Ron Kontura joined the Youngstown State men’s and women’s swimming and diving program in June 2026. Kontura, a former Division I head coach, will serve as Head Diving Coach and Director of Operations on Head Coach Hannah Saiz’s staff.
With a wealth of experience from nearly every level of competition, he recently spent six seasons as the head diving coach at Division III power Kenyon.
Kontura has also served as the head diving coach at Cal-Berkeley, Army-West Point, Illinois State and Allegheny during his extensive coaching career.
The 2023 campaign mirrored the previous season as Kontura and Israel Zavaleta claimed national honors. For the second straight season, Zavaleta was a national championship at both the one- and three-meter heights, helping the Owls finish second in the 2023 Men's NCAA Championship and earning NCAA Diver of the Year honors while continuing to reset the record books. Kontura was recognized as the NCAA Division III Men's Diving Coach of the Year for his leadership. At the conference level, Zavaleta swept the NCAC titles to help the Owls win the conference crown, and he was selected as the NCAC Diver of the Year, while Kontura earned NCAC Men's Diving Coach of the Year honors for the fourth time.
During Kenyon's fifth-place team finish at the 2022 Men's NCAA Championship, Kontura coached Zavaleta to a title sweep of the one-meter and three-meter diving boards. Before the NCAA Championship, Zavaleta won both events at the NCAC Championship and the Regional Diving Championship. Zavaleta earned both NCAA Diver of the Year and NCAC Diver of the Year honors while rewriting the Kenyon record book during the 2021-22 season. For his mentorship, Kontura was voted NCAA Division III Men's Diving Coach of the Year.
Prior to his work at Kenyon, from 2006 through 2014, Kontura served as the diving coach at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, where he led all aspects of the program, including athlete development, recruitment and compliance. Prior to that, he was the diving coach at University of California-Berkeley for three seasons.
Kontura earned his first head coaching position at Allegheny College in 1994-95. With the Gators, he coached four NCAA Division III All-Americans. He then moved on to the University of Michigan as a volunteer assistant for a year before taking over as a head coach at Illinois State University, where he remained for four seasons. While at at Illinois State, Kontura found time to also coach and direct a club team, the Redbird Diving Club, which developed four national Junior Olympic qualifiers.
Between his time at Illinois State and California, Kontura worked as both the diving coach and director of business operations of Nadadores Diving in Mission Viejo, California. He coached the Nadadores to the 2003 West National title and produced individual Junior Olympics national champions, as well as high school All-Americans.
Kontura's resume also includes a Patriot League Coach of the Year award. He coached at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Trials. Additionally, he served as Chairman of USA Masters Diving from 2012 to 2016 and served on the USA Diving Rules Committee from 2008 to 2014.
Kontura earned his master's degree in business administration from Illinois State in 1999 and his bachelor's degree in business administration from Ohio University in 1991.
