IU diving team hires former Team USA Olympic coach Wingfield as assistant

IU Diving Coach Jeff Huber announced Tuesday morning former USA Diving Head Coach John Wingfield is the new IU assistant diving coach.

Wingfield has worked with USA Diving for 15 years and was the director of the National Training Center and head coach of USA Diving since 2009.

He was also Team USA’s head diving coach in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“I think it’s lights out,” IU swimming and diving Coach Ray Looze said. “I think it’s just an outstanding hire. He is a phenomenal coach that could really be a head coach for any program in the United States.”

As director of the National Training Center, Wingfield trained talents such as Thomas Finchum, Mary Beth Dunnichay and 2012 Olympic gold medalist David Boudia.

He is the head coach of 2012 national champion of the women’s platform and synchronized platform, high school senior Jessica Parratto.

“John is recognized in the diving community as one of the best diving coaches not only in the United States but in the world,” Huber said in a press release. “He has developed from the ground up countless elite level divers.”

Huber said Wingfield is expected to make the IU diving program stronger.

“(Wingfield’s hiriwwwng) is a program changer for sure,” Looze said. “We’re only going to get better because of it.”

As he moves from the national stage to IU, Wingfield said he looks forward to the new challenge he faces at IU.

“I am very excited to join the Indiana University family and to be an integral part of IU swimming and diving, a program imbued with 53 years of tradition and success at the Big Ten, NCAA and international levels,” Wingfield said in the press release. “My goal is to help institute a program that responsibly upholds such tradition and participates in the growth and development of great student athletes.”