffe received his bachelor’s degree in physical education from URI in 1985 and his master’s degree in education from East Carolina in 1988. Taffe graduated from Haverhill High School in 1980 and was a member of the 1978 squad that captured the state swimming crown.
Head Diving Coach Peter Avdoulos
Peter Avdoulos is regarded as one of the top diving coaches in the nation. Avdoulos, a 1985 Springfield College graduate, is in his 25th season as the diving coach for both the men's and women's programs.Avdoulos was a standout diver as an undergraduate and received the Charles Batterman Award as the top New England performer over a four-year period.
Avdoulos has coached countless All-New England and All-American divers, including four-time All-American Mike Shaw, the first SC male diver to win a national title. As a sophomore, Shaw won the Division III National Championship on the three-meter board, while finishing runner-up in the one-meter competition. In his junior campaign, Shaw won the national championship in both events and was named the NCAA Division III National Diver of the Year. He swept the one- and three-meter events at the conference championship to garner NEWMAC Diver of the Year honors all four seasons of his career.
Most recently, Avdoulos has guided Brian Sobel into becoming one of the top divers in the country. Sobel, who currently owns three of the four school diving records, was named the 2009 NEWMAC Diver of the Year and finished third on the one-meter board at the 2009 NCAA Championships.
Avdoulos also coached eight-time All-Americans Lindsay Moore, the Division III Women’s Diver of the Year and national champion on the one-meter board in ’02, and Allison Mellage ’03, the ‘01 national champion in three-meter diving.
In 2005, Avdoulos was named the NCAA Division III Men’s Diving Coach of the Year. He has also been the NCAA Division III Women’s Diving Coach of the Year four times in the last decade. He has been selected as the New England Diving Coach of the Year eight times since 1991, and was named the NEWMAC Men’s and Women’s Diving Coach of the Year for the 2002-2003 season. He was also named the Men’s Diving Coach of the Year in 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009.
Team Links
- 2009-2010 Schedule
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Head Coach John Taffe
John Taffe enters his 21st season in 2009-2010 as the head coach of the men's and women's swimming teams at Springfield College. Under Taffe’s leadership, the Pride has returned to its status as one of the best collegiate swimming and diving programs in Division III. Read more.
Diving Coach Peter Avdoulos
Peter Avdoulos is regarded as one of the top diving coaches in the nation, and will enter his 25th season as the diving coach for both the men's and women's programs in 2009-2010. The current NEWMAC Men's Diving Coach of the Year, Avdoulos has coached countless All-New England and All-American divers, as well as several National Champions. Read more.