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{shortcode-21cc3534b02e5a90dd1b6e61be0fe28423896a7e}s coach of both the men’s and women’s teams, Ted Minnis has been instrumental to the success of Harvard’s water polo program over the past decade — and now, he has historic results to prove it.

The women’s team — which made its first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and won its first-ever Collegiate Water Polo Association Championship title — had a particularly successful season. Meanwhile, the men’s team secured its tenth season in a row winning more than 20 games, an especially impressive feat in a sport with about 30 games total each season. Now, Minnis is just four away from his 300th career win.

Though the accolades have piled on this season, the success has been years in the making.

Growing up, Minnis was dyslexic and had trouble in school, but began playing water polo while in high school. After leaving school for the birth of his son, he provided for his family by making deliveries for a local meat company.

Still, Minnis knew he would always come back to coaching, and just a few years later, began coaching water polo while juggling his delivery job. Finally, he became a full-time high school basketball and water polo coach, eventually choosing to focus on water polo.

Three and a half decades later, his decision has paid off, transforming Harvard’s program in the process.

When Minnis came to Harvard in 2010, he inherited a men’s team with a losing record for the past five seasons and a once-strong women’s team that was now struggling to return to dominance. Within one season, Minnis helped the men’s team win its most games in three seasons, and the women win the most in six years. Still, he credits his early success to the players that turned the team around.

“The dedication that they gave to this program and to teaching me to be a better coach and a better person, it’s definitely something that I’m very proud of,” Minnis said.

Before he came to Harvard, he was named USA Water Polo Development Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2007. Since then, Minnis has proven himself as a transformational coach, building a strong support system around players that has translated to a culture of success.

“A lot of places will throw the word family around,” Minnis said. “But we really are a family, we support each other in and out of the pool.”

Ella N. Schneider ’26, captain of the women’s team, reiterated Minnis’s commitment to creating a sense of “family” on the team, and explained that the coach cares deeply about his players outside the pool.

“When I get sick, or if anybody’s sick, like he is always the first person to call and be like, ‘How are you feeling today?’” Schneider said.

“He just has a very genuine interest in us as human beings,” she added.

Minnis credited much of both teams’ success this season to his past players, several of whom attended the CWPA championship game and continue to support the team even after graduating. Building on the leadership of past years, he said this year’s freshmen were particularly impactful in boosting the team to new heights.

Outside of the pool, Minnis cares deeply about his players’ academic goals as well. He emphasized that his players came to Harvard to experience high level academics and athletics, and ensures that they are always able to prioritize their work in the classroom.

For example, Minnis explained that he has changed the team’s practice schedule to work around lab times for classes and encourages players to build relationships with their professors, allowing athletes to be fully present in their schoolwork in addition to their practices.

“I always say my kids are scholar-athletes, and the scholar is going to come first,” he said.

Minnis is unique in coaching both the men’s and women’s teams, and he credits his assistant coaches for helping him manage the two. Though the balance can be difficult, he believes that coaching both teams has made him a better coach, allowing him to gain more experience each year and refine his coaching techniques every season.

“I look at it as an opportunity for me to get better every day,” Minnis said.

Minnis also said that he was particularly impressed with the women’s team, given various challenges that the players faced this season, including having a squad of only 15 — so few that a male player had to come on to help them practice. The team also dealt with the closure of Blodgett Pool for three weeks in late March and early April. The team adapted to the closure by practicing at pools at MIT and Boston University, as well as the smaller Malkin Athletic Center pool on Harvard’s campus.

Because of the closures, Minnis said that the team adapted to playing in different pools — leading them to success in key away games, such as in the CWPA championship.

“All the adversity that we’ve had, this is nothing,” Minnis said to the team. “Let's just go out and win the game.”

Sophomore Serafina Cortez said Minnis — in a final game of the regular season as the team prepared for overtime play — told them to “close your eyes” and “go back” to those other pools. He asked them to remember the tools they had gotten from those experiences and use them in the critical OT.

“Draw on the strength you built in those moments,” Cortez recalled Minnis telling the team.

“Obviously, it panned out for us,” she added.

In the Collegiate Water Polo Association’s preseason poll, Harvard was ranked 20th in the country — a number that Minnis said the team “laughed about” and used to fuel their success. Though the team won nine of its first ten games, Minnis said that the real turning point was the team’s dominant 14-3 win over the No. 16 University of Michigan.

“We come into our meeting on Monday after that, and you could just see the mindset shift, like, ‘Wow, we are really going to win a championship,’” Minnis said.

At that game, Minnis said the team played “loose,” with all fifteen players line dancing next to the pool during the team’s warm ups.

“They’re such a goofy group, and I love them for it,” Minnis said.

In an overtime thriller against Michigan in the CWPA Championship, the Crimson once again bested the Wolverines. Though the season ended after a loss to No. 3 USC in the NCAA Quarterfinals, Harvard finished the season ranked tenth in the country — climbing ten spots from their preseason ranking.

The team proved themselves as one of the strongest programs in the country, capping off the fifteenth year of an impressive coaching career for Minnis. Behind all the success, Minnis has a simple philosophy that continues to guide his coaching.

“I get to live my dream every day,” Minnis said. “If I can make my mom proud of me then I’m doing something right, and she’s a big Crimson fan right now.”

—Staff Writer Dessa E. Kavrakis can be reached at dessa.kavrakis@thecrimson.com.
– Staff Writer Akshaya Ravi can be reached at akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com.