Bio

Mandy Simon, who was named head coach of the Comets prior to the 2018 season, was a vital player as a goalie for Palomar’s 2004 team that finished first in our conference. After a knee injury and a season off, she returned to the water as a 2M defender. She transferred and finished her last two seasons as a Division II utility player at Cal State Monterey Bay under former Olympian, Gary Figueroa. 

Simon’s coaching experience dates back to 2005. She spent three seasons at Vista High School and two seasons at La Costa Canyon High School. She has experience coaching at The Boy and Girls Club and coaches club for North San Diego STARS in the spring. In the winter, Simon coaches the girls water polo team at Oceanside High School.   

As a Palomar assistant coach in 2010 and 2011, she took a break and returned in 2017. She was elevated from assistant coach to head coach in 2018. Simon’s head coaching career includes guiding the Comets to second in conference her first year. In 2019, she led the team to a first-place victory and earned the title of conference champs. She also received the Coach of The Year award by the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference. After a missed season in 2020 due to COVID, Mandy led the comets to another conference title in 2021 and received the Coach of The Year award for the second season in a row. With only a few seasons under her belt, she is eager to grow the program into more success and take the team to the state level.   

Simon’s goal is to develop athletes to succeed as scholarship players on the four-year college level. She uses water polo as a platform to ensure her student-athletes acquire the skill sets they need to succeed in the classroom and in life. She is passionate about gender equity and strives to instill confidence in her athletes as women and empower them to fight for injustices within sports. 

Mandy Simon received her Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from Cal State Monterey Bay and her Master’s in Physical Education from Azusa Pacific University. She is currently working on her Doctorate in Organizational Leadership at Grand Canyon University. She and her husband Eddie live in Oceanside.