Monmouth College club coach Tony Marion discusses move to varsity ranks

All has been quiet on an official announcement from Monmouth College making the jump from Division III club water polo to the varsity ranks for the 2013. There was just the two-sentence mention in their game-winning recap at the Division III CWPA national club championships, and that was thought to be it.

However, their club coach, Tony Marino, talked with The Courier about the move up to the varsity level. Marion apparently spoke on this topic almost one month ago. With Monmouth's success as a dominante club team at the Division III level there had been whispers of the team making the jump, or that the team had to win the 2012 national championship to cement the move.

Marino discusses how this all came together:

"There have been talks about it for a few years now, since our club has been so successful since its start just six years ago," said Marino. "I never really took any of the rumors that seriously until the beginning of this year when I heard they were in serious talks about making our team varsity."

Nationals may not have instigated the change, but the team's recent successes certainly played a large role.

"They were already set on doing this before we won nationals," said Marino. "I think what really helped getting things moving with this were our previous season's placements at the national tournament and beating Division I club teams such as Notre Dame and Illinois State."

The move to varsity will be tough, and Marino will step down from his post to just a player. He will get to play one season at the varsity level.

An announcement from the school, and should be coming in the very near future.