LOS ALAMITOS, CA, January 14. TWO-TIME U.S. women\u2019s Olympic Head Coach Guy Baker (Long Beach, CA\/Long Beach State) has been selected as the new men\u2019s Head Coach, USA Water Polo announced Thursday. <\/p>\n
Baker fills the void left by Ratko Rudic, who resigned the post on December 9 to accept the head coaching job in his native Croatia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited about the change and the challenges that lie ahead,\u201d said Baker. \u201cMaking the decision to go over to the men\u2019s side was really difficult, but as a coach it was great to have the opportunity to build a program. I had to weigh that against the women\u2019s success over the last few years, which was tough. I\u2019ve enjoyed coaching them. It was a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baker, known for his passionate coaching style and his meticulous dedication to planning and preparation, has been one of the most successful coaches in international water polo since he began with the U.S. in 1998.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuy Baker was an excellent choice for the men\u2019s team and for USA Water Polo,\u201d said USA Water Polo Executive Director Tom Seitz. \u201cHis dedication to excellence is second to none and we think he\u2019ll help elevate our men\u2019s program to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2001, Baker and Rudic were selected as USWP\u2019s first-ever, full-time National Team Head Coaches. Both men were also named as National Teams Director, a title that gave each coach the responsibility of developing their programs at all levels and in all parts of the country. Baker is looking forward to implementing his experience in that capacity into the men\u2019s program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to have long-term success, you must have a well-developed, seamless, athlete pipeline,\u201d said Baker. \u201cCoaches prior to 2001 didn\u2019t always have the ability to focus as much time to that because of other responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baker feels that his years developing new programs and events with the women\u2019s teams will lend nicely to his new position, both competitively and with regards to development. In 2002, Baker and his staff introduced the Speedo Top 40 Festival and P.A.C.E. (Programs for Athletes and Coaches Education) programs. The Top 40 Festival brings together the nation\u2019s top athletes to participate in a three-day competition, with all games set against the backdrop of a water polo festival. P.A.C.E. has developed into the nation\u2019s most successful series of clinics because of its hands-on approach through Olympic athletes, athlete-to-coach ratio and flat out quality of product. <\/p>\n
\u201cPart of my decision to leave UCLA was the opportunity to just be a coach, which is something many college coaches aren\u2019t able to do,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the last several years, I\u2019ve been able to dedicate a lot of time to my craft and I think I\u2019ve improved as a coach. We\u2019ve also done a lot of things on the women\u2019s side that I think will go a long way toward improving the men\u2019s programs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baker has been Last summer, Baker became the first women\u2019s Olympic coach to guide his teams to medals at both Olympics, winning a silver in 2000 and a bronze in 2004. He led the U.S. into the Athens Games having won gold at seven of eight international tournaments, including the top spot at the first-ever FINA World League Super Final for women in Long Beach (Calif.) in June. In 2003, the U.S. women\u2019s team became only the second non-European squad to win a World Championship, the only other being Australia in 1986. The U.S. followed its World Championship run by dominating its way to a gold at the Pan American Games. In 2002, the U.S. played its way to a silver medal at the FINA World Cup.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take Baker long to engineer the women\u2019s turnaround after coming on in 1998. After coaching the team to its Olympic qualification on its last chance, Baker\u2019s team made it to the gold medal game of the Sydney Olympics \u2013 a game attended by a record 17,500 fans \u2013 only to lose out to host Australia on a last-second goal. From there, Baker\u2019s teams medaled in all but one major championship, finishing in fourth place at the 2001 FINA World Championships. Overall, the U.S. women only failed to play for a medal in one international tournament since 1999.<\/p>\n
Baker is also no stranger to coaching men. As the Head Coach at UCLA, Baker guided his men\u2019s teams to NCAA titles in 1995, 1996, 1999 and 2000. He also coached the Bruin women to three straight titles from 1996-98. He became the first coach to lead a men\u2019s and a women\u2019s collegiate team to titles in the same academic year, a feat he accomplished twice: 1995-96 and 1996-97.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that Guy Baker will make the transition from the women\u2019s side to the men\u2019s side quite easily,\u201d said USA Water Polo President Richard Foster. \u201cHe had great success at UCLA on the men\u2019s side and really has his finger on the pulse of international water polo. Italy just moved their women\u2019s coach, Pierluigi Formiconi, over to the men\u2019s side and he and Guy are fierce rivals, so the battle continues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baker will be joined by his assistant coach of the last four years, Kyle Kopp (San Bernardino, CA\/Long Beach State) and former men\u2019s assistant coach Dan Leyson (Los Angeles, CA\/USC). <\/p>\n
Baker\u2019s selection is scheduled to be ratified by USWP\u2019s Men\u2019s International Olympic Committee at the upcoming Annual Meeting (Jan. 13-17) in Houston (Tex.). <\/p>\n
Baker on Baker
\n\u201cMy philosophy is that everything you\u2019re doing is preparation for the Olympics. What makes the difference is your focus on the short term goals that go into that preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are four components, according to Baker, that comprise that philosophy.<\/p>\n
Training \u2013 \u201cWe have to have effort, intensity and purpose. And we must always be training to compete. So we constantly have to evaluate the efficiency of our training.\u201d<\/p>\n
Competition at home \u2013 \u201cWhen we\u2019re at home, we play well. That\u2019s the bottom line. We don\u2019t get many home games over the course of a year, so when we do and we have fans coming out to watch, it\u2019s extremely important that we play well. That adds to the excitement of what we\u2019re doing and it keeps our fans behind us. So we have to perform well when we play in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n
Competition abroad \u2013 \u201cJust like when our fans come to our games and expect to see us win, our opponents\u2019 fans expect to see their teams win. So we basically want to make sure that their fans leave disappointed. This helps us maintain our focus on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Major championships \u2013 \u201cEveryone knows that everything is a lead-up to the Olympics and that the Olympics are what we do this for, but it\u2019s important to field competitive teams for major championships. There\u2019s a lot to be learned from them. You are working toward the Olympics, but you want to be able to evaluate your team\u2019s standing from these championships: How did we do? What can we learn? What can we improve? What did we do well?\u201d<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s International Olympic Committee
\nThe Men\u2019s International Olympic Committee that selected Baker to his new post consisted of an A-List of water polo figures, including three previous U.S. men\u2019s head coaches.<\/p>\n
Bill Barnett \u2013 Chair (U.S. Men\u2019s Olympic Head Coach 1988, 1992)
\nRich Corso \u2013 (U.S. Men\u2019s Olympic Head Coach 1996)
\nJohn Vargas \u2013 (U.S. Men\u2019s Olympic Head Coach, 2000)
\nDan Hackett \u2013 (U.S. Olympic Goalkeeper 1996, 2000)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LOS ALAMITOS, CA, January 14. TWO-TIME U.S. women\u2019s Olympic Head Coach Guy Baker (Long Beach, CA\/Long Beach State) has been selected as the new men\u2019s Head Coach, USA Water Polo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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":[10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n