By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – New Bloomington High School football coach Joe Walters has kept a close eye on the Purple Raiders program.

He’s lived in Bloomington during the seven years he coached at Peoria Notre Dame, the last six seasons as head coach.

PODCAST: Listen to our interview with Walters on WJBC.

“I think I’ve put a couple hundred thousand miles on my car and a whole lot of time driving, so I thought this would be a great opportunity,” Walters said. “There’s a lot of great things going on in the high school in Bloomington, there’s a lot of great things going on in football in Bloomington. It’s probably one of the greatest cities in the state. For me and my family, we are very excited.”

Walters said he wants to build a ‘brotherhood’ in the program.

“The idea is to get themselves to love each other and just give of themselves for the guy next to him,” Walters said.

Walters said the program can overcome the stagnant enrollment that comes with being in a landlocked district.

“I’m not worried about that, we should be able to compete with (Big 12) schools very well,” Walters said. “I’d rather be the hole in the donut than the donut.”

Walters led the Irish to five playoff appearances in his six years at PND. He previously served as an assistant coach for the Bloomington Extreme indoor team in 2011.

The District 87 school board is expected to make Walters’ appointment official at a meeting on Wednesday.

Walters replaces Rigo Schmelzer who led the Purple Raiders to a school record 188 wins in 23 seasons, including three straight state title game appearances in 2002-04.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].