Texas A&M head diving coach Jay Lerew has retired, according to a press release from the university on Tuesday afternoon.
That release comes after several current and former student-athletes told SwimSwam that Lerew was ‘fired’ earlier in the day. A spokesperson for the school declined to address the discrepancy in framing for his departure.
Lerew is 73.
He will be succeeded in leading the program by his former assistant Jeff Bro, who has spent the last three years working under Lerew. Bro and Lerew were the sole carryovers on the staff of head coach Blaire Anderson, who just completed her second season in charge of the newly-combined program.
“We want to thank Jay Lerew for his many years of success and dedication to Texas A&M and its swimming & diving program,” Anderson said. “Under his direction, the diving program has produced multiple NCAA Champions, including the school’s first platform champion last weekend, as well as dozens of All-Americans and conference champions. His influence and impact on the swimming & diving program, as well as collegiate diving in general, cannot be overstated.”
Anderson added, “We’re extremely excited to promote Coach Bro to lead our program. This decision reflects our confidence in his leadership and experience, and our firm commitment to maintaining a strong and competitive diving program. We are fully invested in its future and in continuing to compete at a national level.”
Bro, a former USA Diving National Coach of the Year, developed multiple Junior World medalists and USA National Champions while leading the G.C. Diving Club in Southlake, Texas to four team national championships.
His pupils there include Hailey Hernandez, who qualified for the U.S. team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021 prior to attending the University of Texas. Bro accompanied Hernandez to those Games as a member of the Olympic coaching staff.
Lerew’s Resume
Lerew joined the A&M staff in 2009, just his second collegiate gig after leading the Colorado State diving program from 1979-1981. In between, he worked mostly in club diving, with programs like Team Orlando in Florida, Moss Farm Diving in Georgia, and the Schroeder YMCA in Wisconsin.
Other NCAA Champion divers on his resume include Jaele Patrick, who won 3-meter in 2012, and Kurtis Matthews, who won 1-meter and 3-meter in 2022. He is a seven-time conference Diving Coach of the Year between the Big 12 and SEC and won the CSCAA National Diving Coach of the Year in both 2012 and 2022.
Other Olympians he coached while at A&M include Eric Sehn (Canada) and Grant Nel (Australia).
With Team Orlando, he coached 10 individual senior national title winners in 11 years.
Lerew served as the U.S. Olympic head diving coach at the 2000 Olympic Games.
His wife Wendy Lerew was an All-American diver at Florida State and a two-time Canadian Olympian on platform.
According to data compiled by one SwimSwam reader, Texas A&M’s diving program has scored the 5th most points of any program in the country between 2010 and 2026.
Men’s Top Scoring Diving Programs, 2010-2026 NCAA Championship Meets
- Indiana: 664
- Texas: 368
- Purdue: 362
- Texas A&M: 319
Women’s Top Scoring Diving Programs, 2010-2026 NCAA Championship Meets
- Minnesota: 442 points
- Texas: 404.5 points
- Purdue: 289 points
- Indiana: 258 points
- Miami (FL): 243.5 points
- Texas A&M: 199 points
In that period, A&M had 18 unique divers score at least one point at the NCAA Championships out of 22 unique qualifiers. That ranks only behind Purdue (28), Texas (27), and Indiana (21).
Jay is one of the truly great guys in the sport. I was happy for him when I read the headline, and then so disappointed to read Braden’s comment that this wasn’t voluntary. He deserves so much better. He really made the diving program there respectable. They had some good divers before him, but no one respected the previous coach because he was a joke. Jay really did up the game there. Jeff is a great successor, and I wish him well. But really disappointed to read this news.
And to anyone comparing it to Jay Holmes retirement, it really isn’t the same. Holmes definitely got screwed, there is no doubt about that. But once they decided to combine… Read more »
The “real story” i.e., cover my ass story stinks! This AD and swim coach are incompetent. Trev, you should come out and clearly state you support Texas A&M swimming and diving and will invest to the level to win championships. State you are committed to winning! If you can’t do this then point 2 in my previous comments in the initial article are true – you intend to cut the program. I really feel for the Texas A&M swimmers and divers. Blare has made bad decision after bad decision.
Unfortunately the AD will not come out and state his support for the swimming and diving program. His actions speak volumes. You don’t hire an assistant women’s swim coach from UVA, combine the programs while at the exact same time our biggest rival does the exact same thing with one big difference …they hired the best coach in America. They clearly invest in the Aquatics programs and we do not. It’s painfully obvious where Trev stands on swimming and diving at Texas A&M. Sad.
Sooooo … Blaire was the associate head coach (as opposed to “an assistant”) at UVA since 2021, which was when UVA’s string of NCAA women’s championships started. She coordinated recruiting and worked directly with many of the women’s swimmers at UVA whose names we’ve all heard – Alex and Gretchen Walsh, Paige Madden, Emma Weyant and others. Pretty sure that Todd DeSorbo would disagree with the general assessment Blaire is getting in these comments, but what does he know? He just hired her at UVA, worked with her for 7 years, and promoted her to associate head coach after 4 years
Congrats Jeff. Hell of a coach and mentor
May be but sad to see someone get screwed for him to get a shot!
It’s pretty clear this is a forced retirement. Not only did his daughter post on social indicating it was not Jay’s decision, but there is a big red flag in A&M’s release… no comment from Jay. A highly-decorated coach who has spent more than 15 years at their institution and retires voluntarily doesn’t leave in silence. Typically you would see a quote thanking the institution and athletes for all the great years, looking forward to handing over the reigns to qualified assistant, etc. There is none of that.
I don’t see this as the start of eliminating diving, though. A&M has a fantastic facility and even opened a really well-equipped diving dryland room in recent years. AND diving has been… Read more »
On paper it’s retirement…smart legal move by A&M… but there is no doubt that he was given a pretty strong ultimatum. Retire quietly and we will honor you for your accomplishments, or we will end your employment. This was a move made out of greed by a very inexperienced swim coach. Shame on her.
Blaire has run this once proud program into the ground. She’s in over her head and everyone knows it. The days of Bultman & Holmes are long gone. Sad.
Hopefully her days are now numbered as well
Another Mike Bottom “retirement” ?
“Forced to retire” FTFY
“Trust me” – Bro