Rio Ramirez

A decorated coach and former record-shattering student-athlete, Rio Ramirez was named Virginia Tech's head diving coach on June 1, 2021. He brings over 10 years of college coaching experience in multiple conferences to Blacksburg.

Ramirez joins the Hokies after a year at Alabama and seven seasons of coaching at Florida International University. While at FIU, Ramirez helped the Panthers to five-straight conference team titles, along with several All-America honors, individual conference titles and diver of the year awards.

In his own impressive collegiate career, Ramirez was not only a four-time NCAA Champion, but also set an NCAA record while competing for the Miami Hurricanes. He captured the platform title and NCAA record score in 1999 with 901.60 points. Ramirez also held the 1-meter title from 1997-1999. Ramirez graduated Miami with a bachelor’s in business administration in 2001. The five-time coach of the year was inducted into the University of Miami Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.

In addition to his killer NCAA stint, Ramirez was a member of Team USA and racked up several impressive victories, including a first place title at both the 2000 FINA Grand Prix and Pan-American Games in 1991. He also took third place in the 2000 USA Olympic Diving Trials.