Matt Ustaszewski is entering his second year as assistant coach with the Men’s Senior National Team. Ustaszewski served as the video coach for Team USA at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Prior to the Games, he helped lead the Americans to a silver medal in the 2021 FINA World League Super Final in Tbilisi, Georgia. He was the video coordinator at both the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea and the 2019 China Wenjiang International Water Polo Tournament in Chengdu, China. In addition, Ustaszewski closed out 2019 as the video coordinator for Team USA in a series of exhibition games against Serbia.
Ustaszewski was promoted to head coach of the University of California San Diego men’s water polo team following Denny Harper’s retirement. Ustaszewski just completed his eighth season as associate head coach and 12th season overall on the UCSD men’s water polo staff in 2021. After four years as an assistant at his alma mater, Ustaszewski was promoted to associate head coach in January of 2013.
During his tenure on staff, Ustaszewski has helped lead the Tritons to five WWPA championships and automatic berths to the NCAA Championship. He has recruited and coached 25 All-Americans, including two WWPA Players of the Year and five WWPA Tournament Most Valuable Players. Between 2011-19, the Tritons appeared in nine straight WWPA championship games, a run which includes consecutive titles from 2013-15.
Ustaszewski returned to UC San Diego in 2010 after a very successful stint at Southwestern College in Chula Vista. He served as the Jaguars’ men’s water polo head coach for four years (2006-09), while also instructing health and exercise science courses. Ustaszewski was named the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2009. Prior to taking over the water polo program, Ustaszewski spent time as the men’s and women’s swimming and diving head coach at Southwestern, while also assisting with both the men’s and women’s water polo teams.
Ustaszewski is no stranger to the La Jolla campus. He was a co-captain of the fifth-ranked Triton water polo team as a senior in 2003 for head coach Denny Harper. He graduated in 2004, completing his bachelor’s degree in history (Europe emphasis) with a 3.5 grade-point average. Ustaszewski earned his teaching credential in social studies from San Diego State University in 2007, and his master’s degree in physical education at Azusa Pacific University in 2011. Before attending UC San Diego, Ustaszewski was an All-American at Sierra College and Rocklin High School, both located in his native Rocklin. He still holds career records in goals scored at each school.
In addition to serving as associate head coach at UC San Diego, Ustaszewski is the head coach for the Sunset San Diego water polo club team. He coached the Sunset 40’s to four straight USA Water Polo (USAWP) Masters Nationals Championships (2011-14). He is also the USAWP Olympic Development Program (ODP) head coach for the Pacific Southwest Zone Youth Men’s Team, and was honored as the USAWP ODP Top Coach in 2014.
Ustaszewski resides in Scripps Ranch with his wife, Heather (Szafraniec) Ustaszewski, herself a former UC San Diego standout scholar-athlete in her own right as a four-year starting center back and two-year captain in the women’s soccer program from 2002-05. The couple welcomed their first child, son Jordan, in October of 2016.
