The Cal 100: No. 78 -- Kirk Everist

Bears' water polo coach won two NCAA titles as a player and has five as Cal's coach.

No. 78: Kirk Everist

Cal Sports Connection: Everist, a three-time All-American at Cal and the national player of the year as a senior in 1986, now is head coach of the Bears.

Claim to Fame: He won two NCAA titles as a player at Cal and has five, including the past two seasons, as the Bears' coach.

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Cal has not had a losing season in men’s water polo since 1964, the same year more than 1,000 students staged a sit-in at Sproul Hall on campus to launch the free speech movement.

Kirk Everist wasn’t born for another 2 1/2 years, which means the Golden Bears have never experienced a losing season during his lifetime. Everist, now 57, has played a central role in that success as both a player and a coach.

He was a three-time All-American (1986-88) and the NCAA Player of the Year as a senior, leading the way to national championships his final two seasons. Everist was the program’s career scoring leader when he exited, then played on two Olympic teams (1992 and ’96) during his nine years on the U.S. national team.

His performance in the pool alone would enough to warrant inclusion in The Cal 100, but Everest’s second act at Cal has been equally impressive. Or perhaps even better.

As the Bears’ head coach, he has continued to elevate the collegiate game’s most prolific winning program. In 21 seasons, Everist has compiled a record of 436-129, winning better than 77 percent of his matches. He stands below only rugby coach Jack Clark among former Cal athletes who returned as coaches to find elite success in both roles.

The Bears won NCAA titles the past two seasons, giving Everist five — with national crowns also in 2006, ’07 and ’16 — and boosting Cal’s all-time total to 16.

Kirk Everist and his players enjoy a championship moment

In a sport dominated nationally by four schools, the Bears have put distance between themselves and rivals UCLA (12 titles), Stanford (11) and USC (10).

The Bears  last fall completed a 23-2 campaign with a near-miraculous 13-12 victory over USC, rallying from a four-goal deficit in the final six minutes. Everist, who called the victory “insane,” talks further about the comeback in the video at the top of this story.

Every collegiate water polo coach is measured against the late Cal icon Pete Cutino, who coached 26 seasons at Berkeley through 1988. Water polo's national player of the year award is named in Cutino’s honor.

Everist still trails Cutino’s totals of 519 career victories and eight NCAA crowns, but he’s gaining ground on his former coach. With most of the key players from the 2022 team set to return, the Bears will be favored to win again next fall.

Cutino endorsed Everist’s credentials two decades ago.

“Kirk has been an Olympian and an All-American, but I believe he is now a better coach than he was as a player,” Cutino said. “He is a very intense person who has always been a student of the game. Kirk is everything we would want in a coach.”

-- No. 79: Leon Powe 

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Cover photo of Cal water polo coach Kirk Everist courtesy of Cal Athletics

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo