Back where it all began for Schaefer: in Austin
snarl on his face and come across as always aggressive, but he always cares about us.”
Four years ago, Schaefer came home, and his daughter Blair followed him. She was his sharp-shooting guard at Mississippi State and remains in Austin as one of his top assistants rather than accept a head coaching job elsewhere.
“I’m not really looking to change anything until Pops calls it quits,” Blair said. “Why would I? I love it here, and I’ve had so many opportunities here that I’ve been given with my dad and a Hall of Fame coach. I’m good.”
So’s Vic. Damn good, in fact. This season it has shown more than ever as his 30-4 Longhorns lost their AllAmerica candidate Rori Harmon in a December practice and rallied behind a true freshman small forward Madison Booker and never missed a beat. Even though Booker had to change positions just four days before a Big 12 game against Baylor, the Longhorns have flourished, winning 12 of their last 13 games and dominating the Big 12 Tournament.
Schaefer should be a slam dunk for national coach of the year after guiding this team through the most difficult circumstances and winning big despite a team that ranks 314th in 3-point shooting.
It’s a bit of a misnomer since Texas makes 36.4% of them and scores 81 points a game, 11th best in the country.
“Vic’s one of the greatest coaches of all time,” Del Conte said. “One of the top five women’s coaches of all time for me.”
He’s on a par with the Who’s Who of the sport, save for his lack of a national championship. He’s on the heels of a Geno Auriemma, Kim Mulkey, Dawn Staley and Tara VanDerveer, but those four have combined to win 20 national titles.
“He’s a magic man,” said Elena Lovato, his long-time assistant. “He prepares these girls through adversity so well he also prepares them for life. He always tells them, ‘I don’t want you in a cubicle. I want you in the corner office on the top floor.’”
Schaefer’s eager to reach those same heights.
Schaefer: ‘I don’t go fishing. I go catching.’
To say Schaefer covets a championship is a vast understatement.
“It’s what drives me every day,” Schaefer said. “It’s why I’m here. Texas is not a place where the goal is being pretty good. I’m not interested in being good. At Texas you’re chasing greatness.”
That’s the one glaring omission on Schaefer’s résumé.
What would it mean to him after being Gary Blair’s defensive wizard on A&M’s 2011 national championship? “The world,” Moore said.
“He really feels this is God’s team,” said Holle, Texas’ ultimate defender. “He’s a man of faith. If this season ended with a natty, he’d probably drop to his knees and pray right there.”
The losses hurt him deeply. Not so much for himself but for his players.
After his Longhorns played badly and fell at home to Louisville 73-51, he had signs and posters of the score plastered all over the building from the locker room to the bath room stalls. “Even on my desk,” Schaefer said. “I need to remember, too.”
But a few days into the season, he had ’em all taken down. He’d done the same thing in Starkville after a 98-38 trouncing at the hands of UConn in the Sweet 16 in 2016, putting up “38” signs everywhere as a stark reminder.
“It was embarrassing,” Lovato said. “One year later, we beat ’em in the Final Four.”
This year Texas is very under the radar since unbeaten South Carolina, defending champion LSU and Iowa scoring phenom Caitlin Clark suck all the oxygen out of the room.
“They’re all playing really good basketball, and they definitely get a lot of publicity for a reason,” Holle said. “But we’re more than capable. If we keep winning, people will be watching our last game.”
Texas, however, is one of just three teams — South Carolina and Gonzaga — to win 30 games. And barring a horrendous officiating call whistling Booker for a turnover against Oklahoma, that number would be 31.
Just gives Texas one more chance to play the disrespect card.
Schaefer applies the same obsessive attention to detail on the court with his entire life. Take his favorite hobby.
“I don’t go fishing,” he said. “I go catching.”
Which means he even does scouting reports on everything from the best fishing holes to the prime time of day they’re biting. A day after Texas dissected Iowa State to win the Big 12 Tournament, he got home from Kansas City at 3:30 in the morning, slept two hours, then headed out with two buddies. They reeled in 34 crappie.
What kind of bait?
No answer. Just a stern look that said don’t ask me for my trade secrets.
There is no secret to his recipe for success, which calls for aggressive play, relentless focus and give ’em hell defense.
It’s why he can overachieve as he did in his first two seasons in Austin with consecutive Elite Eight appearances.
He’s shown not an inkling of slowing down. So he’ll continue to wake up at about 4:45 a.m. every day, throw down some coffee he home-brews, devour the daily newspaper and fit in his lunch hour, 41⁄4-mile loop jog around campus.
Schaefer will attack the day with the same extreme determination as he did with his first job coaching the ninthgrade boys at Houston Milby after graduating from Texas A&M.
And when might he call it a career? “Not so long as I have the energy and the passion to do it,” he said.
Till he’s 90?
“Yeah,” he said.
Why not.
And if this career doesn’t pan out, he can always go back to calling balls and strikes.