Nico Tierney

Head coach Adam Wright announced in July 2025 the hiring of former Bruin All-American and Pepperdine standout Nico Tierney to the post of assistant coach. Tierney stepped into the role soon after finishing his graduate work at UCLA.

Tierney has won two championship rings in two seasons with the Bruins, one as a student-athlete and the other as a coach. The latter came in record-setting fashion, as UCLA scored 497 goals to shatter its previous best showing of 459 in 2014. The final conversion was a buzzer beater by Frederico Jucá Carsalade that gave the Bruins a thrilling 11-10 victory against top seed and crosstown rival USC. Ryder Dodd also won his second Peter J. Cutino Award in as many years to cap 2025.

A center defender from Sierra Madre, Calif., Tierney also helped the Bruins to an NCAA title in 2024. He scored 41 goals, ranking second on the team, and earning a spot on the ACWPC All-America Third Team. Tierney also received All-MPSF honorable mention and was named to the MPSF West All-Tournament Team.

He was a standout at Pepperdine from 2020-23, serving as team captain as a senior and drawing All-America honorable mention in his debut season. While with the Waves, Tierney scored 137 goals and accumulated 223 total points (86 assists). He was a two-time All-GCC selection and earned All-WCC recognition in 2023.

Tierney served as the interim head coach at his alma mater, Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City, Calif., from March to July 2022. Prior to that, he coached for LA Premier Water Polo Club, assisting the 18U and 14U boys' teams and taking over 16U boys' head spot in November 2018. He also worked with LA Premier WPC's 12U boys' and girls' teams.

In the summer of 2025, Tierney helped guide the UCLA men's and women's water polo teams to silver medals at the FISU World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany. The Bruins wore the stars and stripes as USA Teams.