Jim Montrella (born circa 1941) is an American former swimmer and a Club, College, and Olympic swim coach, best known for coaching the Lakewood Aquatics Club from 1959-78 in the Los Angeles area, and the Women's Swimming team at Ohio State from 1980-1997.

Jim Montrella graduated Millikin High School in Long Beach, California in 1958, where, coming late to the sport, he did not begin swimming for the team until his Junior year.

[6] Montrella continued to work with the Lakewood Tarpons through his Senior Year at Long Beach City College.

Montrella served a short period of service with the U.S. Coast Guard, while stationed at Terminal Island, between September 1964, and March 1965, where he continued to coach the Lakewood team weekends, and during liberty.

[1] Two of his more exceptional women swimmers at Lakewood Aquatics, Susie Atwood and Kimla M. Brecht, were on the 1968 US Olympic team.

[9] In 1972, Susie Atwood won two medals at the Munich Olympic Games, breaking the world record in the 200-meter backstroke.

[11] While at Lakewood Aquatics, Montrella also coached Olympian Steve Genter, who won gold in the 1972 Munich Olympics in the relay, and Silver medals in the 200 and 400 freestyle despite having had surgery for a collapsed lung around five days before he competed.

[11] In September 1973, Montrella brought a group of swimmers selected from the National Swimming Championships held in Louisville, Ky to swim a competition first in Peru and then in Santiago, Chile, during the violent coup by Agusto Pinochet to oust Chilean President Salvador Allende.

[17] In 1978-79, Jim began coaching swimming at Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce, Florida, and served as Athletics Director, responsible for helping to staff, schedule, coordinate and budget ten sports programs.

[19] Another one of Jim's swimmers at Indian River, Deena Schmidt, was an All-American and set NJCAA records in the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly.

[2][21] In the 1960's Montrella started his business, Modern Swimming Concepts, where he manufactured hand paddles with removable and adjustable wrist straps in sizes that varied by color codes.

[14] In 2023, Montrella was inducted into the City of Long Beach Aquatic Capital of American Hall of Fame.