The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Vic Schaefer leads through discipline and love
11.04.2024 | Women's Basketball
Texas women’s basketball head coach Vic Schaefer enters his 40th year of coaching.
By Nicole Vargas, UT Communications
Four years ago, Vic Schaefer became the women's head coach at Texas. The 2024-25 season will be his 40thseason in coaching. Not only does all that experience make Schaefer the elite, demanding coach that the world sees, it also makes him the dependable, caring family man that wants nothing but the best for the team.
Schaefer started his career as a high school coach at Milby High School in 1985 and became the assistant men's coach at Sam Houston State in 1987. He later became the head women's coach for the university in 1990. From Arkansas to Texas A&M to Mississippi State, Schaefer had the responsibility of helping teams reach their full potential. But it wasn't always easy for him.
"I take great pride in how hard my kids play," Schaefer said. "And early in my career, you know, trying to get kids to play hard, I had to learn how to do that."
Schaefer came to Texas in 2020 after a successful eight seasons with the Mississippi State Bulldogs leading them to a pair of national championship games. Under his four years coaching at Texas, the Longhorns have gone to the NCAA Elite Eight three years, winning either a Big 12 regular season or tournament championship each year. Schaefer is 109-32 in four seasons at Texas and has won over 400 games as a head coach.
His recipe for success? Being there for the girls.
A lot of the time, it means fighting alongside the team on the court.
"One thing that's remarkable about him that people should know is he puts us through the fire," sophomore forward Madison Booker said. "He wants us to play hard, but he's also in the fire with us. He makes it known that he's in the fire with us."
Off the court, it means being someone that the team can depend on for anything.
"I mean, you can call Coach Schaefer with something, and he's gonna be right there," Booker said. "He tells us every day. He said if we ever get in trouble here, he wants to be our first call."
Senior forward Taylor Jones also spoke about how devoted Schaefer is to the team.
"He really takes care of us, even if it's stuff that we can't see," Jones said. "I know that he's always advocating for us and fighting for us. He takes us out on a boat weekend or a lake weekend, and that's really fun to see everyone outside of basketball, but also him."
Schaefer's hobbies don't stop at lake days. He also loves to go fishing, or "catching," as senior forward Aaliyah Moore revealed.
"He'll catch fish for us and he'll clean it and give it to us," Moore said. "We've had teammates fry, and we'll come over to their house and have a big cook out."
Teammates shared that one of the most lovable things about Coach Schaefer, however, is his unintentional use of quotes to guide the team.
"I think someone was guarding someone way too close, and he was like, 'you're stuck on them like a mosquito on a cow,' or something like that," Jones said. "And he's yelling this stuff and is actually being serious. And I'm sitting there trying not to die laughing because I'm like, there's no way he just said that."
Hilarious quotes aside, Coach Schaefer knows the balance between challenging and caring, and it has undoubtedly made Texas women's basketball the powerhouse it is today. When looking back on all his years of coaching, Schaefer shared the advice he wishes he could tell himself 40 seasons ago.
"I think the best advice is advice my wife gave me early in our marriage, and it's simply this: If they don't like you, they ain't gonna play hard for you," Schaefer said. "And that doesn't mean you have to be their best friend. Doesn't mean you have to go hang out to club with them. What it means is they gotta know you care about them. They gotta know you love them."
