Brandon Brooks Position: Head Coach Experience: 3rd year

Brandon Brooks begins his third season as UCLA's head women's water polo coach in 2012. He was named the third head coach in program history on June 3, 2009, and has compiled a 48-15 record in two seasons.

Brooks has coached the Bruins to the MPSF Tournament championship game in 2010 and 2011, including the MPSF Tournament title in 2010. Both years, UCLA has advanced to the NCAA Tournament. In 2011, the Bruins defeated crosstown rival USC in the NCAA Tournament's third-place match after having advanced to the national tournament for the eighth consecutive year.

In 2011, Brooks guided UCLA to a 26-7 overall record, including a 4-3 mark in conference play. He helped propel the Bruins to the championship match of the MPSF Tournament after UCLA won its final four regular-season matches (including three MPSF contests). UCLA defeated USC, 12-10, in the first round of the MPSF Tournament. The next day, the Bruins handed top-ranked Stanford its first loss of the season, advancing to the tournament's championship match. Despite losing a 7-6 decision in the title game to California, UCLA had firmly secured an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.

UCLA used a balanced attack in 2011, with Priscilla Orozco (58 goals), KK Clark (50 goals) and Grace Reynolds (35 goals) leading the way. Goalkeepers Caitlin Dement and Sami Hill split time in the cage, with Dement securing second-team All-MPSF honors at the conclusion of the season.

In 2010, Brooks helped UCLA post a 22-8 overall record, including a 4-3 MPSF mark. Three players earned All-MPSF Team honors, highlighted by first-team selection Priscilla Orozco. Five players captured ACWPC All-Academic acclaim and five secured MPSF All-Academic honors.

Along the way, Brooks helped with the development of Dement, who set UCLA's single-season saves record (264). Dement registered a program-record 22 saves in an 8-3 win over UC Davis on Feb. 21, 2010. At seasons' end, she earned second-team All-MPSF honors.

Brooks served as an assistant coach with the UCLA men's and women's water polo teams for three seasons prior to his appointment as the head coach of the women's program (men's assistant in 2006, 2007 and 2008; women's assistant in 2007, 2008 and 2009). He also served as an undergraduate assistant coach with the men's program in 2004. Brooks helped lead the women's program to NCAA championships each spring and guided the men's program to the 2004 NCAA title.

In his three seasons as an assistant coach with the women's program, Brooks' work with goalkeepers Emily Feher (2007) and Brittany Fullen (2008, 2009) proved instrumental to UCLA's national championship finishes. Fullen established a new single-season saves record as a junior, totaling 237 stops in 2008 (that record was later broken by Dement in 2010). The previous season, Feher recorded a 4.96 goals against average in 25 games before securing first-team All-America honors for the third consecutive season.

An undergraduate assistant on the men's water polo coaching staff in 2004, Brooks helped Joe Axelrad develop into the one of the nation's premier goalkeepers, leading UCLA to the NCAA Championship that fall.

Brooks starred on the men's water polo team from 1999-2002, leading the Bruins to back-to-back NCAA championships in 1999 and 2000, before excelling in the international water polo ranks and participating in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games for the USA Men's National Team.

In the summer of 2008, Brooks and former teammate Adam Wright (UCLA's men's water polo head coach) helped lead the USA Men's National Team to a silver medal finish at the Olympic Games in Beijing. Brooks, Wright and former teammate Brett Ormsby competed in the 2004 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

Brooks was head coach of the Los Angeles Water Polo Club's boys 16-and-under team from 2006-08. In 2006, he coached the club team to an undefeated season, culminating in the Junior Olympic Championship. He helped develop 15 Division I men's water polo student-athletes in his tenure as head coach. Additionally, Brooks will serve on the coaching staff of the U.S. Women's National Team this summer, alongside Krikorian.

One of the nation's premier goalkeepers in four seasons at UCLA, Brooks helped lead the Bruins to back-to-back NCAA titles (1999, 2000) in his first two years. He continued his stellar play in his final two seasons, earning All-America and All-MPSF honors each year. Brooks ranks second on UCLA's all-time saves list with 700 stops in four seasons.

A key goalkeeper on the USA National Team, Brooks led Team USA to the gold medal at the 2001 and 2003 Pan American Games. He served as the starting goalkeeper at the 2003 FINA World Championships (Barcelona), the 2004 Olympics (Athens) and the 2005 FINA World Championships (Montreal).

Brooks, 29, graduated from UCLA in 2005 with a degree in sociology. A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, Brooks is the oldest of three children and has 23-year-old twin sisters (Nicole and Jessica).