MOULTRIE – John Fox could have brought somebody back from the summer trip to South America. Or, he could have had the recent visiting Hall of Fame coach from China send somebody over to the States.

But, when Fox saw what a former college teammate was doing in the diving coaching world, there was no need to look anywhere else to find a new Moss Farms Diving Tigers assistant.

At the end of the summer diving season, Fox added former Ohio University head diving coach Tom Gimm to the Moss Farms staff. Fox and Gimm competed together at the University of Kentucky under coach Ted Hautau. It was injury that moved Gimm – who did not have any coaching aspirations upon entering collegiate diving – towards becoming an instructor.

That ultimately led Gimm to the job at Ohio University. When there was a coaching shakeup, Gimm moved on in club diving with the Mile High Diving Club in Colorado.

“What we’ve aspired to do is have the best coaching staff in the world,” said Fox. “So we can produce the same thing in and out of the pool. Not just divers, but people.

“When we were looking for a coach, we could have gone anywhere. The options were completely open. The only person we wanted was Tom. That speaks volumes to who Tom is.”

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minn., Gimm settled in Lexington, Ky., for diving and school from 2008-16. He became a Wildcat assistant and helped run the club team sponsored by the university, the Kentucky Diving Club. His first experience in Moultrie, in fact, was at the USA Diving Nationals when it was held at the Moose Moss Aquatic Center in 2016.

It was after that competition that Ohio hired Gimm.

“They had a coaching staff change (after two seasons),” said Gimm. “So I went out to Denver and worked for Mile High Diving as coach and administrator. After a year, I came to Moss Farms. Loving every minute of it.”

In his own diving career, Gimm considered himself a platform specialist.

“For some reason I was most comfortable up (10 meters),” he said. “I got injured my sophomore year (at Kentucky). Tore my labrum. Had surgery that winter, and I decided after that I was done.

“I just kind of fell into (coaching). I got lucky. I wanted to dive and had every anticipation of doing all four years in college. But with a little setback with my shoulder, circumstances changed.”

So as Gimm was sorting out his future, he said Hautau approached him about helping with the club team. He ran the lessons with the younger divers at the start then transitioned to the club’s overall head coach.

“More importantly, (diving) taught me how to deal with adversity,” said Gimm. “The injury was probably the biggest life lesson I had. All these plans kind of got swept out underneath me. It was an opportunity to learn from the best coach in the country. (Hautau) taught me a lot about becoming a man, being a leader and a mentor for others.

“I really enjoyed my time (at Ohio). I learned a lot through the college process. It’s different being on that side with college athletes and being the college athlete yourself. Teaching, being that person they look to, it’s a big responsibility. It helped me grow up.”

“Being the head coach at a Division I school is a huge, huge deal,” said Fox. “He did it really well. Things didn’t work out, and I think that was destiny saying he could come here. Tom really knows what he’s doing. That gives me a lot of piece of mind.”

While in Colorado, Gimm and wife Emily were looking at possibilities of returning to the Southeast. He got the call from Fox about Moss Farms’ opening. It wasn’t just getting back with a former colleague, but associating with a program of international renown.

“Moss Farms is known nationally and internationally in diving,” he said. “Knowing I can go to work with this caliber of athletes and the facilities, which are unmatched across the country. The dryland, there’s like three or four like it in the country. The diving well is pristine for training athletes to be national champions, which is what we try to do every day. To have the resources available to us is incredible. It’s no wonder how this program is known so well around the country.

“I hope I can instill my experience and that diving isn’t who they are; it’s just something they do. Diving can help them reach their own goals after diving. It’s an opportunity to become leaders and to help them become amazing human beings.”