BULLDOG ALUM LEADS RUTGERS TO NIT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Gary Waters' Squad To Face Michigan In Thursday's Title Contest
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| Bulldog Alum Gary Waters Has Guided Rutgers To The NIT Championship Game |
Former Ferris State University men's basketball player and assistant coach Gary Waters, who presently serves as the head men's basketball coach at NCAA Division I member Rutgers University, has led his team to the championship game of the 2004 National Invitational Tournament (NIT) for the first time in school history.
The Scarlet Knights, who posted an 84-81 overtime win over Iowa State in semifinal action Tuesday (March 30), will square off against the University of Michigan Thursday (April 1) in the title contest at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. (EST) and will be shown live on ESPN.
Waters' team improved to 20-12 overall this season with Tuesday's victory, which represents the school's first 20-win campaign since the 1982-83 season. Rutgers, which is a member of the Big East Conference, is located in Piscataway, N.J.
A rising star in major college coaching, Waters received his coaching start at Ferris after a successful playing career from 1972-74. He was an NAIA All-District selection as a player and in two years led the team to a 47-10 record under head coach Jim Wink. As a senior, he averaged 12.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game for the 1973-74 Great Lakes Conference champions while earning all-conference accolades. Waters also helped the Bulldogs garner a NAIA National Tournament berth as a junior.
Waters served from 1975-89 as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs under Wink and Tom Ludwig. He then joined Eastern Michigan University as an assistant and later associate head coach from 1989-96. Hired in 1996 by NCAA-I member Kent State, Waters led the Golden Flashes to three post-season berths and was twice named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year in his first stint as a head coach. Kent State reached its first NCAA Tournament in 1999, advanced to the NIT's Elite Eight in 2000 and upset Indiana in the first round of the 2001 "Big Dance."
Waters took the job at Rutgers University in April, 2001, and his Scarlet Knights went 18-12, beat a school-record four Top 25 foes and made the NIT in his initial season. The United States Basketball Writer's Association honored him as the District II Coach of the Year.
The Detroit native was an all-city basketball, football and track athlete at MacKenzie High School during his prep career. Waters was inducted into the Bulldog Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002.
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