When Willo Rodriguez took over as West Valley's men's water polo head coach in 2016, he had some big flip-flops to fill. Rodriguez succeeded the legendary Bruce Watson, now the head man at San José State and the winner of six CCCAA state championships at West Valley. Rodriguez has filled those shoes admirably, taking home six NorCal and six Coast Coach of the Year trophies. In 2021-22, Rodriguez was named the Coast Conference Coach of the Year in both men's water polo and swimming. He was named the 2022 water polo Coast Coach of the Year.

Rodriguez was an All-American for Watson when the Vikings won their first title in 1998 and again in 1999, when West Valley went undefeated, and then was a two-time All-American at Pepperdine. After assistant coaching stints at Pepperdine, the University of La Verne, and USC, Rodriguez returned to Saratoga in 2016 to lead his community college alma mater.  The San Juan, Puerto Rico native, who graduated from Bell Gardens High School in southern California in 1998 was also the head coach fo the Puerto Rico Men's National Team that competed in the 2019 Pan-Am Games. He earned his BA at Pepperdine (2003), his Master's at Azusa Pacific (2010) and his Ed.D at Pepperdine (2019).

He has compiled a 135-32 overall mark at West Valley. More impressively, his Vikings are 44-1 in the Coast Conference. Under Rodriguez, WVC has finished as state runner-up three times, in 2017, 2021 and 2022, while his 2016 and 2018 Vikings finished third in the state. West Valley has won the Coast Conference Championship postseason tournament in each of Rodriguez's six seasons (there was no 2020 season). The 2022 men's swimming team won the Coast Conference championship, a first for WVC aquatics. Rodriguez coached Alec Mortensen, the 2023 WVC Male Athlete of the Year, to the 200 IM and 200 Free state swimming titles in 2023.

Rodriguez teams have featured explosive offenses, tenacious defenses and premier goaltending. His Vikings have outscored opponents 2521-1111 overall, 877-226 in the Coast, in six years. He has produced 425 All-Americans in water polo (and many in swimming), 37 All-NorCal players and 55 All-Coast players. Vikings have been named the Coast MVP six straight years - Sina Gonzalez Lara (2016), Ivan Stefanovic (2017), Misael Andino (2018), Ben Fleming (2019) and Nikola Nikolic (2021) and Kai Seed (2022). Gonzalez Lara, Stefanovic, Xavier Domingo, Nikolic and Ante Buzov were NorCal Players of the Year from 2016-2018, 2021 and 2022. Four Vikings have earned Coast Goalkeeper of the Year honors: Marko Kruska (2017 & 2018), Xavier Casabella (2019), and Kai Seed (2022).

His biggest influences have been Terry Schroeder, the Pepperdine and Olympic head coach, and Watson. Topping his list of favorite WVC memories is shaving Watson's trademark mustache after winning the 1998 state championship. Like Watson, Rodrigues expects "excellence" from his athletes in the water and in the classroom. His self-described demanding, yet "fun" coaching style fits in perfectly at West Valley, which he says, can offer a student athlete, the "best facilities, the best connections and the best education in one of the most beautiful places in California."

Rodriguez wants his Viking players to take "great memories and friendships" with them when they graduate. Great memories, great facilities, a great education and a championship-caliber water polo experience. These are more than just words to Willo Rodriguez. He, after all, left Saratoga to seek his dreams and then returned to ensure the Viking men's water polo legacy continued.

For more information about West Valley men's water polo, contact Coach Rodriguez at willo.rodriguez@westvalley.edu.

Coach Rodriguez Year-By-Year at West Valley: