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Crater hires Waite as football coach Waite Friday Mar 24, 2017 at 6:23 PM Mar 24, 2017 at 7:23 PM Kris Henry Mail Tribune @Kris_Henry Crater athletic director David Heard thought he knew a thing or two about football, then he sat down with legendary ex-Ashland High head coach Jim Nagel and prospective head coach Randy Waite. After that 90-minute session, Heard exited with his head spinning and a confident recommendation on who should fill the Comets’ football vacancy. On Friday, it all came full circle as Heard announced the hiring of Waite as Crater’s head coach following a six-week search to replace John Beck, who stepped down in February after guiding the Comets the past 13 years. “It was one of the most eye-opening experiences for me,” said Heard. “I think I know a little about football, but after a while it was like sitting in a class listening to someone speak Chinese. Jim Nagel was impressed and I was really impressed.” Nagel served as an adviser during the search. Waite comes to Central Point from Rigby High School in Idaho, where he twice led the Trojans to the state semifinals after assuming control of a program that had won four games in four years. In 17 years as a head coach, Waite has amassed an overall record of 113-73 and has consistently increased the participation and success rate at Weston-McEwen High, La Grande High, Ontario High and Rigby High. His last stop in Idaho was the hometown of his wife Traci, but each always knew there would be a return to Oregon at some point. “I think it’s a good opportunity for me and obviously I’m hopeful I can help the kids along the way,” said Waite, who turns 46 in May. “It really came down to us accepting the job based on the people we met there at Crater. Really the biggest factor for us were the people in the administration and the school and the kids, it was just a good fit.” The community and school size are pretty close between Rigby and Crater, and Waite said he is excited about having a chance to coach in southern Oregon. As an assistant coach at Roseburg in 2008, he got a first-hand look at Crater and said he has always been impressed by the brand of football that has been played in the Rogue Valley. In his 13 years at Crater, Beck compiled a 69-68 record with four conference championships. In 2015, Crater advanced to the Class 5A state semifinals for the first time in school history after a program-best 11-0 start. The Midwestern League champion finished 11-1 that season but, with only a handful of holdovers, couldn’t recreate the magic in 2016, going 5-5 overall and 4-3 in the MWL to finish in a tie for fourth place. Waite's move to Crater doesn’t figure to be a reclamation project, and that’s another exciting prospect. “I think we can build on the good things that have already taken place there at Crater and hopefully add our own twist to them,” said Waite. “I’m excited that it’s a different spot for me, a different opportunity and one that hopefully I can help.” As far as his approach to football goes, Waite said he tries to run a very structured program built on preparation and trying to put athletes and coaches in the best position to be successful. “We try to do things the best we can and the right way and usually the wins end up taking care of themselves,” he said. “We don’t focus on them, we focus on all the other things, and I’ve been fortunate at every spot that I’ve been that we’ve been able to have relatively good success, so hopefully we can continue that.” “The things we’re going to try to do is go in there and try to give kids the best experience they can have playing high school football,” added Waite. “Hopefully when they’re done playing for us they will think back and say that’s one of the highlights of their lives.” Waite was a 1989 graduate of Pendleton High School and began coaching as the junior varsity head coach at Hermiston in 1992. His first varsity position was at Weston-McEwen High on the offensive and defensive lines, and he eventually became the school’s varsity head coach in 1996. He immediately guided the program to a state runner-up finish at the 2A level. Waite returned to Hermiston in 1998 before switching to La Grande, first as offensive coordinator in 2000 and then as head coach from 2001-02. He was head coach at Ontario from 2003-07, taking one year away to be an assistant at Roseburg before returning to guide Ontario from 2009-13. His Ontario teams advanced to the state semifinals four times and finished among the top two in conference in eight of his nine seasons. Along with guiding Rigby to its best showings in nearly 20 years, Waite was instrumental in boosting the school’s participation to 120 kids. In each of his stops, program participation has practically doubled. “I’m really excited,” said Heard. “Randy is just a pleasure to work with and a pleasure to talk to and I’m super excited about the fact that everywhere he’s been he has increased dramatically the amount of kids wanting to play football for him.” “Everybody I’ve talked to during this process has said you’d be stupid not to hire him,” added Heard. “We had some other good candidates, but I’m just super excited he will come and make this move and move our program forward.” Although he's coached at several schools, Waite hopes Crater will be his final stop. A versatile coach who prefers a pro-style offense, Waite said one thing he has learned is how to adapt his scheme to his surroundings. “The thing that you learn at each stop is each is a little different and you have to figure out the dynamics of the school, the town and the kids and build on those strengths,” he said. “It’s not the same everywhere so we have to keep in mind where we’re at and mold from there. Things that may work somewhere else doesn’t work at the next stop so we’ll see, but I’m definitely hoping this is my last stop.” Waite is currently an assistant principal at Rigby High but will join Crater as a teacher, with a background in mathematics and physical education. The school year in Idaho doesn’t end until around Memorial Day, so Waite will have to do some of his initial work in putting a staff together through phone interviews, although he’s hoping to return to Crater in mid-April to speak with players and coaches. Those meetings likely won’t be as technical as when he was chatting with Nagel, but hopefully they will be just as enjoyable. “It’s always fun to talk football,” said Waite, “and always fun to talk football with legends like Jim Nagel. He was very gracious and listened to what I had to say and didn’t roll his eyes too much, so I was grateful for that.” Reach reporter Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected], www.facebook.com/krishenryMT or www.twitter.com/Kris_Henry