Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/167574
where have you gone? with these young men because a lot of things they're dealing with, he's been through. He can appreciate some of the frustration. So if a kid flies off the handle, hey, been there, done that. OK, now let's see what we can do to bring you back in line." Watters admits he was overbearing at times during his playing career. He didn't hide his frustration when Holtz moved him from running back to flanker to start the 1988 season. He and Tony Brooks famously missed the final regular-season game, at No. 2 USC, when Holtz sent them home early for repeated tardiness. The most notorious moment in his NFL career came during Watters' first game with the Philadelphia Eagles. When asked why he didn't fully extend himself for a dangerous pass over the middle late in that game, Watters asked reporters, "For who? For what?" He later spun those remarks into a book of the same title that highlighted his change of attitude. Watters said the path that brought him from a player who was concerned only with his stats and his cars to the guy who's buying cleats for high school kids he met only a month ago was a long and evolving one. Yet its genesis is clear. Watters was in his final season with the Seahawks when his first son, Tigero, was born prematurely. He spent the next 17 days racing to the hospital each day after practice and games to see his child supported by tubes and a breathing apparatus. Eventually doctors told him there was nothing they could do, and he held Tigero while he took his last breaths. "That was the first time that I really realized it didn't matter how much money I had or how famous I was or how great I was — I had no control in this situation," Watters said. "I used to always try to control everything. I've learned to relax and go downstream instead of fighting upstream. That's why I feel like things are really coming together for me." Watters had no plans to get into coaching. Even when he first arrived at Oak Ridge in the spring, he did so with the intention of just being around to help out from time to time. He decided to let the opportunity take him where it would. It wasn't long ago that Oak Ridge was commonly referred to around Orlando as "Joke Ridge." The team wasn't competitive. Players horsed around on the sidelines and lost interest in the games. Any of them with talent transferred to other schools. "Now that Ricky's here we're getting all those kids to come back over," Lewis said. "He's really trying to change the image." Oak Ridge strung together a couple winning seasons before Watters arrived, but he's gone about adding another layer of structure and discipline to help his players on and off the field. In his debut game, the Pioneers went into halftime with a 26-20 lead against one of the top teams in the state. The fourth-quarter breakdowns cost them a game and showed Watters there is still plenty of work to be done. He's happy to be along for the ride. ✦