Coaching Staff

University of Akron

Marc was named the Head Diving Coach at the University of Akron in 2020. In his first year the Zips qualified multiple divers to the NCAA Zone Championship Meet and to the A-final of the MAC Championship Meet in addition to climbing the rankings on the Akron Top-10 all-time scores for both 1 meter and 3 meter records.

Dan is AFD's longest tenured assistant coach, joining the club in 2009. Since then Dan has coached all levels at AFD and was named Director of High School Diving in 2020, and Business Manager in 2021.

Dan's first high school coaching position was at Hudson High School. Since taking over at Hudson in the 2010-2011 season, Hudson has advanced 14 different divers to the State Championship Meet with finishes including a State Champion, two 2nd places, a 3rd place, two 4th places and 3 other podium finishes, with 5 other finishes earning All-Ohio honors. Hudson has placed 12 different divers on to NCAA Division 1 rosters in that same time.

As Director of High School Diving and over the course of his coaching career, Dan severs or has served as the head coach for many area high schools including Aurora, Chagrin Falls, CVCA, Ellet, Highland, Hoban, Hudson, Revere, Stow, Tallmadge, Twinsburg, Walsh Jesuit, Western Reserve Academy, and Woodridge.

Dan has also served as the Meet Director for the 2022 and 2025 USA Diving Region 5 Championships and 2023 & 2025 USA Diving Zone C Championships, in addition to being the Head Referee at the 2023 and 2024 Region 5 Championships.

In addition to Dan's responsibilities with AFD, he previously served as a World Aquatics Certified Diving Judge, being 1 of only 39 World Aquatics judges in the USA and 405 worldwide at the time. Additionally, he serves on the OHSAA Diving Judge Education Committee and was the Northeast District Coach Representative selected to serve on the inaugural 2026-2027 OHSAA/OHSCCA Diving Board. Dan was chosen by USA Diving to serve as a judge at the International Training Camp leading up to the 2023 World Cup in Montreal, Canada and multiple Jr. National Championships.

Bela (Elizabeth) joined the AFD coaching staff in 2023 following a successful freshman season as a diver at the University of Akron.

Before joining the Zips, Bela was the 2022 OSHAA Division 1 State Champion as a senior, competing for Walnut Hills High School. She was a two-time state meet qualifier, a two-time ECC conference champion, a two-time NISCA All-American, and currently holds the 6 and 11 dive records at Walnut Hills.

As a Zip, Bela was a mainstay at the MAC Championships, scoring valuable team points each of her four years competing, helping the Zips to a MAC Championship team title four consecutive years. She was twice named to the All-MAC Academic team and as both a Junior and Senior, earned All-MAC 2nd Team honors. As a Senior, Bela was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. In 2026, Bela concluded her MACs career with a 4th place finish on 1mt and a lifetime best finish on 3mt, finishing in 2nd place on her way to being named the 2026 MAC Championships Most Outstanding Diver. Bela has All-Time Top-10 scores at Akron in 1mt, 3mt, and Platform. Additionally, she was an NCAA Diving Zone Championship qualifier every year as a Zip.

Bela graduated from the University of Akron in 2026 with a BA in Psychology.

In August 2026, Bela was named the Head Diving Coach at Cleveland State University.

Emily joined the AFD coaching staff in 2021. She began her coaching career in 2008 in Evanston, IL where she coached countless club athletes to USA Diving Junior and Senior National Championship meets, helped develop a youth diving program, and worked as the team’s Program Director. During this time, Emily was also the assistant diving coach for Northwestern University. Emily led a recreation youth and adult diving program at NYU in New York City from 2010-2012 but then returned to Chicago where she resumed her coaching roles with the Chicago Dive Club and Northwestern University until moving to Akron in 2019.

Following her three older siblings, Emily started competing at 7 years old with USA Diving and continued to dive throughout high school and college. She was a two time IHSA State Finalist, Junior Olympics National Qualifier, collegiate record holder at Colgate University, and performed in MANY diving shows throughout her high school and college years. You may have seen her perform at Cedar Point in the summers of 2005 and 2006. As a junior diver, Emily trained with well renowned coaches’ such as Drew Johansen and John Wingfield.

Emily graduated from Colgate University in 2006 with a BA in Psychology. She was a school record holder and as a senior, received the Donna Carter Award. The award is given annually in memory of Donna Carter, Colgate’s first All-American swimmer, to a female swimmer or diver who exhibits outstanding athletic and academic performance. Her senior year she finished 21st at the NCAA Zone Championship Meet and was named to the Patriot League Top-10 list based on her performance at the Patriot League Championships.

Katie is an AFD alumni (Euclid - 2005) where she was a 3-time OHSAA State Championship Meet qualifier finishing as high as 4th as a Senior. In 2006 Katie participated in an international training camp hosted in Beijing and Xi'an China. Katie dove collegiately at the University of Akron where she was a 4-time NCAA Zone Championship Meet qualifier and 3-time MAC Champion. In 2009 she was named the MAC Diver of the Year and the University of Akron Swimming and Diving Team MVP. As a senior level diver, Katie qualified for multiple finals at the USA Diving Sr. Nationals finishing as high as 4th in 2010 and making semi-finals at the USA Diving 2012 Olympic Team Trials finishing 17th.

Katie began coaching with AFD in 2016 and was named the Head Diving Coach at University School in Hunting Valley, Ohio in 2021. Under Katie's coaching, University School has qualified 18 divers to the OHSAA State Championship Meet with 14 finishes earning All-Ohio Honors, 7 finishes in the top 8, included 2 State Runners-Up, a 3rd place, and a 4th place. U.S. has won the OHSAA Boys Division II Team title every year since Katie joined the coaching staff.

In 2024 Katie was inducted in the University of Akron Varsity "A" Hall of Fame, becoming the first diver ever inducted and only the 3rd member of the women's swimming and diving program. Currently, Katie holds the Zips second highest 1mt score and 3rd highest 3mt score all-time.