Scott Russell approached the Harvard water polo coaching position like a weary parent charged with the task of cleaning a child’s room.

He took a glance at the mess. The former occupant of his position had taken the once proud program and mired it in mediocrity while engaging in wild financial mismanagement—a burden which fell upon the players to resolve in the form of checks made payable to Harvard University.

Despite accepting the coaching offer on Aug. 15, 2003—under a month before the men’s team traveled to its first meet of the season—Russell had a plan for turning the program around.

He focused on the budget to ensure that the incident from the year prior would never be repeated. At the end of the year, Russell had come in under budget in almost every area.

He sought to increase the competitiveness of Harvard water polo and make it a player on the national stage. The men finished off their season with a win over rival Brown, and the women closed out their season ranked among the top 20 teams in the nation.

He increased the involvement of Crimson water polo alumni, by producing quarterly newsletters and sending out short game summaries.

And now he has been unwillingly relieved of his duties.

One second he’s primed to take the Harvard water polo program to the next level. The next second he’s in Associate Athletic Director Steve Staples’ office fighting for his job.

The implications of such a shift in relations between a coach and the administration are rather ominous.

If this is the manner in which coaches are treated, who would want to accept such a position at Harvard?

If someone like Russell, who led the women’s water polo team to one of the most successful seasons in its history, can be fired at a moment’s notice, how can any coach feel like his or her job is safe?

The truth is they can’t.

The athletic department has proven through this incident that they can fire any coach at any time without even the slightest advanced warning. It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about inconvenience.

In the spring the Harvard General Counsel and the President’s Office were notified of a complaint filed by a former member of the women’s water polo team. In an e-mail sent to the members of both water polo teams, Staples denied that this incident had anything to do with Russell’s termination.

According to Russell, the reasons given for his termination were the inappropriate communications with a high school guidance counselor about a recruit, the violation of a department policy limiting travel and the verbal abuse of referees.