LSU Gold

Drew Livingston Season 2023-24

LSU
Drew Livingston
Title
Diving Coach
Email
dlivingston@lsu.edu
Hometown
The Woodlands, Texas
Alma Mater
Texas (2012)

Drew Livingston, the 2023 Women’s Diving Coach of the Year, enters his second season as the leader of LSU’s storied diving program.

In just his first season, Livingston led the Tigers in the diving well to an impressive finish at the NCAA and conference levels. At the 2023 SEC Championships, he coached Montserrat Gutierrez Lavenant to an SEC Championship on platform and additionally had two divers finish with the bronze medal. Livingston also guided the diving team to one NCAA runner-up finish on platform. Gutierrez Lavenant shined throughout the season picking up the second-place finish nationally on top of the SEC title. She broke the school record on the tower with a score of 347.00.

With three medals in the diving well at SECs (1 gold, 2 bronze) accompanying the seven other gold medals, Livingston helped guide the women’s team to its highest finish at SECs since the 2014-15 season, claiming fifth place. Similarly, at NCAAs, Livingston and company produced a 19-spot jump from the 2022 season to place 13th – the highest for the LSU women in 30 seasons.

Livingston’s divers earned one first-team All-SEC honor (Gutierrez Lavenant) and two second-team All-SEC honors (Maggie Buckley, Chiara Pellacani) for their finishes at the SEC Championships. LSU divers also garnered CSCAA All-American for finishing in the top-8 at the NCAA Championships. Livingston sent two divers to the men’s championship and four to the women’s championships.

Livingston and Bishop finished the 2022-23 season with an 8-8 dual meet overall record between the men’s and women’s teams. On the men’s side, LSU won a dual meet in conference when the Tigers defeated South Carolina 157-143 in Columbia. The victory marked the first time the men’s squad won an SEC dual meet since the 2013-14 season when LSU took down Texas A&M.

Livingston, who led the Virginia diving program during the Cavaliers’ back-to-back Women’s NCAA titles, has been named the head diving coach at LSU, head swimming coach Rick Bishop announced on June 21, 2022.

Livingston spent the last four seasons in the same position at UVA and spearheaded the program’s unprecedented success. During his time in Charlottesville, he coached 8 divers to the NCAA Championships. At the ACC Championships, Livingston saw six divers earn ten All-ACC honors by finishing in the top 8 of an event.

He led Virginia’s female divers in setting new school records for all three events.

Before arriving at UVA, Livingston served as the head diving coach at Princeton. Livingston oversaw three divers for the 2018 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, sending the program’s first male divers to the national meet since 1991. Over the span of his two years, the diving program saw a 41 percent increase in points at the Ivy League Championships.

Prior to Princeton, Livingston worked as a graduate assistant in Baton Rouge under LSU’s legendary head coach Doug Shaffer. In his two-year stint, he assisted the program’s diving team to three of the six school records. Livingston’s time at LSU was highlighted by the 2015 season when the Tigers led the crowd in diving points and medals at the SEC Championships. The team advanced a diver to the conference final for each event.

Livingston began his coaching career at his undergraduate alma mater, Texas, where he served as a volunteer assistant coach from 2013-14. He aided in practice planning and athlete development for both collegiate and post-graduate divers while coaching under NCAA Men’s Diving Coach of the Meet Matt Scoggin. The team captured 10 NCAA All-America honors, which included two individual NCAA titles by Diver of the Meet Michael Hixon.

Coming from a strong collegiate career, Livingston is a two-time NCAA champion on the one-meter springboard and a 10-time All-American. He was named the 2012 NCAA Diver of the Year after capturing the national title on one meter, finishing second on three-meter and fourth on platform at the national meet. During his career, he set an NCAA record in the platform, scoring 542.95 points at the 2009 Big 12 Championships.

In addition to his collegiate career, Livingston qualified for the USA Diving National Team nine times and is a two-time USA Diving National Champion.

Livingston graduated from LSU with his MBA in 2019. He earned his bachelor’s of science degree in sports management from the University of Texas in 2012 while he served as a team captain on the swimming and diving team. Academically, he was named to the Big 12 Conference All-Academic first-team and was a two-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

THE DREW LIVINGSTON FILE
Born
: July 15, 1990
Spouse: Caroline Livingston
Children: Ada and Maeve (twins)
High School: The Woodlands HS
College: The University of Texas, LSU (MBA)

Livingston’s Career At A Glance
2023 SEC Women’s Diving Coach of the Year
1 NCAA Runner-Up
1 SEC Championship
2 SEC Bronze Medalists
2 NCAA All-American Honors
1 All-SEC First Team Member
1 school record broken in first season