Arron Carlson enters his fifth season with the Golden Bears in 2025. Carlson joined the CSP swimming & diving staff as an assistant coach in May, 2021 and as the program's dive coach.
In 2024, Carlson saw his diving roster increase from one to five while seeing the strongest diving season to date. Under Carlson's leadership, Caitlyn Greenwalt became the first diver in program history to qualify for the 2024-25 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships. Greenwalt became the program's first All-American after finishing in 11th place in the 3-meter dive and 16th in the 1-meter dive. At the 2024-25 NSIC Swimming and Diving Championships, Greenwalt became an NSIC Champion in the 3-meter dive to make yet another first for the program.
“I am thrilled to add Arron to our staff. His experience and enthusiasm will greatly benefit our program and I excited for him to help us build out the program,” said head coach Matt Bos.
Carlson comes to Concordia from the University of St. Thomas where he had been a member of the Tommies’ swimming & diving program as the head dive coach since 2017-18. While at UST, Carlson guided collegiate divers to five individual MIAC titles, two MIAC Divers of the Year, an NCAA Division III All-America honorable mention performer at the national championships and multiple USA Diving Zone qualifiers.
“I am thrilled to be joining the Concordia family and excited to have the support for creating growth in a sport that I am very passionate about,” said Carlson. He continued, “We have a wonderful facility and an incredibly welcoming community that I believe will allow us to develop and perform at a high level very rapidly. I want to thank Matt and the athletic staff for allowing me the opportunity to join the new program and I look forward to a great future for the Concordia swimming and diving team.”
Additionally, he has worked as an assistant dive coach for North Star Diving in North St. Paul since the spring of 2018 and spent the fall of 2020 as the head dive coach for St. Anthony Village High School.
His experience working with St. Anthony Village HS is relevant to joining the Golden Bear staff, as he started and developed the diving program at a newly installed facility for the Huskies.
He began his coaching career with Fredonia (N.Y.) Blue Devil Diving Club where he spent two years. He was an NCAA Division III All-American diver at SUNY-Fredonia where he graduated in 2017 with a degree in geology with a minor in geographic information systems.
As a collegiate diver, he was national runner-up on one-meter and placed third on three-meter. He was a four-time All-American, also earning honorable mention All-America honors three times. He earned the SUNYAC James Fulton Award for academic achievement and athletic honors and was a multiple time zone and conference champion.
The Golden Bear swimming & diving program just completed its first season in 2020-21 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and looks to continue its growth with the addition of Carlson to the staff.
A resident of Eagan, Minnesota, Carlson is a member of USA Diving and PDCA Dive Coach Organization.
