Waller resigns as C-M’s girls basketball coach
A different type of full-court press finally forced Lou Waller to make a difficult decision.
Waller, faced with more demands at his construction company and concerned about missing some of his children’s athletic events, decided to resign as girls varsity basketball coach at Canon-McMillan High school.
“It was a hard decision, one that I didn’t wish I had to make,” said the 51-year-old Waller Monday afternoon. “Basically, my business commitments and personal commitments were more than I could handle and still be the head coach. I have one daughter in college, another on the golf team and a son on the boys basketball team. I needed to be at my business more and was finding it harder to leave in the afternoon (for practice).”
Waller’s stay as Canon-McMillan’s head coach was short – two years – but the team made the WPIAL playoffs in both seasons.
In 2015-16, he guided the Big Macs to a 16-9 record, winning seven of the last nine games, and advanced to the WPIAL quarterfinals before losing to Penn Hills, 58-47. The Big Macs lost in a play-in game to Mt. Lebanon, 57-50, for a spot in the state playoffs.
“That was the highlight (of my two seasons),” Waller said. “We won the section title for the first time in 31 years of Canon-McMillan basketball. We tied the record for most wins in a season.”
Canon-McMillan made the playoffs this season but struggled over the second half. The Big Macs lost one of their more talented players, Kierra King, at midseason and went 2-7 the rest of the way. Canon-McMillan finished with an 8-15 record but went 4-6 in Section 3 of Class 6-A. That was good enough for the fourth and final playoff berth.
Waller’s oldest daughter, Lauren, received a scholarship to play golf at Penn State, where she is a sophomore. She was a two-time WPIAL champion and PIAA runnner-up at Canon-McMillan. Her sister, Taylor, was on the basketball team last year but is concentrating on her golf career. Taylor, a junior, was a regional runner-up and state qualifier last season. And Elliott is a 6-2 guard-forward on the basketball team.
“I missed a little … with Lauren and seven (golf) trips with Taylor,” Waller said. “I haven’t really seen my son play.”
Lou Waller coached 10 years of AAU basketball and worked in the youth program at Canon-McMillan when Lauren came through. A 1987 graduate of West Virginia University, Waller was on Rudy Marisa’s coaching staff at Waynesburg University. Waller also was a three-year letterman and captain of the basketball team before graduating from Trinity High School.