By FRED KRONER
Mike Waters cannot be pigeon-holed into one of the many descriptive categories which are appropriate.
Educator.
Teacher.
Mentor.
Trusted colleague.
Friend and advocate.
Counselor.
Coach.
Official.
Administrator.
Painter.
He fits equally and comfortably into each area, plus one more which will arrive in about two months.
Retiree.
Waters has worked in Vermilion County school districts for 43 years – and had an eight-year hiatus in his 40s when he worked as a painter – and finishes with matching 20-year tenures in both the Oakwood and Westville districts.
At his various stops, Waters was a valued member of the staff, starting with a three-year stint at East Park Junior High, in Danville, in the fall of 1974.
After spending parts of six decades in his chosen profession, Waters said it will be difficult to leave Westville, where he has worked since the fall of 2002.
“It’s hard to step away from something that you love,” Waters said. “I had an instructor in college (at Northeast Missouri State) that told me, ‘If you choose something that you love for your life’s work, you will never go to work a day in your life.’
“And he was right. I will definitely miss this.”
Before making an impact at Westville – where he has worked as the guidance counselor and athletic director – Waters left his footprint at Oakwood.
He remains the all-time winningest girls’ basketball coach (268 wins) as well as the winningest softball coach (110 wins) in Oakwood history. In girls’ basketball, he guided the Comets to regional titles in eight of his 15 years as head coach.
Since he left the girls’ basketball position in 1993, Oakwood has captured four more regional titles in the sport.
Ironically, he was reluctant to take the job as Oakwood’s girls’ basketball coach.
“I didn’t really want the girls’ job, but they made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse and it turned out to be the best coaching job I ever had,” Waters said. “We never had many numbers due to the amount of work involved, but we had – for a period in the 1980s – some of the best female athletes to come out of Vermilion County.”
The person he succeeded as Oakwood girls’ basketball coach – Lynn Anderson – stayed on throughout his tenure as an assistant.
“I will say that most girls today probably would not like his style,” Anderson said. “He didn’t sugar-coat anything. He told it like it was.
“They did a lot of running for not doing things right. They knew it was only going to make them better and they didn’t question it.”
Waters was a Bobby Knight protege, and Anderson said that it showed.
“He definitely took it to heart,” Anderson said. “He had some Bobby Knight moments.”
He also got results.
“He got the most out of some girls that I thought would never be able to chew gum and dribble at the same time,” Anderson said. “He knew how to coach.
“I have some really good memories of ‘special moments’ with athletes.”
Waters guided three Oakwood girls’ basketball teams into Class 1A super-sectionals. His 1981-82 team won a still-standing school record of 28 games.
That team was recognized earlier this school year.
“I found myself calling them ‘girls’ and ‘kids’ and then realizing that they were all in their 50s,” Waters said.
Waters graduated from Tuscola High School in 1969 and was a three-sport athlete, playing football, basketball and track and field.
He knew early what he would seek for a career path.
“I wanted to be a coach from the time I started bouncing a ball,” Waters said. “So I went to college specifically to be a coach.
“It seemed as though I was always involved in the athletic department (at Northeast Missouri State) and ended up having many odd jobs with them and met many of the people that would influence me greatly.
“The men’s basketball coaches at the time, Willard Sims (the second winningest coach in school history with 310 victories) and Ben Pitney (who was an assistant coach for 23 years at his alma mater, Northeast Missouri State) gave me many opportunities within the program and the chance to meet many other coaches. I am sure that they grew tired of me asking questions all the time, but that didn’t stop me.”
Waters’ association with Sims and Pitney paved the way for his future endeavors.
“Because of them, I got to meet and talk to guys like Tex Winter and Cotton Fitzsimmons,” Waters said. “Winter was the architect of the triangle offense used by the Bulls during their championship years.
“I ran the 50 series triangle offense all my coaching career.”
Waters developed other interests while attending the Kirksville, Mo., college.
“I got involved in officiating basketball, football and baseball on the high school and even the college levels,” Waters said. “It was a great way to do something that I loved and also to make some extra cash.
“I teamed up with two of the P.E. instructors for football and the athletic trainer for basketball games. I ended up traveling all over northeast Missouri and southern Iowa. It was like a ‘Hoosiers’ trip through the backroads and so many of those small ‘cracker box’ gyms with electric environments.”
He later officiated for decades in Illinois, and earned a nod from the IHSA to work a boys’ basketball state tournament at the UI Assembly Hall. (A second state tournament assignment was scratched after he suffered a torn Achilles tendon.)
Waters was as diligent in that endeavor as he was in his other school-related responsibilities.
“I always felt that Mike was one of the better officials in the area,” Westville principal Guy Goodlove said. “He was fair and consistent when dealing with players and coaches.”
Officiating was almost a second job for Waters.
He was a basketball referee for 43 years, a football official for 40 years, a softball umpire for 25 years and a volleyball official for 20 years.
One of his favorite officiating memories was from a regular season boys’ basketball game when Hoopeston-East Lynn was playing at home against Gibson City. One of the Cornjerker players was Thad Matta, who was recently hired as the Butler University men’s basketball coach.
“I am working with Gene Lash and the place is packed to the ceiling,” Waters said. “About three minutes into the game, the fans are screaming at every whistle.
“At one end of the court, Hoopeston hits a shot and the net gets wrapped around the rim. Gene blows his whistle and I see him headed for the Hoopeston cheering section and I think, ‘OH, NO!’
“He reaches into the crowd and grabs a little 3-year-old girl and hoists her onto his shoulder, big smile on his face. He walks out on the court and lifts the girl up and she pulls the net down. Huge ovation from the crowd. From that moment on, Gene could do no wrong.”
Waters’ true passion, however, was in coaching, not officiating.
“The appeal of coaching for me was always the competition and watching the progress of young athletes with respect to how hard work and discipline can make all the difference in a team,” Waters said. “I always played for ‘hard-nosed’ coaches that demanded that you follow rules and perform at a high level.
“This carried over to my style of coaching. I always demanded a lot from my players and always told them that we might get beat, but we will never get outworked. Ask any of my ex-players if they ever played another team that was in better shape than our teams and I am sure they will tell you ‘NO.’”
In Waters’ last year at Oakwood (1993-94 school year), he served as the junior high principal.
When he left education after that school year, Waters started working as a painter with Dave Patten.
By 2002, he was ready to return to the school system and applied for an opening at Westville as guidance counselor.
Goodlove, the principal who is also retiring at the end of this school year, remembers the interview.
“If my memory serves me correctly, he was dressed in his painting clothes,” Goodlove said. “That was fine with me. I appreciate someone who is willing to get his hands dirty.
“However, when I would ask questions, his answers were very short, almost to the point of ‘let’s get this interview over with, I have somewhere else I need to be.’
“I got the impression from Mike, ‘you either want me or you don’t … doesn’t matter to me.’ Looking back on it, he probably had a paint job he was working and wanted to get back to it. I don’t blame him for that.”
Before any decisions were finalized, Jeff Millis (Westville’s long-time boys’ basketball coach and athletic director) offered some input.
“Coach Millis said the interview doesn’t matter,” Goodlove said.” He is good. Very good. Hire him.”
Goodlove said Millis made it clear how he stood on the subject.
“In typical Coach Millis speak, he said, ‘I’m not telling you what to do, but you’re stupid if you do not to hire him.’
“Coach was right.”
Goodlove never regretted the hire.
“Mike’s administrative experience at Oakwood certainly paid off as our guidance counselor,” Goodlove said. “His problem-solving ability has truly been a blessing.
“Mike does an excellent job of communicating with parents and students. And he is responsible for the high school scheduling, dual enrollment (DACC classes), College Express (vocational classes at DACC), and Work Cooperative (for those students who get jobs and work part of the day for high school credit). His organizational skills have to be very good.”
When Millis retired, Waters added the duties of athletic director and transportation director for the past seven years.
“As athletic director, officials have been very difficult to find,” Goodlove said. “With Mike’s officiating experience, he has used his connections and fortunately found good quality officials to come to WHS.
“As a former coach, he understands the issues that coaches bring to him, and does an excellent job of working with them.”
Waters was honored this year at a ceremony in Westville. One of the speakers was Goodlove.
“When someone retires I always ask, ‘What is the biggest change that you’ve seen in education during your career,’’’ Goodlove said. “Most say technology.
“Mr. Waters said, ‘Back then (1974), we worried about how many holes we could drill in our paddles and still be legal. Now it’s trying not to be too loud so you don’t offend anybody.”
Waters elaborated on that point.
“I can honestly say that I don’t think that kids have changed at all,” he said. “We as teachers and coaches have changed in the expectations that we have of young people today.
“It is my opinion that we spend way too much time worrying about offending anyone and less time correcting them on their mistakes. I think most every student-athlete wants to get better and learn.
“But if we won’t correct them of improper techniques and habits, then they will continue to make the same mistakes.”
Of the various things people have said about him, there’s one which Waters does not mind.
“I am told that I am ‘old school’ and I am proud of that,” Waters said. “I have made plenty of mistakes and made poor decisions in my lifetime.
“And I am certainly glad that there were people that were there to hold me accountable and call me on those to make me a better person.”
One significant change, Waters said, is how quickly the 2021-22 school year is passing.
“This final year has gone fast,” he said. “And although there have been times when things get hectic, that I couldn’t wait for it to be over, I now find myself tapping the brakes as the end of the tunnel appears.
“I’ve spent my life running from one sport or activity to another and retirement will no doubt be much different. Obviously, I love what I do and I will miss my daily contact with young people and the other teachers and coaches.”
His tenure into administration happened by accident.
“I kind of got thrown into that. During my second year at Oakwood (1978-79), the principal left early in the year and Glenn Keever, the assistant principal, was promoted in October to be the new principal,” Waters recalled. “They needed an assistant and, so to get this from within, they appointed Brenda Ludwig and I to the position of administrative assistants since neither of us had administrative degrees at the time.
“Mr. Keever was also the AD and so I took those duties as well. We learned as we went and it was really an ‘all hands on deck’ endeavor between Brenda and I. But it all worked out and we were lucky that we all worked very well together. I owe a lot to both of them.”
Years later, Waters also brought his talents with a paint brush to Westville and that will be a part of the legacy that he leaves.
“Mike used his painting skills to paint the inside of our school building in our orange, black and white school colors,” Goodlove said, “both our gyms, hallways, cafeteria and many of our classrooms. It made a huge difference in our school culture.”
Waters said it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
“The timing was right when I came here because they were getting ready to start a big project at the high school,” Waters said, “painting all the hallways, the cafeteria and the main gym.
“Gary Lewis, who was the assistant superintendent at the time, asked if I would be interested in doing all of this. So they hired a couple guys to work with me and even though it was a big job, we got it done.
“Since that time, I have worked on painting projects every summer for the school district.”
Goodlove said that the painting job was completed with the high and exacting standards he has come to expect from Waters.
“Everything Mike’s involved in, whether it was coaching, officiating, guidance counselor, athletic director, or transportation director, he performed those duties well,” Goodlove said. “He is a conscientious person.
“It is important to him to do his responsibilities well and be professional.”
Waters said he has had plenty of supporters during his educational journey.
“I’ve been very lucky during my career,” he said. “I have had the privilege of working with two of the best principals in the area in Glenn Keever at Oakwood and Guy Goodlove at Westville.
“I had the best assistant coach that anyone could ask for in Lynn Anderson and I am proud to still call her my friend. I have always been blessed to work with so many wonderful teachers and administrators over the years.”
He learned first-hand the value of some words of wisdom he received decades ago.
“One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was, ‘try and surround yourself with good people and then get the hell out of their way.’ Many of these people did indeed make me look good.”
As for what he will do in retirement, part of the plan is for Waters and his wife, Cindy, to spend time with children and 11 grandchildren who live in the Indianapolis area and are active in sports.
But, that won’t be all that keeps him busy.
“I still do residential painting on the side and plan to keep it up when I retire,” Waters said.
And, who knows? He might even go to a few high school sporting events. This time, as a spectator.
That is, if he can find time between working on a Bucket List item.
“Hitting all the MLB baseball stadiums is at the top of our bucket list,” Waters said.
