Wine gets better with age. So, too, does the Stanford University men's water polo program. The common denominator between the adage and the seven-time national championship team? That would be Dante Dettamanti.

Dettamanti, who has been at the helm of Stanford men's water polo for 25 seasons, will retire in January to spend more time on, among other things, his second passion -- growing his own grapes and producing his own wine.

The five-time national coach of the year has led the Cardinal to a 548-147-6 record in 24 years, two undefeated seasons and seven national championships. His teams have played in the NCAA championship game in 13 of 24 years with one more chance remaining in December. Under his direction, the program has been a consistent national leader, placing among the top four teams in the nation 20 times during his tenure and never lower than sixth.

But now, after 32 years of coaching, Dettamanti says it's time to get out of the water and into the things he hasn't had the time to do before, like traveling the country in an RV or going skiing on a whim.

He'll leave behind a coaching legacy developed from hard work, passion and commitment, and he'll spend time on hobbies into which he puts similar effort.

The perhaps odd combination of his loves -- grapes and water polo -- began seven years ago when he leased land in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Dettamanti's father was a farmer, and Dettamanti once was a 4-H Club member, so the background in agriculture was there.

"With coaching, it is a challenge to bring a group of players together to produce a winning team," Dettamanti said. "With wine, it is a challenge to bring together the best grapes to produce a quality wine. My agriculture background with my coaching experience and my love of wine make for a good match."

Right now, Dettamanti grows the grapes and leaves the wine-making to a winery. The fruits of his labors have been shared with friends.

"The label is really good, but the wine is questionable," joked Pete Cutino, former University of California, Berkeley, men's water polo coach.

University of Southern California coach Jovan Vavic said, "We have it in common. My family back in Yugoslavia is in wine making. I've tried quite a few wines, and Dettamanti's is pretty good."

Call to coaching

The wine and its production may get a boost during Dettamanti's retirement as he returns to the classroom at the University of California, Davis, to learn more about his craft.

"There is a lot of chemistry involved," Dettamanti said. "But I have a science background."

Just as his science background is coming in handy, it was the same interest that helped lead Dettamanti to a coaching career in the first place. The undergraduate engineering major at UC Davis was finishing up his fifth year when he got his first taste of coaching.

"I was a student-assistant coach because I already had used all my eligibility," Dettamanti said. "I really fell in love with coaching. I was an engineering student because I was good at math and didn't know what I wanted to do. I got through it, but it wasn't want I wanted."

With coaching on his mind, the undergraduate swimmer and water polo player spent time stationed in Korea as a first lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers before heading to the University of California, Los Angeles, as a graduate student.

"I didn't like the idea of an 8-to-5 job behind a desk," Dettamanti said. "As soon as I had the chance to coach, I knew this was something I wanted to do. Being outside with the kids and working with the sport wasn't work at all. It was fun and challenging at the same time."

As an exercise physiology student, Dettamanti was a graduate assistant under Bob Horn when the Bruins won the first NCAA championship in 1969.

It was at Dettamanti's first stop as a head coach, though, that he learned to recruit. The coach and teacher built the Occidental College program into a small-college powerhouse in both swimming and water polo and stayed from 1971 to 1973.

"It was a small, private college in L.A. that a lot of people had never heard of," Dettamanti said. "I knew if I could recruit there that I would do well other places."

That next place was the University of California at Santa Barbara for another three-year stint. His team won a league championship and would miss advancing to the NCAA championship game by only one goal.

Dettamanti said he hated to leave UC Santa Barbara, but he thought he'd have a better opportunity at Stanford since the Cardinal were expanding their athletics program at the time.

His record there in 25 years has proven his assumption correct.

"He really is a student of the game," Cutino said. "It is very difficult to play against him. I think it is a combination of his attitude and the way he prepares his players. They are never going to roll over and quit. He would never let that happen."

Cutino stood across the pool from his Stanford counterpart for countless games and four national championship games and could attest to Dettamanti's style.

"He would get into conversations with his players as the game went on. He would get down to their level and let them know what he wanted to happen. How good is that? The results speak for themselves," Cutino said.

"I also will remember him for having character," Cutino said. "My own son was playing in a game against Stanford, and he had a bad cut on his lip. He was actually playing with a plastic faceguard, which isn't easy to do. Not one kid from Stanford touched his face all game. That is mutual respect and good sportsmanship."

Vavic, who also has coached against Dettamanti in both regular-season and postseason games, agreed. "He is always a great game coach," Vavic said. "He is well aware of what the other team is doing and is good about making adjustments during the game. He isn't easily surprised."

A recruiting guru

Described by others as intense, a perfectionist and equally caring, his knowledge of the game has helped cultivate 12 United States Olympic players.

"His system is the best," said Wolf Wigo, former Stanford player and U.S. Olympian. "The way he runs his practices and prepares the team for games has produced a winning formula. I think he really knows how to get players in great game shape and playing at peak performance."

According to Wigo, though, part of Dettamanti's appeal is his light-hearted approach, which manifests itself in the Hawaiian shirts Dettamanti often wears.

"We liked to kid around with him," Wigo said. "We would play jokes on him and he would always take it well. He would try to dish it back, but he wasn't as good at that as he was coaching."

Recruiting water polo players to Stanford was considerably easier than his early challenges at Occidental, but Dettamanti understood from the outset that it would be the lifeblood of the team, and that it wasn't always as easy as it seemed.

"It is very hard to get into Stanford at all," Dettamanti said. "We try to use this as an advantage and a challenge to the kids, letting them know that they have really done something special just by getting in the door. The chance to compete for a national championship is the second accomplishment."

Wigo, who Dettamanti considers one of the top student-athletes ever from his program, believes the Stanford coach's approach to recruiting has set the water polo program apart.

"He does a good job of telling you want you need to know and leaving the door open," Wigo said. "Some coaches are too overbearing, and he isn't like that. You know he is there, and you know what Stanford stands for."

Dettamanti's last stand this season could very well be at home. As of late October, the team was undefeated and ranked No. 1. If the Cardinal can withstand a challenging conference tournament, it would play in front of a home crowd for the national title December 1-2.

Not only would a win this season be the first national championship claimed in front of a home crowd, Dettamanti would catch Cutino with eight NCAA titles.

In addition to furthering Dettamanti's competitive spirit, water polo also has been good for a few trips over the years. Dettamanti has seen almost every European country and visited each continent except Antarctica and Africa. Now, he plans to travel without the teams to cover the part of the world he seems to have skipped -- the United States.

"I've never seen the leaves turn, I've never been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras and I've never seen Yellowstone," he said. "The episode out East (the September 11 terrorist attacks) really brought it home for me. I need to enjoy my life while I'm still young and physically and mentally able to do so."

But don't be fooled -- Dettamanti isn't done in the pool. He's an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic team, which will enable him to continue his ties with the game that has shaped his life, and a sport that he has improved with age.

Much like the wine he makes.

NCAA-Title-Winning Water Polo Coaches

* Active collegiate coach.

# Horn's teams were ranked No. 1 in 1965, 1966 and 1967 before the NCAA sponsored a championship.

Coach foresees an expanding water polo world

The history, changes and personalities of water polo are perhaps easier to track than other sports since coaches often stay put after establishing programs -- plus the fact that the heart of the game is located in California.

As programs in the East and smaller programs in California emerge, Dettamanti said he believes it may be possible for other water polo teams to claim championships in the future. Today, only six institutions have ever won the NCAA championship, and every one of those teams has been a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF).

"Schools outside of California are starting to recruit international players and develop high-school players in their states, which has helped their level of play," Dettamanti said. "Eventually, they will overcome the obstacles for a team outside of California to win a championship."

Dettamanti said it seems more likely that any breakthrough would come from smaller West teams, as the difficulty of overcoming a lack of high-school players may be more foreboding in the East.

"UC San Diego, which is not in the MPSF, knocked off Southern California last year to get to the championship game. They are a Division III school without scholarships.

"The time could come soon."

-- Heather Yost