BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Former Brown University men’s and women’s water polo head coach Todd Clapper continues to be involved with water polo as the head women’s coach at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.
Clapper was hired as the head coach of the Sun Devils women’s water polo team in 2005 after serving as an assistant coach for the team for a single season. He has led the Sun Devils to perennial placements in the national Top-10 rankings and two National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) appearances.
ASU advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history in 2014, taking fifth overall. The Sun Devils posted a program-best fourth-place finish in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championship and final National Top 20 Poll in 2013 (peaking at a program-best No. 3 during the regular season) and set school records in wins in two of those seasons as well.
In 2017 ASU finished with a 20-7 record, the fifth time in program history the team reached the 20-win plateau mark.
Since coming to Tempe, Clapper has also been busy working with international teams. He served as the 2005 U.S. Junior National Team assistant coach before being selected as the 2006 U.S. Youth National coach. That year, he led the youth team into the Pan-Am Championships in Montreal, Canada where the team, playing up an age level, brought home gold. In 2008 and 2009 Clapper was the head coach of the New Zealand Women’s National Team.
Clapper came to the Valley of the Sun with a wealth of coaching experience. Following his graduation from Slippery Rock University in 1997, he stayed on with his alma mater and served as an assistant coach for the women’s team for one season before taking on assistant coaching duties with the men’s team at Villanova University.
After a one-year head coaching stint at Wissahickon High School in Ambler, Pa., Clapper took over at Brown where he mentored a pair of teams as the head coach for both the men’s and women’s water polo squads from 1998-2004. For his efforts at Brown he earned several Coach of the Year awards, including New England (2000), Eastern Championship (2001 and 2003), Northern Division (2002) and Northeastern (2004). He closed out his tenure with the Bears’ women’s program with a record of 105-73 while seeing his team post 18 or more wins in each of his last four seasons, including 22 victories in 2001 and 20 in 2002. He also compiled a 105-73 mark with the Bears’ men’s program from 2000-to-2004 to notch a combined 210-146 mark on the Brown bench.
Clapper was a four-year letter winner for Slippery Rock, helping the team attain a Top-15 national ranking. As the starting goalie, he captained the team as a senior in 1996, the same year he was also selected second-team all-conference. A walk-on that became the starter in goal by the end of his sophomore season, he graduated Cum Laude with a BS in Exercise Science (aquatic emphasis) and also attained a minor in Adapted Physical Activity and Rehabilitation.
Information courtesy Arizona State University Athletics Communications
