Legendary Loyola Marymount Water Polo Coach John Loughran Retires
Longtime Loyola Marymount water polo coach John Loughran retired this week, caping a career that included nearly 700 NCAA wins.
Loughran coached the men’s and women’s water polo teams in Los Angeles starting in 1997. He won 416 games in 28 seasons leading the men and 256 in 12 seasons leading the women. The men’s team reached the NCAA Final Four on eight occasions, while the women’s team appeared in NCAAs seven times in his 12 years at the helm, including a national runner-up finish in 2004. His total is 672 wins and 15 NCAA appearances.
“We are very thankful to John for his contributions to our water polo programs as he is one of the most accomplished coaches in LMU history,” athletic director Craig Pintens said in a university statement. “We wish Coach Loughran well in his future endeavors.”
Loughran led the Lions to seven WWPA men’s regular-season championships, eight postseason champions and one WCC men’s regular-season title. The Lions women’s team won the WWPA seven times, including four straight from 2001-05.
A nine-time WWPA Coach of the Year (four with the women, five with the men), he coached 23 male players to 42 All-American honors and 20 female All-American honorees, including seven WWPA Player of the year nods.
Loughran was the head coach of both men’s and women’s water polo and the men’s swim team at Queens College in Flushing, N.Y. He had started the women’s program as a club team there. He is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago, a four-year letterwinner in both water polo and swimming. He was a high school All-American in Greenwich, Conn.