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In June 2008, UC Santa Barbara head men's water polo coach Wolf Wigo was named Director of Water Polo, subsequently taking over head coaching duties for the Gaucho women's water polo team.
Wigo has coached the UCSB men for four seasons and in that time has led the Gauchos to a 70-56 (.556) record, three consecutive winning seasons and three consecutive No. 6 final rankings in the Collegiate Water Polo Association National Poll.
This past fall, the Gaucho men ended the season with a fifth-place Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament finish as well as regular season conference finish. The Gauchos posted a 17-11 overall record and went 4-4 in MPSF games, marking UCSB's first season with a conference record at or above .500 since 1993.
Two players - Milos Golic and Miles Price - earned All-MPSF honors and six Gauchos earned Academic All-MPSF accolades.
In 2007, Wigo led UCSB to a 19-14 record and a sixth-place finish in the MPSF regular season, conference tournament and a No. 6 final ranking in the CWPA Poll.
The 2007 season had several highlights, most notably the Gauchos' 9-7 win over Wigo's alma mater Stanford on October 27, the first victory over the Cardinal for UCSB since the 1985 season. The Gauchos repeated the feat in 2008 with a 5-4 victory over the then-ranked No. 2 Cardinal on Nov. 9, 2008.
Wigo also helped coach a pair of Gauchos to All-American honors: Ross Sinclair and Milos Golic. The latter of the two was also named MPSF Newcomer of the Year.
In 2006, his second year at the helm of the Gaucho program, Wigo took a team that had finished last in the MPSF in 2005 and led them to a fifth-place finish in both the regular season and the conference tournament. The 2006 Gauchos posted a 3-5 MPSF record and took two top-four teams, Stanford and UCLA, into overtime.
Overall, UCSB finished 2006 with a 21-14 record, marking the first 20-win season since 1990 when the Gauchos finished 23-9. UCSB was ranked sixth in the final Collegiate Water Polo Association Top-20 Coaches Poll, its best finish since 1994. All of these feats were accomplished without a single senior on the Gaucho roster.
Wigo also coached three players to All-MPSF Honors and Ross Sinclair became the first player he has coached to earn collegiate All-American honors.
In 2005, Wigo's first season as a collegiate head coach, the Gauchos finished the season with an overall record of 13-17 and tied for 13th in the CWPA Top-20 Coaches Poll.
Prior to coming to UCSB, Wigo spent two years as head coach and administrator of the Saddleback El Toro Water Polo Club in Orange County, Calif. Under his direction, the program grew from 20 members to over 160 in 10 different age groups ranging from five to 60 years old. Wigo oversaw all aspects of the organization including fundraising, scheduling and supervision of seven assistant coaches.
Wigo also served many of the same functions as the director of Ultimate Water Polo's "Tools of Champions" clinics, a position he held since 1999.
Wigo also conceived, produced and appeared in numerous water polo instructional videos.
In addition, Wigo gained four years of experience outside the pool as an equity option trader with Cole Rossler Capital Management, working on the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange from 1997-2001.
While Wigo was working to further his coaching and business aspirations, he concurrently established himself as one of the world's premiere water polo players as an 11-year member of Team USA. In 1993, Wigo joined the nation's elite squad and in 1996 he became the first player hailing from east of the Rockies to make the US Olympic water polo team since 1956. Wigo competed in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games.
After scoring a team-leading 16 goals during the 2000 games in Sydney, Wigo was named to the five-player All-World First Team by NBC Sports and USA Water Polo, making him a finalist for World Water Polo Player of the Year. He completed his tenure with the national squad in 2004 by serving as Team USA's captain in Athens. Selected as USA Water Polo's Male Athlete of the Year in 1999, 2000 and 2003, Wigo also helped the Americans win gold at the 1997 FINA World Championships.
Wigo's collegiate career at Stanford University was nearly as distinguished. He earned All-American honors four straight years and led the Cardinal to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1993 and 1994. As a senior captain Wigo was named Stanford's Outstanding Male Senior Athlete and NCAA Player of the Year. In 2007, Wigo was named to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's 15th Anniversary First Team.
After earning his B.A. in political science from Stanford in 1995, Wigo spent the next two seasons as a graduate assistant coach on "The Farm" under the legendary Dante Dettamanti. He returned to help the Cardinal as a full-time assistant in 2001 when Stanford captured another NCAA championship.
In addition to his coaching duties at UC Santa Barbara, Wigo also coaches for the Santa Barbara Water Polo Foundation. Wigo also continues to play, participating in the Premier League as well as the Champions League.
This past summer, Wigo served as NBC's men's and women's water polo color commentator during the broadcasts of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The New York City native resides in Santa Barbara with his wife Barbara and daughters Athena and Devereux.
