Brian Flacks was named the new head coach at Stanford University on March 23, just a couple weeks after Jon Vargas' surprising departure. He'll take over as the men's varsity head coach, only the fifth in the history of that storied program which has won 11 national titles.

That's a lot, but not enough according to many observers who now look to one of the most successful high school coaches in America to bring more trophies back to The Farm in the coming years.

We talk about those expectations, what he's done in his short time on campus, and, fascinatingly, about resentment and how it quite possibly stoked his passion for coaching the sport at the highest levels.

He just led the men of Cal Berkeley to an NCAA title for the fourth time in his career with a dramatic one-goal win over USC in last weekend's final match. He's one of the most celebrated water polo personalities in America: a USA Water Polo hall of famer, three time All-American player at Cal himself, 1988 NCAA Player of the Year, and USA Olympian in 1992 and 1996. Coach Kirk Everist joins us for a discussion of this year and seasons past, plus recruiting overseas talent and some of the financial pressures that may emerge for collegiate athletes in the coming years.

He would never 'fess up to it but after leading the USA women to their third consecutive gold medal (perhaps a fourth in Paris?) he can fairly be called "legendary." He's Adam Krikorian, one of the world's best at his craft if the collection of hardware tells us anything.

The medals are important but in today's conversation we talk less about that and more about his future with the Olympic team, the struggles prior to winning gold in Tokyo, and some speculation on the future of college water polo. All that while touting the the massive talents of his athletes and deflecting his own role in what can fairly be described as perhaps the best Olympic team in the world.

We continue our series on the Tokyo Olympic Games with a conversation with Ben Hallock, described by at least two men - Dejan Udovicic and Alex Bowen - as the “best center in the world.” He and his USA teammates finished sixth in the tournament and he’s headed back to Champions League winners Pro Recco soon. He joined us via Zoom from Washington state and talked about the differences between Rio and Tokyo, getting pummeled while making it look like it's no big deal, and much more.

A continued look back at the recently completed Tokyo Olympics. Alex Bowen finished the men's tournament as its fourth highest scorer. Team USA experienced some good results – a win over Italy perhaps the highlight – but also some less than desirable ones. Bowen helps dissect the tournament with deeper dives in to the Japan and Greece games as he and his teammates finished sixth. Plus, finally: an explanation of "the chop."

She warned us prior to the Games that her team was not "invincible," and she turned out to be very much correct. But Stephania Haralabids and her teammates were able to rally from the USA Senior Women's program's first defeat in a couple years to overcome some physical opponents, stiff mattresses, and Covid restrictions to win a third consecutive Gold Medal. She shares the experiences of the last 20 or so days, including the complexities associated with returning to "real" life after huge success and very hard work at the Games.

Alys Williams was the final cut from the 2016 USA Women's National Water Polo Team, as NBC informed us just a few times during the Tokyo Olympics. Williams recovered from that setback quite nicely and now has a heavy, shiny 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medal to hang on her office wall.

In a very revealing conversation she detailed the stress and nerves associated with being affiliated with one of the all-time great water polo programs, how it affects sleep, how it likely contributed to the team's "slow" start, and how Melissa Seidemann was there to help her (and others) overcome it.

She also talks about what makes Adam Krikorian a now legendarily good coach, why Tony Azevedo is wrong about Ralph Lauren tie dye, and... retirement (or maybe better to call it, contentment).

One of the most interesting stories about this monster roster that is the USA Women's Olympic Water Polo Team, which is expected to win gold beginning on July 24 in Tokyo, is Stephania Haralabidis. Born and raised in Greece but already a dual citizen she made the tough decision to try for a spot on the American team, the world's best for a decade or more. She flew to Tokyo on Tuesday but spoke with Total Waterpolo in between practices last Friday.

Ben Stevenson made waves in the US water polo community as a high schooler from Reno, Nevada who went on to excel at the University of the Pacific and now takes his place on the USA Men's Water Polo roster for the Tokyo Olympic Games. He joined James Smith and Michael Randazzo to talk about his unlikely path toward the highest reaches of American and international water polo, and on being the first ever from the Silver State to make a USA Olympic Team roster.

In his 12 years as Head Coach of the UCLA Men's team Adam Wright has won four NCAA Championships, including one just a few weeks ago.

In 2017 he became head coach of the Bruins women and was in Bloomington, Indiana earlier this week with that second-ranked team to take on the Hoosiers in a two-game series. We got the chance to speak with him outdoors, in nature, near traffic, after the second of two competitive games that resulted in victory for UCLA.

Taylor Dodson took over as Head Coach of the Indiana Hoosiers in 2019 and led them to a 13-5 record and a top 20 ranking in her first wild season. She returns for her second pandemic-affected season and currently ranks 15th in the CWPA coaches’ poll with a very challenging schedule. They took on 2nd ranked UCLA twice past Monday and Tuesday and fell in very closely contested games. Prior to that two-game series she joined us via Zoom to talk about the Indiana job, how coaching became a career for her, and the team's punishing schedule.

Covid has had profound effects on water polo as it is practiced throughout the United States. This conversation is hopefully the first of several in which we discuss exactly how the pandemic has altered high school and club programs in a variety of states and localities.

Brian Flacks is a now well-known name in the industry having coached at Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles for nearly a decade, in addition to founding on of the nation's most successful clubs, LA Premier.

Paul Splitt is a multiple-time state high school championship coach who currently heads up the program at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnatti, Ohio. He is also a founding member of Moose Water Polo (best club name in the US?), and leads the Youth boys ODP team for the Great Lakes Zone.

In a frank discussion of how the pandemic has hit their programs we talk about the vast differences between Ohio and Southern California, and delve in to observations of how demoralizing it is for athletes to be limited by the various restrictions in place.

Today one of the most accomplished water polo athletes in US history: a two-time Olympic gold medalist and Cutino award winner while starring for National Champions Stanford, she recently took the reins at one of the most prestigious programs in the USA, Corona del Mar High School.

It’s Melissa Seidemann who covers her prestigious career, the challenges of coaching a powerhouse high school team during a pandemic, and shares some frank memories of a generational shift within the US Women's Team after the London Olympics.

This week we feature Chris Oeding, who has quietly become one of the best coaches in the country. He’s currently an assistant on the USA Women’s Senior National Team, and is Head Coach at Long Beach City College, which he’s led to seven California state community college championships.

At Corona del Mar High School he was CIF player of the year in 1988, then went on to win three NCAA Championships with the Cal Bears, plus a co-player of the year award.

That led to a career with the USA Men’s National Team including two Olympic Games appearances: 1996 in Atlanta and 2000 in Melbourne. He spoke with Lala Kocsis via instagram back in May. 

One of the USA's already-risen stars is from a small town in Central California. Loomis' Alex Obert never made an ODP travel team, and when he was first called up to the US Men's National Team upon the arrival of Head Coach Dejan Udovicic, it was his first ever time on any USA squad.

We talk to him about his rise from relative obscurity to a starring role at the University of the Pacific, which lost in one of the most heartbreaking overtime NCAA championship matches ever in 2013. We go over that rough terrain, talk about getting on UoP's radar, and cover his pretty meteoric rise to both Olympian and European professional status.

And for news on water polo in Texas be sure to subscribe to the TXWaterpolo Podcast via most of the major distributors.

The title says it all.

Michael Randazzo and James Smith spoke with two of the rising young coaching talents in the collegiate ranks. Austin Ringheim and Max Schlegel are both recent hires at MIT and Johns Hopkins. Their schools are among the most challenging in the US and are now even more so with the pandemic going on month seven.

Schlegel and Ringheim talk about the difficulties faced by their student-athletes, give their best guesses about what comes next for their programs, and look back fondly on the year that was 2019, when both teams took part in the first ever Division III Championship Tournament in Whittier.

Meanwhile, the first USA Water Polo competition since the spring is taking place in Central Texas. Take a listen to the latest TXWaterpolo Podcast to hear how the event has shaped up, including the many Covid-19 related rules put in place by the hosts.

And, just in case you were in the market for some Total Waterpolo gear, here you go (and thanks!).

On a day when another collegiate varsity program is cut we dive in to a more positive story. Alyssa Diacono was announced as head coach for the new program at Mt. St. Mary's in Maryland way back in pre-lockdown days. We speak with her about her new job and her time as an athlete in Australia and Malta.

Then Lala Kocsis's conversation with Jessica Gaudreault from an interview they had back in June. The Canadian national team goalie talks about what's going on in Canadian water polo during the lockdown, and about her time in Bloomington playing for Indiana University.

We will have more on La Salle's decision to cut men's varsity water polo in the coming days.

We've threatened to do it for too long. Now it's here.

It's the first of hopefully many Total Waterpolo Podcasts. Today we feature two conversations.

First, Total Waterpolo contributor Michael Randazzo speaks with Nioka and Nathan Thomas from Australia. Nioka will be the first non-American on the Anteater women's water polo squad. And her dad, two-time Olympian Nathan, joins the Zoom call to share his thoughts about his daughter's future in the States, his career with Barcelona as a professional, and his time atop the Australian water polo pipeline.

Then, Preslav Djippov, who was recently hired to lead the new men's program at Westcliff University in Irvine, talks with James Smith about his Bulgarian background, making it to the USA, and of course, his job at the newest varsity water polo program in the nation.