STAFF

DAVE PARRINGTON | HEAD COACH

Seasons at Tennessee: 35th Year (entering 2024-25)
NCAA Champions: 9 (7 men, 2 women)
SEC Champions: 47 (31 men, 16 women)
SEC Coach of the Year: 16 times
1994 (M), 1996 (M), 1997 (W), 1998 (M), 1999 (M), 2000 (M), 2001 (M), 2003 (W), 2012 (M&W), 2013 (W), 2015 (M), 2016 (M), 2018 (M), 2019 (M) 2024 (M).

2013 CSCAA National Women's Diving Coach of the Year

Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington, a successful athlete on both the collegiate and international levels, has translated his athletic excellence into a high degree of proficiency in the coaching ranks. Parrington has received countless honors on every level within the diving community and is entering his 34th season at UT with the 2023-24 campaign.

His wealth of experience and teaching ability was displayed in the successes of his athletes with divers excelling at the conference and national levels year in, year out since arriving on Rocky Top in 1990.

The Harare, Zimbabwe, native owns an impressive resume. The SEC coaches have voted Parrington the Men's Diving Coach of the Year 11 times (1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019) and the Women's Coach of the Year four times (1997, 2003, 2012, 2013). Since arriving on The Hill, Parrington has produced nine NCAA champions and 47 SEC champions. He has coached eight USA Diving national champions, one World Champion and three Commonwealth Games gold medalists.

Parrington and the UT divers have built an impressive stretch over recent years.

The 2011-12 season was among Tennessee's best overall seasons in the diving well as the men swept all three diving events at the SEC Championships for the first time in program history. Ryan Helms won the 1-meter and 3-meter titles and freshman Mauricio Robles took the platform. Tori Lamp led the women all year and won her first SEC title in her signature event, the platform. Helms and Lamp were both voted the SEC Diver of the Year for the men and women.

In 2012-13, Parrington was named the CSCAA National Women's Diving Coach of the Year and SEC Women's Diving Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Vols to championship-level heights at the SEC and NCAA championships. Lamp was named the National Diver of the Year after making the finals of all three diving events, placing second on the platform for the second time, and senior Jodie McGroarty made the finals in both springboard competitions to help Tennessee finish third in the team standings for the first time in program history.

Parrington earned SEC Men's Diving Coach of the Year honors in 2015. At the SEC meet, Robles won the 1-meter springboard title with a Tennessee record of 421.15. Liam Stone, who joined the team in January, set the meet record to win in the 3-meter title in 463.50 with Robles taking third.

In 2016, Tennessee celebrated its first NCAA men's diving champion since 2004 when Stone captured the 1-meter NCAA title (453.70 - school record). Robles ended his career as the 2016 SEC Diver of the Year, defending his 1-meter conference title and winning platform for the first time since 2012. Freshman Rachel Rubadue won the women's platform title and was the SEC Freshman Diver of the Year.

Stone earned SEC Diver of the Year honors, setting a new SEC record on the 1-meter springboard at home (468.30) and taking fourth at NCAAs on both springboards.

Parrington earned SEC Diving Coach of the Year honors for a 14th time in 2017-18. Redshirt junior Zhipeng (Colin) Zeng became the first Tennessee men's diver to win an NCAA title on platform while also placing second on 3-meter and fourth on 1-meter. He was voted the CSCAA National Diver of the Year. Stone wrapped up his career as a team captain.

In 2018-19 redshirt senior Zhipeng (Colin) Zeng won two SEC titles (3-meter springboard and Platform) and went on to win the 1-meter springboard national title at NCAAs, his third NCAA title and second at Tennessee. He was named the CSCAA National Diver of the Year for the second-straight season as well as winning the SEC Diver of the Year award for a second time.

During the 2020 SEC Championship, Parrington helped the Lady Vols win their first-ever conference team title in program history and finish the season undefeated for just the third time ever. Tennessee won its second title in three years during the 2022 SEC Championship. 

The 2022-23 campaign resulted in many positives for the Tennessee diving program. Bryden Hattie was tabbed the SEC Diver of the Year and went on to win two gold medals and one silver medal at the SEC Championships. Hattie was named a co-winner of the SEC Commissioner's Trophy along with fellow Vol Jordan Crooks. The Canadian continued his success into NCAA's, where he was the national runner-up on platform and tallied a sixth place finish inthe 3-meter. Newcomer Nick Stone earned SEC Freshman Diver of the Year honors after scoring in all three diving events at SEC's.

UT DIVERS ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE: Tennessee divers during the Parrington era have competed at the Olympics, World Championships, World University Games, World Diving Cup, Pan American Games, the Commonwealth Games and the African Games. During the 1999 and 2000 SEC championships meets, Parrington coached Gabi Chereches to an SEC Commissioners Trophy, awarded to the swimmer or diver with the highest point total at the meet.

Parrington coached Zimbabwe's Olympic team in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as well as the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Other Olympic service includes two stints (1998, 2008) as a judge at the U.S. Olympic diving trials and a selector for the USA Olympic team selection camp hosted at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center. He also served the United States' diving team as a coach for the 1997 World Cup qualifying and championships rounds and was rewarded with the USA Diving Coaches Award of Excellence. Parrington was named the head coach of Team USA at the 2014 Fina World Series in London, England, UK.

Lamp competed internationally, winning the platform competition at the 2013 U.S. World Championships Qualifying and later placing 10th in her signature event at the FINA World Diving Championships in Barcelona, Spain. She was on the USA Diving's Olympic development squad and represented Team USA in the FINA Diving World Series in 2014.

PRIOR TO TENNESSEE & FAMILY: Before he arrived in Knoxville, Parrington spent seven years as the head diving coach at his alma mater the University of Houston.

As a student-athlete, Parrington competed in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, representing Zimbabwe in both the three-meter and platform events. Parrington also played for Zimbabwe's national diving and water polo teams.

In August 2008, former UT head football coach Phillip Fulmer endowed $250,000 for the Dave Parrington Tennessee Diving Scholarship. The gift was a token of gratitude for Parrington's many years coaching Fulmer's daughter and former Lady Vol diver Brittany.

In the summer of 2009, Parrington married former UT swimming and diving massage therapist Marie Wilson. She has been a part of the program for nine years and is a Knoxville, Tenn., native. She has three children Jeff, Brent and Derek and five grandchildren Emily, Zachary, Camille, Blake, Maggie and DJ.