Andrews selected to lead Lightning polo

Jeff Andrews, who played at UC Irvine from 1993-98, has been named

Sage Hill School’s boys water polo coach.

Genai Kerr, the former coach, stepped down from his position

because of his schedule and time spent as a goalie with the United

States men’s national team.

Andrews, 29, who lives in Newport Beach, still plays water polo

and is Kerr’s teammate on the top Newport Water Polo Foundation men’s

team, coached by Ted Newland, the head man at UCI. As Kerr’s schedule

became more demanding, he hoped Andrews would replace him. Andrews

had been planning to be the assistant to Kerr this season.

“It seemed to be a good fit,” Andrews said. “I didn’t know if I

was going to be a head coach last month. I wasn’t expecting that at

the time, but the need was there and the ambition was there on my

part, so we decided to give it a go.”

As a financial advisor who works on a flexible schedule, Andrews

will be in an ideal situation when coaching the Lightning. Sage Hill

has its practices in the evening and its home games are at night, as

well, at CdM.

The Sage Hill job will be Andrews’ first head coaching position.

He was a volunteer assistant at his alma mater, J.W. North High in

Riverside, in 1998. He took on the same duties at Long Beach City

College in 1999, when he assisted Omar Amr, the former coach who also

plays on the U.S. national team. Amr, as well as Kerr, are also

former UCI players and Amr also plays on the Newport Water Polo

Foundation team.

Andrews had always planned to become a head coach on the prep

level, but Kerr’s resignation sped up the process, the new Sage Hill

coach said.

“It was just a matter of making the time for practices and games

work,” Andrews said. “Working out at night is a blessing in disguise,

otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

Andrews began coaching the Lightning Tuesday night. When Sage Hill

practices, Andrews said, Newport Harbor’s varsity and junior varsity

teams also use the CdM pool. The Sailors’ pool is being renovated and

is expected to be ready Nov. 1.

“So far, I’m very impressed with the kids’ work ethic,” Andrews

said. “The fact that they’re in this private school that has

extraordinary expectations for academics, they are no strangers to

working hard. They’ve been listening and implementing what I’m trying

to give them.”

Kerr had coached the Lightning since its inaugural season in 2000.

Last year, Sage Hill, which competes in CIF Division VI as a

free-lance school, finished 7-11.