John Vargas played water polo for the USA at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He was on the US national team for 10 years and helped them win the 1991 FINA World Cup, and place second at the 1983 Universiade, the 1986 Goodwill Games, and the 1991 Pan American Games. Vargas played in college at UC Irvine, where he was twice an All-American and led them to the 1982 NCAA title and an undefeated season.
Vargas became a water polo coach, starting that career even while he was playing. He coached at Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California from 1984-2001. Vargas was an assistant coach with the US national team from 1993-96 and then became head coach from 1997-2000. In 2002 Vargas became head coach at Stanford. He led them to the NCAA title in 2002 and to the NCAA Championship Games five times in his first 10 seasons as coach, including consecutive runner-up finishes in 2003-05, also coaching them to multiple 20-win seasons.
United States