Interview by USA Waterpolo

1. Now that it has had a few months to settle in and you look back on what was accomplished in 2008, a true return to the podium, has it fully sunk in what an accomplishment and it was, and what are some of your great memories from the last year?

I feel incredibly blessed to have been a part of the 2008 Olympic Team. What these guys accomplished was amazing to say the least. I am very proud to say that I had a role in helping them to get back to the podium. This was a team effort. My staff did an incredible job and we would not have won a medal without Robert, Ryan and Rick. Every one of the guys contributed and played a vital role in our success. It was a magical journey.

Some of my best memories from this past year revolve around some of the people that helped us so much and do not get much credit. An ex water polo player named Abbey Frankl who provided dinner for the team one time per week while we were training. These meals were a time to come together away from the pool, relax and enjoy each others company. I believe that these team meals had a lot to do with us becoming a team. So many people in the Conejo Valley embraced our team. Our friends at CLU and Oaks Christian allowed us to train full time at no cost and they deserve a huge thank you for their part in helping our team.

As far as memories from the Games there are many – for me just being back on the pool deck at the Olympic Games was a dream come true. It was an honor to represent the USA again. Opening Ceremonies was a great memory. I spent some time walking in with Kobe and that was fun. Our Serbian Semi final game was certainly one of the best memories of the games. To see how far the team had come and to dominate the Serbs in a game that meant so much was unbelievable. I can still close my eyes and see the guys in the water pumping their fists after scoring a goal. I can see Merrill at his best just toying with some of the best shooters in the world. It is a fun memory. Of course, the gold medal game is a great memory too. The atmosphere of an Olympic final is something that I have now experienced on three separate occasions and there is not much that compares to it in life. I cried in the stands when the guys received their medals. I felt like a proud parent.

2. It must be a great feeling to have returned the United States men to among the world's best, is there a new found pressure to make sure the program stays there? How do you plan to keep the USA at the top?

It is a great feeling to see the Men back on the medal stand for the first time in 20 years. There is no question that now we are one of the targets. Once you are among the best - everyone will look to knock you down. There are now about ten teams that are all pretty close. On any given day any of these teams can knock off one of the “better” teams.

Our plan is to stick with what helped us to be successful. Build strong fundamentals and continue to build an unwavering commitment to team. It will be a huge challenge to stay in the top three for the next four years but that will be our goal.

3. While it is still several months away what kind of team do you see shaping up for the World Championships in Rome? A good deal of returners from Beijing or perhaps some new faces?

I believe that most of our team from Beijing would like to stay together and compete in the World Championships. They all feel that we have something to prove. We have never won a medal at the world championships so this is a big motivating factor for us. This team would like to make history.
We may have a few Olympians that do not return and perhaps some of the up and coming younger players will earn a spot on the team. We will bring our best possible group to Rome and try to win the gold.

4. In preparation for that event Team USA has tentatively planned common training both here and abroad, can you talk a little bit about what steps you'll take to get the team ready for Rome and who you might be practicing against?

We will follow the same strategy that worked for us in 2008. I would like to train and compete against the best teams in the world as often as possible. In March we will travel to Germany for a week of training with the Germans and then we will fly to Hungary for a four nation tournament that includes Hungary, Serbia, Romania and the USA.

In May we will have common training in the USA with Monte Negro and then in early June we will host Serbia for one week. Next up comes the World League Finals in Monte Negro where we will certainly face some of the best teams in the world.

Finally, before we go to Rome for the Worlds we will travel to Monte Negro for common training and our final tune up.

5. It is just the start of a new Olympic quadrennial but in a long term sense do you forsee Team USA continuing what has been built upon in 2008, come 2012 in London, England?

My goal as long as I am involved will be to keep this team in the top three in the world. As I stated earlier we will continue to build strong fundamentals. We also need to strengthen our pipeline and I look forward to working with Guy Baker in his new role as Director of Development. I believe that Robert Lynn and Ryan Brown will be critical in this piece too.

We as a country have never won a true Olympic Gold medal – this becomes our challenge now. Can we climb this final mountain and win a Gold ? I believe we can and that is one of the key reasons that I am still involved.

6. In the leadup to China you spoke often about returning a sense of pride to Team USA and about athletes taking pride in playing for their country, do you feel that is something that has fully returned, and how do you keep up that feeling?

I do believe that our players really did feel a strong sense of pride in competing for the USA. They became a great team with a common purpose. Each and every guy on that team wanted to win as much for his team mate as he did for himself. They understood what it means to fully give of yourself for the good of the team and they experienced the success that so often goes with that. Keeping the core of this team together will help us to maintain a sense of that pride that we all experienced.

If we can all keep the vision in our minds and the sense of “family” in our hearts then we may experience the ultimate pride of seeing the USA flag raised for us in a World Championship or Olympic medal ceremony.

7. Finally can you speak to the tremendous support the team had on their Olympic run and continues to have, that must be a integral part of the program's success?

There are so many people that deserve a big thank you for helping us to get back to the podium. We could not have done it without them. I would especially like to thank all of those that volunteered to be host families in our area. It was fun for me to come home and have so many people in this community tell me that for the first time ever they felt like they were actually a part of the Olympic Games. Becoming a community based team up here in Thousand Oaks helped us to feel like we were really cared for. We benefited greatly and I believe that many in the community felt a huge sense of satisfaction just feeling like they had played a small role in our success. My hope is that success breeds success and we can build on what we have done. Although, we did receive more financial support from the USOC we will still need to so a great deal of fundraising to make it all work out. Over the next four years – going into 2012 we will need more support than ever if we are to accomplish our goal of winning the Olympic Gold.

Once again, I will be reaching out and asking all of those in the water polo community to support our team. We will not be able to accomplish our goals without this support.