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’?”