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For the first 12 years as the head coach for the Loyola Marymount water polo programs, there was very little down time from coaching, spending at least five hours a day during the school year on the pool deck. The commitment paid off as he achieved unparalleled success, leading both programs to more conference titles than any other program in LMU history. Loughran started in the 1997-98 year and by 2001, h had both programs winning titles and going to the NCAAs. He has led the Lions to a combined 13 WWPA titles (7 for women, 6 for men) and 13 trips to the NCAA Championship over the last nine years as LMU has risen to become one of the top programs in the nation. However, as he enters his 13th season, Loughran will finally have a singular focus. LMU continued its commitment to the water polo programs when LMU Athletics' Director Dr. William Husak announed in the summer of 2009 that he was going to split the programs so that each team could have the focus of a head coach the entire year, hiring former assistant Kyle Witt as the women's head coach, allowing Loughran to focus exclusively on the men's team. The committment was earned, as Loughran has led the men to 11 winning seasons and has guided the program to six conference titles and six NCAA appearances in the last seven seasons, including the 2008 WWPA title win over UC San Diego. In 2001, they won their first-ever WWPA championship, going 15-14 overall, earning a bid to the NCAA Championship. Two years later the Lions finished 17-14 and returned to the NCAA Championship with their second WWPA title in hand. Both teams finished third in the NCAA tournament. In 2004 he had his first repeat in men's water polo with a 21-11 mark and another third place finish at the NCAAs. In 2005, LMU men's water polo became just the fourth program in school history to win three straight conference crowns, defeating UC San Diego in the WWPA final at the Burns Aquatics Center. They added to their resume with the fifth title in 2007 with an impressive run through the WWPA tournament. And then this year the Lions dominated from start to finish, going 11-0 against WWPA foes and claimed a second back-to-back title stretch with the 12-10 win over UCSD for the 2008 title. Adding to his impressive resume, Loughran has won eight WWPA Coach of the Year honors, four in women's water polo (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) and four in men's water polo, including the honor last season (2001, 2003, 2005, 2008). Additionaly, Loughran has coached 10 different players to 18 All-America honors while having four players earn WWPA Player of the Year honors from the men's team, including Andy Stevens in 2008. On the women's side he has coached players to 20 All-American honors and seven WWPA Player of the Year winners. Loughran came to Los Angeles after five years as head coach for the men's and women's water polo and men's swim teams at Queens College in Flushing, NY. He led the Queens College men's water polo team to a 75-63 overall record in five seasons. In 1995 and 1996 Queens won the College Water Polo Association (CWPA) North Division title. Queens finished each of Loughran's last two seasons ranked 15th nationally, the highest rankings in program history. Following the 1994 and 1995 seasons, Loughran garnered Eastern Championship co-Coach of the Year honors and received CWPA North Division Coach of the Year accolades in 1994, 1995 and 1996. The men's swim team at Queens won the dual meet title for the Metropolitan Collegiate Swim Conference (MCSC) in each of Loughran's last three years. In 1993, Loughran initiated the women's water polo club program at Queens College. Then in 1996, they posted an 8-4 record in its inaugural year of varsity competition. The following year they finished second in the New York Division of the CWPA with a 13-3 mark. A 1990 graduate of Loyola University Chicago, he was a four-year letterwinner on the water polo and swim teams. A native of Greenwich, Conn., Loughran was a second-team High School All-American in water polo. Loughran resides in Los Angeles, Calif., with his wife, Merritt and their two children. |
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