Newport Harbor offers Lynn boys’ water polo, swim coaching job

Robert Lynn has been offered the job to become the Newport Harbor High boys’ water polo and boys’ swim coach, according to a source who requested anonymity.

He is close to deciding, the source said.

Lynn declined to comment on questions dealing with coaching jobs. Newport Harbor Principal Michael Vossen said Tuesday night that he could not comment on the situation.

Lynn, a 2000 Olympian and an assistant coach with the 2008 silver-medal winning U.S. men’s Olympic team, has been the coach at Harvard-Westlake, where he was hired as boys’ and girls’ water polo coach in 2009.

Lynn remains an assistant coach for the U.S. men’s senior national team and he’s a co-coach of the U.S. junior national team.

Lynn was head coach of the youth national team in 2006 and 2007 and was later named assistant coach of the men’s national team in December 2007.

Lynn’s Harvard-Westlake girls’ team, featuring senior standout Ashley Grossman, captured the CIF Southern Section Division IV title in February. Lynn was named Division IV Coach of the Year.

He coached the water polo teams at Marina High in 2005 and 2006 and also was the swimming coach at Long Beach Wilson in 2006.

Lynn, who starred at Long Beach Wilson and USC in his playing career, went on to play for the U.S. in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. That was part of a long playing career that spanned more than a decade. Lynn played much of that time in Europe, in countries such as Croatia, Italy, Greece and France.

He currently resides in Long Beach, according to his bio on usawaterpolo.org.

Newport Harbor won the Sunset League boys’ water polo title last year and advanced to the CIF Southern Section I quarterfinals before losing to Dos Pueblos. The Tars advanced to at least the quarterfinals in each of Lynch’s 10 years, winning the Division I title in 2007, one of three finals appearances.

Lynn, 44, would take over for Jason Lynch, who was fired April 8 after ten years as the Sailors’ coach. Vossen has declined to give a reason for Lynch’s departure, other than to say a change was necessary in the program.

Lynch never commented on his removal. He remains a teacher at the school.