Coach Whitmore attended Costa Mesa High School, Goldenwest College, Pepperdine and San Diego State.  He currently holds a California teaching credential as well as a Master's degree.  In addition he is also a Level III USA Swimming Certified Coach. 

During the school year, he teaches English at Edison High School, where he coached  Varsity Water polo and Swimming for several decades.   As an athlete, he was a seven-time All-American selection.  He has been actively coaching water polo and swimming since 1986, being named Sunset League Coach of the Year 4 times.  

He lifeguarded for the City of Huntington Beach for 20 years, 16 of those years spent heavily involved with the Junior Lifeguard Program.  

My name is Jarrett Tossey and I am your new Head Water Polo Coach, I wanted to send out an introduction about myself. Firstly, I am a Chemistry Teacher at Capistrano Valley High School and an alumnus of Edison High School, class of 2014. Next, I want to outline my coaching philosophy and essential coaching experiences as this will be my eleventh year of coaching Water Polo. 

Coaching Philosophy

I have developed my coaching strategy, team management, and practice approach from different Olympians, coaches apart of the ODP/National Teams, College Coaches, former and current head coaches, and through my own success in various roles, so all I ask from everyone are three attributes: 1) Commitment 2) Effort and 3) Patience. The first attribute, commitment, simply means for the athletes to attend every practice, pasta party, team hangout, and game. The second, effort, means for the athletes to end every practice, weight lifting session, and game saying “I did everything I could to help the team” as that is all I can ask from an athlete. Lastly, the third attribute, patience, is as we transition in the way I want the program and the style of Water Polo I run, I will be patient with each athlete as they learn and grow as players and they have to be patient and trust in the process. 

Those three key attributes can be viewed as a promise to me that you are dedicated to this program because I am a coach who is heavily involved in any program I am affiliated with as I know what it takes to build a dominant program. I believe that the Head Coach of a program has to be involved with all levels, and as long as there aren’t conflicting events, the Head Coach should be at those events. This mutual agreement between the athletes and myself is why I am beyond stoked to develop an offseason program and schedule that includes a structured: weight lifting regime, water polo practices, scrimmages, and team bonding experiences just to name a few aspects you can look forward to. Lastly, the biggest takeaway I want you to take from my coaching philosophy is that I will do whatever is best for the Edison athletes and community. 

Coaching experience

I started coaching Water Polo at the age of seventeen and this will be my eleventh year coaching, and in that time I would like to highlight three main accomplishments that I am most proud of. The first one is my one-year coaching Edison as a boys coach because I played a critical role in the Boys finishing second in Sunset League, beating, Newport Beach, Los Alamitos, Fountain Valley, and Marina. My second most proud coaching moment was seeing athletes that I helped develop for numerous years who have been a part of various ODP and National teams, as well as being major contributors at various colleges. My third most proud moment as a coach was in the last six years when I helped take a program to a Division Three CIF victory my first year and helped it get to a runner-up in Division One this last season and I learned how to build a successful program from a Head Coach who helped develop that program as well as another local dominant program. 

If you would like a deeper account of my coaching history please click here

In conclusion, I am excited to be your coach, and I am proud to be back at a program that helped me stay in love with this sport. I will always do what is best for the Edison athletes and community and I hope you are all as excited as I am to start our journey to developing a top water polo program. I look forward to meeting every family and am even more excited (more like I can barely wait) to start coaching the athletes.