ACCOLADES
USA Water Polo Hall of Fame ('23)
Pac-12 All-Century Team ('16)
World Championship ('15, USA Women's Junior National Team)
2x D-II Coach of the Year (Sonoma State)
PLAYING CAREER
Olympic Silver Medalist ('00, USA)
3x National Champion (2001-03, UCLA)
2x NCAA Player of the Year (UCLA)
4x All-American (UCLA)
3x Greek Championships
European Cup Title
Coralie Simmons is in her eighth season as the head coach of the Golden Bears in 2024 and has the program among the elitist of the elite in collegiate water polo.
In six of Simmons' seven seasons in Berkeley, the Bears have ended the season with a top-four national ranking. Cal has advanced to the NCAA Championship five times over that span, including four trips to the semifinal round. Simmons has produced 27 ACWPC All-America selections and 78 ACWPC All-Academic picks, including a whopping 20 in 2022.
Simmons was announced as part of the 39th induction class of the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame midway through the Bears' 2023 season. Led by All-Americans and Cutino Award Watch List members Isabel Williams and Cecily Turner, the Bears earned their fifth trip to the NCAA Championship in their six non-COVID seasons with Simmons at the helm, entering as the No. 3 seed after defeating UCLA 12-11 in a thrilling MPSF Championship third-place game. They finished the year ranked No. 6 nationally with a 19-10 record.
Cal had another memorable season in 2022, finishing the year ranked at No. 3 after advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship. The Bears went 17-6, including wins over No. 2 Stanford and No. 3 UCLA.
Cal went 12-7 in 2021 and finished the season ranked No. 6 nationally. The Bears registered 11 victories over ranked opponents, and all of their losses came to teams ranked in the top-5.
The Bears went 11-7 in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, despite playing without three of their top players who each sat out the season to train for the Summer Olympics. Cal still managed to knock off four top-10 opponents along the way.
The Bears finished 2019 with a record of 17-9 after an overtime loss to No. 1 USC in the NCAA semifinals. In 2018, Simmons led Cal to its first No. 1 national ranking in 18 years.
Simmons also is heavily involved in the U.S. National Team program, having served in a variety of roles as a head coach and assistant coach. She has twice served as head coach for the U.S. Junior National Team at the FINA Junior World Championships - winning the gold medal in 2015 - and has been an assistant coach for the U.S. Senior Team and Youth National Team, each of which won gold medals at the World Championships. In 2019, she was an assistant at the U.S. Junior World Championships.
Simmons is simply one of the most respected figures in the water polo community, reaching lofty heights as both an athlete and coach. She is regarded as one of the greatest female American players ever, having led the United States to the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia and twice being named the NCAA Player of the Year while a student-athlete at UCLA. She helped the Bruins win the first-ever NCAA Championship in 2001. She was named to the Pac-12 All-Century Team in 2016.
Her coaching career began in 2005 as an assistant at Hawaii, where she helped the Rainbows record their first-ever top-four finish at the NCAA Championships. She moved on to become an assistant at her alma mater, helping UCLA capture the 2007 NCAA title.
It didn't take long for Simmons to scale the coaching ladder. After one year each as an assistant at Hawaii and UCLA, she was named the head coach at Sonoma State University. She led the Seawolves program for nine years, twice being named the Division II National Coach of the Year.
