University of Connecticut Athletics
Women's Swimming and Diving
- Title:
- Women's Swimming and Diving Diving Coach
- Email:
- john.bransfield@uconn.edu
University of Connecticut diving coach John Bransfield begins his 21st season at UConn and 42nd year overall of collegiate coaching.Â
Last season, coached Dan Kinney and Erin Clifford to the 2018 NCAA A Zone Championships. Kinney earned Co-Outstanding Diver of the Meet honors at the American Athletic Conference Championships after winning the Platform event. Kinney placed second in the 3M and fourth in the 1M.
Freshman Erin Clifford landed on the All-Conference team after a second place finish in the 1M Dive. Clifford just missed All-Conference in the 3M with a fourth place finish.
Out of the pool, Clifford received CSCAAÂ Scholar Athlete All-American honors by recording a GPA of 3.50 or higher and reaching the NCAA Diving Zones.
Bransfield earned 2017 American Athletic Conference Co-Women's Diving Coach of the Year, for the second-straight season, with five divers landing on the All-Conference team. Spencer Beaulieu (Platform), Dan Kinney (1M & 3M), Alli Butera (1M), Michelle Kalupski (1M) and Monica Marcello (1M & 3M).
The women swept the podium in the 1M dive with Butera, Marcello and Kalupski placing in the top three, respectively. Spencer Beaulieu won the platform event on the men's side.
Six divers competed for the Huskies in The 2017 NCAA Zone A Championships. On the women's side, seniors Ali Butera, Amanda Craig, Michelle Kalupski and junior Monica Marcello. Junior Dan Kinney and senior Spencer Beaulieu represented the men's team. The six divers tied the largest contingent that UConn has sent to the NCAA Zone A in program history. Four divers qualified for Finals in at least one event.
Alli Butera reached the NCAA Diving Championships, for the second-straight season, and finished 34th in the one-meter and 46th in the three-meter.Â
During the 2015-16 season the Huskies sent six divers to the NCAA A Zones senior Taryn Urbanus (Quincy, Mass.), juniors Alexandra Butera (Havertown, Pa.) and Michelle Kalupski (Chicago, Ill.) and sophomore Monica Marcello (Middletown, Conn.) will represent UConn's women's team, while senior John Brice (Bala Cynwood, Pa.) and sophomore Daniel Kinney (Middletown, Conn.) will be in action for the men's squad.Â
With the success of his divers, Bransfield received 2016 American Athletic Conference Co-Women's Diving Coach of the Year honors.
Monica Marcello set a new school and pool record by racking up 307.64 points on the one-meter platform against Dartmouth, on her way to being named AAC Female Diver of the Week on February 2 under Bransfield's tutelage. Daniel Kinney was named AAC Male Diver of the Week on December 8. Overall, the UConn men's team finished 3-1 in dual meets, while the women's team finished 1-3 in 2015-16.
At the 2015 American Athletic Championships, both Urbanus and John Brice earned a spot on the All-Conference Team. Brice finished second in the 1 and 3-meter events at the Conference Meet, while Urbanus placed second in the 1-meter and third in the 3-meter. She was tabbed UConn's Outstanding Diver of the Year at the team banquet following the 2014-15 season.
Taryn Urbanus, a three-time All-Conference selection, became the first Husky since Danielle Cecco in 2013 to qualify for the NCAA Diving Championships when she accomplished the feat in 2014. The Quincy, Mass. native competed in both the 1 and 3-meter events at the NCAA's after finishing it the top-three in both at the Zone A Meet. Urbanus was one of six Huskies to reach the NCAA Zone A Meet in 2016.
Developing champions is not something new to Bransfield, the 2012 Big East Women's Diving Coach of the Year. In his 38 years of college coaching, he has had many conference champions and at least one conference champion at each and every school that he has worked at, including Army, Maine, Springfield and Northern Michigan. Bransfield has coached several national qualifiers, including a four-time NCAA Division II Champion. In 2003, Melissa Kull became the first Connecticut diver to compete at the NCAA National Championships. Stephen Ferreira (`10) competed at the NCAAs, followed by All-American Danielle Cecco ('13), who competed at the National Championships three straight years, in `11, `12 and `13.
With a background which extends beyond the collegiate realm of diving, Bransfield enjoyed many years of success with U.S. Diving as a Junior Olympic coach. He was been recognized by the National Governing body twice in that phase of his career with stipends to work with two U.S Olympic Coaches. Bransfield has considerable experience in the sport away from the pool deck as well. Four times he served on the NCAA Diving Rules Subcommittee, and in the early 90's he was appointed as a Regional Technical Director of United States Diving. While coaching at Army, he hosted numerous clinics for U.S Diving Coaches involving several U.S Olympic Team Coaches. In 1998, he served as the Competition Manager of the Goodwill Games in New York.
Bransfield has taught numerous coaching clinics for Grass Roots fundamentals, Spotting Training and Safety Certification. In the summer of 2003, Bransfield spent close to three weeks in the People's Republic of China. The opportunity allowed him to closely observe the training programs at two Provincial sites and attend the Asian Junior Championships.
Bransfield is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., where he received his bachelor's degree from St. Francis College. He earned a master's at Northern Michigan and continued to study biomechanics while coaching at Springfield College. Bransfield and his wife, Ginny, have three sons, and presently reside in Storrs.
