Bio entering 2017-18 season.
Bill Cohn is entering his fourth season as an assistant coach at San Diego State. Cohn brings an eclectic and deep background to the Aztecs following his hiring in September of 2014. It includes more than 35 years of playing, coaching, officiating and broadcasting water polo, as well as management, leadership and business skills developed in a high technology software sales career.
In his first season on The Mesa, Cohn helped the Aztecs win their second straight Golden Coast Conference regular-season championship after going 6-0 in league play for the second year in a row. He helped five Aztecs earn all-league honors, including Caroline Israels, who was named the GCC Co-Player of the Year and ultimately an Honorable Mention All-American. As a team, the Aztecs finished in a tie for 16th nationally in the final top-20 poll.
In his second season, Cohn guided the Aztecs to another undefeated GCC campaign, which ended with a 7-0 record and a third consecutive regular-season title. SDSU went on to capture its first conference tournament crown, which gave it the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Championship, where it finished in eighth place and ultimately a No. 14 final national ranking. He also tutored four all-GCC players, including three first-teamers (Alyssa Diacono, Israels, Rachel Mitchell), a GCC all-freshman team honoree (Hannah Carrillo) and an NCAA all-tournament team selection (Israels).
His third season on The Mesa produced yet another undefeated GCC season (7-0) and a regular-season championship. The Aztecs reached the GCC final for the fourth consecutive season before finishing the campaign at 18-14 with a No. 13 final national ranking. Cohn helped Israels earn All-America, GCC Player-of-the-Year and all-league first-team honors, and saw Diacono (first team), Kate McDonnell (second team), Ioli Benekou (honorable mention) and Shelby Kraft (freshman team) pick up GCC recognition.
Cohn attended UCLA where he was a two-sport athlete playing water polo and junior varsity basketball for the Bruins. His postgraduate water polo playing career spanned nearly a decade and included national club level competition while representing the Westwood, Industry Hills, and Sunset Clubs. Cohn gained international experience as a player-coach in Australia and represented the USA in the 1985 Maccabiah Games where his team won a silver medal. He was the assistant men's coach at Palomar College in 1989. Additionally, Cohn worked as a college-rated water polo official from 1986 to 1992 and served as instructional chairman for the San Diego Water Polo Officials Association.
Cohn arrives on a familiar Montezuma Mesa as he has been the voice of the women's water polo team for the past 16 seasons. He has also worked in play-by-play and analyst roles for men's and women's NCAA championship webcasts since 2010. Cohn has also been the voice of San Diego High School and college water polo since 1990.
Cohn earned a B.A. in economics from UCLA and lives in Solana Beach with his wife, Kay, and son, Michael.
Bill Cohn