Juan Estevez Hired as New Head Diving Coach
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina swimming & diving team welcomes its second new addition to the coaching staff in the past two days. Cuban Olympic diver Juan Estevez has been named as the new head diving coach, announced by head coach Jeff Poppell on Monday afternoon.
“We’re truly excited to have Juan joining us at South Carolina as our Head Diving Coach,” Poppell commented. “He comes from UNC which easily had one of the top diving programs in the nation last year with a vast number of male and female divers performing at the highest level. Juan has a wealth of experience developing athletes over his career and his passion and excitement for the sport is awesome to see. There is no question that his technical knowledge will be a huge asset to our divers as they seek to make big strides this next year, and I am confident that the impact he will have on our program as a whole will be enormous.”
Estevez comes to South Carolina after serving as the assistant diving coach at UNC for the 2024-25 season. The Tar Heels are coming off one of their most successful seasons in program history with a significant number of female and male divers earning recognition on the ACC, NCAA, and world stages.
UNC divers dominated the competition at the 2025 ACC Championships led by efforts from senior Aranza Vazquez Montano who was named the 2025 ACC Most Valuable Women’s Diver after winning the ACC title on 1-meter. The Tar Heels also claimed seventh and eighth place finishes from Elle Joyce and Lanie Gutch, respectively. On 3-meter, Lanie Gutch finished as the ACC Runner-up while Aranza Vazquez Montano placed fifth overall. Estevez helped lead UNC to a 2-3-4 finish on platform with Aranza Vazquez Montano earning bronze, Sofia Knight earning a podium spot at third and Lanie Gutch placing fourth in the event.
The UNC men were equally as impressive at the ACC Championships as Estevez helped three male divers place in the top 8 in the 1-meter led by a fourth place finish from Rodolfo Vazquez followed by Carter Loftin in seventh and Christopher Booler in eighth. On 3-meter, Rodolfo Vazquez and Christopher Booler posted seventh and eighth place finishes while on the Platform event, Carter Loftin took eighth.
To wrap up the season, the women’s diving program took three Tar Heels to the 2025 NCAA Championships. Under Estevez’s guidance, Lanie Gutch and Aranza Vazquez Montano placed third and fourth in the nation on 1-Meter respectively, both earning All-American honors. Vazquez Montano also placed 5th on 3-meter and 11th on platform earning All-American recognition while Sofia Knight placed 18th overall on platform.
Lanie Gutch, Elle Joyce and Sofia Knight qualified to compete this summer at the 2025 World University Games in Germany while Aranza Vazquez Montano will compete for Mexico at the 2025 World Championships in Singapore.
Estevez was a member of the coaching staff for Team USA at the 2024 Junior World Championships in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, helping guide UNC Freshman Lanie Gutch to a silver medal in the 1-Meter event and 4th place in the Synchro Platform.
Prior to coming to UNC, Estevez served as an Assistant Coach for the Orlando Dive Academy in Florida where he consistently developed some of the top junior divers in the U.S and internationally.
“I am very excited and thankful for the opportunity I have been given to become the head diving coach at the University of South Carolina,” Estevez said. “My goal is to create the best diving program in the country and I am looking forward to what the future holds for the team and myself going forward. Go Gamecocks!”
As an athlete, Estevez joined the Cuban Senior Team in 1989 and became a seven-time senior national champion. He was named to the Cuban Olympic Team for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
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