With a four-year record of 107-24, UW volleyball head coach Pete Waite might be the most unheralded sports figure on the UW campus.

Waite has led the Badger women to two Big Ten championships and four consecutive NCAA tournaments, including a second-place finish in 2000. Over his 15-year coaching career, he has coached six conference players of the year and been named coach of the year six times as well.

The Monona, Wis., native began his college-coaching career south of the Wisconsin border with the Northern Illinois Huskies in 1988. After leading the Huskies to eight first-place finishes in 11 seasons, Waite moved back home to Wisconsin and began coaching the Badgers in 1999.

“There is no bigger college program than this,” Waite said. “I really think that this is a great place; the chance to come back here and be in Madison at a university that supports the volleyball program and where the fans support volleyball better than most every program in the country [is] an honor.”

Waite graduated from Monona Grove High School in 1977 before attending and playing volleyball at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. After reaching the top of his collegiate game in the 1979 season when Ball State reached the Final Four, Waite was named co-captain and co-MVP of the team in his senior year of 1980. Waite’s relentless work ethic on the court transformed him from a defensive specialist as a freshman into the team leader as a senior.

“I think looking back at it, on the court [the best thing] was just being able to train everyday and being able to get stronger, get better as a player,” Waite said. “In my sophomore year, my team made it to the Final Four … we won the conference a number of times, and that was great, but it was more for me just enjoying the training and being in the gym with the team.”

Waite has always dedicated himself to whatever it is that he is doing.

After four years at Ball State, Waite graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education and plans of becoming a high school teacher. His love for the game of volleyball, however, never left, and his dreams now included coaching as well as teaching.

“I started coaching a lot of clinics when I was in college in the summer, and even in my senior year in college, when I was student teaching, I was coaching a local high school team,” Waite said.

“I kind of was thinking I was going to be a teacher and a high school coach, but after two years out in teaching, I hadn’t landed a full-time teaching job where I wanted to, and I had somebody call and ask if I wanted to coach some club volleyball.”

While coaching club volleyball, Waite started interacting with a lot of college coaches who began to recruit his players, and he began to think about joining the college-coaching ranks. After spending 11 seasons at NIU, he came to Wisconsin as an experienced coach and a great teacher of the game.

“He’s taught me a lot about every aspect of the game,” senior captain Erin Byrd said. “The one thing he’s really taught me is letting my instincts play, just not thinking about every play [but] letting myself get in the moment.”

Although not in the classroom, Waite has still become a great teacher. It is his ability to teach all aspects of the game that has led the Badgers to the top of the Big Ten conference and has produced some of the greatest Badger volleyball players ever.

“I think I have a good ability to sense what the team needs to take them to the next level. Sometimes it’s technique, sometimes it’s attitude, sometimes it’s chemistry amongst players, sometimes it’s working them harder, sometimes it’s backing off,” Waite said.

No matter what his secret is, coach Waite has remained humble and continues to coach for the love of the game. It is his ability to win while remaining modest that continues to lead him to success.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have a great staff in all my years,” Waite said. “They’ve made great contributions and added things that they excel at and made the team even better.”

Waite’s coaching career has already seen some great moments at UW. In 2000, the Badger program reached the final match of the NCAA tournament, culminating the work and effort of hundreds of players and coaches that came before. The Badgers hosted the Mideast Regional that year, and it was a win against 11th-ranked UCLA that propelled them to the Final Four.

“The final point of that win against UCLA was a time when we had lost our starting right side the day before to an injury,” Waite said about his greatest UW memory. “That point when we blocked the ball, and the team collapsed in joy on the court, and 5,500 fans went nuts in the Field House will be a point I will remember forever.”

Whether it is leading the team to victory or leading them in a game of dice, Waite has dedicated himself to his players and has had to adapt to life as a Big Ten volleyball coach.

“Sometimes the hardest part is the time commitment,” Waite said. “I think there is a lot that fans don’t understand about the time that coaches put in, in the gym every day, traveling and especially in recruiting.”

Waite has had to make certain sacrifices in order to give his all to UW. He has undoubtedly missed moments in his two sons’ (Eric 15, Ryan 18) lives, and has sometimes had to place the responsibilities of parenting solely on his wife Carrie’s shoulders.

“That’s been one of the hardest things coaching and being gone a lot is that you know you’re missing some things in your kids’ lives. There’s just times where they’ve got a sporting event or something that [I] just can’t be to, and that’s kind of tough,” Waite said. “They’ve been great about it, and my wife has at times had to take a full load of raising the two kids when I’m on the road so much.”

Spending so much time with his players, Waite has become a big part in their lives. Not only is he the father of two growing sons, but he is also an influence on the lives of 16 women each season.

“One time after practice, I was really upset just dealing with a lot of things,” Byrd said. “He took the time after practice to sit with me … in the Field House and just look at the court and talk about life. It was kind of nice, because I don’t really have a male role model in my life, and I think he’s been that for me.”

Waite could be one of the greatest teachers and most humble men on the UW campus, and his willingness to face adversity as the head coach of volleyball shows that he is truly doing it for his love of the sport.

“I love being in the gym; I love being around the staff and players,” Waite said. “That’s why when people say ‘get a job you love doing, [it] makes it easy to come to work.'”