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Pat Ota was named the sixth head coach of the UNLV swimming & diving program in June 2024. Ota will enter his ninth season overall with the Rebel program in the upcoming 2024-25 season after serving in previous roles at UNLV as interim head coach, associate head coach and head assistant coach.

Since coming to Las Vegas in 2016, Ota has helped lead the Scarlet & Gray to five conference championships, including the men’s team’s fourth consecutive Western Athletic Conference title with a meet points record this past spring and the women’s squad’s 2021 Mountain West crown.

As a member of the UNLV coaching staff, Ota has helped produce a combined 73 WAC and MW individual and relay champions, 35 school records and six conference records. Additionally, the Rebels have seen eight individuals and three relay teams qualify for the NCAA Championships, three individuals reach the U.S. Olympic Trials and one student-athlete (Vuk Celic) go on to compete in the Olympics during his time on campus.

On the academic side, the Rebels have placed 40 honorees on the CSCAA Scholar All-America list, 124 honorees on the MW All-Academic Team and over 40 honorees on the Academic All-WAC Team since the 2016-17 season. Among the program’s athletic recognition under Ota’s assistance are George Ratiu’s 2024 WAC Swimmer of the Year and 2021 Freshman of the Year awards, Kris Matuszewski’s 2023 WAC Freshman of the Year honor, Fernanda Mendez Guerra’s 2024 MW Freshman of the Year award and Ruby Howell’s 2021 MW Freshman of the Year accolade.

Along with his collegiate coaching duties, Ota assisted in the training of world-class sprinters Kasia Wasick from Poland and Mexico’s Sofia Revilak. A former UNLV volunteer assistant, Wasick placed fifth in the 50-meter free at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games and has since risen to the top of the world standings, ranking as high as No. 2. Revilak, who was the Rebels’ director of operations during the 2023-24 campaign, won the 50-meter free at the 2023 Central American & Caribbean Games and anchored Mexico’s women’s 400 medley relay that set a national record at the 2023 Pan American Games.

Prior to his arrival in Las Vegas, Ota was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Fresno State for five years (2011-16). He coached the Bulldogs to 10 school records, a MW individual champion, a NCAA qualifier and a pair of Olympic Trial qualifiers.

Before that, Ota began his coaching career in 2007 as the head assistant at Fresno Pacific (2007-11) where he spent four years. During that span, he oversaw a sprint group that featured nine individual NAIA champions as the men’s team won two national titles and the women’s team collected two national runner-up finishes. His stint with the Sunbirds also brought about two U.S. Olympic Trial qualifiers who each went on to reach the semifinals at trials.

A former student-athlete, Ota swam collegiately all four years at UC Santa Barbara (2002-06) and helped the Gauchos win Big West Championships in 2004 and 2006. At UCSB, he was a three-time conference champion in the 100 back, a NCAA qualifier in the 100 back as a senior (2006) and a 2005 Big West Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipient.

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