Water Polo Coach Fired After Just One Season

Two weeks ago, Scott Russell was looking for a way to restore the Harvard men’s water polo team to national prominence, as he did its women’s counterpart.

Now he’s looking for a new job.

Russell was fired at the conclusion of a meeting with Associate Athletic Director Steve Staples, after he rebuffed the University’s demand that he resign, according to an e-mail Russell sent to members of both the men’s and women’s water polo teams.

Russell, who is currently in Michigan vacationing with his family, will return to Purdue University in the fall to complete work on his Ph.D and re-evaluate his future plans, he said.

Staples, in an e-mail obtained by The Crimson and addressed to the members of both water polo teams, wrote that the University aims to fill the vacancy by Aug. 15—less than one month prior to the start of the men’s season.

Russell was first made aware of his lack of job security at a meeting on July 7, at which Staples presented him with a series of grievances compiled by the athletics department during the previous two months.

“The athletic department needed to dig up some dirt,” Russell told The Crimson. “They spent the past six to eight weeks doing so unbeknownst to me, and I had no clue that my job was in jeopardy. I made some mistakes—I admitted that in my performance evaluation—but they’re not the kind of mistakes someone is terminated for.”

The three principal errors Russell cited as the University’s grounds for his dismissal all involved minor violations of established school policies governing the recruitment of student-athletes and the conduct of Harvard coaching staff. But according to Russell, these mistakes were not the product of an effort to circumvent University policy. Rather, each was a result of his own ignorance of Harvard guidelines combined with a genuine desire to elevate the two programs under his care to respectable Division I status.

In recruiting a highly touted high school student, Russell contacted the athlete’s guidance counselor to inquire about his academic standing. According to Russell, because the student’s school did not supply Harvard with class rank, the recruit’s Academic Index (AI)—a combination of a student’s SAT and SAT II scores, as well as class rank—made admission unlikely.

“The student was not going to attend Harvard because his AI was computed far below what it should have been,” Russell said. “The student was going to finish third in his class, but his school reported it as ‘top 20 percent.’ I was disappointed that the AI was far below what I had computed [when including his actual class rank].”

Russell inquired as to why the school did not include class rank, then suggested that the counselor include the class rank as an exception—a decision he admits crossed the line.

Russell was also presented with a violation of department policy for taking the women’s water polo team on two trips outside the Northeast Region, which violates Harvard guidelines governing “Tier II” varsity sports. But since one trip came over intersession, the other spring break, and no classes were missed on either occasion, Russell said he was unaware of his error.

“I made a mistake,” Russell said. “It’s all part of the learning process. Next year, we would have only traveled once.”

Russell was also charged with verbally abusing referees, a claim which he flatly denies.

“How do you defend against that?” Russell asked. “I’m not Bobby Knight. I didn’t throw a chair at anyone. I’ve never been thrown out of a game. I’m a very active coach [and] I call out plays...I have never been verbally abusive towards an official, but how do you say, ‘I never said that’?”

Director of Athletics Robert Scalise declined to comment through a spokesperson, and Staples did not return several calls.

But Staples, in the e-mail obtained by The Crimson, wrote that, “Although it would not be appropriate to comment on the reason for his departure, I can state that, contrary to rumor, the change in leadership was not caused by concern over inappropriate treatment of student-athletes.”

Those rumors began to swirl following freshman Melissa McHugh’s voluntary withdrawal from the University following a series of academic and health-related issues. McHugh was sidelined during the season after suffering a bout of amnesia.

“[The team] was really worried about her,” rising senior Tammy Yanagi said. “They didn’t really find out about it because Scott didn’t want to disclose the information, but when they found out they were all really concerned.”

After she had recovered and left the College, an attorney for McHugh and her family contacted Harvard General Counsel threatening legal action, prompting the involvement of the President’s Office, according to an e-mail obtained by The Crimson that Russell sent to his team upon his termination.

“They were threatening a lawsuit and we weren’t exactly sure what it was,” Yanagi said. “But they didn’t make it sound like a big deal since it was Scott’s first year. [The atmosphere] was very light.”

But despite appearances that all was well, Senior Associate Athletic Director Patricia Henry interviewed members of the water polo teams, inquiring about Russell’s attitude and treatment of players, according to Yanagi.

“[Henry] was asking about how Scott treated me and how he treated other athletes,” Yanagi said. “Basically if he ran the team well. They just kept telling us that it was no big deal and reinforced that it was his first year and it was no big deal.”

Henry did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.

According to Russell, he and Staples met to discuss the issue on several occasions, as early as the first week in April.

“Every meeting that I had with Steve Staples, he said, ‘Scott, you have nothing to worry about,’” Russell said.

But despite the administration’s assurances that the pending legal matter was no cause for concern, Staples told Russell that Scalise and Henry both traveled to McHugh’s home state of Connecticut to meet with her parents regarding the issue.

“The family didn’t get the answers they wanted from Steve Staples,” Russell said, “so they pursued this all the way to the President’s Office. That’s when [Scalise] and [Henry] had to get involved.”

“This issue required the attention of the Athletic Director and several other senior level administrators in the Athletic Department,” Russell wrote in the e-mail to his former teams. “The Athletic Department needed to make this issue go away. The head coach of the water polo teams was fired. Pretty simple.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.