With 10 state championships, the Fenwick High School girls water polo program has long held a high standard of excellence. And the man most responsible for the Friars’ success, Jack Wagner, has returned this season as head coach after a four-year absence.
“I’m very happy to be back with the program and with Fenwick itself,” said Wagner, who previously served from 1993-1998 and 2000-2020. “I look forward to us having a brighter future.”
Fenwick junior goalie Regan McDonald, one of just three returning players from last year, is excited to have Wagner around.
“It’s going great,” she said. “All the girls understand his passion and drive, and everyone’s learned a lot so far.”
But the debut of Wagner’s third tour of duty has resulted in just two victories in 13 matches this year. Among the reasons for the uncharacteristically poor season for the Friars is the lack of numbers, according to Wagner.
“We only have 11 players on the roster, for both [varsity and junior-varsity] teams,” he said. “It’s been difficult for us to figure out what our goals are. Right now, we’re still trying to get to know the team, and hopefully make them a little bit better.”
Wagner adds that he’s getting along well with his players and they’ve gotten a lot of work done despite the low numbers.
“I have nothing but positive feelings about it. We get better every day,” he said.
“We were all surprised, but also really honored,” said McDonald of Wagner replacing Elizabeth Timmons, one of Wagner’s former players and assistant coaches who led Fenwick the previous four seasons. “We know [Wagner] has an amazing legacy and we all feel honored he’s willing to come back.”
Timmons, whom Wagner “thinks the world of,” led Fenwick to the 2022 state finals and to the sectional finals the past two seasons. She was able to have success even with fewer players, and now Wagner is determined to increase program participation.
“We’re going to start our age-group club again, starting the first week of June,” Wagner said. “We’re going to have sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders learning to play water polo and hopefully play at Fenwick. We’ll also have a high school club again.”
Wagner says good feeder programs are the main reason for success with high school sports programs, and he believes the re-establishment of similar programs will help Fenwick build things up.
“The success we had before was largely due to a strong age-group and club program,” Wagner said. “We were able to get kids in [that] we wouldn’t had been able to before. Unfortunately, a lot of our competitors got smarter and started their own clubs, and kids we’d been getting from the outlying areas, they weren’t coming anymore.”
While Wagner admits he’s not a patient man, he realizes bringing the Friars back to their lofty standards will take some time.
“It’s going to be a slow process,” he said. “But I’m not going anywhere and I’m looking forward to the challenge to building [the program] back to where it used to be. The patience part has never been part of my repertoire, but slowly and surely it’s becoming one, and in a way it’s a really good thing because it’s giving me another tool as coach to look at situations differently. I’m teaching grass-roots at the bottom and working my way back up.”
As for this season, McDonald feels a turnaround is dependent on the Friars becoming more comfortable with Wagner’s system.
“We need to get adjusted to his playing style and get comfortable with keeping our pace and energy up against other teams, especially on offense,” she said. “On defense, we need to work on communication.”
Fenwick hosts Lane Tech, April 17. After taking part in the York Invitational, April 19, the Friars return home for a crosstown showdown with Oak Park and River Forest High, April 21.