this paper discusses the electron optical system of an 8-in. spherical mcp-pmt. the mcp assembly, the supporting pole and the supply voltages are carefully designed to optimize the photoelectron collection efficiency and the transit time spread. coating the mcp nickel-chromium electrode with an additional high secondary emission material is employed to make a breakthrough on the collection efficiency. with the simulation software cst, the finite integration method and the monte carlo method are combined to evaluate the collection efficiency, the time properties and the earth's magnetic field effects. simulation results show that the photocathode active solid angle is over 3.5 pi sr, the average collection efficiency can exceed 95% with the coated mcp and the mean transit time spread is 2.2 ns for a typical electric potential of 500 v applied between the photocathode and the mcp input facet. the prototype and the measured single photoelectron spectrum are also presented.