Now entering his ninth season, Olympic medalist Scott Donie has made a big splash on both the Ivy League and national level since arriving to Columbia as head diving coach in 2016.
In 2024, Donie coached Joseph Nicol to second consecutive A Final at Ivies in the 1-meter. On the women's side, Alice Diakova won the CareerHigh Point Diver award at the 2024 Ivy League Championships, as thee graduating senior who scored most points in her Ivy League career.
In 2023, Donie helped coach Jonathan Suckow to an amazing end to his career. Suckow was named an All-American once again on the 3-meter, and won both the 3m and 1m events at the Ivy League Championships en route to being named Ivy League Diver of the Meet. Suckow completed a sweep of both events for the fourth time in his career, becoming the first diver in Ivy League history at win all eight titles. Suckow was also named Connie S. Maniatty Award winner for most outstanding senior student athlete at Columbia.
Donie oversaw the Lions' continued emergence on the platforms in 2022. Jonathan Suckow earned All-America in the 1- and 3-meter dives with fourth place finishes in both events at NCAA Championships, including the highest scoring single dive of the Championships. Suckow was named Ivy League Diver of the Meet after winning both events for the third time in his career. Additionally, Columbia saw a program-best seven student-athletes post NCAA Zone qualifying numbers.
In 2020, Donie led five Lions to NCAA Zone qualifying scores. Perhaps one of his most monumental achievements as a Lion came in the 2019 season, leading Suckow to first team All-America honors with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships on the 3-meter springboard, marking Columbia swimming and diving’s highest national finish in any individual event in 36 years and the Lions best national finish by a diver since 1944.
The 2019 season was marked by even more highlights, as Suckow was named Ivy League Diver of the Year for the second-straight season after sweeping the conference titles. On the women’s side, first-year Briget Rosendahl received a silver medal on 3-meter at the Ivy Championships, marking Columbia’s highest finish by a women’s diver under Donie’s direction.
In his third season in 2018, the program saw another landmark achievement as the Lions had two divers – Suckow and Jayden Pantel – qualify for the NCAA Championships for the first time in program history. For Pantel, he secured a remarkable fourth-straight trip to the national meet to wrap an outstanding Columbia career.
For the third-straight season, Pantel secured 2017 Ivy League Diver of the Meet honors after sweeping the titles for the third time in as many years before qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
In his first season guiding the Lions, Donie helped Pantel to his second-consecutive 1-meter and 3-meter Ivy League titles. Pantel went unbeaten during the dual meet season in both boards, highlighted by a school-record score of 410.70 at Yale to become the first Columbia diver to surpass the 400-point mark.
Donie arrived to Morningside Heights following 16 seasons at the helm of the New York University diving program. At NYU, he coached nine divers to a combined 19 All-America honors. In his final season leading the Violets, Donie produced NCAA national championship qualifiers and UAA champions in both the men’s and women’s divisions to earn ECAC and UAA Championships Men’s and Women’s Diving Coach of the Meet honors.
“I’m deeply humbled to be selected to lead the diving program here at Columbia,” said Donie. “This is truly the opportunity of a lifetime and a full-circle moment in the course of my life. Columbia is where the seeds of my passion for the sport were planted as a young diver. From the age of 11, I traveled to Columbia from New Jersey to train under the legendary Jim Stillson as a member of the nationally-acclaimed Morningside Muggers, one of the top club programs in the country in the early 1980's. There is a long tradition of world-class swimmers and divers that have trained here on the campus of Columbia.”
“I am looking forward to working with my fellow coaches as we embark on this exciting new chapter to help continue the great tradition of Columbia swimming and diving. To work side-by-side with these legendary coaches is a dream come true.”
“I am forever grateful to Gordon Spencer for the standard he set for this diving program for over three decades. Taking over for a legend will be a tall task, but it is one that I embrace and look forward to. He’s retired at a time that’s allowing me to inherit some of the best divers Columbia has ever seen. I am excited to return to Columbia and eager to teach and learn from these talented student athletes."
When Donie arrived to NYU, he brought with him impressive credentials as a 1992 and 1996 United States Olympian, highlighted by capturing the silver medal in the 10-meter platform dive at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
A 1990 graduate of Southern Methodist University, Donie was a three-time NCAA Division I Champion, winning both the 3-meter springboard and 10-meter platform dives in 1990, along with the 10-meter platform dive in 1989.
Donie, who trained for several years under the direction of former U.S. Olympic Coach Ron O’Brien, also served as an assistant coach at the University of Miami from 1993-96 and helped produce three NCAA National Champions for the Hurricanes.
A native of Somerset, New Jersey, Donie resides in Manhattan with his wife Kaili and daughter Lucy.
