Newport Harbor HS pool renamed to honor coach Bill Barnett
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — On September 24, the Newport Harbor High School Water Polo program held an alumni game to honor the renaming of their pool after legendary Coach Bill Barnett, who coached NHHS for forty-nine years and made a big impact on the sport of water polo, both in Southern California and internationally.
Alan Slutzky, an NHHS alumnus, shared with us his perspective on Coach Barnett’s coaching legacy
“It was all about preparation. We would drill the fundamentals for hours and hours, and train for hours and hours.” Alan said, “You knew you were working harder than your competition, and Coach Barnett would remind us of that, ‘we do this so we can look our opponents in the eye and know we are more prepared than they are’. He was a task master, but the minute you finished senior year, it was no longer Coach Barnett, it was ‘call me Bill’. He enjoyed keeping in touch with his players and was genuinely interested to hear all about what was happening in your life.”
Alan Slutzky on the direction of the water polo program under Coach Ross Sinclair:
“It’s a different time now. When last season’s boys team won the CIF Championship [2021], they were the first public school to do that in eleven years. Year in and year out, private schools with no geographic restrictions on enrollment and much bigger athletic budgets are Newport Harbor’s main competition. The thing those schools don’t have is a pipeline of kids from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, who have gone to grade school and middle school together, spent their summers in the ocean, and participated in the Junior Guard program together. They’re half boys, half fish – that magic combination only happens here!”
Alan Slutzky on the similarities between the coaches:
“Coach Barnett and Coach Sinclair certainly have different styles, but when my kids started playing for Coach Sinclair, I recognized a commonality. Both coaches set the tone from the top on what the expectations are for the kids in the program. It’s not easy playing water polo at NHHS, but whether you played for Barnett or Sinclair, you could see how much effort and preparation your coach is putting into his job to be the best – and that has an impact on the kids. Coach Sinclair, as an alumnus of the program himself, talks often to the kids about the tradition and legacy of Newport Harbor water polo. I was thrilled when I heard Coach Sinclair petitioned the school district to name the pool after Coach Barnett, and I happily volunteered to do what I could to support the initiative.”
Coach Barnett’s Accomplishments
While coaching Newport Harbor High School’s boys water polo teams, Coach Bill Barnett garnered ten CIF Championship titles, and seven CIF runner-ups.
In 1996, Coach Barnett took over the girls water polo team, coaching them to five CIF titles.
Honored as CIF Coach of the Year for five times, and trained over 100 High School All-Americans.
Internationally, Coach Barnett rose through the US Water Polo ranks as National Junior Coach, National B Team Coach, and on to Head US Men’s Olympic Coach in 1988, 1992, and 2000. In 1998, he became one of three coaches to lead the US Men’s National Team to Silver.
Coach Barnett brought the National Team to the FINA Cup four times, and to their first Championship title in 1991, when he was honored as the World Coach of the Year.
Bill Barnett has been inducted into the Fullerton College, CSULB, and USA Water Polo Halls of Fame.
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