Cornell University Athletics

David Eldredge '81 enters his 24th season as the Peter B. Orthwein '69 Head Coach of Polo. Eldredge has become one of the legendary collegiate polo coaches in the nation, guiding the men to 14 Regional titles, and the women to 16 Regional titles. His teams combine to boast 41 national championship tournament appearances while winning 11 national titles.

Eldredge leads all active Cornell coaches with a 657-239-20 record (.728), including 344-104-15 with the women's squad and a 313-135-5 mark with the men. He has posted just one sub-.500 record for each team in his combined 45 seasons of coaching on East Hill.

Last season, the Big Red men’s team advanced to the National Championships after winning the Eastern Regional Championships, which were held at the Oxley Equestrian Center. Cornell opened with a 25-8 win over Yale in front of a hometown crowd, before defeating Connecticut in the finals with a 24-11 victory. At Nationals, the Big Red rode past No. 2 Virginia by a close 16-15 margin to advance to the finals. Cornell finished as the national runners-up, after dropping a 20-10 match to Texas A&M. Freshman Max Constant was named to the all-tournament team after notching eight goals for Cornell. Eldredge coached the women’s team to a 13-6 overall record. At regionals, Cornell opened with a strong 44-0 win over Harvard. The Big Red sailed past UMass with a 22-5 victory to advance to the finals, where the team lost to Connecticut.

The 2006-07 season saw the Big Red men's team earn a wild card bid to the National Tournament after narrowly losing in regional play. At nationals Cornell lost in the quarterfinals to eventual second-ranked Westmount College, and ended the season tied for fourth in the country. The women also lost in the regionals and received a wild card bid to nationals where they lost in the semifinals to eventual repeat champion Connecticut. The women’s team finished with a third place national ranking.

The women's program has been the premier program in the country since its first year in 1971-72. Over the last 35 years, Cornell has emerged as a dominant force in the sport. During that span, Cornell has appeared in 32 national tournaments, 25 national championship finals, while capturing 12 national titles. Nine national titles and 16 national championship final appearances has been under the tutelage of Eldredge. The men have had similar success, also appearing in 33 national tournaments, 12 championship finals, and have not finished out of the top five in that same time period. Eldgredge has led Cornell to two national titles and nine of the championship finals appearances.

A 1981 graduate of Cornell with a degree in agricultural engineering, Eldredge was a three-year captain and four-year starter as an undergraduate on the polo squad. He led the Big Red into the national championships each year, finishing as national runner-up two times. His father, Halsey, played polo at Cornell in the mid-40s, while his brother, Charles, was captain of the Cornell team from 1973-77.

Eldredge and his wife, Karen, reside in Ithaca with their two children. His wife played polo at Cornell, winning titles in '87 & '88 and has served as an assistant coach for the women's team for 18 seasons.