He told us so.
It was three days before the season started and, as convincing as coach Gary Waters can be with those energetic hands and that hint of madness in his eyes, we can’t say we totally bought it.
Waters, who has undergraduate degrees in business administration and business education and a master’s in education administration, could never tear himself off the court long enough to try them out. He dresses, talks and strategizes like a CEO.
Character and commitment count, he says, more than vertical leap, more than speed, more than talent. Those qualities win games. More importantly, they build a program. Cleveland State University is his organization. One good season is not enough. He wants a winner that’s built to last.
We believe him now. How could you not? At the time of publication, CSU’s basketball team was 23-6 with a real chance of making the NCAA tournament. Two of those losses were to nemesis Butler University, which made it to the NCAA Finals against Duke last year.
Waters came to CSU as head coach in 2006. When he arrived, the team was on a five-year bender of a combined 43 wins and 98 losses. Now, he’s approaching 100 wins and his résumé includes a 2009 trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament. CSU hasn’t seen good times like this since Kevin Mackey was coach. And that program ended with a rather poor display of character — Mackey getting busted outside a crack house.
Waters has built successful programs before. After 15 years as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Ferris State University, he landed the top job at Kent State University in 1996. He took the team to the first round of the NCAA tournament in 1999.
“One of the reasons that K State is still winning today,” Waters says, “is that we built that program on integrity.”
Hang around Waters for a bit, and you’ll see how his business background spills onto the court. Yes, there are the wingtips — he’s been called the Imelda Marcos of college basketball — the statement watch, four-point pocket square and custom-made suits. In his office, he’s always got a stack of books on leadership, most of them business-oriented. But it’s the long-term goals, broken down into step-by-step initiatives that have paid dividends. So in Waters’ first season, that meant winning on Senior Day, a feat that hadn’t happened in years. By year two, it included a 20-win season and dominance at home. In year three, the ante got upped again: a Horizon League championship and a bid to the NCAA tournament. In this, Waters’ fifth season, his goals are even more ambitious.
But like every great leader, Waters begins by recruiting good team members. Every kid Waters calls on is the star of his high school basketball team. He looks for the ones who weren’t ruined by the experience and can understand one critical thing: “It’s not all about you. It’s about the team.”
Once Waters builds his family, the work begins — both on the court and off. Waters is known for his brutal practices and conditioning programs. What people don’t see is how he nurtures his players’ psyches.
That’s why, just before the season starts, after two hours of sprints and scrimmages, Waters’ 13 still-sweaty players are filing into the front rows of a lecture hall for their weekly Success Class, a course devised and taught by Waters. “The whole purpose is for them to define success,” he explains before class starts. “I thought I could get to their minds.”
This year, the class is reading Winning With People by one of Waters’ favorite leadership gurus, John C. Maxwell. They discuss the book for a while, with players raising their hands and participating like it’s an honors class. Then Waters brings out an art print depicting a basketball hoop with a brilliant sunset behind it. “Tell me a story about this painting,” he instructs.
“It reminds me of when we were little and used to play until it was dark and my mama called us in,” someone offers.
“It’s like poetry,” says a voice down the row. Heads nod in approval.
Back then, basketball was simple. “You played. You just played,” coach says. “It didn’t matter what time it was. You just played till it got dark, didn’t you? Now it’s about the program. Getting up at 6:30 in the morning and getting it done.
“The things we do to you are not just to make you feel pain,” he continues. “We prepare you for that moment on the court so that when you face that moment, you will know you’ve done it before and you can do it again and again.”
As the class ends, the players come together in a circle and put their hands in the middle for their rally cry: “One, two, three … Family!”
In the end, it’s Waters’ goal that all of the thinking, all of the pep talks, books and classes synergize in his players’ minds to become an almost unconscious thought.
“Why do we work extremely hard?” coach asks.
In unison, they shout out the answer.
“It’s who we are.”
Life Lessons ... from Gary Waters
I knew that I wanted to make a difference in the lives of young people. I am in coaching because of that.
The people who succeed in the business world are the ones who work the hardest.
You have to be the example. You have to show them in your everyday ways what working hard is. I had to change the culture of the program. I had to redirect their thinking. I had to get them to see success.
Kids today really struggle with making the needed sacrifices to accomplish the goal. What I have to build in them is that it’s not all about them.
You've got the God-given talent. Now what are you going to do with it?
This team made a decision way back at the end of the spring semester. What we normally do is give them time off in the summer. They came to me and asked if they could stay. We can’t be there to help them to do it, so they literally conditioned themselves. They ran hills, they ran sprints, they pushed sleds. They did all that stuff. They made that commitment right then and there. Their goal was to win a championship this year.
In recruiting, you’ve got to have a sales pitch, but at the same time, there’s got to be integrity and honor. God makes me that way. I can always look a person in the face, and they know I’m telling them the truth.
The higher you go in coaching, the more business-related it becomes. These universities are almost like corporations.
Everyone needs that added edge. What we look for is that extra. I call them equalizers. God didn’t give everyone the same thing. But he gives everyone things that can equalize you with other people. I think that goes in life. He gives you things that can equalize you so you can succeed.
At study session, everyone is on time.
In life, everyone can have quickness. Quickness of mind, quickness of hand, quickness of feet. We all have the ability. You just have to work at it.
The one thing I can tell about people is their degree of integrity, if they’re value-driven. I’ve taken a chance on a few kids. Some of them have worked out, and some of them haven’t. You see that the potential’s there, but that potential can let you down.
The minimum goal is running a 5:30 mile; 90 percent of our players can do it.
I want to leave a legacy. I want to become the best person I can be within all the phases of my life.
This is the biggest lesson I have learned in life: Don’t make decisions on things. You make decisions on people. That’s why I came here. Wherever I go, I adopt that place and become a part of that community because I’m sent there for a purpose.
We want everyone in our program to bench press 300 pounds.
You’ve got to be mentally alert. A prime example is that I’ll read 10 to 20 books a year so that when someone hits me with something, now I’ve got that alertness. It’s using your mind to the best of your ability.
Anticipation before it happens. When you anticipate, you can move ahead.
The student athlete’s GPA at Cleveland State is higher than the regular student.
My son and daughter played basketball in college. Every child should be encouraged to play something. It is vital in our society today. It teaches you so much — discipline, the importance of working hard. It teaches you how to share with others.
Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices and Priorities of a Winning Life, by Tony Dungy. That’s a good one.
My players are not inhibited with me. You know why I do that? That’s how I want them to play out on the court.
Writing a book is a primary goal of mine.
We had a great recruiting year this year. The best we’ve had. We recruited the area and got the best here. We went outside the area and got No. 1s instead of threes and fours
Everyone looks for that higher source that they can connect with. Not that I am that, but they can see it in me.
Matthew 5:16: In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.
We’ve still got a long way to go with this thing.
You try not to coach differently, and it’s hard not to. What happens is your players see a different side of you, and you want to keep things consistent. The biggest thing is, you have to be there for them.
You have to make a decision in your life: Do you really want to do this?