There are a number of reasons why water polo at the NCAA level is unique. One of the most prominent is that there is no real separation by Division in terms of who plays one another. There are often competitive matchups between NCAA Division I and NCAA Division III schools and that is something that rarely happens in most sports. The most prominent of the Division III powers that has a history of beating NCAA Division I schools and is a fixture in the National top twenty polls each year is Redlands. This small school from Southern California has been making big waves on the water polo scene for what feels like forever and there does not appear to be any letdown in sight.
The Bulldogs are led by Tom Whittemore and the only word to describe his tenure since 1988 is outstanding. He has led the Bulldogs to eight SCIAC Championships. At the same time, Redlands has always been competitive in the WWPA achieving a high of second place in 2004. He has won WWPA Coach of the Year honors three times and has developed eight Division III Players of the Year in his tenure. I sat down to discuss Bulldog water polo with him and below is our interview.
Redlands has been a fixture in the top twenty throughout your tenure. Can you tell me the keys to your success in transforming what is a smaller school into being a powerhouse water polo program?
I appreciate you calling us a “powerhouse” that is flattering. There are certainly teams we are still looking up at, and hope to challenge in the future. I would attribute our success to a variety of factors. First, we have a very supportive department and University. Athletics are valued here as part of the overall educational mission. This support is the foundation of any success we might have. Second, we have great kids who have bought into our program and work hard. They are willing to play whoever we put in front of them, and relish the opportunity to play high-level competition. Third, although we have been fortunate to have players join us who are already polished and can have an impact right away, we also take pride in finding players who have great athleticism, and just need the time and experience to develop. Ryan and John Floersch (both class of 2010) come to mind as the type of players who are the core of our program. The Floerschs were fit, fast, and strong when they joined us, but raw as polo players. They committed to our program, worked as hard as any players I have ever coached, and graduated as All-Americans in both water polo and swimming. They were first-rate students as well. We have to continue to find these “diamonds in the rough.”
Your Bulldogs have a lot of quality players coming back. What does Redlands need to do to win the SCIAC and contend in the WWPA?
The SCIAC has become more and more competitive over the last three to five years. Each school has a strong and motivated coach who is working hard to help their team excel. Our primary competitive goal is to win a SCIAC title. That goal is getting tougher and tougher all the time. Once we complete the SCIAC season, we look forward to the chance to challenge ourselves against great competition at the WWPA Tournament.
More than anything else, in order to compete at a high level, we need to establish depth of speed and depth of quality. It is not uncommon for us to face teams with several players who may be more talented than us. Our goal is to overcome that by using depth and tempo to try to tip the scales in our favor.
Jessie Gunther was very solid for your team between the pipes. Can you tell me what makes him the excellent goalie that he is?
Jessie really stepped up for us last year. I would attribute his success to a few things. He fits the mold of the Floersch brothers that I mentioned above. He came to us with great athleticism, but not much experience, and just needed time to grow. He has the necessary tools, and I think that experience will bring him the consistency which is the hallmark of all top flight goalkeepers. Also, last year we had a competitive goalie battle between Jessie and Tyler Abbott. That competition kept both guys focused, and striving to improve. We will have the same scenario this year, so it should push both guys to continue to up their game.
Your squad lost three excellent field players in Brendan Meaney, Andrew Smith-Jones and Bo Sidhu. Who do you see stepping up and filling that void on the offensive end?
Whenever you lose talented players like the ones you mentioned, you are never going to fill in with players who have exactly the same capabilities. We will put the puzzle back together, but the pieces will fit together differently. 
One of the key guys I see stepping up is Blake vanHartesvelt. Blake gives us size, and experience at center. He and John Nietzel will need to play more minutes with the departure of Meaney. The strength of our team will be in our senior drivers Shane Anderson, Danny Boessenecker, Cabot Ferrill, and Jeff Parsons. Shane and Danny transferred in last year and both showed a continued upward trend as we progressed through the season. They are ready to take on greater roles and should end up with a lot of the perimeter shots that went to Smith-Jones, Sidhu, and Drew Fischer last year. Ferrill and Parsons are scrappy, aggressive counterattack players who have worked their way up through our program. They both had breakout years last season, and we will look to them for leadership, and expect them to set the tempo for us up and down the pool. Another senior to keep your eye on is Ben Ballard. He has done whatever we have asked of him, including filling in as a goalie, but now has settled in as a field player, and is ready to take the next step.
I've noted that a number of ex-Redlands players have gone onto become excellent Head Coaches with James Graham at Pacific and Adam Foley at MIT immediately coming to mind. What do you think it is about you and your program that has quietly turned Redlands into being a cradle for coaches?
I have been fortunate to have many of my former players go into coaching as their playing careers ended. In addition to Adam and James, another of my former players Jacob Medina is doing a great job as the women’s coach at Cal Baptist. Many of my former players are coaching or have coached for years at the high school level. The University of Redlands educates a lot of teachers. Many of our students come here with the thought of one day becoming educators. So, to a certain extent, it is simply a factor of the type of student-athlete we have joining us. I would not be so bold as to say that these coaches chose their career because of me. If they had a positive experience in our program, and because of that they were encouraged to give back to the sport as coaches, then that is very gratifying for me. These are great people who any player would be fortunate to play for. I am very proud of all of them.
The most successful coaches are always the ones who spawn a thriving coaching tree. The very best always produce a few successful coaches who in turn generate more. As shown above, Coach Whittemore has a coaching tree that is flourishing. With over four hundred victories in his tenure, it is a given that he will produce a team that will challenge for a SCIAC title while staying competitive in the WWPA once again. Keep an eye on the small school from Southern California as they once again look poised to make big waves.
