Sprague back in O.C., forms coaching dream team
August 28th, 2008, 12:23 pm · 7 Comments · posted by DAN ALBANO, ocvarsity.com
I stopped by Los Alamitos this morning to interview quarterback Clark Evans and stumbled onto one heck of a water polo note. Legendary water polo coach Jim Sprague (formerly at Sunny Hills, most recently at Servite) has joined ranks with Los Alamitos boss Dave Carlson to form one of the greatest coaching duos in county high school water polo history.
Sprague cut ties with Servite in early June, saying he was headed to Whittier to be an assistant. His son, Todd, is one of the coaches at Whittier. Sprague coached at Whittier during the summer but on Monday he joined ranks with Carlson.
Sprague will be a varsity assistant and on the bench with Carlson.
Both coaches have captured multiple CIF titles and between them and they likely have a dozen coach of the year awards from either CIF or others. Sprague is the veteran while Carlson is the young master who has shown a knack for pulling off an upset and late-in-the-season victories.
Los Alamitos will likely be ranked in the top-three or four in the county preseason poll (maybe even No. 1) and interestingly, does have a nonleague match against ... Servite.
7 Comments
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Wow. What an addition for Los Al polo. As usual, Albano is on top of the aquatics scene.
Wow...is this really a good thing for Los Al? Sprague is an old wash up who desperately needs to retire. He yells at parents, at kids, at referees, at fellow coaches and sometimes, without realizing, at himself. He's a fossil and needs to just ride off into the sunset and enjoy his twilight years. Servite is better without him and Los Al would do just fine, if not better, without him polluting the bench with negative energy and vibes.
Fryer should stick to reporting what he knows best...Mater Dei this and Mater Dei that. Keep up the good work, Dan.
Jagonja,
You are a fool. Jim Sprague is STILL one of the best water polo coaches in U.S. high school water polo history. I would not be surprised if you are one of the worthless parents/players that complained about him and got him forced out at Servite. Ultimately, it is the spineless administration that did not tell these parents to "pound sand" when they brought forward their unfounded issues with coach Sprague.
WG
Jim Sprague is a longtime water polo coach with a great deal of wisdom and insight. He has had the pleasure of receiving many gifted water polo athletes courtesy of the club programs. This has always made Servite a strong program. Lately, the club feeder program has been spread among a number of high schools making the talent more widely distributed. Sprague wasn't going to have it as easy as he has in the past. It has never been a strong points of Sprague to develop a player from the basics; he expands on the talent already given him.
Sprague is getting on in years and his health is starting to deteriorate. It is easy from the outside to say that he is a great coach and that the crazy parents at Servite forced him out. But if you were involved with him in the last few years, you would understand that it was time for him to retire. He is a wonderful man who has done a lot for a lot of quality players. Servite tried to find someone to coach with him over the last 6 years to help smooth out some of the problems. All the coaches involved tried, and there were quite a few, but they eventually found it impossible. He was offered a different role at Servite; HE rejected it and decided it was time to move on.
Servite has long been know for its pride, discipline and respect in their athletic programs. These aspects of Servite water polo have been deteriorating for the last few years and the parents, who put their sons in Servite for those very reasons, were not happy. Servite offered Jim many options before HE chose to leave the school and all the Servite familes wish him the best wherever he goes.
I am wondering why he didn't stay at Whittier and coach with his son, Todd?
It will be fun to watch Los Al beat Servite. Then who will the servite parents point there fingers at?
Jagonja, now you have another fool [pologroupie] (almost certainly a Servite parent based on the comments they made) to hang out with and have a cup of coffee or whatever it is that people who don't know what they are talking about drink. Jim Spague is still one of the best water polo coaches that have ever coached the game. Club polo has nothing to do with that! He was a great coach long before club polo existed to any degree in the southern California area. He develops talent better than anyone. It is the self-important jack-ass parents at Servite who think they know polo, know kids and know coaching that have undermined what Coach Sprague has built for the last number of years at Servite. He left Whittier because his son does not want to coach anymore and his dad did not want him to feel obligated to continue coaching for his sake. I know because Todd told me! The pseudo-Catholic administrators at Servite offered him a B.S. position as a "consultant”!!! If I had as many CIF Championships as he has, I would not take a worthless job such as that. Mustafa is a nice guy but he isn't half the coach Sprague is. He got the job because the first guy they offered the job to wanted too much money and more importantly the jack-ass parents of the Servite kids who play for SoCal wanted him because their kids played for Hassan there. Sell it to yourself however you want pologroupie, if that will make you and the other worthless people who had anything to do with the ouster of Sprague feel better. I have known Jim Sprague for almost 30 years and I have forgotten more about the world of water polo than you could ever hope to know. What the people at Servite did to Jim Sprague is contrary to the high morals of Servite and the teachings of the Catholic Church. Anyone who was involved with this travesty will eventually answer to a higher power no matter what you write in this blog.
Class of '93 Servite, team captain.
Coach Sprague's record speaks for itself. And pologroupie is an idiot. Don't let the well versed paragraghs and descriptive adjectives fool you - the fundamentals of the economy are not good.
I'm glad coach moved on and is teaching elsewhere. I expect Los Alamitos to be a powerhouse water polo program for the years to come. I also wish Servite and the new coach the best.