Mark Butcher enters his first season as the head diving coach for the West Virginia University swimming and diving program after joining the staff in July 2024.
2024-25
During the 2024-25 season, Butcher led the Mountaineer diving program to incredible success. Four divers qualified for the 2025 NCAA Zone A Diving Championships as senior Sarah Krusinski made her fourth consecutive appearance during her impressive WVU career.
Junior Abigail Sullivan competed for the third year in a row, and sophomore Owen Recker made his second consecutive appearance. Recker dominated for three days to become the first male WVU diver since 2022 to qualify for the NCAA Championships. A fourth-place finish on platform allowed Recker to punch his ticket to the championships as he also posted a qualifying score on 3-meter.
Recker would go on to place 51
st in prelims with 214.50 total points on the 3-meter and 37
th in prelims with 274.70 total points on platform at the championships.
Prior to West Virginia
Butcher spent most of his career serving as the head diving coach at San Jose State from 2010-18 and from 2021-24.
During his tenure, San Jose State divers broke multiple program records. Butcher also coached the first Mountain West Conference medalist in program history as sophomore Jenna Jagielski finished third in the 1-meter springboard at the conference meet in 2024. Jagielski also became the first diver from San Jose State to qualify for the Olympic Trials.
In his role as head diving coach, Butcher led all recruiting efforts and facilitated the creation of the first-ever dry-land diving training at San Jose State.
In between two stints at SJSU, Butcher was part of the senior staff for Pacific Northwest Diving in Federal Way, Washington, from 2018-19, and he served as the director for ages 14 and up at the Carolina Diving Academy in Huntersville, Texas, from 2020-21.
Before joining San Jose State, Butcher served as the program director and head coach of the Santa Clara Diving Club from 2007-11. In this role, he managed the athletic development of all athletes and served as meet director and event organizer for three USA Diving Summer Region competitions.
Butcher was the head coach and program director for Dive Oklahoma/Starz Diving from 2001-07. During his time with the program, Butcher increased athlete enrollment and managed the athletic development of the athletes.
Butcher earned a degree in English language and literature from Purdue University Northwest (formally known as Purdue University Calumet).
