Merrill Moses, a three-time Olympian and former All-American and national champion water polo player for the Waves, returned to Pepperdine in 2012 to join the coaching staff and was elevated to head coach in March 2024. He had previously been promoted to the position of associate head coach prior to the 2017 season. The 2026 campaign will be his 15th on the staff and third as head coach.

Through two seasons, Moses has guided the Waves to 38-19 overall record with back-to-back WCC semifinal appearances.

In 2025, the Waves finished the season ranked No. 9 team in the final national rankings. Pepperdine earned 11 ranked wins on the season and saw a conference-high seven receive postseason recognition from the West Coast Conference.

In Moses' first season at the helm of the program in 2024, the Waves tabbed a 21-8 overall record including a 5-1 mark in WCC play while finishing at No. 13 in the final national rankings.

Over the past 14 years, the Waves are 217-157 (.580) and have won four conference titles, including a WCC regular season crown in its inaugural season in 2023.

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. In 2019, the Waves repeated as GCC champions and returned to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1997, while making the national semifinals.

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.

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 was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2021.

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 worked as a coach at many of Terry Schroeder’s camps during this time period.

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.

Name	Title	Phone	Email Address	Twitter
Merrill Moses	Head Coach	(310) 506-4272	merrill.moses@pepperdine.edu	@MerrillMoses
Mike Tragitt	Associate Head Coach	(310) 506-4272	michael.tragitt@pepperdine.edu	@MichaelTragitt
Spencer Hamby	Assistant Coach	(310) 506-4272	spencer.hamby@pepperdine.edu
Terry Schroeder	Senior Advisor	(310) 506-4272	terry.schroeder@pepperdine.edu

2026 Men's Water Polo Coaching Staff

Coaching Staff

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