USA Water Polo CEO Jamie Davis has announced contract extensions for head coaches Dejan Udovicic and Adam Krikorian to bring an unprecedented level of stability to USA Water Polo men’s & women’s national teams. The new agreements secure leadership through the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Udovicic will embark on his fourth straight quadrennium after leading the Team USA men to a bronze medal in Paris. For Krikorian, the march to LA will be his fifth consecutive Olympic cycle after guiding the US women to six world championship titles, three Olympic gold medals, and a fourth-place finish in Paris last year.
“USA Water Polo has two of the best international coaches in the world and I am excited to announce that Adam Krikorian will lead our women’s senior national team and Dejan Udovicic our men’s senior national team on our paths for gold medals at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games,” said Davis. “Adam’s accomplishments are unparalleled, and under Dejan’s leadership in Paris last summer our men won the program’s first Olympic medal since 2008. We have big goals on the journey to LA28 and I’m confident that Adam and Dejan will position us well for victory.”
Krikorian, considered to be the greatest women’s water polo coach of all-time, turned the US women’s team into the definition of excellence after taking over the program in 2009. Since then, the US women have claimed three Olympic gold medals (in 2012 London, 2016 Rio, 2020 Tokyo), six World Aquatics Championships titles (in 2009, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2024), four World Cups (in 2010, 2014, 2018, 2023), four Pan American Games titles (in 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023) and 11 World League Super Final crowns (2009-2012, 2014-2019, 2021). From 2014 through 2022 the US women were simply dominant, winning every major championship more than once and setting a modern record for winning 69 women’s matches in a row. Krikorian has been honored as the 2012 USOPC Olympic Coach of the Year, a 2013 USOPC Jack Kelly Fair Play Award recipient, a member of the Pac-12 All-Century Team for coaching and the UCLA Hall of Fame.
“I am thrilled to continue to be a part of a program that has given so much to me personally and that has had such an enormous positive influence on the sport throughout our country and the world,” Krikorian said. “I look forward to working with the team of athletes and staff through the detailed process of development and forging the relationships along the way that makes the journey so special.”
“We understand that hosting the Olympic Games in LA is a unique opportunity to inspire people all over the country and for our program to display the values that have made our team so special and transcend the sport,” Krikorian added.
For the US men, an Olympic bronze medal in Paris marked the latest step in a steady rise since Udovicic took charge in 2013. In Rio 2016, the men placed 10th. In Tokyo 2020, they rose to 6th, and in Paris 2024—after claiming their first medal in the World Cup since 1997 (a bronze) – they ended a 16-year Olympic medal drought to land on the podium. Now, their sights are set on the ultimate prize in Los Angeles. In addition, Udovicic led the team to three Pan American Games titles (in 2015, 2019, 2023) and three World Aquatics World League silver medals (in 2016, 2021, 2022). During his tenure, the men’s development pipeline has also recorded historic finishes including the cadet national team’s gold at the Darko Cukic Memorial Tourney in 2017 and the junior national team’s first medal for a US men’s program at any level in World Championship play: a 2023 bronze. On top of that, Udovicic has played a critical role in helping a record number of US national team athletes compete for professional club teams in Europe.
“I’m so proud of what our team accomplished over the last four years and thrilled to continue as head coach of the USA men’s national team,” Udovicic said. “I want to thank everyone in USA Water Polo for their support. I’m excited to build on our results from Paris with Los Angeles up next. We have an excellent core group of athletes that are entering their prime [and] putting us in a position to achieve what has been my goal since the day I joined USA Water Polo: reaching the top of the podium and winning a gold medal. We know this won’t be easy but I believe in our team and our staff and am confident the best is yet to come.”
Both national teams return to action this month. The US men are off to Bucharest, Romania, to play World Cup Division 1 from January 7-12. The US women also compete in World Cup Division 1, from January 14-19 in Alexandroupolis, Greece. Rosters for those events will be announced prior to the start of play.
