El Toro's Stoll retires after 31 seasons

El Toro boys water polo coach Don Stoll, whose teams captured seven CIF-Southern Section titles and won 684 games in 31 seasons, has retired from coaching.

Nicknamed "The Doctor", Stoll, 62, took over El Toro's boys water polo program in 1981 and built one of the powerhouse programs in the state.

El Toro claimed 19 league titles and reached the Southern Section final 12 times, including the past four Division 1 championship matches. The Chargers went 684-236 under Stoll.

He retired as a math teacher at El Toro in June 2010. Stoll said he will now enjoy traveling with his wife, Chris, and focusing on his health, which he said is good.

"I'm as passionate (about coaching) as I've ever been ... (but) I'm willing to back off, let someone else have it, work on my health and go on more travel trips," Stoll said. "(My wife) has been off-the-charts supportive."

Stoll made the announced Wednesday night at the Chargers' postseason banquet.

"Real hard to do," he said of the announcement. "It took me half-an-hour to get through it."

Over the year, he built a reputation for training his teams to peak in the postseason. His final season provided an excellent example of Stoll's philosophy.

A shorthanded El Toro team lost to Mater Dei, 19-5, in the finals of a summer tournament. But last month in the Division 1 final, El Toro was within one goal of the undefeated Monarchs with less than one minute left in the fourth period. Mater Dei won, 8-5, in by far its closest match.

In 1990, El Toro was seeded eighth but edged Long Beach Wilson, 11-9, in the CIF 4-A final.

"Instead of (climbing) tiny mountains, you have one mountain (or goal)," Stoll said. "It's like swimming, you can't have all these peaks and valleys."

El Toro captured the South Coast Tournament -- the biggest early-season tournament -- just three times under Stoll (1992, 2006, 2008).

"I use September to find out what we can't do. If we can't do 6-on-5, we go back and try to fix it. If we can't counter(attack), go back and fix that," he said.

Stoll also became known for running occasional trick plays that he felt were unique to high school water polo.

In the semifinals this past season, El Toro used an underwater play called "Buckshot" in which one player swam toward a teammate in a cluster and pushed his teammate's head under water. The submerged player then pushed off the bottom of the pool and surfaced on the wing, open for the winning shot.

"It was really fun," Stoll said. "I've been lucky to have great kids."

His fondest season was 1993 when his sons, Brent, and, Greg, helped El Toro claim a CIF Division 1 title with a 10-9 victory against Corona del Mar.

"That's the highlight of my career," Stoll said of 1993. "You could have rolled me up in a hearst after that '93 win with both my sons in my arms. ... We were losing that game, 7-2."

Stoll said he also had a great lower-level coach. Jeff Grosse served as El Toro's successful frosh-soph and junior varsity coach for years and fed Stoll with talent. "He'd always be there for me," Stoll said.

Before his arrival at El Toro, Stoll coached three seasons at Ocean View in the late 1970s. He took the position believing the school would build a pool, which didn't arrive until last year. Stoll also spent five seasons at Westminster, where future NBA center Mark Eaton was among his players. Stoll's career varsity record finished at 704-273.

Stoll coached 41 seasons, including his stints as an assistant and lower-level coach at Ocean View.

"I'd say (he's) right up there with (Newport Harbor's Bill) Barnett (in terms of legacy)," said Los Alamitos assistant coach Jim Sprague, the legendary former coach at Sunny Hills and Servite. "He was very innovative. ... I really enjoyed coaching against him because it was always a contest of the minds."

Stoll played water polo at Long Beach City College for another legendary coach, Monte Nitzkowski. He attended high school at Long Beach Poly.