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Omar Ojeda was named head coach of the Arizona Diving team in November of 2011, taking over for Dr. Michele Mitchell, who moves over to the team's director of operations. Ojeda was a diver for Mitchell and the University of Arizona from 2000 to 2002.
Ojeda comes to Arizona from Mexico, where he acted as the Assistant Coach and Administrator of the Mexican National diving team for three years. In his time there, he coached Paola Espinosa, the 2009 Diving World Champion and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, Tatiana Ortiz, another 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, Rommel Pacheco, a multi-medalist at the Central American Games and World University Games, Karla Rivas, a Centro American Games medalist and Junior Pan, the American games Champion in 2009.
In addition, Ojeda was the Talent Development Project Director of Mexico's National Sports Commission, a program that he created to develop national diving talent for children aged nine to 15. He served as a coordinator with the National Sports Commission (CONADE), sport doctor and trainer, diving specialist and sport psychologist. Of the divers he coached, six are reining 2010-11 National Champions in their respective events. He also coached two divers to first-place finishes and one to a second-place finish at the Pan-American Junior Diving Championships in Medellin, Colombia.
Ojeda was a member of the Mexican National Team from 1990 to 2008. He is a 17-time Mexican National Champion, a five-time World University Games medalist, a four-time World Championship Finalist and a qualified diver for the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens in 2004. He also currently holds a FINA certification as an international judge for diving.
At Arizona, Ojeda was the most decorated male diver in the school's history. He broke and still holds four school diving records, was a five-time NCAA All-American and a two-time Pac-10 Athlete of the Year (2001 and 2002). In 2008, he was inducted to the University of Arizona Hall of Fame. He received a degree in political science and a minor in Spanish and thematic in December of 2002. He later went on to obtain a master's degree in finance-administration from the Universidad YMCA de México in 2010.
