LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree University Director of Athletics Anthony Francis announced the hiring of Miguel Figueras as the next head coach of the Bearcats’ men’s water polo program. Figueras will begin his duties at McKendree effective April 16.
Figueras is the father of current Interim Men’s and Women’s Head Coach Alex Figueras, who took over the two programs this January.
“We are excited for Miguel to join the McKendree Athletics department,” stated Francis. “He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from the highest levels of the water polo community and is a natural fit to lead the men’s program.”
Figueras is no stranger to the Midwest, as he has been a well-respected mentor to many. Previously, he has held the helm of the men’s water polo club program for Washington University in St. Louis since 2021. He led the Bears to four straight Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Great Lakes Division championships from 2021-2024. He placed the team in the final Men’s Collegiate Club Top 20 in all those four seasons, including a third-place finish in the final 2021 polls. Also, in 2021, Figueras earned the Great Lakes Conference Coach of the Year and the National Collegiate Club Championship Coach of the Tournament.
Coinciding with WashU’s head coaching role, he has been an essential part of the nearby St. Louis Area Polo (SLAP) since its formation in 2001. There, he was the club director and head coach for countless men and women in preparation and development towards their higher levels of competition.
“I would like to thank my wife, Karen, and my sons, Alex and Adam, for their unwavering support and encouragement as I pursue my passion for teaching and coaching,” noted Figueras.
“I’m also deeply grateful to Anthony Francis and President Dobbins for entrusting me with the opportunity to lead these incredible student-athletes. My hope is to continue mentoring and shaping these young men with the same dedication and care that Coach Colleen Lischwe has so admirably demonstrated.”
Some other positions held by Figueras include being the head boy’s coach of the De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis, Missouri from 2002-2017. During that time period, he won Conference Coach of the Year in 2004, 2005, 2010, and 2014 while being named Missouri Water Polo Coach of the Year in each of the former three. In 2010, Figueras led his team to win the Missouri State Championship.
Figueras is now in the Missouri Water Polo Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2018.
Since 2013, Figueras has been an age group coach for the USA Water Polo Midwest Zone Boys and Girls Olympic Development Teams as he was Zone and Vice Chair of the USA Water Polo Midwest Zone Board of Directors up till 2020. As a part of USA Water Polo, he has accumulated three various Coach of the Year awards (2014, 2015, and 2018) and one Chair of the Year recognition (2017) to which he was an assistant coach with the USA Water Polo Men’s Development National Team from 2014-2016.
In the more recent part of his tenure at USA Water Polo, Figueras has received four medals, starting with a gold medal with the Women’s Futures Team in Budapest, Hungary in 2018. He also won three straight Session 3 Platinum Division medals with a silver in the boys’ 14U (2022) and gold in both the boys’ 18U and 16U (2023 and 2024 respectively).
Back in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, Figueras assisted at multiple schools and organizations, including Mary Institute Country Day School, University City High School, and Tidewater Polo Club located in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Outside of the splashing waters, Figueras has been a Second-Grade Teacher and a Student Services Coordinator at The Wilson School in Clayton, Missouri for the last 25 years. He earned membership as an accredited teacher with the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) and was an Excellence Award Winner in 2024.
Figueras resides in St. Louis, Missouri where he went to high school at St. Louis University High School (’89). He earned his Bachelor of Arts for double-majoring in economics and in theology from Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in 1993.
Release courtesy McKendree University Athletics Communications
