Cal State Fullerton Athletics

In his first year of building the Women's Water Polo team, Coach Witt led the Titans to double digit wins with a 11-20 record.  He won his first two games as head coach for the Titans on January 20th, 2023 against UC Merced (24-3) and Ottawa (10-8). Under his guidance, Mia Solarzano earned multiple honors including being a 2023 ACWPC All-American Honorable Mention, the Big West Freshman of the Year, and making the team as an Honorable MEntion.

Witt came to Cal State Fullerton in 2022 after serving as the head coach of the women's water polo program at LMU for 13 years. During his tenure at LMU he led the team to back-to-back Golden Coast Conference championships in 2014 and 2015 along with a Western Water Polo Association Championship in 2010. Witt was named back-to-back GCC Coach of the Year in 2014 and 2015.

"I'd like to thank President Fram Virjee and Athletics Director Jim Donovan for entrusting me with building both the men's and women's water polo programs from scratch." Witt said. "Building these programs from nothing to something and then from something to greatness will take many people countless hours and I am excited to be a part of that process. 

"I would like to thank my wife, Jessica, for her unwavering support and the support of my four-year-old, Riley, and two-year-old, Aidan, as they share their time with their father with the Fullerton community."

Over the course of his career, Witt has accumulated 247 career wins while coaching 46 All-Americans, two Olympians and eight student-athletes who went on to play with national teams. Witt has won four conference championships in his tenure while making five NCAA Tournament appearances as a head or assistant coach while racking up an 82 percent winning percentage in conference play. Student-athletes have also excelled in the classroom under his tutelage as he has coached 94 national academic All-Americans and 119 conference all-academic students. 

Witt helped lead the 2020 team to a strong start before the Coronavirus prematurely brought the season to a close. LMU finished the shortened year tied for 12th nationally following upset wins over then No. 12 Long Beach State and No. 13 San Jose State in the UC Irvine Invitational. The Lions had won five-straight games to finish the year, but did not play a conference game. 

In addition, he led the program to a 28-6 overall record in 2010, the second best in program history, and the No. 4 ranking in the final national poll. In 2012, the Lions finished 22-10 and earned a pair of wins in the NCAA tournament, defeating Pomona-Pitzer and Princeton. 

Included in the final record of 2010 was a 5-4 win over No. 1 UCLA in the 2010 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship quarterfinals. It was the first win for the Lions of a top-ranked program, the first over then five-time defending champion UCLA and as the No. 6 seed, the Lions became the lowest seed to advance since the field expanded to eight teams. 

Witt had been the Associate Head Coach for both men and women's programs at LMU prior to becoming the head coach of the women's program. He worked alongside John Loughran, who had been at the helm of both programs and helped lead the men to their eighth title in 2010.

Loughran turned the reins of the women's program over to someone who helped build that success. Witt rejoined the Lions as an assistant coach in 2007 and then was promoted to associate head coach in 2008. The Lions had won a combined three conference titles in the two years he was an assistant at LMU. 

Prior to returning to his alma mater, Witt was the head coach at Gannon University in Erie, Penn. He spent two seasons at the helm of the men's program at Gannon while serving as coach of the women's program for one season. Witt went 17-27 in two seasons with the men (9-13 in 2005 and 8-14 in 2006) and went 11-11 in one season with the women.

Witt also coached as an assistant at Whittier (Calif.) College, helping the school post a 23-10 record, culminating with the school's first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Championship in 2004.

Prior to his stay at Whittier, Witt was an assistant men and women's water polo coach at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, Calif., from 2002-04. He helped the boys' team to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section Championship in one season and a Final Four appearance in the other.

Witt began his coaching career as the Rose Bowl aquatic coach in 1999 before assuming the head water polo coaching position at Westridge School for Girls in Pasadena, Calif., in 2001.

Prior to coaching, Witt made a name for himself at LMU as a player where he was a four-time All-Western Water Polo Association selection from 1998-2001 at LMU and graduated in 2002. Witt is sixth all-time in LMU history with 118 games played, tied for sixth all-time in goals with 152, sixth in assists with 81, and sixth in steals with 91. Witt led the Lions to the program's first Western Water Polo Association championship and to the NCAA Final Four during his senior season in 2001.