Staff

Buck Smith  is beginning his 17th year of coaching. He started coaching at Walled Lake Central/ Western high schools for the 1991-92 season. In his 7 years as the coach for Walled Lake he produced 12 state qualifiers, 10 state finalists, 5 All-State divers, and 5 All-Americans. Five of Buck's divers went on to dive at Division I colleges. Buck went on to coach at Oakland University for the 1999-2000 season, where he had the Mid-Continent Conference "Diver of the Year", and qualified 3 divers for the Division I Zone meet. Buck then moved to Eastern Michigan University for the 2000-01 season. In his seven years at Eastern Michigan, Buck’s divers have taken top 8 at the MAC Championships 65 times. Eastern Michigan divers have won 9 MAC Championships, set 2 MAC records, broke an 18 year-old pool record, and 3 school records.  Buck also coached the 2002, 2003, and the 2004,.2007 “MAC Diver of the Year” Buck is a 5 time “MAC Diving Coach of the Year”.  Four of Buck’s divers qualified for the NCAAs in the past 4 years.  Beginning his eighth year as the Head Coach for Legacy Diving, Buck along with his coaching staff, have had 43 Junior National Qualifiers and 31 national finalists, including 8 National Champions and a Junior World finalist.  Buck has his B.S. Degree from Eastern Michigan University.  Buck and Kara live in Ypsilanti with their 14 month old daughter Allie and their two dogs.                                      

Kara Smith brings with her over 16 years of diving experience and has coached for the past 9 years.  As a former diver at the University of Pittsburgh, she was an NCAA Division I All American.  She was the Head Diving Coach for the University at Buffalo from 1999 through 2004 and was named the  MAC Conference Coach of the Year in 2002.   Kara was the head coach of Wings Diving from 1998 through 2004. While coaching Wings and UB, she has had 16 JO National qualifiers, 4 JO National finalists, 1 National Champion, and 3 MAC Conference finalists.  Kara has her B.S. in Health and Physical Education and her Master’s degree in teaching.    Kara is also the Aquatics and Fitness Director at Travis Pointe Country Club, as well as the head diving coach.                                     

RobbinWard brings over 16 years of diving and coaching experience to Legacy Diving. Robbin was a high school All-State and All-American diver in 1991. Robbin received a scholarship to dive at Eastern Michigan University, where he was a member of the MAC Championship team all 4-years. Robbin was the assistant coach at Oakland University in 1998-99, and ihas been a strong part of the Legacy Staff for seven years. 

Gretchen Plamondon is entering her second year as a coach for Legacy.  Gretchen had a five year college diving career at Eastern Michigan where she was a numerous MAC and Zone finalist.  Gretchen has her B.S. in Physical Education and is the new head diving coach at Novi High School.