Corso Bypassed as a Coach for Olympic Team

Rich Corso is a man in transition. And so is the Harvard High water polo program that Corso recently coached to its first Southern Section 2-A Division championship.

Corso has been denied a position on the staff of the U. S. Olympic water polo team, which means that the 2-A coach of the year will not be involved with a national team for the first time in 8 years.

Tom Milich, coach at El Dorado High in Placentia, recently was named to the final position under newly re-elected Olympic Coach Bill Barnett. Stanford Coach Dante Dettamanti is also on the staff.

Therefore, Corso, whose 4-year term as coach of the national junior team expired in December, is considering other options, including the possibility of coaching Wasserfreunde Spandau 04, a highly successful club team in West Germany. He indicated that the chances of him remaining at Harvard are 50-50.

Harvard, in the meantime, is moving on. After spending last season as a free-lance team, the Saracens have joined the Del Rey League, which will also include Crespi, Loyola, Servite, Mater Dei and St. John Bosco. The Del Rey League is in the 3-A Division.

Corso said that he received a letter telling him of the selection of Milich several days ago.

“I threw the letter away when I got it,” he said. “If it weren’t for my family and (Harvard headmaster) Tom Hudnut, the day I got the letter I would have been on the next plane out of here.