{"id":393081,"date":"2019-09-10T08:30:48","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T15:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=393081"},"modified":"2019-09-10T16:00:14","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T23:00:14","slug":"five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Questions for Marko Pintaric, USC Men’s and Women’s Water Polo Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the start of a new season for the USC men’s water polo team less than a week away, a new coach has stepped into the void created by the abrupt firing of Jovan Vavic <\/strong>last March. But the first new head coach of Trojan men’s and women’s program in a quarter century is actually not so new. Marko Pintaric <\/strong>came to USC from Croatia as a player in 1997 and never left, leading the Trojans to their first-ever NCAA water polo title in 1998 and staying on as a member of Vavic’s staff for the next two decades.<\/p>\n

\"usc\"With a talented USC program seeking leadership\u00a0following the dismissal of the all-time winningest coach in NCAA water polo, Pintaric represents a measure of stability in what was the most contentious period in program history.<\/p>\n

[It\u2019s Official: Pintaric Named USC Men\u2019s And Women\u2019s Water Polo Head Coach<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n

Like everyone in the USC polo family, Pintaric was overshadowed by the out-sized footprint cast by Vavic, but he has been a key contributor to Trojan success over his 18 years on the coaching staff. For the past three seasons (2016-18), Pintaric served as co-head coach for the USC men, and was on the deck when the Trojans took the 2018 NCAA men\u2019s title, holding off Stanford by the score of 14-12.<\/p>\n

[Fast Start, Tense Finish to 2018 Men\u2019s Water Polo Championship Gives USC 10th NCAA Title<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n

Boasting Hannes Daube<\/strong> (58 goals)\u2014one of the top young players in the world\u2014Jacob Mercep<\/strong> (62 goals), MVP of the 2018 Men\u2019s NCAA Tournament, Marko Vavic<\/strong> (57 goals) a contributor to the U.S. National Team, and Nic Porter<\/strong> (164 saves), who backstopped the Trojans to a national title last December, USC has the talent and experience to repeat in 2019. This puts substantial pressure on Pintaric, not only to replace his long-time mentor, but to produce a title in his first year as head coach.<\/p>\n

[2019 Swimming World Men\u2019s Water Polo Previews: Mountain Pacific Sports Federation<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n

Swimming World<\/em> reached out to the USC coach last week via email for our annual “Five Question” segment prior to the opening of the NCAA men’s season.<\/p>\n

– You represent the best of Trojan Pride: an accomplished athlete who subsequently reached the pinnacle of your sport’s coaching ranks. What is it about USC that inspires loyalty and also breeds success?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s definitely the culture here. Since I came to the United State and USC in 1997, the team culture, school spirit and sense of family was definitely what made me decide to stay here and build my life in the USA and around USC. I felt welcome from day one. There\u2019s a sense of being a part of something bigger when you are here at USC.<\/p>\n

\"No.

Marko Pintaric (left) and Casey Moon of USC. Photo Courtesy: John McGillen<\/p><\/div>\n

– The transition to head coach has likely not been easy for you personally; you are replacing your friend and mentor, Jovan Vavic. Besides winning (!) what will you continue from the Vavic era\u2014and what changes do you have in mind to maintain the Trojan\u2019s unparalleled record of success?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This program\u2019s culture of success is totally attributed to teams. The path we\u2019ve been on and our successes speak for themselves. There\u2019s really not much that we need to change going forward. There\u2019s nothing broken here in terms of water polo and the culture. We\u2019ll continue to execute what we\u2019ve learned, stay focused on hard work\u201a and determined to stay on top.<\/p>\n

– About that record; USC is again the team to beat this season in NCAA men\u2019s polo. What is it that makes this particular Trojan squad so formidable?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just the fact that this team stayed together through difficult times, and continued to train together and compete together, shows the determination that these guys have. They constantly drive toward excellence and they work for their teammates. It\u2019s that refuse-to-lose mentality that makes us dangerous.<\/p>\n

– You come from a water polo culture (Croatia) that is as dominant as any in the world\u2014and now that culture has been created at USC. What are the similarities between your upbringing in Zagreb and the environment at USC? Are U.S. polo athletes the same as those in Croatia or do you have to adjust to a different mindset for American college students.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve now spent about half my life in Croatia and half in the United States, so I think what I bring to USC is a great merger of a Croatian system and the system in the U.S.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s true that I incorporate a lot of training tactics and techniques that are integrated from what I\u2019ve experienced in Croatia.<\/p>\n

– USC has been known for its pipeline of foreign talent as much as strong ties to the fertile SoCal polo talent base. How will you maintain this reservoir of talent, especially now that rivals including UCLA and Cal have made inroads recruiting some of the best international athletes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are known for our culture here at USC, so we look to bring in talent from anywhere if they fit into that.<\/p>\n

To form a successful team it requires certain types of players, so we don\u2019t look so much at the countries they are from as we do what they can contribute to our game plan. Having a blend of foreign talent and U.S. talent brings a unique cultural experience for us all, and it benefits our team overall to have a well-rounded group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the start of a new season for the USC men’s water polo team less than a week away, a new coach has stepped into the void created by the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4875,"featured_media":335055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[2174,66899,64874,2763,378,62606,60192,71291,106490,17732,328,54416],"class_list":["post-393081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-water-polo","tag-croatia","tag-hannes-daube","tag-jacob-mercep","tag-jovan-vavic","tag-marko-pintaric","tag-marko-vavic","tag-michael-randazzo","tag-nic-porter","tag-trojan","tag-troy","tag-usc","tag-water-polo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nFive Questions for Marko Pintaric, USC Men's and Women's Water Polo Coach - Swimming World<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Following the dismissal of Jovan Vavic, new USC head water polo coach Marko Pintaric represents stability during the program's most contentious period.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five Questions for Marko Pintaric, USC Men's and Women's Water Polo Coach\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following the dismissal of Jovan Vavic, new USC head water polo coach Marko Pintaric represents stability during the program's most contentious period.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-10T15:30:48+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-10T23:00:14+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mercep-usc-oct18.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2200\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1467\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Randazzo\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Randazzo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Randazzo\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/fb1d58ba008040c3ad837f46defed7bb\"},\"headline\":\"Five Questions for Marko Pintaric, USC Men’s and Women’s Water Polo Coach\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-10T15:30:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-10T23:00:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/\"},\"wordCount\":950,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mercep-usc-oct18.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Croatia\",\"Hannes Daube\",\"Jacob Mercep\",\"Jovan Vavic\",\"Marko Pintaric\",\"Marko Vavic\",\"Michael Randazzo\",\"Nic Porter\",\"Trojan\",\"Troy\",\"USC\",\"Water Polo\"],\"articleSection\":[\"-Home Slider\",\"Water Polo\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/\",\"name\":\"Five Questions for Marko Pintaric, USC Men's and Women's Water Polo Coach - Swimming World\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mercep-usc-oct18.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-10T15:30:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-10T23:00:14+00:00\",\"description\":\"Following the dismissal of Jovan Vavic, new USC head water polo coach Marko Pintaric represents stability during the program's most contentious period.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mercep-usc-oct18.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mercep-usc-oct18.jpg\",\"width\":2200,\"height\":1467,\"caption\":\"Photo Courtesy: Catharyn Hayne\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Five Questions for Marko Pintaric, USC Men’s and Women’s Water Polo Coach\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"description\":\"The Global Leader in Aquatic News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"width\":1799,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Swimming World\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/fb1d58ba008040c3ad837f46defed7bb\",\"name\":\"Michael Randazzo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34baabfc0ac0cea197ffefec898a876?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34baabfc0ac0cea197ffefec898a876?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Michael Randazzo\"},\"description\":\"Michael Randazzo is a freelance contributor at Swimming World focusing on water polo. He covers polo all over the United States for SW and other publications, including the Collegiate Water Polo Association, Skip Shot, The New York Times, Total Water Polo, Water Polo Planet and others. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children and roots for St. Francis Brooklyn polo.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/michael-randazzo\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Five Questions for Marko Pintaric, USC Men's and Women's Water Polo Coach - Swimming World","description":"Following the dismissal of Jovan Vavic, new USC head water polo coach Marko Pintaric represents stability during the program's most contentious period.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Five Questions for Marko Pintaric, USC Men's and Women's Water Polo Coach","og_description":"Following the dismissal of Jovan Vavic, new USC head water polo coach Marko Pintaric represents stability during the program's most contentious period.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/","og_site_name":"Swimming World","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","article_published_time":"2019-09-10T15:30:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-09-10T23:00:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2200,"height":1467,"url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mercep-usc-oct18.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael Randazzo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@swimmingworld","twitter_site":"@swimmingworld","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Randazzo","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/"},"author":{"name":"Michael Randazzo","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/fb1d58ba008040c3ad837f46defed7bb"},"headline":"Five Questions for Marko Pintaric, USC Men’s and Women’s Water Polo Coach","datePublished":"2019-09-10T15:30:48+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-10T23:00:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/"},"wordCount":950,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mercep-usc-oct18.jpg","keywords":["Croatia","Hannes Daube","Jacob Mercep","Jovan Vavic","Marko Pintaric","Marko Vavic","Michael Randazzo","Nic Porter","Trojan","Troy","USC","Water Polo"],"articleSection":["-Home Slider","Water Polo"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/","name":"Five Questions for Marko Pintaric, USC Men's and Women's Water Polo Coach - Swimming World","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mercep-usc-oct18.jpg","datePublished":"2019-09-10T15:30:48+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-10T23:00:14+00:00","description":"Following the dismissal of Jovan Vavic, new USC head water polo coach Marko Pintaric represents stability during the program's most contentious period.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mercep-usc-oct18.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mercep-usc-oct18.jpg","width":2200,"height":1467,"caption":"Photo Courtesy: Catharyn Hayne"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/five-questions-for-marko-pintaric-usc-mens-and-womens-water-polo-coach\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Five Questions for Marko Pintaric, USC Men’s and Women’s Water Polo Coach"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","name":"Swimming World","description":"The Global Leader in Aquatic News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Swimming World","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","width":1799,"height":900,"caption":"Swimming World"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld","https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/fb1d58ba008040c3ad837f46defed7bb","name":"Michael Randazzo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34baabfc0ac0cea197ffefec898a876?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34baabfc0ac0cea197ffefec898a876?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","caption":"Michael Randazzo"},"description":"Michael Randazzo is a freelance contributor at Swimming World focusing on water polo. He covers polo all over the United States for SW and other publications, including the Collegiate Water Polo Association, Skip Shot, The New York Times, Total Water Polo, Water Polo Planet and others. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children and roots for St. Francis Brooklyn polo.","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/michael-randazzo\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"After a breakout season in 2018, lefty Jacob Mercep will be key to USC's title hopes. Photo Courtesy: Catharyn Hayne","source_text":"","source_url":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mercep-usc-oct18.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p56Jja-1Eg1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4875"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}