An icon of the sport, Gavin Arroyo enters his 20th year as the Head Men’s Water Polo Coach at Long Beach State in 2025. Arroyo has established himself as one of the premier coaches at both the collegiate and international level and was recognized for his excellence within the sport with induction into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 2020.

Last summer, Arroyo completed a cycle with the USA Men’s National team, helping lead the squad to a Bronze Medal finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the first Olympic medal for the program in 16 years. That marked the second straight Olympic appearance for Arroyo, who also served as an Assistant Coach for the USA men at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Arroyo has led Long Beach State to the NCAA postseason in three of the last six seasons, finished ranked in the Top 15 in each of the last 10 years and has posted a winning record in all but one season since 2011, ultimately compiling a 294-217 overall record as the head coach of the Men’s Water Polo program at the Beach.

In 2024, Arroyo led Long Beach State to their first Big West Championship title after completing a 5-0 run to cap the regular season. The Beach defeated UC San Diego, 10-8 on the final game earning their third appearance at the NCAA Championship in the last six years. For the sixth time in his career, Arroyo was named Coach of the Year by the conference, while center Gabi Acosta earned both Player and Freshman of the Year after an impressive year at the Beach. Leading the conference, Long Beach State had five players to the All-Big West First Team as well as Acosta earning Second Team All-America.

In 2021, Long Beach State reached the NCAA Tournament after a dominant season. The Beach went 22-6 overall on the way to finishing the season ranked No. 6 in the nation and were a perfect 5-0 in Golden Coast Conference play before winning the GCC tournament. Rafael Real Vergara was named the Player of the Year, while Arroyo was named the conference Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his career.

That followed a tremendous 2018 campaign that saw Long Beach State win the Golden Coast Conference Tournament at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center. The Beach went on to host their first game of the NCAA Tournament, winning 12-5 against Pomona-Pitzer before falling in the National Quarterfinals in the program’s first tournament appearance since 1991.

Arroyo was named the Golden Coast Conference Coach of the Year and the Beach had five All-Americans in addition to GCC Tournament MVP, goalie Marwan Darwish.

Arroyo was a three-time MPSF Coach of the Year, earning the honors in 2007, 2012, and 2014. During the 2014 season he led the Beach to a 22-7 overall record and a 7-3 conference record. Long Beach State earned a No. 4 national ranking that season--matching the team’s final ranking in 2001 as the highest in program history.

In 2012 Arroyo led Long Beach State to a 24-8 regular season finish as well as a 4-4 finish in conference play. The historic year led LBSU to its first appearance in the MPSF Tournament since 2008 and ended with a fifth-place finish. Arroyo was also awarded with his second MPSF Coach of the Year award for his efforts.

In 2007, Arroyo was selected as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) co-Coach of the Year after leading Long Beach State to a 17-15 record. During the 2007 season the 49ers upset No. 2 Stanford (7-5) in an MPSF home match and won the Inland Empire Tournament. In his first season in 2006, the 49ers were 11-17 overall and tied for sixth place in the MPSF, picking up two victories over rival UC Irvine.

In 2017, Arroyo served as the head coach of the USA Water Polo Men’s Junior National Team at the FINA Junior World Championships in Serbia, leading the Americans to an 8th place finish. The next year, Arroyo served as an assistant coach for the Men’s Senior National Team, working with head coach Dejan Udovicic.

In 2005, he served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team planning training schedules, aiding in game preparation, organizing fundraising events, and being responsible for fundamentals, tactic implementation and conditioning.

Arroyo started the Long Beach Water Polo Club catering to youth water polo players, both boys and girls, on May 1, 2010. He has also served as the head coach for the Olympic Club of San Francisco men’s team (2004-05) for two years.

A 1994 graduate of UC Berkeley with a degree in political science, Arroyo was a first-team All-American at Cal in 1993. He was a part of three NCAA Championship squads at Berkeley (1990, 1991, 1992).

Arroyo competed on the U.S. National Team for eight years (1993-2000) helping lead the U.S. squad to numerous championships. The U.S. men’s team won the World Championships in 1994 and 1998, the 1997 FINA Cup and the 1995 and 1999 Pan American Games. He also competed on the U.S. men’s team at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games.

Arroyo competed for seven years overseas playing professional water polo in Greece and Spain with five different clubs (Vouliagmeni, Glyfada, CN Barcelona, Olympiakos and CN Barceloneta). He was a member of the 1998 Greek League championship team and was runner-up in 1997 and 1998 at the European Cup. Following his playing career, he worked for two seasons as an assistant coach at Cal before coming to the Beach. He also spent the past 11 years serving as the head coach of the women’s program as well at Long Beach State before turning the reins over to Shana Welch in 2020.

Arroyo is a native of Southern California, growing up in Orange and earning 1990 Swimmer of the Year and High School Player of the Year honors from the Orange County Register at Villa Park High School.

Arroyo and his wife, Erene, have two daughters, Angeliki and Mikaela.

Headshot	Name	Title	Phone	Email Address	Twitter
	Gavin Arroyo	Head Coach	985-8279	Gavin.Arroyo@csulb.edu
	Austin Ringheim	Assistant Coach		Austin.Ringheim@csulb.edu

Long Beach State University Athletics

2025 Men's Water Polo Coaching Staff

Coaching Staff