Fred Woodruff, the 2008 BIG EAST Women’s Diving Coach of the Year, begins his 20th year at the helm of the Scarlet Knight divers. Last season, his divers enjoyed a very successful season with four girls scoring at the BIG EAST Championships including a finalist and two consolation finalists on both one- and three-meter springboards. Woodruff completed the 2012 season with a three-meter finalist and the runner-up on platform at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships.
Woodruff guided senior Jen Betz to an NCAA Championship berth after placing second at the 2011 Zone A Diving Championship. His team produced two finalists and three consolation finalists at the BIG EAST Championships, led by Betz who captured third on the three-meter springboard.
In 2009-10, Woodruff led Erin Saunders to new school records in both the one- and three-meter events and top five finishes in the Zone A championships. In 2008, Woodruff led Saunders to the one-meter diving title at the BIG EAST Championships en route to being named the league’s Diving Coach of the Year.
A former diver and coach at Lehigh University, Woodruff has been coaching YMCA and USD age-group diving for 35 years. In 1983, Woodruff formed the Lords of the Boards Diving Team at the Somerset Valley YMCA in Bridgewater, N.J. By the summer of 1985, his divers were competing on the national level. He has produced 126 YMCA All-Americans, including eight national champions. His LOB divers have made their mark on the Junior Olympic level as well, with 52 Region I champions, nine East National champions and 54 Junior National qualifiers, including 25 finalists and the 2006 USD Junior National 13/u Champion on both one- and three-meter boards. The two-time Region I Coach of the Year has also produced sixteen NJSIAA high school state champions and fourteen All Americans.
He served as Junior Olympic Chairman of the New Jersey Association of U.S.A. Diving for seven years and as Region I Chairman from 1997 until 1999. He is currently serving as treasurer of the New Jersey Association.
In 1991, Woodruff was named the diving coach at Seton Hall University. That season, SHU had its first consolation finalist in diving at the BIG EAST Championships. The following year, he produced SHU’s first finalist in one-meter, three-meter, and platform, and qualified two divers for the NCAA Zone Championships.
Woodruff joined the Scarlet Knight coaching staff in the fall of 1993. In his first season, he had two diving finalists at the 1994 Atlantic-10 Championships. A year later, RU divers dominated the 1995 A-10 Championships, earning both the men’s and women’s A-10 Diver of the Year awards. Following the A-10 Championships, his male A-10 Diver of the Year earned the same award at the ECAC Championships. Woodruff was named the 1995 ECAC Coach of the Year.
Since its entrance into the BIG EAST Conference in 1995, Rutgers has had 32 finalists and 25 consolation finalists on one-meter, three-meter, and platform at the BIG EAST Championships. Each season, Woodruff has qualified divers for the NCAA Zone Championships.
