“I was obviously flattered,” he said.

Minnis sent in his resume, and after a phone interview, Harvard flew him across the country to visit Cambridge on June 17. A former history major, Minnis was immediately struck by the historical significance and older architecture of the Boston area.

“It’s so beautiful [in Cambridge],” Minnis said. “I was just so excited. I knew at that point if I had the opportunity to coach at Harvard, [I would take it].”

When Minnis was offered the job two weeks later, he jumped on it.

Since Minnis took up the post, he has been moving quickly to familiarize himself with his two teams, contacting players and organizing in-person meetings with players who live close to him in California.

Soon Minnis will receive tape of his two teams from last season so he can begin to get a sense of how his new players perform in the pool.

“I am really excited [to receive the tapes] to get to know the team,” Minnis said. “It’s just a process of getting to know each other as athletes and as people.”

Minnis has just less than two months to prepare for the upcoming men’s season that kicks off in early September. The men’s team, which hasn’t finished above .500 since 2004, is looking to get back on track after a 7-17 season last year. The women’s team fared slightly better, finishing 12-15, but dropped its final five contests.

“We look forward to working with Ted to move our water polo programs forward in their quest to be one of the top teams in the Collegiate Water Polo Association,” said Scalise, according to gocrimson.com.

But while a handful of weeks may not seem like a long time to prepare for one’s first season as a collegiate head coach, for someone used to coaching all year round, it feels like a long time.

“I haven’t been on the pool deck for 11 days,” Minnis said. “I am actually going a little crazy.”