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  • Newport Harbor water polo coach Bill Barnett sits in his...

    Newport Harbor water polo coach Bill Barnett sits in his campus office. Barnett will retire at the end of this season. He began his coaching career at Newport Harbor in 1966.

  • Newport Harbor's longtime water polo coach Bill Barnett will retire...

    Newport Harbor's longtime water polo coach Bill Barnett will retire at the end of this season. He began his coaching career at Newport Harbor in 1966. He took the boys to 10 CIF-SS Division 1 titles and the girls to five. He also guided the U.S. men's Olympic team to a silver medal in 1988.

  • Newport Harbor water polo coach Bill Barnett sits in his...

    Newport Harbor water polo coach Bill Barnett sits in his campus office. He began his coaching career at Newport Harbor in 1966. He took the boys to 10 CIF-SS Division 1 titles and the girls to five. He also guided the U.S. men's Olympic team to a silver medal in 1988.

  • Newport Harbor's renowned water polo coach Bill Barnett will retire...

    Newport Harbor's renowned water polo coach Bill Barnett will retire at the end of this sesaon. He began his coaching career at Newport Harbor in 1966. He also guided the U.S. men's Olympic team to a silver medal in 1988.

  • Newport Harbor water polo coach Bill Barnett will retire at...

    Newport Harbor water polo coach Bill Barnett will retire at the end of this season. He began his coaching career at Newport Harbor in 1966. He took the boys to 10 CIF-SS Division 1 titles and the girls to five. He also guided the U.S. men's Olympic team to a silver medal in 1988.

  • Newport Harbor's longtime water polo coach Bill Barnett will retire...

    Newport Harbor's longtime water polo coach Bill Barnett will retire at the end of this season. He began his coaching career at Newport Harbor in 1966. He took the boys to 10 CIF-SS Division 1 titles and the girls to five. He also guided the U.S. men's Olympic team to a silver medal in 1988.

  • Bill Barnett is shown coaching the Newport Harbor water polo...

    Bill Barnett is shown coaching the Newport Harbor water polo team on Sept. 26, 1985.

  • Bill Barnett is shown coaching the Newport Harbor boys water...

    Bill Barnett is shown coaching the Newport Harbor boys water polo team in 1984.

  • Newport Harbor water polo coach Bill Barnett sits poolside at...

    Newport Harbor water polo coach Bill Barnett sits poolside at the campus aquatic center. He began his coaching career at Newport Harbor in 1966. He won a combined 15 CIF-SS titles as coach for the school's boys and girls water polo teams.

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Dan Albano. Sports HS Reporter.

// MORE INFORMATION: Staff Mug Shot taken August 26, 2010 : by KATE LUCAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER.

NEWPORT BEACH – Bill Barnett spun the tales from his desk in the Newport Harbor team room.

Dressed in blue shorts and a neatly tucked white-collared shirt, the 72-year-old water polo coach left the door open to a sunny afternoon and laughed plenty despite a plethora of medical challenges behind him and unforeseen ones ahead.

It seemed like a brief escape from the pain, especially when he raised his hand and firmly pointed to the large, framed black-and-white photograph hanging on the front wall.

The image captured a group of his players hoisting a trophy above their heads.

It also captured Barnett’s heart like nothing else in water polo ever did.

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Quotes & numbers from Barnett’s career

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The picture was from the 1967 CIF-Southern Section finals, where Barnett and Newport Harbor became champions together for the first time.

More than a dozen CIF titles followed and his players eventually were men playing for an Olympic gold medal. But for Barnett, nothing ever topped ’67.

“First one,” he said in one of his typically short, precise answers.

Barnett’s first water polo love will always be Newport Harbor, and not even the discomfort in his legs can stifle that feeling.

But after 49 seasons at the helm of a water polo dynasty, he is ready to let go of his physical attachment to the program. He is set to retire at the end of the girls water polo season, which continues Saturday with Newport Harbor’s match at 11 a.m. against visiting San Marcos in the Division 1 quarterfinals.

Barnett won’t be in attendance because of an unexpected surgery Thursday for an infection in his hip, but his spirit will be present.

“He’s our coach,” Newport Harbor senior captain Kate Pipkin said. “We care about him a lot.”

‘A SWEET DUDE’

So where does a water polo affair that spans nearly half-a-century start? Before a dance, of course.

One of Pipkin’s favorite stories about Barnett includes his comment a few years ago to his worrisome players before a school dance. Barnett overheard the girls fretting on the pool deck that they were going to smell at the dance like the pool’s chlorine.

“If he doesn’t like you for smelling like chlorine then he’s not the right guy for you,” Barnett told the players.

“I thought that was really sweet,” Pipkin said. “He really is a sweet dude.”

Pipkin also cherishes the story because it illuminates a side of Barnett that lies below his competitive and ultra-focused surface.

“Total genuine guy,” said Brian Melstrom, Barnett’s longtime assistant coach and successor. “He’s got so many life experiences that he shares.”

Barnett has shared about his health challenges this winter and how they affected the final season of his storied career.

He underwent artificial hip replacement surgery last year but the hip became infected. In December, he underwent surgery for an infection but still emerged on the pool deck for games. He was 15 pounds lighter and initially used a walker and wore an antibiotic pump.

Barnett recalled being in a hospital in Irvine and wondering if he would return. Some probably questioned why. He has won a combined 15 CIF titles.

“I’m the coach and I feel an obligation that I should be there coaching the team,” he said. “I enjoy it. It’s fun. Working with young adults is a lot of fun. They keep you young.”

Barnett eventually shed the walker and antibiotic pump and was feeling better before being sidelined earlier this week by another hip infection. He received the news before Newport Harbor’s first-round playoff game Wednesday against Beckman.

Melstrom said he has been amazed by how Barnett has pushed through his ailments this winter. Barnett continued to break down scouting video – often recorded by his wife, Marcia — and pass along inspirational quotes to the team’s players.

“What I’ve learned from him is that no matter what life throws at you, you got to have a positive outlook on things, hope for the best and work hard through tough times,” Melstrom said.

One of the most recent quotes Barnett selected for his team came from Abraham Lincoln.

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed (is) more important than any one thing.”

THE BEGINNING

Barnett arrived at Newport Harbor in 1966 as a 24-year-old eager to teach, and he viewed water polo as a helpful avenue to a teaching position.

He grew up as a single child to parents who worked in education. His mother, Gladys, was a junior high school math teacher and his father, Earl, served as a high school principal in the Los Angeles school district.

He also brought a strong water polo background at Newport Harbor. His mother swam at Whittier High and he played water polo and swam in high school at El Rancho in Pico Rivera.

Barnett also played water polo at Fullerton College under renowned coach Jimmy Smith and later at Long Beach State.

He also served as a graduate assistant coach for the Long Beach State swim team. His Long Beach days led him to play club water polo for Monte Nitzkowski, who built his own empire at Long Beach City College and later became a successful U.S. Olympic coach.

The Sailors had a successful boys water polo program prior to Barnett. They were CIF runner-ups in 1964 to El Segundo.

Barnett soon took Newport Harbor to another level. The Sailors captured 10 CIF Division 1 titles in a total of 17 championship game appearances during a 21-year stretch.

Water polo historian Bill Prichard, who played at Newport Harbor, believes the Sailors’ 11 consecutive CIF finals appearances is one of Barnett’s most impressive feats.

“His greatest legacy on the high school level is establishing Newport Harbor as the winningest school in Division 1 history,” Prichard wrote.

Barnett has always been quick to credit the players for his success. He developed Olympians Eric Lindroth, Kevin Robertson and James Bergeson in high school and counts Frank Anderson and Mike Grier as other all-time greats.

“You’re no better (a coach) than your players,” Barnett said.

But his fingerprints were all over the success. He stressed a press defense and the counterattack. His video sessions and scouting reports have become legendary in Orange County.

“He’s the master,” said Corona del Mar girls water polo coach Ross Sinclair, who attended Newport Harbor while Barnett still prepared scouting reports. “You knew the ins and outs of every player, every detail they do.”

Barnett credits Nitzkowski for teaching him tactics and former UC Irvine coach Ted Newland for inspiring his work ethic. Barnett and Newland later joined forces with the Newport Water Polo Foundation club program.

“The work ethic that needs to be done to do well, I got from him,” Barnett said of Newland.

Barnett also remained true to his roots as a teacher in the way he taught the fundamentals.

“His team was always the most disciplined we played, and they were very well prepared,” former Los Alamitos coach Dave Carlson said.

HIGHS AND LOWS

Barnett’s high school boys water polo dynasty at Newport Harbor cooled by the late 1980s as he became the U.S. men’s Olympic coach in 1988 and 1992.

He reached the Olympic ranks after coaching the junior national and the U.S. National B team.

Barnett guided the Americans to a silver medal in 1988. Team USA fell to Yugoslavia and Coach Ratko Rudic, 9-7, in overtime. In 1992, the U.S. men placed fourth.

Barnett said the introduction of high school girls water polo in the late 1990s in the Southern Section prolonged his coaching career. In a tribute to his abilities as a well-rounded coach, he has guided the Newport Harbor girls to five CIF-SS Division 1 crowns.

Coaching girls also calmed a coach known to scream at his players during his heyday.

“He doesn’t look red (in the face) anymore,” said Barbara Kalbus, his longtime friend and assistant.

While he considers himself a “not-very social” person, he has worked well with boys, girls and Olympians.

“Coach Barnett has had perhaps (one of) the most successful and diverse coaching careers,” Irvine coach Scott Hinman wrote in a tribute.

Barnett was approved as the U.S. women’s national team coach in 2005, but the relationship was short and he never signed a contract. But neither that breakup nor the tight loss in the ‘88 gold-mdeal final haunts Barnett.

He is satisfied with the victories and accepting of the defeats.

“I’m not like some coaches who take losing really, really hard,” he said. “I’m pleased with what has been accomplished.”

As for what he will do in retirement, he is thinking about moving to Montana, home to his daughter, Meagan, and three grandchildren. His son, Tyler, lives in Mexico.

The Laguna Beach resident also wants to paint his house and he wants to travel, along the Oregon coast or in the South.

As far as water polo, Barnett plans to continue to evaluate college officials but that’s about it.

“(Retirement) probably won’t hit me until spring,” he said. “I will miss the preparation. Not so much the actual game, but it’s fun for me to prepare.”

He is not overly sentimental about his career with the exception being that photograph of his first championship at Newport Harbor. The Sailors beat Fullerton, 5-3, and then lifted the trophy. Barnett isn’t in the picture.

“It’s all about the players,” he said.

Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com