Missouri State University Director of Athletics Kyle Moats announced the hiring Thursday of three full-time athletics personnel, including two associated with the men’s basketball program and one with football.
Cody Seidel, who has been the video coordinator for men’s basketball the last three years, will move over to the role of director of basketball operations for coach Paul Lusk’s squad. Meanwhile, Griffin Waller will join the basketball Bears as the team’s strength coach.
All three individuals are currently on campus and ready to begin their new assignments, pending final approval by the Missouri State University Board of Governors at its next scheduled meeting.
Cody Seidel
Seidel is a native of Jefferson City, Mo., and originally joined the basketball Bears in September of 2008 as a team manager. He spent four seasons with the squad in that capacity and was named head manager under Lusk for the 2011-12 season. He earned his B.S. Ed. in secondary mathematics from Missouri State in May of 2012 after completing his student-teaching requirements at Ozark (Mo.) High School and Springfield’s Parkview High. He is also the product of the rigorous MSU Honors College, placing him in distinct company among Missouri State alumni.
He accepted the role of video coordinator in June of 2012 and added responsibilities as administrative assistant and a full-time staff member in April of 2013.
He is a product of Helias High School in Jefferson City where he was a varsity football standout for the Crusaders and Coach Chris Hentges. He also was active within the Jefferson City sports community, working as a baseball umpire, field maintenance coordinator and summer camp counselor for various Jeff City Parks and Recreation programs.
Seidel is married to the former Sara Unger of Lake Ozark, Mo. He is also pursuing a master’s in administrative studies at MSU with a sports management option.
Seidel replaces Mike Howland, who recently accepted a post at Winthrop after one season as the director of basketball operations at MSU.
Griffin Waller
Waller comes to Springfield after two years as a sports performance coach and graduate assistant at Stanford University in California. He assisted with the planning and execution of the men’s and women’s basketball sports performance plans at Stanford since August of 2013 and was part of a women’s basketball Final Four run and men’s basketball Sweet 16 advancement in 2014. He also assisted with the Cardinal baseball program during his tenure there.
From July of 2012 to June of 2013, he was assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University of Florida where he oversaw the men’s and women’s basketball programs and was part of the Gators’ run to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2013. He also worked with men’s tennis and golf at the SEC school and assisted in the budgeting coordination for coach Billy Donovan’s men’s basketball program.
Waller is a product of Concordia University in Portland, Ore., where he was a 2011 honors graduate in Exercise and Sports Science and a standout pitcher for the school’s baseball program. He completed his Masters of Art in Kinesiology at San Jose State University in 2015 and previously served an athletics performance intern at the University of Portland.
A native of Encintas, Calif., Waller holds Level 1 certification from the PICP and USAW in addition to being a certified strength and conditioning specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).
Waller replaces Collin Crane who recently returned to his home state of Tennessee to accept a position at Chattanooga.
http://www.missouristatebears.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/061815aaa.html
