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All-Bee boys water polo Coach of the Year: John Vinuela

By Nick Giannandrea - The Fresno Bee

Friday, Jan. 25, 2013 | 11:24 PM

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COACH OF THE YEAR:

JOHN VINUELA

School: Memorial

Season: First

He's qualified because: In his second stint as a varsity boys head coach, Vinuela helped deliver Memorial's first Central Section water polo title. Inheriting virtually the entire starting lineup from a team that finished as the Division II runner-up last season, Vinuela guided the top-seeded Panthers to a 24-7 record that was capped by a 10-6 overtime victory over second-seeded Tulare in the final. Memorial went 9-1 in County/Metro Athletic Conference play to share the title with Sanger, and also placed second at the Sunnyside tournament and fourth at the Clovis West Invitational.

The back story:

Vinuela developed his love for water polo while playing for veteran coach Terry Giffen at Hoover. He got his first varsity head coaching job five years ago at Chowchilla, where he spent three seasons launching the school's water polo program. He spent a year at Fresno as its JV boys and interim varsity girls coach, then assisted Iain Patterson's Sanger boys team last year. After coaching for one of the Panthers' league rivals last season, Vinuela knew he was walking into a team with high expectations. "It was intimidating, to say the least, but the hard thing is you can't let (the players) know that," Vinuela said.

He said it: "I didn't want to change anything. I just wanted to make what they were doing better and stronger. I was lucky to coach a smart group of kids and they were smart enough to know I had their best interests at heart." -- John Vinuela


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