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Irvine, CA - September 6 - The Association of College Water Polo Coaches, the official coaches association of NCAA and collegiate water polo coaches in the United States, unveils a new polling system for the Men's Top 20 and Women's Top 25 water polo programs in the country.
The ACWPC Coaches Poll is conducted weekly throughout the season using a panel of head coaches. The panel is chosen by the commissioners of each participating conference. Each commissioner is allowed to select one coach to join the panel for a two-year term.
For the Men's Poll, each coach submits a Top 20 with a first-place vote worth 20 points, second-place 19, and so on down to one point for 20th place. The Women's Poll will feature 25 teams and the system will begin with 25 points for the first-place team down to one point for the program in 25th place.
The poll also uses the Massey Power Rankings system. Each power ranking is created by applying weekly scores and results into a proprietary formula. The power rankings are then shared with the coaches as an additional tool to help with their polls.
The final ACWPC Coaches Poll is generated by averaging the Massey Power Rankings with the submissions from the panel of head coaches. Once the season starts, the poll is released every Wednesday evening.
Additionally, a coach is selected from each Division 3 conference to generate a Top 10 poll. This poll will also be created by averaging the Massey Power Rankings with the submissions from the panel of head coaches.
ACWPC Executive Director John Abdou believes that because the new national poll is based on an algorithm, it limits coach bias in its result. He claims that "the new ACWPC National Poll is an effort from the association's membership in direct response to needing a consistent data driven national poll. The objectivity and transparency of using power rankings as the baseline for the national poll will offer our institutions and fans an engaging way to follow the action during the Men's and Women's seasons. Anchoring the national poll in the ACWPC also ensures the sustainability of this effort into the future, as is the case with other collegiate coaching associations."
The new polls will be used to determine ACWPC All-American allocations at the end of each season.
About the Association of College Water Polo Coaches
The mission of the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches is to promote the development and advancement of collegiate water polo. This shall be accomplished by providing its membership with professional education, services, training and a united voice.
Since 2005, it has been the goal of the ACWPC to bring a unified voice, abundant resources and recognition to collegiate programs across the USA. Â It is our hope that the ACWPC grows to include all collegiate coaches in all levels, serving to unite the collegiate water polo world to further protect and advance the sport at a time when budget cuts and sport elimination is commonplace.
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