If he were on any other campus, there would be a parade thrown
in his honor. A statue would be built praising him. A building or
complex would certainly be named for him.
But Adam Krikorian is getting none of this.
The coach of both the UCLA women’s and men’s water
polo teams won his sixth NCAA championship on Sunday when his
women’s squad beat Stanford’s 3-2.
Nevertheless, he is largely unrecognized outside of the water
polo community.
Since 1999, he’s won more than half of the NCAA
Championships in the sport, but many on campus couldn’t spot
him out of the crowd.
At 30, Krikorian is a toddler in the coaching world. But
although he has said multiple times that he is old, it’s hard
to imagine any end in sight to his title runs.
“Does it get any better than this?” Krikorian asked
after Sunday’s game.
“Probably not. To be honest, that’s as good as it
gets. I should retire today. I’m young and I know I’m
young. I’m very fortunate to be at a great school with great
players and great support. And I look forward to the
future.”
Krikorian is the kind of guy who always talks about how great
his players are, but isn’t one to take credit himself.
But the credit should definitely go to him. Even if his team was
stocked with Olympians, someone had to recruit them, make them
better, and keep them focused en route to a perfect season.
Most coaches at elite levels of college sports are workaholics.
When they’re not at practice, they’re looking over
film, planning out the next practice, filling out paperwork and
schedules, and doing the extremely important job of recruiting.
But Krikorian works twice as hard, coaching two championship
teams in the men and women.
If he hasn’t already, he will soon start worrying about
the men’s team on a daily basis.
He gets no break, no extra time to celebrate the women’s
championship.
“I’m soaked and I swam, but I look forward to next
season. I look forward being around the girls and the guys every
single day in practice,” Krikorian said. “I’m
very lucky to have the position I have.”
UCLA is even luckier to have Krikorian. The Athletic Department
is fortunate to have someone who can make his team a championship
contender every year in one sport, let alone two. His worst years
have been when his teams finish third.
It’s not a big surprise why Krikorian has been so
successful. His teams practice more than any other on campus. He
once said that he doubted any other athlete could handle one of his
practices, which says volumes about how demanding water polo
is.
“To say you love your job, literally love your job every
single day, is something that not many people can say,”
Krikorian said. “Because of that I’m very
fortunate.”
Not as fortunate as UCLA, who gets to hang up its nation-leading
96th NCAA Championship banner.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.