Adam Krikorian

Adam Krikorian (born July 22, 1974) is an American water polo coach and the head coach of the United States women's national water polo team. He coached the team to gold medals at the 2012 Olympic Games, 2016 Olympic Games, and 2020 Olympic Games.[1] He was named the United States Olympic Committee's Coach of the Games for 2016.[2] He won 15 NCAA national championships as player, assistant coach, and head coach at UCLA.[3]

Adam Krikorian
Personal information
Born (1974-07-22) 22 July 1974
Santa Clara, California
Nationality  United States
Teams coached
Years Team
2009–
 United States women's national
water polo team
Medal record
Women's water polo (as head coach)
Representing  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2012 LondonTeam
Gold medal – first place2016 Rio de JaneiroTeam
Gold medal – first place2020 TokyoTeam
World Championship
Gold medal – first place2009 RomeTeam
Gold medal – first place2015 KazanTeam
Gold medal – first place2017 BudapestTeam
Gold medal – first place2019 GwangjuTeam
FINA World Cup
Gold medal – first place2010 Christchurch
Gold medal – first place2014 Khanty-Mansiysk
Gold medal – first place2018 Surgut
FINA World League
Gold medal – first place2009 Kirishi
Gold medal – first place2010 La Jolla
Gold medal – first place2011 Tianjin
Gold medal – first place2012 Changshu
Gold medal – first place2014 Kunshan
Gold medal – first place2015 Shanghai
Gold medal – first place2016 Shanghai
Gold medal – first place2017 Shanghai
Gold medal – first place2018 Kunshan
Gold medal – first place2019 Budapest
Bronze medal – third place2013 Beijing
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place2011 GuadalajaraTeam
Gold medal – first place2015 TorontoTeam
Gold medal – first place2019 LimaTeam
Last updated: 26 October 2020

Family

Krikorian was born into an Armenian-American family, the youngest son of Gary Krikorian and Joyce (née Srabian). Krikorian is the younger brother of Blake Krikorian and Jason Krikorian, founders of Sling Media. Adam followed his brothers into the pool; Blake also played water polo at UCLA while Jason swam for Cal.[4][5] Blake died of a heart attack days before the 2016 Olympics began in Rio de Janeiro; Adam went back to Northern California for the funeral before returning to the Olympics.[6][5]

Adam Krikorian is married to Anicia, with whom he has two children, Jack (a breast stroker) who owns a subaru, and Annabel. They live in Manhattan Beach, California.[7]

High school and college record

Krikorian, a water polo and swimming standout, attended Mountain View High School before playing college water polo at UCLA.[8] During his senior year in high school, he scored 113 goals and was named honorable mention All-America. He helped his team to a National Junior Olympic championship.

He led UCLA to its first NCAA Championship in 23 years (1995). While at UCLA, Krikorian scored 76 goals and was a four-year letterwinner (1992–1995). He was named a second team All-America and All-MPSF honoree in 1995. He was captain of the UCLA team in 1994 and 1995. He was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.

Coaching career

College
Adam Krikorian (far left) and his UCLA Women's Water Polo team honored for winning UCLA's 100th NCAA Championship, 2007.
At the White House with his water polo team, June 2008

Krikorian became an assistant coach for the UCLA men's water polo team in 1996 and then also the women's water polo team in 1997. During his coaching career, his teams won 15 national championships, 11 as a head coach, three as an assistant coach and one as a player. He was awarded the 2004 national men's water polo coach of the year and the 2001, 2005, 2006 and 2007 national women's water polo coach of the year.

The 2007 women's title was UCLA's 100th NCAA championship, the first school in history to achieve the milestone. The 2008 women's team had a perfect 33-0 season, including the three games at the MPSF Championship and the three at the NCAA Championship. #1 ranked UCLA beat #3 USC 6-3 for the 2008 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship on May 11, 2008.

He is tied for first among active men's water polo coaches in NCAA championships won and led both teams to national titles in the same season 3 times (’99-’00, ’00-’01, ’04-’05). As men’s head coach, he coached 25 All-America selections.

Krikorian has coached five Peter J. Cutino Award winners: Sean Kern (2000 and 2001), Coralie Simmons (2001), Natalie Golda (2005), Kelly Rulon (2007), and Courtney Mathewson (2008). The award is given to the outstanding female and male collegiate water polo players each year.[9] For the 2007–08 season, he captured the NCAA Division I Coach of the Year honor for the fifth time as UCLA's head women's water polo coach, given by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC). "Krikorian led the UCLA women's water polo program to its 11th national championship – the seventh national title in his 10-year tenure as head coach. UCLA registered its second undefeated season in the last four years, posting a 33-0 overall record and perfect 12-0 MPSF mark," according to the UCLA Athletic Department.

In 2009, Krikorian Was named NCAA Division I Coach of the Year for the fifth consecutive season and sixth time overall by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC).

International

As the head coach of the USA Women's Water Polo Team, Krikorian coached his team to the gold medal at the World Championships in Rome, Italy on July 31, 2009, defeating Canada, 6-5.

In October 2011, Adam led the team to the gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, his United States women's national water polo team won the gold medal by defeating the Spain team 8–5 on August 9, 2012.

Krikorian coached the USA women's water polo team to the first Olympic gold medal in program history by defeating Spain in the gold medal game in London, England on August 9, 2012.[10]

On August 19, 2016, Krikorian led the USA women's water polo team to their second straight gold medal as they defeated Italy by a score of 12-5 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ever since breaking through for its first-ever gold in 2012, the Americans have dominated this sport, winning the 2014 World Cup, the 2015 World Championships and three consecutive World League titles in China.[11]

National Champions
YearChampionsPositionWinnerLoserRecords
(Overall/Conf.)
1995NCAA ChampionsStudent-athleteUCLA Men's Water PoloCal20-6/8-0
1996NCAA ChampionsAsst. CoachUCLA Men's Water PoloUSC24-6/6-2
1997NCAA ChampionsAsst. CoachUCLA Women's Water PoloCal31-1/6-0
1998NCAA ChampionsAsst. CoachUCLA Women's Water PoloCal35-1/9-0
1999NCAA ChampionsHead coachUCLA Men's Water PoloStanford22-3/8-0
2000NCAA ChampionsHead coachUCLA Men's Water PoloUCSD19-7/6-2
2000NCAA ChampionsHead coachUCLA Women's Water PoloUSC30-5/8-1
2001NCAA ChampionsHead coachUCLA Women's Water PoloStanford18-4/9-1
2003NCAA ChampionsHead coachUCLA Women's Water PoloStanford24-4/8-2
2004NCAA ChampionsHead coachUCLA Men's Water PoloStanford25-3/8-0
2005NCAA ChampionsHead coachUCLA Women's Water PoloStanford33-0/12-0
2006NCAA ChampionsHead coachUCLA Women's Water PoloUSC29-4/11-1
2007NCAA ChampionsHead coachUCLA Women's Water PoloStanford28-2/11-1
2008NCAA ChampionsHead coachUCLA Women's Water PoloUSC33-0/12-0
2009NCAA ChampionsHead coachUCLA Women's Water PoloUSC25-6/9-3[12]

See also

References
  1. "U.S. Retains water polo coaches Adam Krikorian, Dejan Udovicic through Paris Olympics". Los Angeles Times. 7 December 2021.
  2. "U.S. Olympic Committee Announces 2016 Winners For Team USA Awards Presented By Dow, Best Of The Games". United States Olympic Committee. 28 September 2016. Archived from the original on October 2, 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  3. "Krikorian Named Women's Senior National Team Head Coach". Archived from the original on 2011-06-08. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
  4. Veronin, Nick (May 10, 2012). "Making a splash at the Olympics". Mountain View Voice. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  5. "Interview with Adam Krikorian". Interviews with Max Raskin. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  6. Shipnuck, Alan (11 August 2016). "U.S. waterpolo coach makes emotional return to Rio". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  7. Vartabedian, Tom (30 August 2016). "A Well-Deserved Olympic Tribute to Adam Krikorian". Armenian Weekly. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  8. "Player Bio: Adam Krikorian". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 23 December 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  9. Cutino Award winners
  10. "USA Water Polo Women's Olympic Team Features 4 Returners from 2012 Gold". swimmingworldmagazine.com. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  11. "USA wins gold in women's water polo". usatoday.com. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  12. UCLA defeats USC, claims NCAA women's water polo title Archived 2011-06-03 at the Wayback Machine, Los Angeles Daily News, May 10, 2009
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