Emmanuel "Manny" Pollard was named Illinois Diving Coach in July 2017.

In his first year as head diving coach, Pollard oversaw the development of junior diver Ling Kuhn, who became the first Illini diver in program history to score in all three events at the Big Ten Championships. Kuhn also set the school record for platform diving at the conference championships, surpassing the previous record by 32.86 points. 

Prior to his arrival at Illinois, Pollard most recently worked as a coach for the Minnesota Diving Academy, a position he held from 2012-2016. The Albany, New York, native also comes to Champaign having had opportunities to observe Chinese diving, as well as the Beijing Diving Team. In addition, Pollard was an International English Teacher in Beijing, China from 2016-17.

As an athlete at the University of Minnesota, Pollard garnered a number of individual accolades. A two-time Minnesota Diver of the Year, Pollard also earned All-American honors three times, once in 2015 after placing 13th in 1-meter competition, and two times in 2016 after placing fifth on the platform and 13th again in 1-meter competition. During his time in Minneapolis, Pollard scored all four years at the Big Ten Championships in 1-meter, 3-meter and platform competition. He also earned Academic All-Big Ten honors three times.

Updated August 2018