Davis, Calif. - For the first time in 39 years, the pool deck at Schaal Aquatic Center during women's water polo games will be without a familiar face and an even more familiar voice.

Longtime UC Davis Head Coach Jamey Wright announced Thursday that he will be retiring effective July 1, 2022 bringing an end to a career that saw him usher the women's water polo program through multiple classifications and divisions as one of the most significant champions of women's sports in department history.

He has left an indelible mark on UC Davis Athletics, so much so that thanks to a generous endowment from David Hodgens and Linda Olson in May 2021, the women's water polo head coach position at UC Davis is now officially the Coach Jamey Wright and Hodgens Family Director of Women's Water Polo. 

"It is my honor to thank Jamey for 40+ years of service to UC Davis athletics and specifically the Women's Water Polo program," Athletics Director Rocko DeLuca said. "It would be easy to list off the many accomplishments Jamey has had here and highlight his program's successful history. What is not as easy to capture in words, are the innumerable relationships and lives he impacted and transformed as coach, lecturer and friend to the members of our aquatics community at UC Davis and beyond. While I fully expect Jamey and Nancy to enjoy time with their grandkids, I also know it's not good bye as we'll continue to see them cheering on our Ags, who will proudly uphold his legacy here at UC Davis."

Wright leaves UC Davis already enshrined in the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.

His history with the program dates all the way back to its collegiate club days before it was a sponsored varsity sport on campus.

"He nurtured programs that allowed students from every spot on the diversity spectrum to learn a sport, learn how to play a game, and how to recreate in a way that many of them could not do before attending UC Davis," David Hodgens and Linda Olson said at the time of their endowment gift.

Besides helping develop the high school girls' water polo scene in the local area, Wright served as the driving force in bringing women's water polo to varsity status at UC Davis beginning in the 1997 season. His role of advancing the sport reached new heights in February 2004, when he was selected to chair the inaugural NCAA joint men's and women's water polo rules committee.

Since inheriting the team in 1983, he led the program to the Collegiate I Nationals 15 times, where the Aggies placed third or higher 10 times. Since the NCAA began sponsoring an NCAA Championship for women's water polo, Wright has twice brought his program to that stage in 2006 (5^th place finish) and in 2008 (top 4 finish, a first in UC Davis Division I history).

Wright guided the Aggies to the USWP Collegiate I national championship game six times, winning the title in 1984, 1988 and 1993. In 1999, the Aggies placed seventh at nationals after winning the inaugural WWPA women's title, earning Wright Coach of the Year merit.

Along with the team success, Wright has coached over 65 All-Americans and has had eight players compete on the U.S. Senior National `A' Team.

Additionally, he was selected Collegiate I Coach of the Year in 1991 and served as the U.S. Senior National `B' Team Coach from 1990 to 1999, coaching teams competing in Hungary, Great Britain, Holland, Canada and Puerto Rico.
 
A 1980 graduate of UC Davis, Wright earned first team All-Far Western Conference honors in water polo in 1977 and 1978. He was a team captain and a 1980 All-American in swimming as well. Wright also earned an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Award.

Jamey and his wife Nancy, who starred for the Aggies and the US Women's National Team during the program's club years, reside in Davis and have three children - Michael, Hailey and Cameron. Michael played for the UC Davis men's water polo team from 2010-14, while Hailey wrapped up her career with the Aggie women's team in 2016. Cameron, who played for the Cadet and Youth national teams, began his collegiate career at UC Berkeley in 2017.