COACHING SUMMARY
6x National Championships ('06, '07, '16, '21, '22, '23)
5x ACWPC Coach of the Year ('06, '16, '21, '22, '23)
USA Water Polo Hall of Fame ('04)
Cal Athletics Hall of Fame ('04)
4x MPSF Coach of the Year ('02, '20-22)
2x MPSF Championships ('02, '06)
5x MPSF Regular Season Championships ('07, '10, '20-22)
USA Water Polo Elite Co-Coach of the Year ('06)
98 All-Americans
PLAYING CAREER
1988 NCAA Player of the Year
2x USA Olympian ('92, '96)
2x NCAA Championships ('87, '88)
3x All-American ('86, '87, '88)
1995 Pan American Games Gold Medalist
1991 World University Games Gold Medalist
Producing six NCAA titles, two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation crowns (2002, 2006), 98 All-Americans and numerous academic honorees, Kirk Everist has proven to be the perfect individual to perpetuate the tradition of excellence that defines California water polo.
In 22 seasons (460-134, .774) Everist has led the Golden Bears to the pinnacle of the sport on six occasions. In 2023, he led his alma mater to its record 17th national title, defeating UCLA 13-11. Including Cal's back-to-back 13-12 NCAA Championship victories over USC in 2021 and 2022, the Bears secured just the third three-peat in NCAA men's water polo history. Everist also led the Bears to a stirring 11-8 overtime win over USC in 2016, an 8-6 win over USC in the 2007 title game and a thrilling 7-6 last-second national championship victory over the Trojans in 2006.
A three-time All-American, 1988 NCAA Player of the Year and two-time United States Olympian, Everist was named the ACWPC National Coach of the Year for the third straight time and fifth overall in 2023. After battling through injuries and adversity throughout the year, the Bears had their full roster back intact just in time for the national championship game, overwhelming a Bruins team that had gone 3-0 against them the regular season and finishing the year with a 24-5 record.
In 2022, Cal finished 23-2 overall after pulling off a legendary comeback in the national championship game in which saw they outscored USC 5-0 over the final six minutes of the 13-12 victory. They defeated 12 top-10 nationally ranked teams on their way to posting the program's highest win percentage (.920) in 30 years. A third straight conference regular season title saw Everist become the first coach to win three consecutive MPSF Coach of the Year awards. He also combined with star center Nikolaos Papanikolaou to become the second duo to repeat as ACWPC Player and Coach of the Year.
In 2004, Everist was inducted into both the Cal Athletic and the USA Water Polo Halls of Fame. In 2006, he was selected USA Water Polo’s Elite Co-Coach of the Year after leading the Bears to both the MPSF and NCAA titles. Everist also coached the United States’ World University Games team that competed in the summer of 2009 in Belgrade, Serbia, mentoring five Bears on the squad.
On July 29, 2002 Everist returned to his alma mater and was named the MPSF Coach of the Year in his inaugural campaign, immediately leading the Bears to a 20-7 mark and Cal’s first MPSF title and national runner-up finish since 1995. After guiding the Bears to the school’s first back-to-back NCAA trophies since the early ‘90s with wins in 2006 and 2007, Everist again guided the Bears to the top of the sport in 2016 when an overtime win over UCLA moved Cal into the national title match. There, Cal rallied from a late deficit to force overtime and the Bears took over in the extra periods to beat the Trojans. Finishing with a 23-4 record, Cal’s historic season earned Everist his second National Coach of the Year award (2006) from the ACWPC.
With all of his team’s accomplishments in the pool, Everist has also fostered excellence in the classroom. In September, 2009 his team was awarded the 2008-09 Newmark Award for the most improved cumulative team GPA among all of the Cal 27 sports. The team earned that award again in the fall of 2018, this time from a group of 30 sports.
Before his successful return to Berkeley, Everist had contributed to eight CIF North Coast championships as an assistant coach at Miramonte High School. During Everist’s 11-year tenure at Miramonte, the school also produced nine league titles and three third-place finishes in the California State Tournament. He helped develop 22 high school All-Americans, and three of his former players went on to earn NCAA All-American recognition, while two of his ex-pupils played on NCAA championship teams.
In addition to his work at Miramonte, Everist served as water polo commissioner at San Francisco’s Olympic Club from 1999-2001, a period that produced a gold medal and two silver medals in FINA World Masters competition. Also, since 2000 he has been co-head coach for the Lamorinda water polo team, leading that club to the 2001, 2004 and 2005 USA Water Polo 20-Under national championships, and the 2002 Northern California Zone Junior Olympic title. In January of 2005, Everist added to his duties the position of treasurer of the College Water Polo Coaches Association.
A 1990 Cal graduate, Everist propelled the Bears to national championships in 1987 and 1988 as a player and later finished with 205 career goals. He earned NCAA All-American status from 1986-88 and was named the NCAA National Player of the Year in 1988. Everist went on to play for the United States National Team for nine years (1988-96) and was a member of the USA Olympic Team at the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Games. He also competed on America’s gold medal winning water polo teams at the 1991 World University Games and 1995 Pan American Games.
“Kirk has been an Olympian and an All-American, but I believe he is now a better coach than he was as a player,” said four-time NCAA Coach of the Year Pete Cutino, Everist’s former Cal mentor who passed away in September of 2004. “He is a very intense person who has always been a student of the game. Kirk is everything we would want in a coach.”
Everist resides in Danville, Calif. with his wife Jen, daughter, Keira, stepdaughter, Haley, and two stepsons, RJ and Duke.
EVERIST'S RECORD
2002 - 20-7 !
2003 - 20-8
2004 - 20-10
2005 - 21-7
2006 - 31-4 !^
2007 - 28-4 *^
2008 - 19-9
2009 - 22-6
2010 - 24-4 *
2011 - 22-4
2012 - 17-8
2013 - 18-8
2014 - 22-7
2015 - 24-7
2016 - 23-4 ^
2017 - 20-4
2018 - 18-6
2019 - 14-11
2020 - 8-5*
2021 - 22-4 *^
2022 - 23-2 *^
2023 - 24-5 ^
Total - 460-134 (.774)
* - MPSF Regular Season Champions
! - MPSF Champions
^ - NCAA Champions
Kirk Everist Contact Info: keverist@berkeley.edu, (510) 643-1465
