Cleveland State head coach Gary Waters retires

Gary Waters, head coach at Cleveland State for the past 11 years, has announced his retirement. The 65-year old Waters was previously head coach at both Rutgers and Kent State.

Over his 21-year head coaching career, Waters compiled an overall record of 365-307 and participated in 12 postseason tournaments (3x NCAA).

The past two years haven’t been the best for CSU, after two key players – Anton Grady and Trey Lewis – transferred to higher profile schools. The Vikings won just 9 games in each of the last two seasons, but that will hardly be Waters’ legacy there.

Waters will be remembered for turning around three programs and taking the Vikings to just their second ever NCAA Tournament in 2009. That team featured Norris Cole, a 2-time NBA Champion with the Miami Heat and currently a member of the OKC Thunder.

In a release on Tuesday, Waters had this to say: “I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to mentor an amazing group of student-athletes and look forward to the opportunity to continue to support the program in the future.”