First of all, this is huge for the sport… very exciting news. I’m pumped that SMC is adding water polo. Kudos to USAWP (who we all have been critical of in the past) for convincing SMC this was the right move.
I just don’t think this will be a slam dunk for the next coach. This is clearly an enrollment play by the college. They need tuition $$… It’s all about numbers. How much will they invest in the sport? Would European players consider SMC over UOP? For sure. But not if there is no scholarship money to hand out. This would mean more American kids get D1 opportunities, which i’m all for, but we know that is hard way to be competitive.
I don’t think the Lamorinda/CCU pipeline is an easy one to capitalize on. Very few kids attend SMC from the Lamorinda Area. Too close to home, expensive and it doesn’t knock it out of the park in the Princeton Review rankings (and that matters in that community) The lack of off-campus life is a challenge. I think the new coach will have more success recruiting the 680 corridor and the South Bay.
I don’t mean to come across as negative because this is a HUGE win for the sport. I just think it’s going to be a little more challenging than we may believe. I can’t imagine putting together a roster in 11 months. Go Gaels!
@University of Texas, Austin @TAMU, @SMU, @TCU. . . wanna give TX high schooler’s an in-state option to continue playing water ball? Asking for a friend or two.
I posted this when UCSD announced making a move to WCC, but for the women’s side at least I think this further opens the door to getting the WCC to sponsor women’s water polo.
it’ll be UOP, Santa Clara, LMU, UCSD, and now Saint Mary’s. All it took on the men’s side was four full members and then adding affiliates so this is some exciting stuff!
There is a similar announcement for St. Mary’s men’s program. The job announcements suggest that St. Mary’s intends to hire separate head coaches for each program.
If St. Mary’s follows its job announcement and requires applicants to have 5 or more years of college coaching experience, it will eliminate a number of potentially strong candidates from consideration.
I would imagine that Stanford’s job posting probably said something similar before they hired Flacks.
This is the most attractive job to come to the coaching market in a long time. I’d venture to guess the candidates will be a who’s who of the best coaches in the country. It’s an opportunity to build a program from the ground up that could end up competitive very quickly depending on how hard they hit the transfer portal. It’ll be interesting to see how fast they move. With most of the coaches on the men’s side in season for college and high school, I don’t know how much availability everyone will have to interview. But if St. Mary’s nails this hire, this team could break out fast.
How about Steve Carrera, who has already previously moved up to Marin , so is not too far, and has always been involved with the challenge of starting new programs from the ground up.
If I’m St. Mary’s, the top candidate would be Ilija Duretic from Fordham. He has head coaching experience from St. Francis Brooklyn. He brings a network of international recruiting, which is something that St. Mary’s has already shown they are willing to do with their basketball program. And he is also an ODP National Team coach that would have connections to top players from around the country.
Everyone always throws out Ross Sinclair and Brett Ormsby for college jobs, but I don’t think this is the one that pulls them from their current situations. I’d say only a Big 4 opening would do that at this point.
I think many current college assistant coaches will apply for the job, plus a few additional high school/club coaches with successful track records. Matt Farmer could be an interesting option, as he wouldn’t really need to move far from Stanford. I wouldn’t want to speculate on coaches that currently have head coach positions that might make the move, but I wouldn’t rule it out.
Fordham coach would be a good choice if he wanted to move west. Agree Ormsby would have to have a Big 4, but after getting screwed by Stanford, not sure he does that again. I don’t think Ross will ever leave that area, nor should he. I’ll throw a couple local coaches out. James Lathrop , and Brian Kreutzkamp, who didn’t get the job at Stanford. Carerra did pop in my mind, for the reason mentioned in another post, but I hear those JC jobs are pretty good.
Those are two good names. I’m not entirely convinced about Ilija moving West. A few months ago, there was a thread here that posted an assistant coach opening at Fordham. The pay was over 80k. Given that, I assume Ilija is making more than that as the associate head coach, likely around 100k. Furthermore, he recently took a new job as the full-time head coach of AGUA Water Polo, which practices at Asphalt Green. Given that the St Mary’s listing is for a salary expected to be 85-100k, I don’t see Ilijia leaving a two job salary to go out West.
Duretic hire, if he is available, would make sense if St.Mary’s plans to go UOP/Fordham route. However, if the goal is to become a respectable program ranked say 15th-20th and reverse a declining enrollment trend (tuition revenue dropped 30% in the last 4 years alone), then perhaps a different name would be a better fit.
It will be interesting to see which route St. Mary’s ends up going. When I first heard about the possibility of them adding water polo, I assumed that they would aim to compete with Santa Clara, but maybe they are looking to take it up a notch and shoot for the top 10.
Either way, good luck to St. Mary’s and their new coaching staffs.
I am sure every assistant coach has applied and I am sure they would hope to bring some of their recruits who have not committed yet. Fullerton used JUCO transfers to fill a team so I would assume they start there and the portal. I dont think the expectations would be too high year one but expect them to be solid by year 3 or 4.
