Coach Pugliese played water polo for four years at Gonzaga. After graduating in 2008, he was a four year member of the Princeton University team that won the Eastern Championship in 2010 and 2012, and twice placed 3rd in the NCAA Final Four. He coached Gonzaga's JV B team as a member of the Alumni Service Corps in 2012-2013 and returned to Eye Street in 2016 as a history teacher and water polo coach.
Assistant and Volunteer Coaches
Hugh Sullivan '04 Varsity, Head Coach
Hugh Sullivan helped start the water polo program at Gonzaga in 2002 and played two years before swimming at Yale University. As a member of four consecutive champion swimming teams at Gonzaga, Hugh was Co-Captain, First-Team All Met, and All America Consideration. He previously coached and taught swimming in the DC area at Highland Park, Riverside Gardens, and Congressional Country Club, and he joined the Gonzaga Water Polo coaching staff in 2021.
Patrick Shipley '15, Assistant Coach
Coach Shipley graduated from Gonzaga in 2015 and played water polo for three years, starting on varsity his senior year. After his junior season he played on the U18 club water polo team for Ball Under, which is now Capital Water Polo Club. Patrick is returning to Gonzaga in the fall of 2022 to teach Computer Science and will also help coach the JV water polo team.
Tommy Williams '14, Assistant Coach
Coach Williams was introduced to water polo during his freshman at Gonzaga. He played all four years while a student, serving as captain of the team his senior year. The 2022 season will be his 5th year coaching at Gonzaga. Tommy coached from 2015 to 2018, and spent his time assisting the JV teams over that time span. He graduated from University of Maryland in 2018, and studied secondary education. He was also a member of the club U of MD water polo team. Tommy currently teaches middle school science at St. Jane DeChantal in Bethesda.
Ben Hoffschneider '16, Assistant Coach
Ben Hoffschneider is a DC native who graduated from Gonzaga in 2016. He played water polo all four years at Gonzaga, as well as training with Coach Mladen Stanicic at the Naval Academy during the off-season and spending a summer in Montenegro with the Gonzaga team. He is excited to be back coaching the sport he loves while entering his Junior year studying Political Science at UDC.
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Celebrating 200 Years of Jesuit Education in the Nation's Capital