USA Diving today named Lee Michaud its next president, and he takes over in the midst of a public health crisis that has American NGBs scrambling to adjust their Olympic qualifying procedures. USA Diving has suspended all events for 30 days, but still plans to host its Olympic Trials as scheduled on June 14-21 in Indianapolis. Michaud said USA Diving’s leadership is currently finalizing contingencies, and he expects a firm plan to be in place no later than Monday.
Michaud will report to USA Diving BOD Chair Dave Gascon, filling a vacancy created when Terry Bassett resigned in February after just over four months on the job. Michaud says he plans to remain with USA Diving for a long time, and that he expects his tenure to return stability to the organization’s leadership ranks. Michaud: "We’ve weathered the storm, and I think we’re going to demonstrate that to our constituency and to the public.”
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Michaud, an All-American diver at Michigan and U.S. national team member, hopes the reemergence of USA Diving as a global power in the sport will attract new sponsors: “There was a time when USA Diving was the dominant power in the world for like 75 years," he said. "To get us back to that point is a pretty compelling story. If we can tell it to enough people, there are going to be people in corporate America that want to be a part of that. That can be part of their legacy as well as ours.”
