Dan Leyson

Directing camp is, Head Coach, Daniel Leyson, who owns more than 30 years of experience at both the collegiate and international levels, Leyson enters his 13th season at the Aggie helm in 2025.

HONORS & AWARDS
• 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022 WWPA Coach of the Year

Leyson, who owns a 181-93 overall record at UC Davis and a commanding 56-4 record in Western Water Polo Association play, brought an immediate impact to the Aggie program, guiding UC Davis to an undefeated Western Water Polo Association record in his first year. The 2015 squad then reached new heights: the program's best win-loss percentage (.692) since 2007 and the highest national ranking during the regular season (No. 9) since 2011. He followed that up with a historic 2022 campaign, winning the WWPA title with a perfect 8-0 record before achieving another NCAA Tournament appearance. Leyson was named WWPA Coach of the Year following the excellent season, earning the award for the second consecutive year and for the fifth time overall.

For his achievements, Leyson was awarded the Monte Nitzkowski Distinguished Men's Coaching Award by USA Water Polo and served as the head coach for USA NorCal in the second season of the USAWP National League.

Never one to rest on laurels, Leyson continues to raise the bar for Aggie men's water polo. In 2016, the former U.S. National Team player and coach guided UC Davis to its first Western Water Polo Association championship and NCAA postseason appearance since 1997, setting then-school records for wins (23), winning percentage (.793), goals scored (12.6 per game) and final national ranking (No. 10).

A year later, the Aggies made it back-to-back 20-win seasons by posting 22 victories and finishing No. 8 in the nation in the final national poll — its highest finish since the 1996 squad ended the year eighth following a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

In his 10 years at UC Davis, Leyson has guided the Aggies to nine winning seasons — including the last eight straight — and a top-two finish at the WWPA Tournament eight times, including titles in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022. His last seven teams have also finished among the top 10 in the final national polls.

Under his tutelage, 11 different players have gone on to earn a total of 17 All-America awards from the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches, including the program’s first four-time All-American in Ido Goldschmidt (2015-18), who joins Nir Gross as the only two players in the history of the program to earn higher than third-team honors.

In addition, five players have gone on to earn WWPA Player of the Year honors: Nir Gross (2021) Bernie Rogers (2013), Sean Grab (2015), Cory Laidig (2017), and Goldschmidt (2016, 2018), two more have earned WWPA Freshman of the Year laurels (Laidig in 2014 and Sasa Antunovic in 2015), while 23 players have been selected to the All-WWPA teams a total of 37 times.

In the classroom, Leyson’s charges have also navigated the waters of one of the nation’s top public institutions, earning a total of 55 ACWPC Academic All-America awards — including a team award in 2017 — and 54 WWPA All-Academic honors since 2013.

An assistant for two years (2002-04) under legendary coach Ratko Rudic for the United States National Team for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, as well as appearances at the FINA World League (bronze medal), the 2003 World Championships, and the 2003 Pan American Games (gold medal), Leyson embarked on his coaching career at his alma mater where he was an assistant at USC from 2000-02, helping the Trojans to a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships in his first year.

Following that experience, Leyson moved on to the club level in 2005, serving as head coach of the Rose Bowl Water Polo Club, which tripled its membership to more than 200 members representing 70 schools during his tenure. He earned Best Coach accolades in the 2010 Ironman League while leading the 16-under boys team to the league's championship.

Leyson was named winner of the Bill Barnet Distinguished Men's Coach Award (Scholastic) from the U.S.A Water Polo Assembly in 2011. Three of his boys teams that year captured gold medals at the South Florida International competition. He also served as head coach for the California Coastal Zone for the Olympic Development Team (2006-07).

Returning to the collegiate ranks in 2011, Leyson was an assistant at UCLA for two years, helping the Bruins to a championship in the powerful Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and a pair of runner-up finishes at the NCAA Championships before joining the UC Davis program.

A four-year starter, a three-year scholar-athlete, and three-time All-American for the Trojans as a player — including first-team honors in 1992 when he helped lead USC to a third-place NCAA finish and led the tournament in scoring — Leyson played professionally overseas with Club Natacio Atletic-Barceloneta, a 1st-division Spanish team, until 1998. He also competed with the U.S. National Team for trips to Denmark, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Japan, and Canada, participated in three Olympic Festivals, and twice competed at the Maccabiah Games, winning a silver medal in 1993.

His experience in Spain has paid dividends in his coaching career: the 2015 Aggies took part in an eight-day team training camp at the Barcelona International Water Polo Academy and returned in the summer of 2019, spending nine days in Barcelona and another week on the island of Korcula just off the coast of water polo hotbed Croatia.

After earning his undergraduate degree in business from USC in 1992, Leyson went on to earn his master's in physical education, with an emphasis on coaching, from Ball State in 2008. He and his wife, Camille, are parents to daughter Mia and twin sons, Benjamin and Silas.