Todd Clapper Position: Head Coach Experience: 3rd Year

Entering his second year in Tempe, Head Coach Todd Clapper has the Arizona State University water polo program on the rise following a 2006 campaign in which his squad finished ranked sixth in the nation. No stranger to the side lines of the collegiate coaching ranks, Clapper will begin his eighth season as a women's head coach and the 13th season of collegiate coaching after leading the Brown University women's and men's teams in six and five seasons, respectively, and ASU in 2006.
Clapper has been a successful coach on many levels, most recently being named as the head coach of the USA Women's Youth National Team. Along with his collegiate coaching stints which include assistant positions with Villanova and Slippery Rock, Clapper also has served as the head coach of high school, age group and masters level teams.
The first year under Clapper's tutelage provided many high notes for the Sun Devil program, including several wins over Top 10 foes and a sixth-place finish in both the MPSF Championships and the final AWPCA National Top 20 rankings. With a 15-13 record and a 5-7 mark in the MPSF, the Sun Devils finished seventh in the league's regular season standings.
Individually, Clapper helped two freshman to success, including Rowie Webster, who scored a program-record 63 goals en route to earning Third Team All-America accolades as well a place on the All-MPSF Second Team and MPSF All-Tournament teams. His other rookie sensation was Addison Doud, who was second on the team with 39 goals. Both played internationally with their respective junior squads (Australia and USA, respectively) while Doud also played for the US Senior `B' Team at the FINA World League Preliminaries.
Clapper also had a successful summer internationally as his USA Women's Youth National Team won the gold medal at the 2006 Pan-Am Games in Montreal. By winning the tournament against teams one age group older, Clapper's team was selected as the 2006 U.S. Olympic Committee's Team of the Year.
In his first season on the pool deck with the Sun Devils, Clapper worked with the goalies and helped Caylinn Wallace become one of the top young players in the nation as the rookie earned a spot on the MPSF All-Freshman team. Wallace also set a school record for saves in a single game as she stopped 22 in an 8-7 upset of No. 8 UC Santa Barbara. Wallace also led the MPSF with an average of 9.35 saves per game.
Clapper came to Tempe 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. From there, he took on assistant coaching duties at Villanova for one year.
His first head coaching position came one year later when he took over the reigns of the Wissahickon High School boys and girl's programs in Ambler, Pa. In his one season with the girl's team, he helped them attain their highest state finish as the team placed third in the Pennsylvania meet.
Following the girl's season at WHS, Clapper took over at Brown University were he also mentored a pair of teams as the head coach for both the men's and women's water polo squads from 1998-2004. Under Clapper, the women earned a berth into the inaugural NCAA Championship event in 2001 while also climbing as high as No. 12 in the nation.
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 season, including 22 victories in 2001 and 20 in 2002.
His teams also fared well in the championship seasons as his team won the Eastern title in 2001 and the Northeastern division in 2004. The Bears also took runner-up honors at the ECAC Championships three times, the Northern Championships twice and the Eastern Championships once.
Most recently, he served as the head coach for a pair of teams in Las Vegas, including the City of Las Vegas Masters team and the Southern Nevada United (age group) team. He was instrumental in building the two programs as the masters team saw an increase from 10 to 25 members while the age group team was built from the ground up, now totaling nearly 30 members.
Clapper was a four-year letter winner for The 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 also was 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.