Diving coach Qiong Jie Huang dives into the competition pool at the University of Idaho Swim Center on Tuesday. Jake Barber/Argonaut

Since graduating, Huang spent her time coaching young divers and now feels that she is ready to coach at a higher level. She is looking for any UI students who are interested in diving and have similar experience.

Experience in gymnastics or cheerleading is what she hopes to find.
“Anything that relates to jumping or flips,” Huang said.
Choosing Huang for the coaching position was not a difficult process, and swimming coach Tom Jager is confident in her abilities.

“We’re looking at someone who knows how to win, how to be a great diver and what it takes to compete at the top level,” Jager said. “That’s invaluable as a coach.”
Starting a diving program is a main priority of the university because the team was forced to forfeit the points for diving when competing at the conference level. The forfeited points make it nearly impossible to be competitive.

“If we’re going to have a sport program, we’re going to be competitive,” said Athletic Director Rob Spear.  “If we’re going to compete for championships, we need to have a diving component.”
Spear said the pool facilities won’t see any changes to accommodate the new team as they are already equipped with the proper diving boards.
“The only thing we need to have more access to is dry land training,” Spear said.

That won’t be a problem either as the university has the equipment required for a gymnastics program.
Huang and Jager hope to find enough students to make a team for this year’s season and encourage interested students to contact the swimming office at 885-0200 or e-mail Huang at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Huang said the team is restricted to women and scholarship possibilities could be
made available.

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