Boys varsity water polo head coach Giovanni Napolitano listens to an assistant coach during a match against Carlsbad High School on October 22 at Paly. 

– Matt Ersted

The Palo Alto High School administration is searching for a new head coach for the varsity and JV boys’ water polo teams after the entire coaching staff was dismissed recently for undisclosed reasons, according to Assistant Principal Kathleen Laurence.

The announcement of the decision sparked controversy among parents, who received the news on Monday, Nov. 21, from now-former head coach Giovanni Napolitano, according to a Paly water polo parent, Nassim Usman. 

Napolitano, who, according to Max Preps, had been with the team for three years, said he did not want to “judge” the dismissal. However, Napolitano mentioned his disappointment with the administration’s decision process, saying it broke the rules outlined for issues with any coaches. Napolitano said the school’s guidelines says that instead of going to the principal, the issue should have been taken to the coaches and then the athletic director before the principal. 

“During the season, a few parents went straight to the principal to complain how bad I was treating their kids, and the principal didn’t apply his own school rules,” Napolitano said. “That’s why he [principal, Phil Winston] wasn’t fair with me, because I didn’t have a chance to fix the issue and maybe change the way I was coaching those kids.”

However, to now-former coach Craig Rockhold, the dismissal didn’t come as a surprise.

“I would not say that the Paly Admin’s set Gio [Napolitano] up for failure, but I don’t think anyone tried to set Gio up for success either,” Rockhold said.

Napolitano added that the decision was also unfair to the parents and kids who supported him as a coach because of their lack of involvement in the decision. 

“The program has 38 kids, and [a] small minority of parents decided I should be let go,” he said. “They have the right to share their opinions, but nobody went to the rest of the parents and kids and asked if the majority shared that view.”

Due to the decision, the Palo Alto Water Polo Club, which is also run by the now-former coaches Napolitano and Rockhold, will be closed and the winter training session will also be canceled, according to Rockhold.

Usman, parent of freshman JV water polo player Hans Usman, felt he had not been consulted for the decision. He had received an email from a parent coordinator that the PAWPC winter water polo season was cancelled.

According to Usman, many parents did not react happily to the news, as their sons had had initially planned to participate in the winter water polo season in the PAWPC that would have started Monday, Nov. 28.

“We were completely shocked and disappointed,” Usman said. “We and many other parents with whom we have spoken to since the announcement had no idea there were any issues with the coaching staff.”

Laurence said that Paly is simply going in a new direction; the decision, like any other in the program, was made “in the best interest” for the Paly athletes. She added that, contrary to Rockhold’s assumption, the other coaches under the head coach could still apply for a job as the head coach or under the new head coach.

Despite the good intentions, Usman said he was disappointed with the results and the process. The parents met with athletic director Earl Hansen and Laurence on Tuesday, Nov. 22, to discuss the issue.

“They assured us there was a process and that much data was obtained,” Usman said.  “Apparently some parents had issues with the staff.”

Although Rockhold felt that the decision would negatively impact the team, Brent Schroder, junior varsity goalkeeper, said that the varsity boys’ water polo team feels fine about the decision for the most part.

“The coaches were fired, dismissed, because they weren’t doing their job as well as we thought others could,” Schroder said. “The team is pretty content, not so much with the firing of some of the supporting coaches; but the two main head coaches most people were happy to see gone.”

Schroder said that his coach was “not very supportive.” He said that he sometimes saw the coaches picking on some players; he, however, never faced such a problem.

However, many of the water polo players seem to disagree. According to senior captain Daniel Armitano, who had been with the coaches for four years, the decision was unclear and unnecessary.

“I think it was a mistake to fire them,” he said. “This program would have never gotten to where it is now without them.”

Armitano added that he wished the administration had taken senior players’ opinions into account.

Fellow senior captain Peter Rockhold, Craig Rockhold’s son, agreed that he wished the players and parents had a larger role in the decision itself.

“It is extremely upsetting that the coaching staff be fired in such a private way,” he said. “As for the rest of the team’s thoughts, I know that there are a few players who instigated the whole ordeal, but most of the team was upset and surprised upon hearing the news.”

Peter added that he wishes that the administration would “reconsider their decision” or tell the staff the exact reason for dismissal.

According to Laurence, Paly has already begun looking for a new head coach and hopes to fill the head coach position soon. Craig Rockhold said he hopes that such a decision would happen soon, noting that it took seven months to hire the girls water polo coach, which was too late to create a summer program for training.

Outside all this controversy, Schroder said that he hopes to continue water polo as usual.

“I hope we get a new coach and have a season and hopefully a summer program because I don’t know what I would do without water polo,” Schroder said.

Usman expressed similar hopes that Paly would be able to have a winter season.

“We now have no other options for winter water polo since the local private clubs were closed for registration as this decision was being made,” Usman said.

Like Usman, Napolitano expressed regret that his team would no longer have a winter season and that players would be treated as “money” at other clubs. Napolitano said that the boys would not have a chance to learn about different cultures as they would in PAWPC, which hired European coaches for the boys.  

“Where are the principles that made this country great?” Napolitano said, “And also, why [should the] principal pretend everybody else [should] follow the school rules if he doesn’t follow them?”

Many of the assistant coaches for the varsity team worked without pay, according to Craig Rockhold. Neither Craig Rockhold nor Napolitano earned any money from PAWPC either, choosing to spend club fees on the program rather than on themselves. Rockhold added that most of the varsity assistant coaches were not paid, as Napolitano gave the money to the JV coaches. 

In spite of the dismissal, Craig Rockhold has enjoyed his experience at Paly. He expressed disappointment he would not be back but was optimistic about his time with the team.

“I’ve had a lot of fun and hopefully had a lasting positive impact on the boys,” Craig Rockhold said.

The varsity water polo team has an overall record of 17-13-0 and a league record of 9-3-0, according to Max Preps.