June 12, 2006

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Andrew Silva, formerly the head women's water polo coach at Marist College, has been named assistant coach for the men's and women's programs at UC Santa Barbara, it was announced Monday.

Silva spent the past three seasons at Marist, the first as an assistant before taking over the reigns of the program in 2005. The San Luis Obispo, Calif., native was named 2006 Metro Atlantic Athletic Association Coach of the Year after leading the Red Foxes to the eight-team NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. Last season Marist won a school-record 23 games - 10-better than the previous mark set in 2005, also under Silva - and won its first-ever MAAC title by upsetting No. 1 seed Wagner in the conference championship match on April 30.

"Andrew has a proven track record of excellence, having turned around the Marist program in a short amount of time and leading them to the NCAA Tournament," UCSB men's head coach Wolf Wigo stated. "He brings a wealth of coaching experience and will be a good fit for both programs at UCSB. [Women's head coach] Danielle [Altman] and myself are both very excited about working with Andrew."

Silva began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater, San Luis Obispo High School, immediately after graduating in 1996. In 1999 he was hired as the boys' and girls' varsity coach, helping rebuild both Tiger programs. He guided the girls' squad to consecutive top-10 division rankings and a Northern League title in 2002. In Silva's second season at the helm, the boys' team made their first playoff appearance in four years. Many of his players at SLOHS went on to successful collegiate careers at the Division I level.

As a player, Silva was an all-league goalkeeper for the Tigers and helped lead his squad to consecutive CIF playoff appearances. He earned a Bachelor's degree in political science from Cal Poly in 2002.

Silva replaces Kevin Witt, who left UCSB after two seasons to pursue playing opportunities with the U.S. Senior National Team.