2026 MPSF Men’s Water Polo Media Day Quotes

MEDIA DAY QUOTES
2026 MPSF Men’s Water Polo Media Day
Costa Mesa, Calif. (Costa Mesa Marriott)
Aug. 10, 2026

UCLA head coach Adam Wright
opening remarks
"Yeah, first, thanks for having us back. It's always great to see you, John. Obviously, last year, I don't think it can go to a wire any further. But it's a new year, and it's an exciting year. The competition across the board -- not only in our conference, but across the country -- is going to be really exciting. Every team's a new team. Fresh start, so we'll looking forward to getting going later this week."

on keeping his team hungry coming off back-to-back NCAA championships
"It's hard. We know winning is dangerous. But two years ago, after we won, these guys answered the bell [and] had an incredible offseason. And the bar goes up, simply. Really, these guys drive the conditions. They set the standards, and if we're going to do it again, it's going to come from the group. What we do know is, we're up against something that UCLA's never done, trying to get there again for three. But we also know we have our work cut out, and like Ryder said, we’ve got a motivated group, a new group. We have guys that have never done it before. We have players who are transferring in that have never done it. So it'll be exciting. It'll be an exciting process, but it's got to be harder than it was the last two years. Period."

on integrating newcomers with a veteran group
"Yeah, and it's a short window. We start Wednesday. The first game for everybody is the last Friday of this month. So we got to do it quickly. We have some veterans coming out of the portal, that I think, with their experience in certain years and certain games, is going to help us tremendously. Obviously, we’ve got a great freshman class coming in, and we have a freshman that's not even here yet in Luka Gladović. So we don't know when they're all going to get here, but what we do understand is, we’ve got to quickly assimilate and understand that we have to be willing to change because you have people coming from all different programs, which is fine. But we ask for change, and that's the way it's going to happen in the end, is if everybody's willing to change."

on what he can do to bring a new team together in a short amount of time
"Maximize each opportunity, whether it's out of the pool, in the classroom, even on the deck, walking through things, and try to keep it simple. Try to keep this game, which I think is a simple game, as simple as possible, with no gray area, and it's either we're going to do it this way or we're not. But we know we have a group here that understands when we do things a certain way, it gives us a chance to be successful."

on if there are any games on the schedule he has circled
"Well, as we start here in the preseason, let's just see how far we can go before we break. And then, I think for everybody, a first marker could be that MPSF Invite because that's the first time everybody's together, and you can kind of see where you stack up against your competition. So I would say that would be kind of the first one. But for us internally, let's just see how far we can go once we get out the gates on Wednesday."

on importance of having players preparing with Team USA
“I mean it's huge for them to be playing in those high-level games, which we just can't replicate here. It's a different level than the collegiate level, so we benefit greatly from that for sure. And credit to the US team and look at the results they've been getting and putting themselves in the most important games, which for those experiences that come back, in our case to a UCLA, it serves us so well."

on any players he is looking to have big 2026 seasons
"It's too early to tell. We're just excited with the new group. We have a lot of excitement with people who are coming into a program for their first time, and like I tell the guys, no position's guaranteed. There could be changes that you would never expect. It's a new year. I absolutely believe motivations change, like you said, and so we're going to see. So it's hard for me to pinpoint. For me, it's the group, and I'm so excited about what this group has in front of them. But there's going to be change. It happens every year, and the reality is, you could see people who have been in two national championship games that maybe aren't out there again, and that's sport, and that's a team. Our hope is that they would be, and they would use those experiences. But we're going to see here."

on the challenges his team faces
"Well, internally, how fast can we get on the same page? We're asking people to change. There's cultural differences. There's people coming from programs where programs operate differently, language. But externally, I really believe this might be one of the most competitive years of college water polo in a long time, and that's exciting. But there's no gimmes. There's never a gimme. But if you just look at the landscape this year, and the roster changes, and there's an influx of foreign players coming that are higher level foreign players than before. Every game's going to be a challenge each step of the way. So I really think this year might be the most competitive year in the last 10, 10-plus."

on what he's still trying to get right as head coach
"Efficiency. How we operate as a staff. How we're efficient with our trainings. Togetherness, with the nutrition, the sport-medical staff. There's always room to grow, right? Because at the forefront of everything are these guys. How do we get them more sleep? And that's a project that's continually being refined, even right now. And then also the buy-in. These guys are the drivers, and their buy-in -- the things that we've done is because of them, not me -- and just continuing the buy-in. But we’ve got to raise the bar. This upcoming year is going to be harder than last year. We know that. And so these guys all getting on the same page, and the buy-in is going to be critical. But the buy-in can't be there unless the staff has their cards sorted out and doing everything we can to put them in a position to grow as people and also on the water."

UCLA junior attacker Ryder Dodd
on taking momentum from 2025 into 2026
"Yeah, I think the way that it ended was so emotionally impactful on a lot of us, and I think it really created a story for us to kind of bring into this year. But I think we're very hungry, or probably hungrier than we've ever really been. We're a very motivated team, ready to kind of go with a lot of new guys, ready to prove something."

on staying hungry coming off back-to-back NCAA championships
"Yeah, I think our team, a lot of the guys are kind of older that were on those championship teams, so I think them carrying the legacy and the standard, I think, is really important for us. We’ve got a lot of guys that have been together for a while, but then obviously a lot of new guys. So our goal is going to be to integrate them, get them ready. But it's not really hard to stay hungry with a bunch of guys that you love playing water polo with."

on his responsibility helping with assimilation process
"I would say just being a role model that they're able to reflect on. I think if we're falling below the standard, not really holding our values that they should be, I think it's pretty hard for them to fall in line. But it's on the older guys, the veterans that are on the team, to hold the values at a high point, make it really easy for them to fall in line. Because if we're going one way, it's really hard for them to go the other way."

on if anything on if any games on the schedule get him excited
"I would just say the first game, and honestly, the first practice. I think any person, in my shoes, or anybody on my team, is just really looking forward to being at the pool, getting better with my team. So I think, honestly, the first practice is something we're all looking forward to."

on how teams with US national team have prepared him and UCLA teammates
"Yeah, I think it's massive. I think the Team USA national team has maybe double digits of UCLA guys, current or past. So just playing against those people at that level, whether you're playing against (Filip) Filipović or (Dušan) Mandić or someone like that, I think something that the college game can't really obviously replicate. So it's really important that they take advantage of those opportunities and bring it back to our program and make an impact."

on his role now as a veteran leader
“I think just me being an older guy, being in the program for now almost three years, I think it's important for me to hold the standard and pave the path that the newcomers and the transfers are going to see. I think if I fall off that path, I'm not really setting a good example because at the same time, it's not really how many times I score, how many times I block the ball or whatever, but rather just the role model I am, whether that's my work ethic or things like that."

on his major on what he's learning about in the classroom
"I'm political science. My goal, I want to go into real estate, so I believe that's like the closest thing that UCLA has to it. But I think it's just so important for student-athletes to put the ‘student’ in front of ‘athlete’ because if you're not a student, you can't really be an athlete. So I think UCLA has done a great job of making an emphasis that if you can't excel in the classroom, you can't excel in the pool. So we've made a pretty big emphasis on that."

on watching Frederico Jucá Carsalade scoring the championship-winning goal in 2025
"I mean, obviously incredible. I think being able to be on a team that wins is better than scoring any goal, and especially for Tico, a guy like that, he deserves it probably more than anyone I know. That dude works so hard in practice; he does all the right things all the time. So for him to do it, I think it's incredible. But for our team to win, it's also really cool."