Nevada Diving Coach Jian Li You Announces Retirement
Nevada diving coach Jian Li You has announced her retirement, effective at the end of the season. She’s led the Wolf Pack divers for 29 seasons, which culminates with this week’s Mountain West Championships.
You has coached a number of Olympians and national champions. She guided fellow Chinese diver Sharae Zheng to titles on both springboards at the 2016 NCAA Championships. Zheng, who added silver on 3-meter and bronze on 1-meter in 2018 to go with two top-seven finishes in 2017, was the leading light among 10 All-American honors. You’s pupils won 33 conference titles in the Big West, WAC and Mountain West (eight of them from Zheng) and 10 conference Diver of the Year Awards, including eight in the last 11 meets in the Mountain West.
You also coached Krysta Palmer, who won bronze on 3-meter springboard at the Tokyo Olympics for the United States, plus bronze medals at the 2017 World Championships and 2023 Pan American Games. The Olympic medal was the first for a solo American woman since 2000.
You was named the College Swimming Coaches Association of America’s Diving Coach of the Year in 2016. Both Palmer and Zheng would return to Reno to coach with You.
“I love this University and Reno so much,” You said in a university statement. “I have been so lucky to coach here for almost 30 years and have so much support from my athletes, coaches, athletic directors, and the University. I am thankful to have had the trust and support to coach my team and help my divers win championships and reach their dreams. I am proud that we have built Nevada Diving into one of the best programs in the country, and look forward to it staying at the top.”
You won six national championships in her native China. She was a member of the 1980 Olympic team before the country boycotted the Moscow Games that year. She coached Palmer for USA Diving at the Tokyo Games 40 years later.
You moved to the United States in 1995 and took the job at Nevada a year later. The Wolf Pack have scored at NCAAs 12 times, with You’s divers contributing on eight occasions.
“Jian Li You’s impact on Nevada Athletics and the diving world has been monumental,” Nevada athletic director Stephanie Rempe said. “Without a doubt, she is among the greatest coaches in Nevada Athletics history. The sheer amount of accolades her divers have earned—from Olympic medals to national championships to conference titles to All-America honors—in nearly 30 years at Nevada is a testament to her excellence, her love of the sport, and her dedication to this University. What Jian Li has built here is unparalleled and Nevada Diving will long continue to be the standard not only in this department but nationwide at the Division I level. We will be forever grateful for Jian Li’s dedication to the University of Nevada and Nevada Athletics, and wish her well in her retirement.”
You was honored in 2023 by the Nevada Women’s Fund in its annual “Salute to Women of Achievement” event.
“For the three decades Jian Li You has served as our Diving Head Coach, our program has rightly been known as one of the best in the country,” university president Brian Sandoval said. “Her athletes have won NCAA titles, earned an Olympic medal and received dozens of individual conference event titles and Diver of the Year awards. Her exceptional contributions have elevated our swimming and diving program in every way. On behalf of the entire University, I wish to thank Coach You for an unparalleled and historic coaching career.”
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