Mark Bradshaw

Olympian and longtime collegiate diving coach Mark Bradshaw joined Purdue as the associate head coach for diving in July 2024. Bradshaw most recently served as the head diving coach at Notre Dame for the last three seasons. He also spent 23 seasons as the diving coach at Arizona State (1998-2020), winning the CSCAA’s national Diving Coach of the Year award twice (2003 and 2005) and nine Pac-10/12 Diving Coach of the Year honors. An NCAA champion on 3-meter for Ohio State, Bradshaw represented Team USA on 3-meter at the 1988 Olympic Games. Diving head coach David Boudia announced the hiring, bringing aboard Bradshaw to fill Boudia’s previous position. Boudia succeeded Adam Soldati as head coach of the Purdue Divers in June when Soldati transitioned to a director of diving role after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Bradshaw served as the coach for Finland’s divers at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. He has also served as the diving coach at the United State Military Academy (1988-89) and Ohio University (1996-97). As an athlete, Bradshaw won medals internationally for USA Diving at the 1991 and 1995 Pan American Games, 1990 Goodwill Games and 1985 World University Games. “I’m excited to join the staff at Purdue and work alongside David as we continue building an environment where student-athletes can become champions,” Bradshaw said. “I’ve long admired what Adam Soldati was able to achieve at Purdue and the opportunity to team up with David to maintain that tradition of excellence is invigorating at this point in my career. I’ll enjoy being back in the Big Ten while remaining here in the state of Indiana, USA Diving’s home base.” At Arizona State, Bradshaw coached three-time Olympian Joona Puhakka to four NCAA titles from 2003 to 2005. Puhakka won national titles twice on both 1-meter and 3-meter, highlighted by a sweep of the springboard events in 2004. The Finnish standout also won bronze on 1-meter at the 2003 World Championships. Bradshaw’s ASU divers won 28 Pac-10/12 titles, with the nine different conference champions claiming 10 titles on platform, 11 on 3-meter and seven on 1-meter. Mickey Benedetti and Trisha Tumlinson were both six-time All-Americans and multi-year Pac-10 champions. Benedetti went on to compete for Italy at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. “We are thrilled to welcome Mark to the Purdue Diving family,” Boudia said. “He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, and we are confident that he will be an invaluable asset to our program. We are fortunate to have Mark as he helps our student-athletes reach their greatest potential.”   “We’re elated to have someone with Mark’s credentials join us and equally pleased with the excitement he’s demonstrated about the opportunity to aid our program,” Soldati said. “He’ll help elevate everything we do with his experience and expertise. His international experience as an athlete and coach is such a crucial element in building our divers towards achieving their most substantial goals. Most importantly, Mark is a man that fits the values of integrity and honesty that we stand on here at Purdue.” Notre Dame had multiple NCAA Championships qualifiers in all three of Bradshaw’s seasons as head coach. That included a men’s NCAAs qualifier on platform in 2024 despite ND’s Rolfs Aquatic Center only featuring springboards in the facility. Calie Brady, Kelly Straub and Daniel Knapp all earned All-America accolades via a scoring finish at NCAAs under Bradshaw’s tutelage. Straub also won bronze on the platform at the 2022 ACC Championships. At Ohio State, Bradshaw competed for longtime coach Vince Panzano, a 10-time Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year and an Olympic coach for Team USA at four Olympics. After retiring from Ohio State in 2013, Panzano was a regular at the Burke Aquatic Center for a few seasons while serving as an assistant and consultant to Soldati. Constantin Blaha (Austria), Elina Eggers (Sweden), Riley McCormick (Canada) and Youssef Selim (Egypt) joined Puhakka and Benedetti as Arizona State divers to be Olympians and Pac-10/12 champions while Bradshaw was the head coach. Benedetti, Eggers, McCormick, Selim and Tumlinson all won Pac-10/12 titles on platform, which has traditionally been Purdue’s most successful event. Mara Aiacoboae also won back-to-back Pac-12 titles on the tower in 2017 and 2018. Bradshaw was the Pac-10/12 Men’s Diving Coach of the Year for six consecutive seasons from 2003 to 2008. He also won the honor in 2010 and 2011. In 2004, he claimed the Women’s Coach of the Year award as well. Bradshaw is the father of a son, Cameron, and a grandfather. Cameron was an All-American diver for Arizona State from 2008-12, winning bronze on 1-meter at the 2012 NCAA Championships.