BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Iona College head coach Brian Kelly will begin a four-year term on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Water Polo Committee starting in August 2022.
To be eligible to serve on a divisional cabinet or committee, or as a divisional representative on an Association-wide or common committee, an individual must be salaried on a regular basis by an institution or conference in the same division and perform a regular staff function representing at least 50 percent of the normal workload for a staff member at that institution or conference, unless otherwise specified.
It will mark his second tenure on the NCAA Men’s Water Polo Committee as he served on the group from 2014-to-2018. Further, he served as NCAA Men’s Water Polo Committee Chairman from 2015-18.
The fourth coach in the history of the men’s program and founder of the women’s program at Iona, Kelly has guided his alma mater in men’s water polo since 1995.
Coming into the 2022-2023 season, his 642 total combined wins from the two programs make him the leader in victories in Gaels’ athletics history for all sports. He is also tops in single sport victories with 417 women’s wins.
Under Kelly, the men’s squad has been nationally ranked six times. On the women’s side, the Gaels posted 16 consecutive winning records, from 1998 to 2013 and 21 straight winning seasons in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). The women claimed MAAC Championships in 2004, 2011, 2012 and 2013. The 2011 squad earned a program-high 26 wins, including a perfect 10-0 record in MAAC competition, and earned the Gaels their first national ranking. The season concluded with an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Championship in Ann Arbor, Mich., at the University of Michigan.
At the 2012 NCAA Championship, the Gaels earned their first ever win at the tournament in the seventh place game with an overtime victory over Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. The Maroon & Gold took eighth in the 2013 NCAA Championship, held in Cambridge, Mass., at Harvard University.
An eight-time coach of the year selection, Kelly was honored by the CWPA Northern Division in 2005 and the MAAC in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2012. He was also recognized by the women’s CWPA New York Division in 1999 and the CWPA Northern Division in 2000, 2001 and 2003.
He has produced numerous CWPA all-stars, including All-Americans Billy Mulcrone in 2000, Chris Przekota in 2002 and 2003, Joe Przekota in 2010, Ian Thompson and Jake Lloyd in 2014 and Marc Stauble in 2016. In their All-American seasons, Chris Przekota, Joe Przekota, and Lloyd led Division I in scoring.
On the women’s side, he coached All-Americans CC Leonard and Maggie Wood in 2011. Leonard repeated the honor in 2012 prior to Amy Olsen and Alyssa Turza joining the list of honorees in 2013. Olsen repeated the honor in 2014. Wood and Olsen led Division I in scoring during their All-America seasons.
Kelly was a standout player at Iona, playing for Iona Hall of Fame coach Rob Calgi. In his four seasons as a starter, he helped the Gaels to a 74-46 (.616) record that included three Eastern Championship appearances along with three Top 20 rankings. He was a three time All-Conference selection, a two time All-Eastern selection, and a two-time co-Most Valuable Player (MVP) for Iona.
In 1993, Kelly, along with Mike Judge, was part of one of the deadliest one two combinations in Eastern history – tallying 298 total points. Kelly ended his career as Iona’s sixth all-time leading scorer.
A native of Chicago, Kelly began his water polo career at an early age playing in the Chicago Park District Leagues for Ridge Park. He continued playing water polo throughout grammar school and into high school where he attended Brother Rice High School on the city’s south side. There he played under former Olympian and Illinois Hall of Fame coach Jim “Moose” Mulcrone. He helped lead Brother Rice to two Illinois State Titles in 1988 and 1989. In 1990 he led all scorers in the state playoffs garnering 21 goals and was selected the MVP of the Illinois High School Water Polo. Prior to the 2007 season, Kelly was inducted into the Illinois Water Polo Hall of Fame. In April of 2012, he was inducted into the Brother Rice Athletics Circle of Champions Hall of Fame.
In the summer of 1990, Kelly was selected to the National Junior Development Team at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. He was only one of two selections from outside the state of California to make the team and he beat out a field of over 120 athletes to be named the camp’s Two-Meter MVP. The camp included several current and former USA National Team members including Wolf Wigo, Steve Gill and Jack Bowen.
Kelly is an active year-round player with the Hudson Valley club, which competes in the Eastern Water Polo League (EWPL). He currently resides in Tuckahoe, N.Y.
