Updated July 2024
Austin Ringheim begins his sixth season as the MIT water polo head and physical education and wellness instructor in the fall of 2024. Ringheim came to MIT from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, where he served as the assistant head coach for both the men’s and women’s water polo programs.
Ringheim is a two-time DIII Eastern Coach of the Year and led the Engineers to the DIII Eastern Championship in 2023 with a 12-8 win over Johns Hopkins. He has coached seven ACWPC All-Americans including four in 2023 which tied a program record. In total under Ringheim the Engineers have been awarded 11 All-American honors. Additionally, Colin Weaver was named a College Sports Communicators Academic All-American.
The Engineers finished in third place in both the 2022 and 2023 USA Water Polo Division III National Championship.The Engineers set a new program record with 377 goals scored during the 2023 season and also recorded the most wins in a season since 2014
The 2021 season saw the Engineers advance the USA Water Polo Division III National Championship and finish fourth overall. Ringheim coached two second-team All-Americans in Miller Geschke and Kyle Sandell while Colin Weaver was named Honorable Mention. The Engineers also posted the second-highest GPA in the country.
In 2019, Ringheim guided the Engineers to a third-place finish at the inaugural USA Water Polo Division III National Championship in California and to the most wins in a season since 2015. At the first-ever National Championship event hosted at his alma mater, MIT defeated rival Johns Hopkins, 20-13, to finish in third place. He coached two Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) Division III All-Americans in Clyde Huibregtse and Miller Geschke and his squad posted the top GPA in the country for the sixth time in program history.
Prior to his time at MIT, Ringheim served as the assistant head coach of the Austin College water polo teams in 2018-2019, which is the only NCAA collegiate varsity program in the state of the Texas. At Austin College, he assisted in national and international recruiting, budget preparation and travel, ordering of equipment, film breakdown and home game management.
In the 2018-19 season for the Austin men’s and women’s programs, the men placed sixth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament and the women finished as the runner-up at the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Tournament. The men’s team had two ACWPC Honorable Mention All-Americans, while the women’s team had the CWPA Rookie of the Year and a pair of All-American honorees.
Academically, the ‘Roos had 10 men’s players named to the ACWPC All-Academic Team and three members of the women’s team recognized with All-Academic Team accolades.
In addition to his collegiate experience, Ringheim has worked as the assistant development boys coach for the Olympic Development Program with the United States Water Polo Association Southwest Zone since 2018. He has also worked as a youth coach in Dallas, Texas over the past year with Thunder Water Polo Club and served as a high performance coordinator with the United States Water Polo Association for two years in Huntington Beach, Calif.
As a player, Ringheim was a two-year player at Golden West College from 2012-14 before transferring to Whittier College for his final two seasons. During his time at Whittier, he was team captain of the 2015 squad that finished as the runner-up in the SCIAC. He was also a member of the 2014 team that captured the SCIAC Championship and qualified for the NCAA Tournament, along with being named to the 2015 SCIAC Sportsmanship Team.
Ringheim graduated from Whittier College in May 2016, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in kinesiology and nutrition sciences.
