Women's Water Polo
Wright, Adam
Adam Wright
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- awright@athletics.ucla.edu
Adam Wright, who has coached the UCLA menโs water polo team to NCAA Championships in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2020, had his role expanded to include the UCLA womenโs water polo team, then Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero announced July 20, 2017. Wright, who enters his eighth season as the head coach of the UCLA womenโs water polo team in 2025, sports an overall record of 152-36 (.809) with the Bruin women. He is also 31-12 (.721) in MPSF competition.
Wright guided the Bruins to their eighth NCAA Championship and 12th National Championship in program history in 2024 with a perfect 26-0 record. It marked his first NCAA Championship with the women's program and he now has seven total titles, winning two as a player in 1999 and 2000, four as the Head Coach of the UCLA Men's Water Polo team (2014, 2015, 2017, and 2020) and now this year's title with the Bruin women. Wright was named the MPSF and ACWPC National Coach of the year in 2024 and is the first Bruin Head Coach to earn the honor since Adam Krikorian won it in 2009. It is the eighth time a Bruin mentor has been named the national Coach of the Year.ย Wright guided UCLA to just its third undefeated season in program history,ย joining the 2005 (33-0) and 2008 (33-0) teams. Just five squads have everย had perfect runs to NCAA Championships, with USC doing it twice (2004 and 2016).
He guided UCLA to a 21-8 overall record and a 4-2 mark in the MPSF in 2023 with the Bruins ranked No. 3 in the final CWPA poll.
He guided the Bruins to a 19-2 overall record and a 2-0 mark in the MPSF in a shortened 2020 season with the Bruins ranked No. 2 in the final CWPA poll. The Bruins defeated No. 1 and defending NCAA Champion USC on the year with a 7-5 win to capture the Triton Invitational title, snapping a six-year reign for the Trojans in that tournament.
Wright began his stint with the womenโs program in 2018 as the Bruins went 23-8 overall and 2-3 in league play. The Bruins again reached the semifinals of the NCAA Championship but were forced to play without Olympian and three-time first-team All-American Maddie Musselman and fell to eventual champion USC, 10-6.
He has produced 39 All-Americans, including nine First-Team selections, and 39 All-MPSF honorees including eight First-Team picks in his first seven seasons at the helm. He has also coached five Olympians on the women's side (Maddie Musselman in 2020 and 2024), Bronte Halligan in 2020 and 2024), and Sienna Green (2024).
Wright is the third coach in UCLA water polo history to coach both the menโs and womenโs teams. The other two โ Guy Baker and Adam Krikorian โ are both in the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. While coaching both programs from 1995-2000, Baker won seven national titles (four with the women and three with the men). Krikorian coached both programs from 2000-09 and won a total of 11 national titles as head coach (eight womenโs championships and three menโs championships).
Prior to his tenure as head coach, Wright was a four-year letterwinner at UCLA from 1997-2000, helping lead the Bruins to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1999 and 2000. He totaled 128 goals in his four seasons and was a two-time All-American. Following his collegiate career, he served as a key member on the USA National Team, participating in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. He helped lead Team USA to a seventh-place finish in 2004 (Athens) and to a silver medal in 2008 (Beijing). Wright continued training with the USA National Team while serving as UCLAโs head coach and retired as a player after competing at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Wright got his coaching start as an assistant coach with the varsity boys and girls water polo teams at Wilson High School (Long Beach, Calif.) from 2001-04. He helped coach the boyโs program to four consecutive CIF Division I championships and Moore League titles and also guided the girlโs team to two Moore League titles.
As a senior at UCLA in 2000, Wright scored 39 goals before earning honorable mention All-America acclaim and second-team All-MPSF honors. In 1999, he secured third-team All-America and second-team All-MPSF honors. That season, Wright led UCLA in assists (27) and was second in total points (48) and steals (39).
In his first two seasons, he scored 43 goals - 26 as a freshman and 27 as a sophomore. He gained second-team All-America honors in 1998 and was an honorable mention All-America and All-MPSF selection as a freshman in 1997.
Wright graduated from UCLA in 2001 with degrees in history and sociology.
Following his collegiate career, Wright competed in the European League (Italy and Russia for Bissolati Cremona, Civitavecchia SNC, Nuoto Catania and Dynamo Moscow from 2004-08. He has competed for the U.S. National Team in all major tournaments from 2001-11, helping lead Team USA to the gold medal at the 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games as well as the 2005 ASUA Cup (Mexico City).
Wright is married to Kerry Norris, a former UCLA womenโs soccer player. He and his wife reside with their daughter, Rome, and son, Zsolt, in Los Angeles.
ย
Wright guided the Bruins to their eighth NCAA Championship and 12th National Championship in program history in 2024 with a perfect 26-0 record. It marked his first NCAA Championship with the women's program and he now has seven total titles, winning two as a player in 1999 and 2000, four as the Head Coach of the UCLA Men's Water Polo team (2014, 2015, 2017, and 2020) and now this year's title with the Bruin women. Wright was named the MPSF and ACWPC National Coach of the year in 2024 and is the first Bruin Head Coach to earn the honor since Adam Krikorian won it in 2009. It is the eighth time a Bruin mentor has been named the national Coach of the Year.ย Wright guided UCLA to just its third undefeated season in program history,ย joining the 2005 (33-0) and 2008 (33-0) teams. Just five squads have everย had perfect runs to NCAA Championships, with USC doing it twice (2004 and 2016).
He guided UCLA to a 21-8 overall record and a 4-2 mark in the MPSF in 2023 with the Bruins ranked No. 3 in the final CWPA poll.
He guided the Bruins to a 19-2 overall record and a 2-0 mark in the MPSF in a shortened 2020 season with the Bruins ranked No. 2 in the final CWPA poll. The Bruins defeated No. 1 and defending NCAA Champion USC on the year with a 7-5 win to capture the Triton Invitational title, snapping a six-year reign for the Trojans in that tournament.
Wright began his stint with the womenโs program in 2018 as the Bruins went 23-8 overall and 2-3 in league play. The Bruins again reached the semifinals of the NCAA Championship but were forced to play without Olympian and three-time first-team All-American Maddie Musselman and fell to eventual champion USC, 10-6.
He has produced 39 All-Americans, including nine First-Team selections, and 39 All-MPSF honorees including eight First-Team picks in his first seven seasons at the helm. He has also coached five Olympians on the women's side (Maddie Musselman in 2020 and 2024), Bronte Halligan in 2020 and 2024), and Sienna Green (2024).
Wright is the third coach in UCLA water polo history to coach both the menโs and womenโs teams. The other two โ Guy Baker and Adam Krikorian โ are both in the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. While coaching both programs from 1995-2000, Baker won seven national titles (four with the women and three with the men). Krikorian coached both programs from 2000-09 and won a total of 11 national titles as head coach (eight womenโs championships and three menโs championships).
Prior to his tenure as head coach, Wright was a four-year letterwinner at UCLA from 1997-2000, helping lead the Bruins to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1999 and 2000. He totaled 128 goals in his four seasons and was a two-time All-American. Following his collegiate career, he served as a key member on the USA National Team, participating in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. He helped lead Team USA to a seventh-place finish in 2004 (Athens) and to a silver medal in 2008 (Beijing). Wright continued training with the USA National Team while serving as UCLAโs head coach and retired as a player after competing at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Wright got his coaching start as an assistant coach with the varsity boys and girls water polo teams at Wilson High School (Long Beach, Calif.) from 2001-04. He helped coach the boyโs program to four consecutive CIF Division I championships and Moore League titles and also guided the girlโs team to two Moore League titles.
As a senior at UCLA in 2000, Wright scored 39 goals before earning honorable mention All-America acclaim and second-team All-MPSF honors. In 1999, he secured third-team All-America and second-team All-MPSF honors. That season, Wright led UCLA in assists (27) and was second in total points (48) and steals (39).
In his first two seasons, he scored 43 goals - 26 as a freshman and 27 as a sophomore. He gained second-team All-America honors in 1998 and was an honorable mention All-America and All-MPSF selection as a freshman in 1997.
Wright graduated from UCLA in 2001 with degrees in history and sociology.
Following his collegiate career, Wright competed in the European League (Italy and Russia for Bissolati Cremona, Civitavecchia SNC, Nuoto Catania and Dynamo Moscow from 2004-08. He has competed for the U.S. National Team in all major tournaments from 2001-11, helping lead Team USA to the gold medal at the 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games as well as the 2005 ASUA Cup (Mexico City).
Wright is married to Kerry Norris, a former UCLA womenโs soccer player. He and his wife reside with their daughter, Rome, and son, Zsolt, in Los Angeles.
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