Army West Point Adds Waters as Diving Coach

Courtesy: Army West Point Athletics

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army West Point head swimming and diving coach Mickey Wender announced that Christopher Waters will be joining the staff as the new diving coach on Monday afternoon.

“We are very excited to welcome Chris as the next diving coach at Army West Point,” Wender said. “He has a wealth of experience having coached college diving for over 20 years, including 11 in the Big Ten. He is well-respected in the field and impressed me immediately with his desire to do whatever it takes to help get our program to the next level. Most importantly, his work ethic, professionalism, and personality makes him a great fit for Army West Point.”

Waters’ 20 years of coaching includes some notable stops at Colgate, Illinois, Tulane, Syracuse, Missouri State and Virginia Tech.

He is coming off a one-year stint at Colgate where he coached a pair of Patriot League finalists at the league championships.

Prior to joining the Raiders, Waters spent 11 seasons as the head diving coach at Illinois. With the Illini, he mentored 24 Academic All-Big Ten divers, eight CSCAA Honorable Mention Scholar All-Americans and four Big Ten Distinguished Scholars. He developed seasonal training plans for his divers, while also incorporating strength training, dry land, belt spotting and water workouts. Waters also handled recruiting, meet management and team travel arrangements.

Before embarking on his career at Illinois, Waters experienced success at conference championships in the past. He coached a pair of top-12 finishers while at Tulane at the Conference USA Championships from 2005-06, two Big East finalists while at Syracuse from 2004-05, five at Missouri State from 2003-04 on top of having 10 top-16 finishes at the Big East Championships during his time at Virginia Tech from 2000-02.

Additionally, he coached an honorable mention All-America at Division III Connecticut College in 2000 and was tabbed the Missouri Valley Conference Diving Coach of the Year in 1999 after coaching the Male Diver of the Year and the men’s one-and three-meter champions at Southwest Missouri State.

Waters is a member of the United States Diving and Professional Diving Coaches Associations. He graduated from Castleton State University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 1991 before continuing his education and earning his master’s degree in health promotion and wellness management from Missouri State in 2002.