As outside attacker Todd Chamberlain stepped off the court late in game four Saturday, he could not help but be surprised at the decision coach Joel Walton made.
With the Ball State University men's volleyball team trailing 22-20 and having a one-game lead against No. 14 Loyola University, Walton decided to remove his all-conference player from the Worthen Arena court.
Despite an argument from Chamberlain, Walton simply looked at the senior captain and pointed to the bench and told him to rest for a fifth game.
After 11 years as the Cardinals' head coach, this decision led to Walton's newest coaching milestone.
"Joel was right. He told me 'come out, rest your legs a tad bit. Be ready to go if it went to five," Chamberlain said. "I believed him. OK, what am I going to do, all right I'm out. I sat down, got some water and wiped the sweat of me and wanted to come in and really bust my ass on the fifth."
Coming off the bench, Chamberlain had two kills as Ball State won the fifth game to secure Walton's 200th all-time win.
With this win, Walton becomes the third active Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association coach to reach this achievement.
Walton said following his historic win the first person looked to in the crowd to thank was his wife, Jenny,
"I owe Jenny a lot. I owe Kate and Bailey, my children, a lot too," he said. "Their lives are very affected by the fact that I am a coach. There are some good things and bad things. I'm just grateful for their support. I told Jenny thanks for being there for all 200."
The first person he thanked, though was also the hardest person to convince when he made the move into a coaching position, Walton said.
After finishing his four-year volleyball career at Ball State in 1988, Walton's first two jobs out of college was working as a stocker at Marsh and being a salesman for Nabisco.
Midway through his Nabisco job though, Walton said his wife and him started talking about taking a pay cut so he could return to volleyball.
"It was a good job. I had a company car. I was making pretty good money," Walton said. "But it wasn't my passion. I missed volleyball so much. The hardest person at that time to convince that it was going to be OK for me to comeback and be an assistant coach was my wife, and we really made a conscience decision then to pursue careers that we both loved."
Returning to Ball State in 1990 as an assistant for Hall of Fame coach Don Shondell, Walton said he finally found what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He also said he never imaged his first season as an assistant coach that he would become Ball State's head coach.
"At that time I was here trying to learn as much as I could about coaching," Walton said. "I was hoping for an opportunity to lead the Ball State program."
As Ball State's original head coach, Shondell won 13 MIVA championships and reached the NCAA Tournament 14 times in his 33-year coaching career. Walton would spend eight seasons working on the Shondell's coaching staff before the Hall of Fame coach retired at the end of the 1998 season.
After accepting the head coaching job, Walton said his goal was never to try to replace Shondell's legacy as the face of Ball State men's volleyball.
"My ego is not one that needs to be continuously stroked. I don't think my goal has ever been or ever will be to supplant Don Shondell," Walton said. "I'm someone who has inherited the responsibility of the program and I am trying to keep our program as successful and as strong as it can possibly be. That's how I'm looking at my job."
With Walton taking over the program, Ball State had a winning season in 10 of his 11 seasons and won the 2002 MIVA Championship. His .648 winning percentage is also the highest of all current Ball State coaches who have coached at least two seasons.
Setter Ethan Pheister said he was happy to see Walton get the 200th win at home. He also said he enjoyed being on the team that got Walton's 200th win.
"It's good to get our coach some recognition," Pheister said. "I'm happy for Joel. It's a great achievement."
After reaching the 200th win mark, Walton said he does not know if he can beat Shondell's Ball State record of 769 wins. Despite that record being daunting, the coach said he would not mind coaching another 30 years to try to break the record.
"I've been somewhat fortunate to be named the head coach here and to have an 11 years here," Walton said. "It's really been a great journey."
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