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Schneider prepares to rebuild women's basketball
The University hired Brandon Schneider, former head coach at Emporia State, to be the next women's basketball coach for the upcoming season. "I've always wanted an opportunity to coach at a school like this," he said.
COURTNEY VARNEY/KANSAN
each for the upcoming
DYLAN SHERWOOD
@dmantheman2011
If you asked women's basketball coach Brandon·Schneider what his dream job is,you might think it would be coaching at a powerhouse program. The Kansas women's bascketball team might not be the first to come to mind.
For Schneider, however, it's living the dream.
"I've always wanted an opportunity to coach at a school like this," said Schneider, who has coached at Emporia State and Stephen F. Austin State University. "I feel blessed to be here."
Schneider got the call from Kansas administrators asking if he was interested in the Kansas job in March. He said he jumped at the opportunity.
"I really liked that Dr. [Sheahon] Zenger, [director of KU Athletics], and staff did what I call a traditional search, not using an outside firm," he said. "I ultimately wanted to coach somewhere where I can recruit in Texas as well as in-state in Kansas."
On the job since April 21, Schneider has already done some key things for Kansas, including bringing in two new staff members, A'Quonesia Franklin as associate head coach and Damitria Buchanan as assistant coach, and keeping current assistant Katie O'Connor. He also had his first recruit commit for the class of 2015 in Chelsea Lott, a center from Houston.
Schneider first experienced Allen Fieldhouse as a first-year assistant coach for Emporia State in an exhibition game against the Jayhawks in 1995. He became an immediate fan.
"I began to feel it," Schneider said. "There's an appreciation of how basketball is at the University of Kansas, whether it's on the men's side or the women's side. The history and tradition of this place is well known."
Coaching basketball certainly runs in Schneider's veins. His father, Bob, who won more than 1,000 games in
his career as a women's basketball coach, greatly impacted his son's coaching career.
"He's been a tremendous help — being a role model and [me] observing him in practices and games," Schneider said. "The big thing I took away from him was that he was a teacher of the fundamentals and places a good deal on being fundamentally sound and playing the right way."
The coaching lessons paid off but maybe came back to haunt the patriarch. The elder Schneider's last game in 2006 pitted him against his son as West Texas A&M faced Emporia State in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional. The progeny won.
"It was one of those monumental games of my career," Schneider said. "We didn't even know that he was going to retire afterwards."
Schneider put Emporia State on the map after winning the Division II National Title in 2010. The team is still a powerhouse with coach Jory Collins, who was an assistant under Schneider.
Collins started out as a volunteer assistant for the Hornets while attending school. In 2006, Schneider hired him full-time as an assistant coach.
"He gave me the opportunity that I wanted," Collins said, "I could've followed him to Stephen F. Austin, but I decided I needed some head coaching experience."
Collins said Schneider's terrific attention to detail was a main part of how he coached the game. Collins mentioned the 2010 National Championship team — how that team started grinding out games and starting rolling on to a quest at a national championship - as an
example of Schneider's skill.
One of Schneider's former players, Carolyn Lee (then Carolyn Dorsey), walked on at Emporia State and had to earn her spot on the Hornet roster. For her, Schneider's coaching skills were instrumental in the team's success.
Emporia State Athletic Director Kent Weiser said he saw Schneider as a man of few words but knew his women's basketball program was in good hands.
"He challenged his players and high results applied to each other," Lee said. "He pushed everyone and it made anyone dangerous."
"Everyone got on the same page and everything went from there," Weiser said.
Although quiet, Schneider was a reliable and easy person to get along with at Emporia State, said Greg Rahe, the "Voice of the Hornets" for
KVOE/KFFX radio in Emporia
In his 12 years at Emporia State, Schneider led the Hornets to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances.
"Sometimes it just takes time for him to talk," Rahe said. "He always expects his team to be in the NCAA Tournament. He wants his team to do the little things well and to do it right."
Now that he is back in Kansas after a five-year stint at Stephen F. Austin, Schneider can use his relationships to rebuild the Kansas women's basketball program after the team finished below .500 in back-to-back seasons.
"My goal is to make progress every day," Schneider said. "I told [the team], 'Let's focus on winning basketball games and show them what wins and losses mean at another time."
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