Bio entering the 2027 season
Mitchell Seeley, a fixture in the San Diego water polo community for nearly two decades, was named assistant coach for the San Diego State water polo team on April 2, 2024.
In 2026, his mentorship led two Aztecs, Mimi Stoupas and Claudia Valdes, to earn All-America honors, and Sydney Gish, Ioanna Petiki, Stoupas and Valdes all-conference honors.
Stoupas garnered her second consecutive All-American honor, Golden Coast Conference (GCC) Player of the Year designation and third All-GCC moniker in 2026. The junior led the league with 81 goals, which are the sixth most in a single season in program history, and was No. 5 in both points and steals. Valdes, a senior, earned All-American status, was a first-team All-GCC performer, and led the league in assists, was No. 2 in points, No. 3 in steals, No. 5 in blocks and No. 9 in goals. Her 123 points were the second most an Aztec has totaled in a season, marked the third straight campaign she reached triple digit points, and her 438 career points are a San Diego State record. In addition, Valdes exhausted her eligibility ranked No. 2 in assists and No. 4 in goals in program history. Gish, also a senior, had her finest season as a collegian in earning second team All-Golden Coast Conference honors and finished the year ranked No. 4 in points, No. 5 in steals and No. 6 in goals and assists among GCC performers. Her 232 career points upon graduation slotted her into No. 5 on the program’s points list. Petiki, a freshman, garnered GCC All-Freshman Team honors. She set a new freshman program record with 63 assists and her seven assists vs. Azusa Pacific, was also a freshman record and tied for the most in a game in program history.
In 2025, his first full-time season on the staff, he helped mentor sophomore Mimi Stoupas to All-American and first-team All-Golden Coast Conference designation. Juniors Claudia Valdes and Sydney Gish were named second team and honorable mention All-GCC, respectively. In addition, Delanney Ewing and Julianne Stark earned inclusion on the league’s All-Freshman Team.
Seeley spent 2024 as a volunteer assistant with the program having spent the prior 13 years as a coach with San Diego Shores Water Polo Club. Since taking over the 14U Girls' program in August 2015, a position he continues to hold, his teams have garnered five top eight finishes at the Junior Olympics, and have top 12 finishes in eight of the last 10 while only once has his team finished outside of the top 14. The program was also a medalist in five national championship tournaments and for his efforts he was twice named one of 12 USA Water Polo’s Brent Bohlender Distinguished Coaches Award winners, which recognizes the nation’s top coaches for developing young female water polo players.
In addition to his club work, the San Jose, California, native, served as a coach in the Olympic Development Program (ODP) for the Pacific Southwest Girls Cadet Team from 2018-2023. During his time with the program, two of his players won gold medals at the Youth World Championships in 2022.
Seeley has also coached on the local high school level. His high school experience includes a four-year stint (2016-19) at The Bishop’s School, where his team’s won league titles in 2016, 2017 and 2019, as well as CIF titles in each of those seasons, with the girls’ team and 2016 and 2018 with the boys’ team, adding a boys’ CIF crown in 2019.
Seeley earned a bachelor’s degree from San Diego State in 2013 and added a teaching credential in 2015. In 2020, he completed a master’s degree from Concordia University (Irvine).