Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Schaefer Recognized As Rising Star

Voting is underway for basketballscoop.com's postseason awards, and Texas A&M associate women's coach Vic Schaefer has been nominated for the Rising Stars of the Profession honor. Schaefer is one of 20 semifinalists who was nominated by at least one of his peers.

Fans can vote online through April 15, and the 10 coaches with the most votes will then be evaluated by BasketballScoop's panel of coaches, who will then select five winners.

Show Coach Schaefer the love RIGHT HERE

For those who don't know much about Schaefer, he graduated from A&M in 1984. He's coached with Gary Blair for 12 seasons. Schaefer cut his teeth in coaching at Sam Houston before becoming Blair's assistant at Arkansas.

Many fans might not know that A&M almost missed out on having Schaefer on the bench when Blair signed with the Aggies six years ago. LIke most assistants, Schaefer ultimately desires to be a head coach, and he was in serious discussions with New Mexico State back in 2003. The NMSU athletic director even offered him the school's head coaching job, but Schaefer decided to come back to Aggieland in order to be closer to his ailing mother.

As he told me during an interview earlier this season:

"At that point in time of my life, my mother was alive and in Houston and I felt like if I went to Las Cruces, N.M., she may never get to see her grandkids again. And, I was exactly right because a year-and-a-half later we lost her. It’s a decision I’m so glad I made if for no other reason than family. It's been a great decision, obviously, but for the main reason of my mother and knowing what my parents did for me as a child, the least I could do for her in her final years was give her an opportunity to be around her grandkids. And you know what, it gave me a chance as a momma’s boy to be around her, too. It was a great decision, and I don’t regret it for one minute."

Schaefer's parents, by the way, used to tailgate for Aggie football games in the 1960s near the location of the KAMU-TV building, adjacent to Kyle Field on Houston Street.

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