Upcoming Event: Swimming & Diving versus Boston College on September 26, 2025 at 4 p.m. Diving / 5 p.m. Swimming
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4 p.m. Diving / 5 p.m. Swimming
Swimming & Diving
vs Boston College
Swimming & Diving
Esposto, Nunzio
Nunzio Esposto
- Title:
- Head Diving Coach
- Email:
- nunzio.esposto@duke.edu
Nunzio Esposto joined the Blue Devil swimming and diving program as the head diving coach in the summer of 2013. Since then, he has helped to continue Duke's legacy as one of the top destinations for the country's best diving talent.Â
Throughout his seven seasons, Esposto has continually seen his divers compete on the highest stage as he has coached 16Â CSCAA All-America selections, 11Â All-ACC selections, one individual National Champion and three individual ACC Champions.
Esposto mentored Margo O'Meara to the highest stage in her first season in Durham in 2021-22. She won the one-meter and platform events at the ACC Championships on her way to being named ACC Diver of the Meet, becoming the second women's diver in program history to do so. After O'Meara and Ali Watson placed first and second in platform diving at the Zone B Diving Championships, O'Meara earned first-team All-America honors in one-meter diving and honorable-mention All-America honors in three-meter diving.In addition to O'Meara's success, Esposto led Maddi Pullinger and Watson to appearances at the NCAA Championships and sophomore Seamus Harding Jr. to All-ACC honors in platform diving at the ACC Championships.
An abnormal 2020 season saw the 2020 NCAA Championships canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the cancelation, Esposto saw Nathaniel Hernandez qualify in all three diving events and Ali Watson set to compete on the platform, resulting in them being awarded CSCAA All-America honors. At the ACC Championships, Watson earned All-ACC honors in the three-meter event. Hernandez graduated holding the second-best time in Duke history in the one-meter, three-meter and platform. In addition to success on the boards, Hernandez was named a CoSida Academic All-American, becoming Esposto’s first Duke athlete to earn the honor.
Esposto’s group made its presence known in the 2019 postseason as Hernandez’s NCAA Championships performance on the One-Meter board made him just the third Blue Devils’ men’s diver to earn First Team All-America recognition. Evan Moretti received honorable mention All-America on the One-Meter board. In addition to his All-America honor, Moretti was named ACC Diver of the Meet at the ACC Championships after finishing second in the three-meter competition and earning All-ACC recognition. On the women’s side, Maddi Pullinger became the first Blue Devil in women’s program history to garner All-ACC accolades as a freshman since 2015 as she placed second in the one-meter competition at the ACC Championships.
Three Blue Devil divers achieved honorable mention All-America status to close the 2017-18 campaign. Senior MaryEllen Targonski helped the Duke women earn their highest finish at NCAAs since 2011, contributing to the team score with a 16th-place showing on the platform. Targonski joined former Blue Devil Olympian Abby Johnston as the only repeat All-American divers in women's program history, and was tabbed the 2018 ACC Women's Diver of the Year after also recording a career-best second-place finish on the platform at her final conference meet.Â
Behind the performances of divers Nathaniel Hernandez and Evan Moretti, the Duke men tied for 33rd at the 2018 NCAA Championships. Hernandez took home honorable mention All-America accolades on the platform, as did Evan Moretti in the one-meter springboard event. At the ACC Championships one month earlier, the Blue Devil men's and women's divers totaled 366 points across the three boards - the most of any school in the conference.
Under Esposto's direction, Targonski advanced to the platform consolation final as a first-time NCAA qualifier in 2017, becoming only the third female diver in Duke history to earn All-America recognition and only the second to do so on the platform. Moretti turned in an impressive NCAA Championships debut in 2016, netting honorable mention All-America accolades on the three-meter springboard. One of just two rookies to advance to the three-meter finals, he finished 16th overall at the national meet after also reaching the three-meter final at the ACC Championships.Â
Mackenzie Willborn (three-meter, platform) and Hernandez (platform) also punched their tickets to the NCAA Championships in 2017.Â
Esposto directed Targonski to consecutive appearances in the ACC women's platform final in 2015, 2016Â and 2017, with Targonski taking home All-ACC honors in 2016. Five Blue Devil divers qualified for the NCAA Zone B Championships in 2016, while Esposto's group also accounted for 170 points at the conference championship, up from 61 points a year prior. In 2017, nine Esposto-coached divers represented the program at Zones, while Hernandez turned in top-eight finishes on the one and three-meter boards at his first ACC Championship meet.Â
In his first season at Duke, Esposto guided Nick McCrory to his fourth NCAA title in men's platform diving and a pair of All-America accolades. Under Esposto's tutelage, Duke's six divers accounted for 125 points at the 2014 ACC Championships. Four of the Blue Devil divers competed at the 2014 NCAA Zone B Diving Championships, with McCrory winning the one-meter and platform events.
Esposto also boasts international coaching experience, working most recently with former Duke standout Abby Johnston, who qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games in women's individual three-meter diving. Esposto was selected to serve on the U.S. Olympic Team coaching staff in Rio, and has also overseen athletes at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, the 2011 FINA World Series in Dubai, UAE, the 2006 Junior World Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the 2005 Junior Pan American Games in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.Â
Esposto returned to the collegiate coaching ranks after previously serving as the head diving coach at North Carolina from 1998 to 2002. During that time he also was the head coach of the North Carolina Aquatic Club Diving program, guiding his athletes to senior and junior nationals qualification as well as multiple North Carolina high school state titles.Â
Following his tenure in Chapel Hill, Esposto served as the head coach of the Blue Devil Diving club program from 2003 to 2007. He directed McCrory, a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, to a spot on the USA Diving Junior National team, as well as a junior national championship and a silver medal at the Junior World Championships in 2006.
After a short period away from coaching, Esposto returned to the sport as a coach at The American School for Diving in Durham in 2011, overseeing several junior national qualifiers. Throughout his coaching career he has also worked as a regional practice administrator in radiation oncology at Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, N.C.
An 11-time junior nationals finalist during his own diving career, Esposto earned a scholarship to North Carolina, where he was an All-ACC performer in each of his four seasons. He qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships each year, garnering a trip to the NCAA Championships as a senior in 1991. Esposto was also named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll on three occasions and was the recipient of the Osterneck Award as the team's unsung hero his final year. He graduated from North Carolina with a degree in radiologic science in 1991.
A 1987 graduate of Butler High School in Butler, Pa., Esposto was inducted into the Butler, Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.
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