ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Heading into the 2026 season, the United States Naval Academy released a Mic’d Up video of head coach/Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Hall of Fame inductee Luis Nicolao leading his Midshipmen through a preseason practice.
Named the head water polo coach at the U.S. Naval Academy in January of 2018, Nicolao was a standout for the Midshipmen as an athlete, earning All-America and All-East selection honors. He graduated in 1992 as the all-time leading scorer in Academy history.
Prior to taking the helm for the Mids, Nicolao served as the head coach for both the Princeton University men’s and women’s water polo programs for 20 seasons.
Nicolao, the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches Men’s National Coach of the Year in 2004, also has five Eastern Coach of the Year awards split between the men and the women (Men: 2004, ‘09, ‘11; Women: 2001, ‘07). Additionally, he has garnered Southern Coach of the Year honors on seven occasions (Men: 2001, ‘03, ‘08; Women: 2001, ‘05, ‘06, ‘13).
He directed the Princeton men to nine Southern titles (1999, ‘01, ‘03, ‘04, ‘08, ‘10, ‘11, ‘14, ‘15), four Eastern crowns (2004, ‘09, ‘11, ‘15) and made four NCAA Tournament appearances (2004, ‘09, ‘11, ‘15). The women have nine Southern titles to their credit (1999, ‘01, ‘04, ‘05, ‘06, ‘08, ‘12, ‘13, ‘14), four Eastern crowns (2000, ‘12, ‘13, ‘15) and three NCAA berths (2012, ‘13, ‘15).
As a student-athlete at Navy, Nicolao was a three-time All-America selection and All-East selection for the Midshipmen, graduating as the school’s all-time leader in points (377) and goals scored (282). During the course of his career, Navy won two Eastern Championships (1988, ‘90) and reached the NCAA Tournament on three occasions (1988, ‘90, ‘91). He was named the CWPA Eastern MVP in 1990 and 1991, while earning CWPA First-Team All-East accolades for three straight seasons (1989, ‘90, ‘91). In addition, Nicolao served as the team captain as a senior during the 1991 season.
After earning the Naval Academy Athletic Association’s Sword for Men as the top graduating male athlete in 1992, Nicolao assisted with the Navy water polo program as a temporary assigned duty (TAD). He was also a member of the U.S. National Team that won the gold medal at the World University Games before serving in the Navy for five years.
Nicolao returned to his alma mater’s pool in 1996 as an officer representative prior to accepting the head coaching position at Princeton in 1998, while also serving as the U.S. men’s national “B” team assistant coach (1998, ‘99).
