Hall of Fame
As the NIU volleyball head coach from 1988-98, Waite guided the Huskies to a 266-102 mark, which included four NCAA Tournaments (1993, '96, '97, '98), six conference tournament titles and seven total postseason appearances. Waite's .723 winning percentage is the highest in program history. During his tenure at NIU, Waite was named the Mid-Continent Conference Coach of the Year twice (1992, '93) and earned MAC Coach of the Year honors in 1997. He mentored 31 all-conference honorees and four conference players of the year.
Hired as the Huskies' head coach in 1988 following two seasons as an assistant at Illinois State, Waite led NIU to a 22-8 overall record, including a 6-1 mark in the North Star Conference to tie for first in the league. He would go on to lead the Huskies to 20-or-more wins in nine of his 11 seasons.
NIU won the North Star Conference again in 1990 and made its first postseason appearance the following season in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC). In 1992, NIU won the Mid-Con and set a new school record with 33 victories, advancing to the final of the NIVC. NIU repeated as Mid-Con champions in 1993 and earned their first trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they defeated Illinois State in the first round.
The 1996 season saw NIU begin a string of three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, two of which included tournament victories. In 1997, NIU won the MAC West Division and MAC Tournament in its first year in the league before topping Villanova in the NCAA Tournament First Round. The Huskies won the MAC West again in 1998 and topped Florida State in the NCAA Tournament.
Waite went on to lead the Wisconsin volleyball program from 1999-2012, guiding the Badgers to two Big Ten titles (2000, '01) and a national runner-up finish in 2000.
