Jay Lerew

LEREW UP CLOSE

PERSONAL

Education: Colorado State, 1975 (bachelor's physical education)

COACHING CAREER

1979-81: Colorado State (Head Women's Diving Coach)
2009-pres.: Texas A&M (Head Diving Coach)

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Big 12: 2010, 2012
SEC: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

OLYMPIC COACHING EXPERIENCE

U.S. Olympic Head Diving Coach: 2000

NCAA CHAMPION

Jaele Patrick: 3-meter (2012)
Kurtis Mathews: 1-meter, 3-meter (2022)

COACHING HONORS

2001 USOC Developmental Coach the Year
CSCAA Diving Coach of the Year (2012, 2022)
Big 12 Coach of the Meet (2010, 2012)
Big 12 Coach of the Year (2010, 2011, 2012)
SEC Male Coach of the Year (2020, 2022, 2023)
SEC Female Coach of the Year (2021)

All-Americans: 21 (10 women, 11 men)
Conference Titles: 22 (8 women, 14 men)
Conference Diver of the Year honors: 7
Conference Newcomer of the Year honors: 3

Former U.S. Olympic diving coach Jay Lerew arrived in Aggieland in November of 2009, and has since has produced A&M's first men's and women's NCAA Champions (Kurtis Mathews on the 1-meter and 3-meter om 2022, and Jaele Patrick in the 3-meter dive in 2012) as well as multiple conference individual champions and All-Americans. He also earned conference Dive Coach of the Year six times and Coach of the Meet twice.

A historic performance by the men's team on the 1-meter at SEC Championships helped Lerew earn an SEC Diving Coach of the Year accolade for the fourth consecutive season. The Aggies tallied the most points at an SEC Championship meet since A&M joined in 2012-13, racking up a total of 275 points throughout the week for the Maroon & White. On day one, the men's divers totaled 129 points on the 1-meter, marking the most points in program history in a single event and the most points earned by any SEC diving team in one event since A&M's arrival to the conference. Victor Povzner led the group as he claimed the 1-meter title and earned silver on the 3-meter. Four Aggies qualified for NCAA Championships with Povzner and Allen Bottego bringing home All-America honors with top-eight scores on the 3-meter, while Povzner added a top-16 finish in he 3-meter. Rhett Hensley had a breakout season, earning a bronze medal on the 1-meter at SEC Championships and bringing home Honorable Mention All-America accolades on the platform at NCAA Championships. On the women's side, Joslyn Oakley was named SEC Freshman Female Diver of the Year after advancing to the 1-meter final at SEC Championships and earning a pair of Honorable Mention All-America honors with top-16 scores on each of the springboards at NCAA Championships.

Lerew was named CSCAA Men's Diving Coach of the Year and SEC Men's Diving Coach of the Year in 2022, after Kurtis Mathews concluded his decorated career becoming the first men's diving NCAA Champion in program history. Mathews swept the springboards at 2022 NCAA Championships, knocking down his own school record to win his first title on the 1-meter board. At SEC Championships, Mathews brought him silver on the 3-meter before reclaiming his 1-meter title. He was joined on the 1-meter podium by teammate Victor Povzner, marking the first time in program history A&M has seen a pair of divers finish 1-2 in the same event. Povzner later earned All-America honors at his first NCAA Championships, also being named to the All-SEC Second Team. Mathews was named CSCAA Men's Diver of the Year for his impressive performance at NCAA Championships and received SEC Men's Diver of the Year for the second time in his career. He concluded his time Aggieland as a two-time national champion, six-time All-American, medaling seven times at SEC Championships, including four SEC titles.

In 2021, Lerew saw Charlye Campbell put a historic end to her collegiate career as he helped guide her to a pair of top-eight finishes at her first NCAA Championships. Campbell was the first Aggie to earn All-America honors on both springboards since National Champion Jaele Patrick did so in 2012. Prior to NCAAs, Campbell earned gold on the 3-meter at SEC Championships, becoming A&M's first female springboard SEC Champion. Mathews also defended his three-meter title at SEC Championships to earn his third gold medal at SECs, while Aimee Wilson impressed in her first season with the Aggies as she added a pair for second-place finishes on the springboards. Lerew was named the SEC Female Diving Coach of the Year after the Aggies' showing at SECs.

Lerew was named 2020 SEC Diving Coach of the Year after Mathews became the first Aggie to sweep the men's springboard events at SEC Championships en-route to being name SEC Male Diver of the Year. Newcomer Victor Povzner impressed at championships as well and was named SEC Male Freshman Diver of the Year. Before the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Championships, Lerew saw six divers advance to NCAA's including four on the women's side and both men's divers.

Lerew led the diving squad to at least one SEC title on the men's side from 2016-18, beginning with Sam Thornton on the 3-meter board in 2016. Tyler Henschel made it back-to-back gold medals on the 3-meter board, setting the school record in 2017. Henschel holds the program's Platform record, set at the 2018 SEC Championships, which also included a victory on the women's side when Alais Kalonji became A&M's first SEC women's diving champion after a Platform victory.

Following the school's move to the SEC, Lerew helped Ford McLiney become the program's first SEC diving champion when he won the 3-meter and Platform events at the 2014 SEC Championships.

Upon his arrival at A&M, Lerew coached Canadian Olympian Eric Sehn to victories on both the 1- and 3-meter boards at the 2009 Big 12 Championships, and later saw Australian Olympian Grant Nel claim the 3-meter in 2010 and the 1-meter in 2011. The 2010 and 2012 seasons were two of the best in program history on the women's side as the duo of Australian Olympian Jaele Patrick and three-time Big 12 Champion Janie Potvin combined to sweep all three diving events in each of the seasons. Patrick, a two-time Big 12 Diver of the Year honoree, took first in both springboard events, while Potvin was the Platform champion in 2010. In 2012 it was Potvin that brought home a pair of gold medals, finishing first in the 1-meter and Platform, and Patrick earned her second 3-meter title.

The U.S. Olympic head diving coach at the 2000 Olympics, Lerew previously coached Team Orlando (Fla.) to eight Junior National team championships, and coached 10 individual senior national title winners in 11 years with the team.

A two-time U.S. Junior Coach of the Year, Lerew served as head coach for multiple U.S. National Teams, at the World Championships, the World Cup and various Grand Prix events at both the junior and senior level.

Lerew also served as a head diving coach at Moss Farm Diving in Moultrie, Georgia, from 1989-98, the diving coach and aquatics director at the Schroeder YMCA in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, (1981-89), and was the head women’s diving coach at Colorado State (1979-81).

A 1975 graduate of Colorado State with a degree in physical education, Lerew was an aerial acrobatic skier on the Professional Freestyle Skiing Tour before becoming a diving coach.

Lerew is married to the former Wendy Reich, who was the co-head coach of Team Orlando Diving. Wendy Lerew was an All-American diver at Florida State and a two-time Canadian Olympian in platform diving. The Lerews have four daughters, Chelsie, Brittany, Niki Reich and Shelby.