Loren "Buck" Smith enters his first season as the head diving coach in the 2024-25 season.
Smith brings vast experience and most recently spent 24 seasons at Eastern Michigan. In his in Ypsilanti, Mich., Smith has made incredible contributions to the overall success of the program which will seamlessly transition into his role with Penn State. Smith recorded his coaching experience within both the men’s and women’s teams, bringing the Eagles a multitude of success between the two programs.
Through his time with the women’s program at Eastern Michigan, Smith has qualified nine female divers to the NCAA championships while producing three NCAA All-Americans. Smith also produced eight First-Team All-MAC conference selections, 10 Second Team All-MAC honorees, won 13 MAC Championship individual titles, and on seven different occasions had three divers named MAC Divers of the year.
With the men’s program, Smith qualified seven male divers to the NCAA Championships, had two NCAA All-Americans, won nine MAC championship titles, had two MAC Divers of the Year and set two MAC records. Buck has also been named the MAC Coach of the Year fifteen times with the women’s program, and 10 times with the men’s program.
Prior to Eastern Michigan, Smith served as the coach at Oakland University during their 1999-2000 season, where he coached the Mid-Continent Conference Diver of the Year and qualified three divers for the Division I zone meet.
Outside of his outstanding performances at the NCAA Division I level, Smith also served as the head coach for Legacy Diving. In the 25-year history of Legacy Diving, Smith had 65 junior national qualifiers, 40 junior national finalists, 22 national champions, seven silver medalists and five bronze medalists. On the international level, Smith coached a Junior World Finalist and coached his team to three Junior Olympic Regional titles, as well as a 3rd place finish in the 2007 East National Championships. Additionally, Smith coached six Canadian Junior Olympic National finalists. At the senior national level, Smith has had 28 Senior National qualifiers and 15 finalists, along with coaching the 2006 U.S. Open one-meter men’s champion.
In 2024, Smith was awarded the Dick Kimball Award for his contributions to the growth of the sport of diving. In 2010, Smith was awarded the Bruce Harlan Award by the Michigan Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (MISCA) for his continued leadership, contributions and dedicated service to Michigan High School Diving.
Smith has a wife of 20 years, Kara, and daughters, Allie and Karlie.