MSU swimming coach Jim Lutz named Eric Best the new men’s and women’s diving coach on Wednesday. Best replaces John Narcy, who held the position for 36 years before retiring this spring.
Best was a member of the MSU diving team from 1979-82.
“I’m very excited to come to Michigan State,” Best said in a prepared statement. “It is an honor to follow in the footsteps of John Narcy, whom I have had the opportunity to work with for the last 20 years.”
Best, who will officially start July 1, has worked with Narcy at the John Narcy Diving Camp since 1980. At the camps, Best worked as a coach, supervisor and lecturer.
Best had been the diving coach at West Bloomfield High since 1991 and has taught math and science at Walled Lake Consolidated Schools since 1999. At West Bloomfield, he coached 24 state meet qualifiers, six state finalists and two All-Americans.
Best spent the 1980-81 season as the diving coach at Oakland Community College. That season, he coached two National Junior College Athletic Association qualifiers.
Lutz said Best’s familiarity with the MSU program will benefit the divers and team as a whole.
“I believe there is going to be a smooth transition with the hiring of Eric,” Lutz said in the statement. “Eric wants to carry on the great tradition of diving at Michigan State that Narcy developed during his career. He is familiar with our student-athletes and has worked with several of them at camps during the summer.
“Eric is a die-hard Spartan, and we are lucky to get him.”
Romando J. Dixson
