Pepperdine Water Polo Coach Terry Schroeder Earns 500th Career Win
Pepperdine men’s water polo coach Terry Schroeder earned his 500th career win at the helm of the program against Bucknell on Saturday.
Schroeder is 502-343 all-time leading the Waves. He has been in Malibu for two stints totaling 31 seasons. He went 340-220 (.607 winning percentage) from 1986-2005 around a hiatus to coach the U.S. men’s national team. He returned in 2012 as a volunteer assistant and reassumed the head coaching position on Jan. 1, 2013. He has a .594 career winning percentage.
Schroeder is only the seventh coach in men’s college water polo history to reach 500 wins, joining Pete Cutino, Ted Newland, Mike Schofield, Dante Dettamanti, Denny Harper and Jovan Vavic.
Schroeder coached the U.S. men to Olympic silver in 2008 and led them again at the 2012 Olympics, where they finished eighth.
Pepperdine won the NCAA Championship in 1997. He was the 1997 National Coach of the Year and a five-time conference coach of the year. The Waves finished third at NCAAs in 1991, fourth in 1998 and was in the Final Four most recently in 2019.
“Terry Schroeder is Pepperdine Men’s Water Polo,” director of athletics Steve Potts said in a university release. “Terry has gone from being the greatest player in our water polo history to the greatest coach as well. He has served as an amazing role model for so many young men during his exceptional coaching career and continues to do so. We are fortunate that Terry has given so much of himself to Pepperdine University and our water polo team and deserves our hearty congratulations on achieving his 500th win.”
Schroeder was inducted to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2005, the U.S. Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1998, the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame in 1985 and the CoSIDA All-America Hall of Fame in 2013.
Schroeder captained the U.S. National Team as a player from 1983-92, making the Olympics four times (including the boycotted 1980 Games). He won silver in 1984 and 1988 and won the FINA Cup in 1991.
“Terry has had an amazing water polo career as a player and a coach,” Hall of Fame player Merrill Moses said. “This is an amazing accomplishment to lead a team to 500 wins! His knowledge of the game and coaching style has impacted so many Pepperdine athletes to succeed in the water and outside in life! I had the honor to be coached by him in college and in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. I know I would not have been as successful in my career if I did not have him as my coach. I have learned so much from him as a player and now get the privilege to be coaching beside him and have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from him as a coach.”