Jeremiah O'Neil completed his fourth season as the head women's water polo coach in 2015 after completing his third season at the helm of the men's program in the fall of 2014.
The men's team qualified for the CWPA Championship for the first time in school history behind a record-tying win total in 2014. Kevin Dunigan and Chris DeNunzio were named All-Americans by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches. DeNunzio later was named a Capital One Second Team Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors and the Collegiate Water Polo Association's Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Four women's players claimed All-America honors in 2015, led by Laura Travers who became just the second W&J women's water polo student-athlete to earn Second Team honors, as the team fell in the CWPA title game.
O'Neil was named 2012 CWPA Coach of the Year after leading the Presidents' women to a then-school record 11 victories. He aided in the development of four all-conference athletes, including first-teamer Sarah Cull '12.
During his second season with the women's team, Rachel Clauss '16 became the second-straight President to earn CWPA Rookie of the Year under O'Neil's guidance. W&J tied the school record for victories with 11 for the second consecutive season.
In 2014, the Presidents' shattered the school record with 17 victories and earned a fourth-straight runner-up finish in the CWPA Division III Conference championship. Freshman Laura Travers became the third-consecutive W&J student-athlete to earn Rookie of the Year laurels from the conference. Four Presidents garnered all-conference accolades, headlined by a pair of first-team selections.
On the men's side in 2013, Presidents Mike Magdic and Nick Willison were both honorable mention All-America selections by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches.
O’Neil, a 1997 graduate of Bucknell University, has previously coached at Bucknell and Salem International, while also spending time as a NCAA water polo official. He played varsity water polo at Bucknell from 1993-97.
The 2000 CWPA Southern/West Women’s Coach of the Year, O'Neil coached the men’s and women’s teams at Salem International from 1999-2001. He also spent one year as the women’s assistant coach at Bucknell.
Most recently, O’Neil was the aquatic director and head varsity swimming coach at Somerset Area High School for 10 years. Overall, O’Neil brings 20 years of water polo playing, coaching and officiating experience to the Washington, Pa., campus.
“We are very pleased to add Coach O’Neil to our coaching staff,” said W&J Director of Athletics Bill Dukett. “He has been directly involved in the sports of water polo and swimming for two decades. We believe his experience brings us the opportunity to continue the success of our water polo programs which were introduced as NCAA varsity sports in 1999.”
