Tom Agan and his brother John have come full-circle with water
polo.
”
More or less, yeah,
”
Tom said. While playing for Carmel High School in the late 1970s
and early 1980s, the two brothers learned what would be the
foundation of their water-polo-playing lives under the
head-coaching guidance of their father, Jim, who started the polo
program at Carmel and coached the Padres for 16 years. Similarly,
the Agan brothers eventually took over a re-instated polo program
at San Benito High, coached the varsity and junior varsity teams
for a combined 38 years at the Hollister high school, and even
guided their own sons through the ranks of the polo program. The
two brothers stepped down from their coaching posts together in
mid-January, having come full-circle with the sport
— from player to coach to father.
HOLLISTER
Tom Agan and his brother John have come full-circle with water polo.
“More or less, yeah,” Tom said.
While playing for Carmel High School in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the two brothers learned what would be the foundation of their water-polo-playing lives under the head-coaching guidance of their father, Jim, who started the polo program at Carmel and coached the Padres for 16 years.
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Similarly, the Agan brothers eventually took over a re-instated polo program at San Benito High, coached the varsity and junior varsity teams for a combined 38 years at the Hollister high school, and even guided their own sons through the ranks of the polo program.
The two brothers stepped down from their coaching posts together in mid-January, having come full-circle with the sport — from player to coach to father.
“It’s never been about me,” said Tom Agan, who had coached the varsity program since 1990 but did not want to publicize his departure.
“It’s about the kids,” he added. “I’ve had the pleasure of coaching some really great kids over the years, and that’s the part I’m gonna miss.”
John Agan, who had coached the JV team alongside his brother for the last 17 years, held a similar sentiment.
“I do miss coaching, but I am looking forward to the fall and it not being a crazy life,” he said. “I’m looking forward to doing something different this fall.
“The hardest part is the kids, though. We had a great group of kids and it’s hard to walk away from it.”
Coming to the decision of retiring doesn’t happen overnight, of course. John said they began discussing the possibility of stepping down some five or six years ago, when it was evident that their youngest sons would eventually play through the program.
But while John’s son Ryan graduated in 2010, and Tom’s son Trevor followed this past spring, retirement was still not a definite for the two brothers, not until midway through the team’s most recent season.
“It seemed like the natural thing to do, to go out together,” said John, who also teaches seventh and eighth grade at Rancho San Justo. “We had that chemistry and worked well together.”
Spending more time with family and pursuing other interests were also reasons for their polo retirement.
“It’ll free up some weekends, that’s for sure,” John said.
The two brothers have been synonymous with water polo at San Benito High ever since its return to the athletic program. The high school initially had a team, but it was scrapped in the early- to mid-1980s.
That was at about the same time Tom started teaching at San Benito. Back then, it was customary for new teachers to also coach, and Tom began coaching swimming for both the boys and girls.
In 1990, the school brought back water polo, and Tom dropped his duties as girls swimming coach to instead take over the polo program. He coached the boys swimming team through 1999, and had been coaching the boys’ water polo team every year since.
Meanwhile, John played polo at Monterey Peninsula College, coached in Tulare and refereed polo matches until he accepted the JV position at San Benito High in the early 1990s. He, too, had been coaching every year since.
“When you do something that long, you have second thoughts and regrets. But I’m confident with the decision,” said John, who coached the JVs to an undefeated record and the Tri-County Athletic League title in 2004.
The varsity team collected three TCAL titles during Tom’s tenure, including ones during the 1995, 2002 and 2006 seasons, the latter of which eventually led to San Benito’s one and only victory in the Central Coast Section postseason.
“Honestly for me, success as a coach is not necessarily wins and losses,” said Tom, who will remain teaching his automotive class at the high school.
“For me, success as a coach is watching your athletes mature and grow as individuals, improve their skills and work together as a team,” he said. “We had years where we had a lot of fun, but we didn’t have great stats. The wins and losses are cool, but they’re not everything.”
Two moments stood out for Agan, though. In 2002, the year they won the TCAL, the Balers got stuck in traffic on their way to Sacred Heart Prep. They showed up 20 minutes late, did not warm up, yet defeated SHP in overtime.
The second memory is a little more recent. Trailing Stevenson by a single goal in overtime of the TCALs third- and fourth-place consolation match last November, the Balers needed the equalizer and the go-ahead score in the final two minutes to earn a spot in the CCS postseason.
Despite not having scored in the last eight minutes, though, San Benito scored three unanswered goals in the last 100 seconds to shock RLS, 11-9.
“That was a really huge game for us,” Tom said. “I was really proud of this year’s team …”
It was those same TCAL Championships last November when Agan’s water-polo career again came full circle, as Carmel won its first league championship since 1980. Although Tom did not play for that team — he was a part of the 1979 championship team — his father did coach the squad.
“It was kind of weird watching that,” he said. “I was pleased for them. They had worked long and hard to put that in place.”
While family and other interests will eat up plenty of spare time this fall — Tom is involved with go-carts, John cabinet making — there will be an expected void come September.
Although both coaches helped compile the team’s upcoming fall schedule, they do plan on remaining “behind the scenes” as much as need be with new incoming coaches. And at the very least, they’ll try to be in attendance at San Benito’s home games.
“Part of me feels like I’ve let down a group of kids, that I won’t be there with them this year. They’ve invested three or more years and all of a sudden their coach bails on them. But when do you pull the plug?” Tom said. “I do feel like I’m letting a group of guys down, though. They are a great group of guys. I’m gonna go watch all their games.
“At least all their home games.”
