Carl Salyer, a former water polo player at UCLA and assistant coach at the Naval Academy, is in his sixth season as Maryland's head women's water polo coach. Salyer, the second head coach in program history, has gradually improved the team since he took over in 2005. The Terps are coming off a program-record third-place finish at the 2009 CWPA Eastern Championship. They also finished 18th in the final CWPA national poll, the best-ever showing in school history. Maryland was also impressive outside the pool last season. Eleven Terps were named to CWPA Scholar-Athlete Team and eight players earned ACWPC All-Academic honors. One year earlier, the Terps posted a school-record 22 wins and a fourth-place finish in the CWPA Eastern Championship. Maryland ended the year receiving votes in the final national poll and narrowly missed out on an NCAA bid. In his first year, he turned around a Terrapin program that was winless in its inaugural season (2004), directing Maryland to a 12-19 mark. During the 2006 season he led the Terps to the program's first winning record (19-14 overall). That season Maryland qualified for the CWPA Eastern Division Championship and placed seventh. The Terps record took a dip in 2007 to 16-18, due to a significantly upgraded schedule. Salyer's Terps won the CWPA Southern Division championship and finished sixth in the CWPA Eastern Championships. The fruits of Salyer's labor paid dividends in 2008 as the Terps competed with and beat the top programs in the country. The Terrapins played Indiana three times, including posting a victory in the CWPA Eastern Championship. The Terps also took both CWPA Eastern Championship finalists, Michigan and Hartwick, to overtime during the regular season. Salyer, a southern California native, came to Maryland after serving as an assistant coach at Navy since 1999. Salyer helped guide the Midshipmen to the 2000 and 2003 NCAA Final Four. Prior to his time at Navy, Salyer spent five years working with the Naval Academy Aquatic Club. He guided the Navy AC 18 & Under women's team to the National Junior Olympic Championship in August of 2000 and coached the U.S. Men's National Youth "B" Team in the summer of 2002. He also guided the Navy AC to back-to-back championships at the Maui Invitational. His coaching experience on the club level has helped place many men and women in Division I programs. As a player, Salyer competed at Golden West (Calif.) Community College for two seasons and at perennial national power UCLA for one. Salyer earned a degree in kinesiology from the University of Maryland in 2004. |
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