Now in his seventh season, Joe Abing has led his teams to two South Coast Conference championships, and two second place finishes in the last four seasons. Last year, the came in third place in the conference championships and were 4-3 in dual meet races. Individually, the team saw freshman Matt Mendoza break the school record in the 1000 yard freestyle. Abing has now led his teams to six consecutive winning seasons. In six years under Abing, the men’s swimming team has compiled a 30-9 conference record, with two championships and two second place finishes.

During the two years the team won the conference title (2005 and 2007), Abing was voted the South Coast Conference Coach of the Year. In addition to winning the conference championships, the team has had numerous qualifiers for the state championships each year. In the last six seasons, six individual state titles have been won with Robbie Garcia winning two state titles for Cerritos - one in the 200-yard freestyle (2004) and in the 500-yard freestyle (2005). As for Nikos Kostianis, he won the state championship in the 200-yard butterfly in 2007 and came back the next year and won three titles in the 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard backstroke, and the 200-yard butterfly.  In just six seasons, 14 school records have been broken, while 12 swimmers and one diver have earned All-American status.

Prior to coming to Cerritos College, Abing spent the previous eight years coaching swimming at Ventura High School, and led them to their first league championship in 1997 and 1998, while coaching seven All-Americans.

As the Falcon water polo coach, Abing has turned the Cerritos College men’s water polo program into a state contender. This past season, he guided the team to the Southern California Regional Playoffs for the sixth year in a row. The team finished in third place during the regular season and placed second in the South Coast Conference Tournament. They were defeated in their opening game and concluded the season with a 17-11 record. In his six seasons, Abing has posted a 144-77 record, which includes advancing to the Southern California Regional Playoffs each season and also advanced to the state championships twice. Back in 2004, Abing led the team to the South Coast Conference Championship, as well as the state championship and was voted the Southern California and SCC Coach of the Year.

Abing came to Cerritos College after spending two seasons as the head coach at Ventura College. He did a solid job with the Pirates, leading them to a 21-11 water polo record in 2002 and helped them advance to the second round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs both seasons. In addition to his duties at Ventura College, he was the swimming coach at Ventura High School since 1995. He also handled the water polo duties at Ventura High until 2000, before taking the job at Ventura College.

Abing played water polo and competed in swimming at South Pasadena High, where he started on the 1989 CIF Championship water polo team. In his senior year, Abing helped the swim team place second in the CIF championships. While in high school, Abing earned All-League, All-CIF and was named to the San Gabriel Valley All-Star Team. He moved on to Cuesta College, where he played water polo and swam for Terry Bowen, who is an alumnus of Cerritos College. Abing would eventually graduate from UCLA, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 1995. In 2002, he graduated from Azusa Pacific University with a Master’s in Physical Education. In addition to his duties with the men’s aquatics program, Abing also teaches a full load of physical education classes.

Coach Abing lives in Seal Beach with his wife Rachelle, son Keegan (2), and new baby son Sawyer Cruz, born February 10, 2010.