Water Polo
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- churn@umich.edu
Cassie Churnside is in her fourth season as the head coach of the University of Michigan water polo program. In August of 2022, she was named the fourth head coach in the Michigan water polo program's history. Churnside has lead the team to top three finishes in the CWPA Championship in all three seasons as head coach for the Wolverines. She has also has coached three Wolverines to ACWPC All-America honorable mention honors in her time at Michigan including Erin Neustrom (2023), Kata Utassy (2023, 2024), and Libby Alsemgeest (2024).
The 2025 season was highlighted by a third place finish in the CWPA Championship after a 19-13 overall record (9-3, conference). Churnside lead four Wolverines to CWPA All-Conference honors, including freshman Ari Karampetsou earning first-team, Issy Jackson earning second-team, and Sophia Bunnell and Matilda Waugh earning honorable mention.Â
In 2024, the Wolverines finished with a second-place finish in the CWPA Championship, just one goal away from the title. Churnside and the team posted a 21-11 overall record, 7-2 in conference play. Michigan landed five CWPA All-Conference honorees, lead by Libby Alsemgeest and Kata Utassy earning first-team honors, along with Alex Brown, Lola Ciruli, and Elise Walker being named second-team.
In her inaugural season as the head coach, Churnside led the Wolverines to a third-place finish in the CWPA Championship after a 23-10 overall and 9-1 conference record. Churnside coached CWPA All-Conference first-teamers Kata Utassy and Erin Neustrom and second-teamers Alex Brown and Ava Morrant. Under Churnside, seven records were broken, including the junior points (143), junior goals (83) and single-season points (143) records by Utassy, the senior saves (327) mark by Brown, the single-season drawn exclusions (80) and junior drawn exclusions (80) records by Libby Alsemgeest and career drawn exclusions (256) standard by Erin Nesutrom were all set.Â
Churnside came to Ann Arbor after eight seasons as the assistant coach at Harvard. During her time with the Crimson, she helped coach both the men's and women's teams.
During the 2022 season, Churnside helped lead the team to its first-ever CWPA Championship game appearance en route to Harvard head coach Ted Minnis earning CWPA Coach of the Year for the second time with the women's team. The team went on to post a 23-7 overall record, the second highest single-season win total in program history. The seven losses also marked the fewest in varsity program history, barring the shortened 2020 season. In addition, the Crimson boasted a quartet of all-conference honorees, including Zoe Banks, Inde Halligan, Grace Thawley and Evan Tingler. All four student-athletes also earned ACWPC All-America honors, including a spot on the third team for Halligan.
Churnside helped guide the Crimson men to a historic season in 2019, when they went 27-0 in the regular season and broke program records for best start to a season and most consecutive wins. In its sixth straight 20-win season, Harvard defeated Princeton to become the new NWPC Champion. In addition, four members of the Crimson -- seniors Charlie Owens and Austin Sechrest, junior Dennis Blyashov and sophomore Noah Hodge -- earned first team All-NWPC honors, while Owens was named MVP of the conference.
Churnside, an Orange, Calif., native, helped to lead the Stanford Cardinals to the 2011 and 2012 national titles. She graduated from Stanford in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication.
