Eric Lesser was hired as the Whittier College men's and women's head diving coach in October 2022.
Lesser began his diving career in Houston, TX at the historic Dad’s Club. He learned to dive from Texas Hall of Fame Coach Kuni Schultz. Eric later moved to Southern California to train with the Mission Viejo Nadadores while in high school.
Eric was a four-time All-American at Capistrano Valley High School and two-time USA Diving Age Group National Champion. As a highly recruited diver, Lesser chose to dive for the University of Michigan under 9-time Olympic and USA Diving Hall Of Fame Coach Dick Kimball. Eric earned Big Ten titles in all four years, and was a six-time All-American at Michigan. Eric contributed team points in every diving event during his college career, and helped the Wolverines to a runner-up team finish at the NCAA Championships his senior year.
After graduating from Michigan, Eric served as volunteer assistant to Coach Kimball and was responsible for the dryland training of the Michigan divers from 1994-1996. In 2018, Eric accepted the Head Diving Coach responsibilities at Troy High School in Fullerton, CA, where the program has experienced tremendous success. Troy Diving is undefeated in the Freeway League, with individual league diving champions and CIF championship qualifiers in every year since Eric took over the program.
Eric became the Head Diving Coach Chapman University in 2019, and pushed the program to new levels of success. The Chapman divers contributed more team points in the 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 seasons than any other time in program history. Nearly every diver qualified for finals or consolation finals at the SCIAC Championships during Eric’s tenure In 2022, two Chapman divers earned the NCAA Regional qualifying score for the first time in program history.
After volunteering time and expertise with local diving clubs, Eric founded the Charger Dive Club in Cypress, CA. He currently serves as the Head Coach and Technical Director for one of the fastest growing clubs in Southern California. His club divers have earned high school league titles, CIF titles, high school All-American selection, and have successfully competed at the AAU and USA Diving National Championships. Several college coaches have come to visit Charger Dive Club practices to observe the training and recruit his divers.
