Courtesy: Texas Athletics
AUSTIN, Texas – Former Longhorn Reed Merritt has been named the Assistant Diving Coach for the Texas Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving programs, Head Diving Coach Matt Scoggin announced Wednesday.
A former University of Texas diver, Merritt was previously a volunteer assistant at Stanford from 2021-25 and served as a coach for the Stanford Diving Club.
SwimSwam Note: Merritt takes over for Manny Pollard, who is making a career change after serving as Texas’ diving assistant last season.
“We are very fortunate to announce that Reed Merritt is our new assistant diving coach,” Scoggin said. “Reed is a Texas Ex diver that helped his team win two NCAA National Championships and has been coached by four U.S. Olympic Team coaches. Reed most recently was the Assistant Dive Coach at Stanford and also the Assistant Junior Dive coach at Stanford.”
While at Stanford, Merritt worked with Jack Ryan, who placed third in synchronized diving at the Diving World Cup in Windsor, Canada, in April, and is a six-time NCAA finalist, earning spots in five NCAA A finals. Under Merritt’s guidance, Ryan finished runner-up in the 1-meter and third in the 3-meter at the 2025 NCAA Championships. Merritt also coached Anna Lemkin, who finished fifth on the platform, and Misha Andriyuk, who finished eighth on the platform, at this year’s NCAA Championships.
Merritt dove at Texas from 2016-2020, helping the Longhorns clinch a pair of NCAA team titles in 2017 and 2018. As a junior in 2019, Merritt competed on the one-meter and platform at the NCAA Championships. The Palo Alto, Calif., product placed sixth on platform, 11th on 1-meter and 13th on 3-meter at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships.
Congrats Reed. Welcome home.