Episode 26 - Interview with Merrill Moses the Associate Head Coach at Pepperdine

You can help support this podcast by making a donation via PayPal.

Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to leave a review, send me an email or send me a tweet. It has truly meant the world to me!

Remember you can reach me on twitter @stevecarrera and on instagram @stevecarrera and you can email me [email protected]

************************************************************************************************************************

Highlights USA vs. Serbia 2008 Olympic Semi

Twitter - @MerrillMoses

From Pepperdine Athletics

Merrill Moses, a three-time Olympian and former All-American water polo player for the Waves, returned to Pepperdine in 2012 to join the coaching staff. He was promoted to the position of associate head coach prior to the 2017 season, and 2019 will be his eighthon the staff.

As the interim co-head coach of the Waves in 2012, Moses helped Pepperdine to an 11-13 overall record. The team achieved a national ranking as high as #3 during the regular season.

Upon the return of Dr. Terry Schroeder as head coach, Moses moved into the position of assistant coach in 2013. Moses played for Schroeder both with the Waves and the U.S. National Team.

With Moses on staff, the Waves won the inaugural Golden Coast Conference Tournament title in 2016, and he tutored the Waves’ all-time leader in goalie saves, Zack Rhodes.

Moses, a goalkeeper who helped lead Pepperdine to the 1997 NCAA championship and the United States to a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics, had been playing both professionally and with the U.S. squad for more than a decade before also turning his attention to coaching.

“The most exciting part about this is coming back to my alma mater, and to be a part of trying to bring another national championship to Pepperdine,” said Moses at the time of his hiring. “I get the chance to work with a great staff and to work for years to come with Coach Schroeder.”

Said Director of Athletics Dr. Steve Potts at Moses’ hiring: “I’m so thrilled that Merrill Moses is coming back to rejoin the Pepperdine family. His experience as an Olympian, a U.S. National Team member and a national champion will be inspiring to our student-athletes and they will learn so much from him.”

Moses had given up water polo in 2004 and was working in the mortgage industry before getting a call to rejoin the U.S. squad in 2006. He went on to become the starting goalkeeper for the United States at both the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics. In 2008, Moses was part of a team ranked ninth in the world, but the Americans got hot at the right time and made it all the way to the gold-medal game.

Moses also helped the U.S. to gold medals at the 2007, 2011 and 2015 Pan American Games and he was part of eight top-five finishes in the FINA World League Super Finals, including a second-place result in 2008 and a third-place standing in 2003.

He has played professionally in Croatia, Italy and Spain and with the New York Athletic Club (he was named MVP of the 2010 USAWP Men’s National Championships). Moses has worked as a coach at many of Terry Schroeder’s camps and has done private coaching in the past.

A native of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., who attended Peninsula High School, Moses played four seasons for the Waves between 1995-98. He earned All-American first team honors in 1997 and was on the second team in 1998 and honorable mention in 1996. He was also named All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation all four years, including the first team in 1997.

Moses was named one of three tri-MVPs of the 1997 NCAA Championships after Pepperdine defeated USC, 8-7 in overtime, for the school’s first-ever NCAA title in the sport.

Moses graduated from Pepperdine in 1999 with a degree in public relations. He was inducted into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.

He and his wife Laura have three children: Adrianna Nicole, Makenna Merrill and Brooklyn Ann.