Sports
Poets Name New Men's Water Polo Coach
Whittier, Calif. -- Justin Pudwill
has been named the new head coach of the Whittier College men's
water polo program. He is no stranger to the Southern
California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, having been the
assistant men's and women's water polo coach at Occidental College
since 2004.
Pudwill majored in Sports Management at Salem International
University in Salem, West Virginia. While there he was a
member of the baseball, swimming and water polo teams, earning
Academic All-American honors in all three sports for three
years. Water polo at Salem International is a Division I
sport. Pudwill also played semi-professional water polo for
the Ontario Water Polo Club in Ontario, Canada. His team won
the Canadian Junior Club Championships in 1999.
Pudwill has been both a water polo and swimming coach since 2000 in
Texas and California. He began his coaching career as a
swimming assistant for the Space City Aquatics Team in League City,
Texas. He then moved on to Ross S. Sterling High School in
Baytown, Texas where he was the assistant for the swimming and
water polo programs. In 2001, Pudwill co-founded the first
year-round age group water polo program in the state of Texas, the
Dirty Bay Water Polo Club in Baytown. Within two years, the
program grew from 20 members to over 100. In 2004, he moved
back to California to become the assistant at Occidental. He
is also coaching at Huntington Beach High School as the assistant
to all the aquatics programs.
Pudwill takes over a program that has been run by Mitch Carty
for the past ten seasons. Carty is Whittier's all-time leader
with 153 victories. In 2004, the Poets won a SCIAC
Championship under his direction.
"I am honored to be taking over for Mitch Carty, a
very successful coach that has built a foundation for Whittier
College men's water polo and swimming," said Pudwill.
"Whittier College is a great school with a ton of tradition and I
look forward to building a long lasting relationship with the
faculty, administration, and most of all the
student-athletes. I am very happy to be calling Whittier my
home. I look forward to bringing the men's programs
back up to championship form."