Julie Snodgrass will step down from her position as the head coach of the Azusa Pacific water polo program, and she will return to her alma mater, California Baptist University, where she has accepted an offer to become the next head coach of the Lancers. 

Of the 13 years that Azusa Pacific has had water polo, Snodgrass led the program for 11 of those seasons, as she was named the head coach prior to the 2012 season. During her time with the program, the Cougars won 123 games, reaching double-digit wins in seven consecutive seasons. In 2018, Snodgrass was named the NCAA Division II Coach of the Year, as she led the Cougars to three victories over top-25 ranked opponents. Prior to 2018, Azusa Pacific had never beaten a nationally-ranked opponent. The following year in 2019, the Cougars posted a 19-14 overall record, and finished with a winning record of 4-3 in the very competitive and prestigious Golden Coast Conference (GCC). Throughout her time at Azusa Pacific, Snodgrass led her teams against some of the toughest schedules of any Division II program in the country, including matchups against perennial NCAA powers such as USC, Arizona State, and UC Santa Barbara among others.

Snodgrass was instrumental in the Cougars finding their first conference home in 2014, when Azusa Pacific joined the GCC. Of the conference's eight teams, six opponents are NCAA Division I members, including California Baptist, Fresno State, LMU, San Diego State, Santa Clara and Pacific. Snodgrass' teams finished fifth or better in the conference on five occasions. 

"Julie has left such an impact not only on the water polo program, but on Azusa Pacific Athletics as a whole," said Azusa Pacific Director of Athletics Gary Pine, "For the past 11 years, Julie has served as our head coach in a God-honoring fashion. Julie never lost sight of our mission-first approach here in Cougar Athletics, which is to build relationships which inspire transformation of our student-athletes through experiencing Christ and cultivating competitive excellence. As a result of her commitment to the mission, Julie graduated young women year in and year out from her program who were ready to serve and lead in the next phases of their lives."

As a student-athlete at California Baptist (2005-08), Snodgrass earned AWPCA All-Academic honors throughout her career while tallying 133 career goals, 112 assists and 137 steals to finish among the Lancers' career top 10 in all three categories. She helped lead the Lancers to program-records for season win totals in two of her four collegiate seasons, including a 26-win campaign in her senior year when California Baptist won the inaugural NAIA National Invitational tournament.

Pine has started the search for the next head coach of the Azusa Pacific water polo program. Stay tuned to APUCougars.com for updates on the coaching search.