Michigan the Olympics
Olympic Coaches and Administrators
| Walter Bietila | 1960 | US ski jumping coach, Olympic ski jumper 1936 and 1948, UM baseball player 1935 |
| Rich Bishop | 2020 | U-M assistant coach, coached Hong Kong's team which included U-M swimmers Jamie Yeung and Siobhán Haughey |
| Sean Bormet | 2020, 2024 | UM wrestling coach and varsity wrestler 1990-1994, headed up San Marino's Olympic team, including his UM wrestler Mike Amine. |
| Mike Bottom |
2008, 2012 2020 |
Newly hired UM swimming coach Bottom coached the Croatian swimming team that included his former California swimmer Duje Draganja. Bottom had also coached at the 1996, 2000, and 2004 Olympics. From the 1996-2004 Olympiads, nine of the 18 medals awarded in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events were won by Bottom's swimmers. In 2012 Bottom coached the Serbian swimming team. He coached Yemen's team in 2020 which consisted of U-M's Mokhtar Al-Yamani and one woman swimmer. |
| Bob Bowman | 2004, 2008, 2012, 2020, 2024 | UM swimming coach, 2004-2008, Bowman was twice an assistant coach for the U.S. swimming team. First as coach of the Baltimore Aquatic Club and then at UM, Bowman guided the development of Olympian Michael Phelps in his attempts to surpass Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals. Bowman served as special assistant coach for the 2012 games. He was an assistant coach for the U.S. in 2020. 2024- coach for French swimmer Leon Marchand. |
| Syque Caeser | 2024 | U-M gymnastics letterwinner 2009-214, Olympian 2020, assistant coach, U.S. gymnastics team assistant coach |
| Don Canham | 1956 | U of M track coach Don Canham was in Melbourne as coach of a combined African team as part of a U.S. State Department program. |
| Jim Claypool | 1960 | 1942 U-M Hockey letter-winner, served as manager of gold medal winning U.S. hockey team. |
| Josh Churella | 2024 | U-M Wreslting, 2004-2008, assistant coach 2021-, U.S. wrestling assistant coach |
| Taylor Drysdale | 1956 | Drysdale, a member of the 1936 Olympic team, served as assistant manager of the U.S. swim team. |
| Keene Fitzpatrick | 1900 | Though not an official U.S. Olympic coach, there was not a centrally organized U.S. team at the 1900 games, UM track coach and athletic trainer Fitzpatrick accompanied the four UM student-Olympians to Paris. |
| Steve Fraser | 2004, 2008, 2012 | UM wrestling letterman 1977-1980 and first U.S. gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1984, head coach of the 2004, 2008 and 2012 U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling team. |
| Jordan Gaarentson | 2020, 2024 | U-M men's gymansticsc lettewinner 2011-2014, UM assistant men's gymnastics coach 2022-, 2020 coached Nigeria's first ever Olympic gymnast -- UM's Epke Udoh. 2024 assistant coach U.S. men's gymnastics |
| Greg Giovanazzi | 1996 | UM head volleyball coach Giovanazzi was an assistant coach for the U.S. volleyball team in Atlanta. |
| Kevin Jackson | 2004, 2008, 2024 |
U-M assistant wrestling coach 2021-, 2004 and 2008 head U.S. freestyle coach, 2024 Coach Mexico wrestling team including U-M Austin Gomez. (Olympic gold medal winner 1992, 82jg.) |
| Lisa Hass | 2008 | U-M athletic trainer, volunteer trainer for rowing and triathletes. |
| Mark Hill | 2012 | U-M assistant swimming coach, served as a coach for Ireland's Olympic team. |
| Sperry Jones-Rademaker | 1972 | A competitor in 1968, Jones-Rademaker was an assistant coach for the U.S. Kayak team in 1972. |
| Mona Kanim | 1996 | An assistant UM volleyball coach, Kanim served as an assistant coach for the U.S. volleyball team. |
| Micki King Hogue | 1988 | Winner of the gold medal in the 3 meter event in 1972, King Hogue served as manager of the U.S. women's diving team for the Seoul Olympics. |
| Cliff Keen | 1948 | U of M wrestling coach Cliff Keen served as manager of the U.S. wrestling team London. Keen, who was an outstanding college wrestler at Oklahoma State, made the U.S. wrestling team in 1924, but a broken rib kept him out of the games. His replacement won a silver medal. Keen served on the U.S. Olympic committee from 1928 to 1952. |
| Dick Kimball |
1964, 1980, 1984, 1988 |
UM diving coach Dick Kimball made his first appearance as U.S. diving coach in Tokyo. Wolverine Bob Webster won the gold medal for the U.S. in platform diving. Other Kimball trained Wolverines at the games were Alvaro Gaxiola of Mexico and John Candler of Great Britain. Kimball would serve as U.S. head diving coach in 1980, 1984 and 1988. Sixteen of Kimball's Michigan divers competed in the Olympics, winning 4 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze medals. In addition, Kimball coached other Olympic qualifiers at his Kimball Divers Club, including gold medal winner Mark Lenzi. |
| Scott MacDonald | 2008 | UM Cross country and track, 1993-1997, manager of the Canadian track team. |
| Matt Mann | 1952 | Matt Mann was coach of the 1952 U.S. swimming team but only two of the five Wolverine Olympians at Helsinki were swimming for him. Mann coached the UM swimming team from 1926 to 1954. His UM squads compiled a 201-25-3 meet record and captured 16 Big Ten and 13 NCAA titles. Eleven of Mann's Michigan swimmers participated in the Olympics. They won one individual gold medal, two gold as part of relay teams and three bronze medals. |
| Bill Martin | 1995-2004 | UM Athletic Director Bill Martin joined the board of directors of the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1994 and became president of the USOC in 2000. During his tenure as president, Martin oversaw major reforms of the USOC's administrative structure and practices in wake of scandals surrounding the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and internal conflicts in the board. Martin's term expired in the summer of 2004. |
| Lindsy McLean | 1976 | UM head trainer for football and basketball, 1968-1979, was a trainer for the U.S. Olympic team in the Winter games at Innsbruck, Austria. He was selected for the honor by his colleagues in the Midwest Region of the National Athletic Trainers Association. |
| Sam Mikulak | 2024 | U-M gymnastics 2011-2014, 3-time Olympian, assistant coach U.S, men's gymnastics. |
| Mike Murphy | 1900 | Mike Murphy, who had served as the first trainer/coach of the Michigan football team in 1892, was the unofficial coach of the U.S. track team in Paris. Head track coach at Penn and later at Yale where he trained many Olympians, Murphy was trainer for the 1908 Olympic track squad and would be involved with U.S. Olympic teams for many years. |
| Dick Papenguth | 1952 | UM swimming letterman in 1923 and 1925, Papenguth coached the U.S. women's team. Long-time coach at Purdue, Papenguth is credited as being "the first coach who worked college women hard" and coached many members of his Lafayette Swim Club to world records and national titles |
| Corey Palikowski | 2024 | US Volleyball team manager, U-M Volleyball director of operations 2023- |
| Marcus Plant | 1968 | Marcus Plant, professor in the Law School, long-time faculty representative to the Big Ten Conference and a former president of the NCAA, served one four-year term on the U.S. Olympic Committee. |
| Jeff Porter | 2020 | a two-time Olympic hurdler himself, Porter served as personal coach for his wife Tiffany (Ofili) Porter. |
| Doug Roby | 1952-1986 | In 1952 Douglas Roby began a 34 year tenure on the U.S. Olympic Committee. Roby played fullback on Fielding Yost's football team and outfield for Ray Fisher's baseball squad in 1921 and 1922. He served several terms on the UM Board in Control of Athletics and for two years was president of the National Amateur Athletic Union. Roby served as president of the U.S. Olympic Committee and for most of his time on the USOC was one of two U.S. representatives to the International Olympic Committee. At his death at age 94 in 1992, Roby was the oldest living U of M letterman. |
| Steven Rajewsky | 2024 | U-M assitant trac coach 2014-, personal coach for U-M athletes Savannah Sutherland (Canada) and Dubem Amene (Nigeria). |
| Greg Ryan | 2004 | U-M women's soccer coach, 2008- , was an assistant coach for the gold medal winning U.S. women's soccer team in Athens. |
| Harold Shapiro | 2004 | Former UM president Harold Shapiro was appointed to the USOC Board of Directors in Athens. |
| Harvey Schiller | 1989-1994 | Schiller received his masters (1962)and PhD (1969) in chemistry from U-M with a tour of duty as a pilot with over 1000 combat missions in Vietnam in between. He played on and was president of the U-M Rugby Club. He taught at the Air Force Academy and was the school's faculty representative to the NCAA before serving as executive director of the U.S. Olympic Committee, 1989 to 1994. |
| Gus Stager | 1960 | Successor to Matt Mann as UM swimming coach, Stager headed the U.S. swimming team in Rome that included two Wolverines. Dave Gillanders took third in the 200 meter breaststroke. Gillanders in the 400 meter medley relay and Bill Darnton in the 800 meter freestyle relay were part of record setting performances in the qualifying rounds and then watched as teammates lowered the records further in winning gold medals. Stager coached Joan Spillane at Michigan and saw her become the first UM woman gold medal winner as leadoff swimmer in the 400 meter freestyle relay. Stager coached 21 UM Olympians who won six gold and seven bronze medals. |
| Juha Taskanen | 2024 | assistant coach U-M men's gymnastics 2022-, personal coach for U-M gymnast Lais Naffar (Syria) |
| Rudy Tomjanovich | 2000 | Rudy Tomjanovich, star forward for UM, 1968-1970, a 1970 All-American, NBA All-Star and coach of the NBA Houston Rockets, coached the heavily favored US basketball team. The U.S. won the gold medal as expected, but did have a few close games, beating Lithuania by just two points and Russia by five. |
| Jon Urbanchek |
1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 |
UM swimming coach Jon Urbanchek's first Olympic experience came as an assistant coach for the U.S. team at the 1984 games in Los Angeles. Urbanchek would be an assistant coach for the U.S. swimming team in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004, 2008 and 2012. He doubled as an assistant coach coach for Peru's 1988 team at Seoul that included Wolverine Alex Alvizuri. A total of 31 of Urbanchek's Wolverines had participated in the Olympics. Eight of them won a total of seventeen medals: seven gold, six silver and four bronze. |
| Erin Virtue | 2024 | Assistant coach US volleyball, U-M head volleyball coach (2023-), assistant coach (2011-2015) |
| Mel Wakabayashi | 1980 | Mel Wakabayashi was the sole Michigan representative at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid. A Canadian of Japanese descent who skated on U-M's 1964 NCAA championship hockey team, Wakabayashi was coach of Japan's hockey squad. |
| Josh White | 2012 | U-M assistant swimming coach, coach for the Barbados swimming team. |
| Yuan Xiao | 2020, 2024 | UM Gymnastics coach- assistant coach for U.S team. |