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Kyle Witt jumps in head first to rejuvenate water polo at Cal State Fullerton

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Kyle Witt has no idea what is going to happen next. His days are devoted to keeping his inbox empty — an impossible task akin to George Jetson on the treadmill without any Janes around to “stop this crazy thing.”

His task is to have a women’s water polo team up and running by the turn of 2023. He hasn’t ordered T-shirts, heck, he hasn’t ordered water polo balls yet. He hasn’t begun interviewing assistant coaches yet. Recruiting is an ongoing crusade without end.

He has no checklist of things to do; “Tomorrow’s my checklist,” he quipped.

Cal State Fullerton softball coach Kelly Ford, a good friend of Witt, called him a few weeks ago to see how the new head men’s and women’s water polo coach is faring his first month on the job. Witt sounded like someone who should be — but surprisingly isn’t — at his wit’s end.

“I said ‘It’s crazy. It’s impossible. It’s so nuts. There’s so much that it’s overwhelming,’” Witt said.

“And I love it.”

If nothing else illustrates that CSUF found the right architect to build two programs from scratch, it’s the fact Witt relishes an endless inbox with a thank-you-sir-may-I-have-another mentality. He’s a month into a job that requires building a foundation from scratch with a ticking clock that never stops. It’s an ongoing episode of “Mission: Impossible” and he’s Peter Graves, accepting the monumental task ahead of him with that trademark stoicism.

Because Witt wanted this. He wanted this from the moment he learned CSUF was reviving a men’s water polo program that was dormant since 1985. From the moment he learned about building a women’s water polo program from scratch, Witt put his head down and put together an unbeatable package of references, recommendations and, well, letting his record speak for itself.

It spoke very well. When CSUF Athletic Director Jim Donovan hired Witt to helm the men’s and women’s water polo teams, he got a coach who won 80% of his conference games at Loyola Marymount University. As the LMU women’s coach for 13 years, Witt won four conference championships and reached the NCAA semifinals in 2010, when his team went 28-6 and beat No. 1 UCLA in the national quarterfinals. He won 62% of his games (236-145) in those 13 years.

“We needed someone that could come here and get our programs up and running as quickly as possible,” Donovan told Cal State Fullerton’s Bill Sheehan. “Kyle’s recruiting prowess, his conference championships and winning records, and his experience as a Division I head coach will be the catalysts to our competitive success in the years ahead.”

The immediate path ahead is simple and complex at the same time. Build a women’s team that starts Big West Conference play in January. This is as intimidating a task as it sounds, considering the top water polo prospects committed months ago. And before you can say “transfer portal,” Witt disabuses you of that easy, quick-fix notion.

“The transfer portal in women’s water polo is about 40 total in a year. People don’t transfer in our sport,” he said. “COVID has affected that. We’ve hit the transfer portal, but it was pretty dry when I got hired.”

That said, if Witt is going to build an aquatic program from scratch, he’s the first to tell you he’s in the perfect place to do it. Orange County is one of the country’s water polo hotbeds. Even the B-list prospects ignored by the UCLAs, USC, Cals and Stanfords of the world are better players than you’ll find anywhere else in the country.

In the meantime, he’s got plenty of places to start. Witt already mined the community college ranks, starting with good friend Gabriel Martinez at Fullerton College. He’s got players already on campus who thought their careers were over when they left high school.

“I’ve got an open door. The only thing I’m looking for is the culture part,” he said. “If I don’t think you can add to our fabric, that’s the only reason I’m going to reject you. If you can swim, that’s the start.”

From there, Witt is playing this as he goes.

“There is no foundation. No documents, no charter. Nothing written down that has to be done,” he said. “It’s up to my choices, my expertise, my knowledge, combined with the university resources to getting things accomplished. I don’t have a checklist. I have priorities that there are things I need to do.

“A lot of coaches are miles ahead of me, but I don’t compare myself to them. We are starting something new and we will take our own path. We’ll end up in the same place they are. I just think it will take time to get there.”

That’s appropriate because it took Witt time to get here as well. Coming from a family of educators, Witt dutifully started out on the history teacher path, picking up a history degree while earning four all-conference berths playing the two-meter position for the LMU water polo team. The plan was to teach history and coach water polo.

Until Witt hit a speed bump with the first half of that equation.

“When I got into the classroom working on my teaching credential and substitute teaching, I can’t tell you how much I didn’t like it,” he remembered. “I couldn’t handle the kids who didn’t want to be there. I don’t like this. But the coaching? I could learn how to do this.”

Witt found that intoxicating. He began his trek up the competitive coaching ladder paying his dues at such locales as the Westridge School for Girls in Pasadena and Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach. Witt’s Westridge team went 0-12 and he loved every minute of it, giving an early glimpse into his appetite for challenges. As an assistant for the Mira Costa boys’ team, Witt played a role in its 2004 CIF Southern Section title.

From there, Witt spent two years as an assistant at Whittier College, long enough to help bring that traditional athletic also-ran its first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title.

Then, Witt took his act on the road, coaching at Division II Gannon University in Erie, PA., for two years. Witt cut his teeth as the head coach of the men’s and women’s programs. He coached the men for two years, the women for one.

Then, it was back to LMU, where he rejoined his mentor, John Loughran, as a Lions’ assistant. He took over the women’s program in 2010.

At every stop, Witt experimented, tried new things and built a reputation as a tireless problem-solver. He also built a reputation as a dual-threat athletic and academic coaching savant. He’s coached two Olympians, eight members of their country’s national teams and 46 All-Americans. This is not to be confused with the 94 national Academic All-Americans and 119 conference all-academic players taking the plunge with Witt.

“You’re going to see the building blocks of our foundation before any championship aspirations are achieved,” he said. “The people who are here going to Fullerton are fighters. Most are here for financial reasons. They’re here because they want to go to school close to home. They’re here working part-time jobs. Those are the fighters we want on our team.

“You watch Kelly’s team play. They fight for everything. The soccer teams, obviously the baseball team. Those are the kids they get: fighters who scrap for everything. I’m going to get the same kids. I want a scrappy team that people are going to know what it takes to beat us and know it will take everything they got. Our first three years, we may take some bumps, but people will see we have something going on here. They’re going to want to be a part of it.”

Did you know…? The men’s water polo team will begin play in the fall of 2023 with the maximum 4.5 scholarships. Eventually, the Titans will carry 22 men. The women begin with eight scholarships and an eventual target of 30 players. Both are the maximum scholarships the NCAA allows.

He said it: Witt on getting the Titans job: “During the pandemic, I found out they were building a pool, and from that point, I really worked hard to talk to people on campus. I went to events to meet people. That’s where I met (softball coach) Kelly Ford. She didn’t recruit me, but she did so without her knowing it. It’s people like that who really cemented it for me that I wanted to coach at Cal State Fullerton, let alone the water polo here in Orange County. … It takes a certain mentality to get a job like this. You have to go for this 100% with your heart and soul.”

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