The national college admissions scandal that broke Tuesday reached Hawaii when a highly regarded water polo coach from the University of Southern California was arrested at his Waikiki hotel at 6:30 a.m.

Head coach Jovan Vavic, whose teams have won 16 national championships, was brought before a judge Tuesday afternoon at the federal court on Ala Moana Boulevard. He was released on a $50,000 bond and ordered to surrender his passport and not leave the country.

The USC women’s water polo team, which is 19-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country, is in Hawaii for spring break training and a game against the University of Hawaii on Saturday.

In a federal affidavit, Vavic was charged with accepting a bribe of $250,000 plus private-school tuition payments for his children in exchange for getting high school students admitted to USC.

Vavic is among 50 people charged in the scheme, which allegedly involved cheating on admissions tests and bribing coaches to gain admission for students into elite schools, including Stanford, Yale and Georgetown. The parents are accused of paying bribes that totaled approximately $25 million. Among the defendants are actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.

Vavic, wearing a red USC Trojan water polo sweater, gave only short answers to U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang.

Vavic was instructed not to fly anywhere except Oahu, California and Massachusetts, where the charges were announced. He also cannot have any communication with others charged in the case, access to firearms or weapons, and must report any run-ins with law enforcement. Vavic is set to appear in Massachusetts federal court March 25.

USC immediately fired Vavic and replaced him with his assistant, Casey Moon, who became interim head coach. Also fired was USC senior associate athletic director Donna Heinel, who was charged with taking bribes of more than $1.3 million in the case.

“Donna Heinel and Jovan Vavic have been terminated and the university will take additional employment actions as appropriate,” USC said in a statement. “We understand that the government believes that illegal activity was carried out by individuals who went to great lengths to conceal their actions from the university.”

UH and USC officials said the women’s water polo match is still scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.

The UH women’s water polo team is 12-3 and ranked fifth in the nation, but it has struggled against USC. “UH is 3-43 in the all-time series versus the Trojans with the Rainbow Wahine’s last win versus USC coming on April 29, 2006. USC has won 22-consecutive games in the series,” according to the UH website.

Vavic has been USC’s coach for 25 years. He is “one of the most decorated water polo coaches in the country,” according to the USC website. He is head coach of both the USC men’s and women’s teams. He has won the National Coach of the Year award 15 times. The USC men’s team has 10 national titles under Vavic, and the women’s team has six, giving him the most team titles of any USC head coach in history, USC said.

Vavic is a native of Yugoslavia and graduated from UCLA in 1992. He is married and has four children, two of whom played for him at USC and won national championships.

Star-Advertiser reporters Brian McInnis and Ferd Lewis contributed to this report.