January 20, 2023, was a day of firsts: Kieran Scout Bates scored the first Cal State Fullerton water polo goal in nearly 38 years, and the first women's water polo goal ever, leading the Titans to a dominating 24-3 win over UC Merced, another first in program history.    

Titan men's water polo was canceled in 1985.  Although prior efforts had been made to temporarily save the program in the early part of the decade, including those by this author, then an undergraduate, the end became inevitable:  Budget constraints and an inadequately sized on-campus pool were cited as factors.

In the 2020's, a sizeable, unrepairable leak was discovered in that very pool, built some 30-plus years earlier.  Then-President Fram Virjee, a former scholarship water polo player at UC Santa Barbara, soon developed plans to build a new Aquatics Center, funded by the Kinesiology and Athletics departments, among other university sources. 

In addition to the pool, designed for use by Kinesiology classes and student and faculty swim sessions, President Virjee discussed with Athletic Director Jim Donovan the idea of bringing Division 1 water polo back to Cal State Fullerton, but this time with a women's program as well as a men's program.    

An experienced head coach with a clear vision was needed to lead the new programs and to build the squads from scratch.  A nationwide search was held, and in July 2022, Kyle Witt was named to that position.  His goals were immediate:  Find the student-athletes and assistant coaches to field men's and women's squads for the coming seasons.  The schedule was tight, with the first women's matches slated to begin in little more than six months.  Men's matches wouldn't be played until the fall of 2023, but the nucleus of a squad still had to be found.    

In the fall of 2022,  a new, 53-meter pool was opened too much fanfare.  Features such as bleachers, sun shelters for spectators and student-athletes, and a video scoreboard would come later. 

Witt, who lived in Fullerton, was the longtime head coach at Loyola Marymount University, following stints at Gannon University and Whittier College.  He quickly rose to meet his many challenges. 
 
Recently, I sat down with Coach Witt in his office to discuss those first weeks and months:

SAN ROMAN:  Take me back to July, 2022.  You just got the job, and I'm not even sure the pool was finished.  Obviously, there are no players, and there isn't a single water polo goal or water polo ball in the university's inventory.  What do you do?

WITT:  Yeah.  The thing I'm happy about is that I'm still in the same office.  If we're quiet for a second, do you hear that buzzing?  (The sound of overhead fluorescent lights).  My laptop had no sound.  All I had was my laptop, no monitors, and that buzzing sound. 
I still have this whiteboard with chicken scratching that still exists.  Every day, I had a list, sometimes it was huge, and before I went home, I wanted to have more check marks on it.  Whatever I did was good.  I was accomplishing something, and there was just so much to do.

SAN ROMAN:  What were your first three priorities? 

WITT:  The first was fundraising and alumni, and trying to figure out where we stood there. 
The second, I would say, was talking to… finding out how to get a women's team very quickly.  I had a plan, but it went to 'poop.'  It wasn't anybody's fault. 

SAN ROMAN:  What do you mean by that?

WITT:  I had lined up a bunch of transfers from the transfer portal and drove up north to a 10-day Junior Olympics event, only to be told that it was too late to get many of them into our Master's programs.

SAN ROMAN:  Because it was too close to August? 

WITT:  Yes.  Again, it's no one's fault, but there goes plan A.  We could have had four All-Americans that season.  I then shifted to kids coming in at the next semester. 

SAN ROMAN:  Coming in at the second semester, I imagine they had very little time to practice.

WITT:  We had five or six people here the first semester, but the first time that everyone was here was on January 5^th.  (The Titans' first match was played on January 20). 

Sydney (Shipley), in compliance, helped me quickly.  Dee Dee Kingsbury, our Athletics academic advisor, would tell me, 'We can't get this kid in.'  Next!  I'd say.   It just didn't matter.  We had to move on.  It was kind of fun.  It was like a fire drill every day.

SAN ROMAN:  I remember that the first women's roster was pretty light.  (16 players).  I remember driving up to Santa Barbara for the first match.  I was sitting next to Fram and Julie Virjee, who were obviously excited about bringing water polo back to Fullerton.
I was absolutely astounded when we destroyed UC Merced.  I couldn't believe it.  I had thought, well, it's going to be a rough year, we don't have many players, and then we won our first two matches. 

WITT:  The thing I'll toot my own horn on was, I had been coaching for a long time, and I knew how to schedule, and how to train a team for a very unique year.  It was more like a Division 3 mentality, because these athletes hadn't trained at a Division 1 level.  If I had really put them through the paces, every one of them would have gotten hurt.  It's not their fault.  It's just the reality of the situation. 
 
A journey starts with one step, but no one knew what the second, third, fourth, and fifth steps would be.  And I think that team pulled off 10 wins (11 actually).  That was huge to have that team experience that.  We just focused on culture so much, and rejected some kids (who might not have bought in).  That's what I'm most proud of from that first group.  Same for the men, but in a different way.    

SAN ROMAN:  Was it easier to accumulate a men's roster?

WITT:  Yes, because there was more time to dive into the questions that you wanted to ask, and to give them the full SAT:  Are you here committed to water polo?  Are you here to get your degree? Are you here for the right reasons?  Do you understand what building a program is?  What does building a program mean to you? 

We had the time to bring in the right people and talented people as well.  In most years, you bring in five or six guys.  We brought in 21 or 22, and then had to recruit 18 women for year two. 

SAN ROMAN:  What about the infrastructure?  Balls, goals, gear, etc.?

WITT:  The key was not to go crazy.  We didn't need 25 water polo goals right away.  We needed three goals to start with.  We could buy two more later.  So, we did two waves of purchases, and in a way, the university worked with me very well.  Even though it took a long time, it got done.

Things wouldn't have happened without Sydney and Dee Dee.  They put so much work into this thing that will never be recognized.  They got back to me quick, and they were so good at (what they did). 

SAN ROMAN:  You were like a start-up company with only one employee.

WITT:  Yeah, I was.  But that's why I took this thing.  I love it.   

SAN ROMAN:  As we approach the 2026 men's water polo season, what do you think are two of your greatest accomplishments?

WITT:  100% graduation.  Of the kids that stayed with us, they've all graduated.  Dee Dee and now Adam Sarrail identified people that would get their degree, and those that would require a little help. 

I also think that getting our fundraising efforts off the ground in a very successful way has been very rewarding as well.  Improving alumni outreach is going to be a goal, but it's difficult, as the program was discontinued many years ago.  There are about 10 of them that care deeply, but we need to do a better job of connecting with them.  We're also making connections with the community. 

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The Titan men's water polo team will open its home schedule on September 11-12 with the Fullerton Tournament, when they will host Pomona College, UC San Diego, Air Force, and Chapman University at the Titan Aquatics Center.  

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