Springfield College

Peter Avdoulos '85 will enter his 42nd season as the head men's and women's diving coach at Springfield College during the 2026-27 academic year. Avdoulos, who is also the Associate Director of Campus Recreation at Springfield College, is regarded as one of the top Division III diving coaches in the nation.

A 1985 graduate of Springfield College, Avdoulos was a standout diver for the Pride. He was recently named the 2025-26 NEWMAC Men's Diving Coach of the Year, for the 20th time in his career and for the sixth consecutive season.

As part of the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America’s (CSCAA) Centennial Celebration, Avdoulos was named one of the Top 100 Greatest College Swimming & Diving Coaches of the past 100 years. Coaches who made the prestigious list were selected from all three NCAA divisions, with only four Division III coaches receiving the honor.

Following the 2018-19 season, Avdoulos had student-athletes earn five All-America honors, including Connor Pennington, who was third overall on the one-meter board and ninth on the three-meter board. In addition to Pennington, Sierra Skaza was a two-time All-American with a seventh-place mark on the three-meter board and an 11th-place finish on the one-meter. Lastly, Luca Brashear earned the first All-America honor of his young career with an 11th-place finish on the one-meter board.

Most recently, Christian Butler competed at the 2026 NCAA National Championships, and was named NEWMAC Diver of the Year for the third time in his career. 

In 2014, Avdoulos was inducted into the Springfield College Athletic Hall of Fame. He and head swimming coach Howard Hinds, who was inducted in 2020, are the only two active head coaches on Alden Street to have received the honor.

Avdoulos has coached countless All-New England and All-American divers, including eight-time All-American Mike Shaw, the first Springfield 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.

Avdoulos also coached eight-time All-American Lindsay Moore, the 2002 Division III Women’s Diver of the Year and national champion on the one-meter board; Allison Mellage ’03, the 2001 national champion on the three-meter board; and Nora Kelly, the 1999 Division III Women’s Diver of the Year and national champion on both boards.

Coaching Highlights

• Has had student-athletes earn 123 All-America honors during his career with Springfield College, including seven NCAA Division III National Champions.
• Named NEWMAC Diving Coach of the Year 27 times, including a remarkable stretch as both the Men's and Women's Diving Coach of the Year from 2012-2015.
• Guided Springfield College divers to eight-consecutive NEWMAC Diver of the Year honors from 2007-2015 and most recently guided Christian Butler to his third-consecutive NEWMAC Diver of the Year honor. 
• Named the NCAA Division III Men's Diving Coach of the Year in 2005, and has been named the NCAA Division III Women's Diving Coach of the Year four times since 1996.
• Selected as New England Diving Coach of the Year eight times from 1991-2000, prior to the establishment of the NEWMAC.