LAS CRUCES, N.M. (April 25)-New Mexico State swimming and diving head coach Rick Pratt has added Molly Parker to his staff. She joins the Aggies as diving coach.

“I am very excited to announce Molly Parker as our new diving coach at NM State,” Pratt said. “We have been very fortunate to have attracted strong coaches to NM State, and coach Parker is no exception. Molly will provide much for our swimming and diving program. She is passionate, organized, hard working and a great person. Not only will she be able to take our diving program to the next level, but she will be a great representative of our athletic department and academic institution. To me this was a no brainer, and I am very excited to have Molly on deck continuing to allow our program to grow.”

Parker arrives in Las Cruces from Indiana and has been coaching high school and club divers in the Indianapolis area.

“After coaching at the club level for nine years, I am excited to move to the collegiate level, where I will be able to focus my coaching on a relatively small number of student-athletes for several hours each week,” Parker said. “I look forward to being able to put together a complete program that incorporates strength training, sports psychology, and flexibility, as well as diving specific training. I am excited to have the opportunity to take the current NM State student-athletes to the next level of their abilities while also bringing in high-quality, new divers.”

An Albuquerque native, Parker was a diver at Sandia Prep High School. She then dove at Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind. During her diving career, Parker qualified for Junior Nationals twice, competed at the NCAA Zone Championships all four seasons and was an Academic All-Big Ten honoree while on scholarship.

She graduated in 2003 as an academic All-American with a bachelor’s degree in health and fitness and movement and sports science. Parker continued her education in 2007, when she attended Kaplan College to become a massage therapist. In 2008, she became a licensed massage therapist in Indiana.

After concluding her diving career at Purdue, Parker began coaching for Starz Diving. In her time with Starz, she opened and coached nine different satellite locations and trained several assistant and head satellite coaches. Parker sent several athletes up to the Rising Starz Program and had one athlete selected for the National Training Center. Parker was the Starz Coach of the Year in 2005 and led the Starz Satellite Team of the Year in 2005. In addition to coaching for Starz, she coached high school diving for seven years at Noblesville High School in Noblesville, Ind.

Parker is moving to Las Cruces with her husband Jack and two sons, Atticus (5) and Leonidus (3).