UCI names water polo coaches

Former UC Irvine All-American Marc Hunt has been named interim

women’s water polo coach at the school and Dan Klatt, another former

UCI All-American, will take over the program beginning the fall of

2004, UCI Athletic Director Bob Chichester announced Monday.

Hunt is currently in his third season as an assistant coach in Ted

Newland’s UCI men’s water polo program. Hunt was a member of the

Anteater men’s team from 1989-93, earning All-American accolades his

final two seasons. He led the Anteaters with 60 points (53 goals,

including seven two-pointers) in 1993 when he was a first-team

All-American and also a first-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports

Federation choice. He was UCI’s Male Big West Conference

Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1993-94.

Hunt will give way to Klatt, who is currently training for the

2004 Olympics as a member of the U.S. national team, preventing him

from immediately assuming a full-time coaching role.

Julie Swail, 39-74 in four seasons as coach since the inception of

the UCI women’s program, was fired in July.

“This is a unique situation for our department,” Chichester said.

“We have the opportunity to hire an outstanding young coach in Dan

Klatt and we are not going to pass up the opportunity. While he is

training for the Olympics, we are fortunate to have Marc work with

our women’s program.

“Marc has worked with Coach Newland and our men’s team and he has

experience with all aspects of a Division I program. We hope that it

will be an exciting transition and that our women’s program will

benefit from the knowledge and experience that both of these coaches

bring.”

Klatt graduated from UCI in 2001 with a degree in social sciences

before joining the U.S. national team. While at UCI, Klatt was a

two-time All-American and a first-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports

Federation performer. He also swam for the Anteaters from 1997-1999,

capturing the 50- and 100-yard freestyle titles at the 1999 Big West

Championships.

Klatt has served as the Foothill High girls water polo coach since

1999, winning four consecutive CIF Southern Section Division I

titles. He has been named the section’s Division I Coach of the Year

twice.

“Dan has distinguished himself as a talented teacher and

tactician,” Chichester said. “His success coaching at the high school

level and participation on our national team presents the type of

person we want to have lead and enhance the quality of our program.”