Ask about Brandon Schneider, and Tara Holloway tells you a story.
After four years playing for him, you expect to hear about a funny time when the coach lost his voice in the huddle, or perhaps told a ridiculous joke at practice.
Instead, Holloway’s eyes focus in a little more, her eyebrows lowering as the memory runs through her mind.
She begins, and suddenly one is taken back 10 years ago. This is the day that changed Holloway forever.
This is the day that Holloway — big, bad, tough Tara Holloway — cried her eyes out on the basketball court during a practice after being yelled at by her post coach Brandon Schneider.
“I remembered thinking, ‘Never again will somebody make me cry,’” Holloway said. “It’s not that he made me cry, but he made me realize what I needed to do. He tested me and tested myself emotionally. I think ever since then, he’s always had high expectations and knew my potential.”
Holloway never cried on the practice floor again. She worked too hard to. She developed into a team leader, a tougher player, and two years later, became a Kodak All-American.
She credited it all to the one day where she decided to become a better player — and the one coach who knew exactly how to get the most out of her.
“He analyzes everything, and he knows,” Holloway said. “He knows what makes each girl tick.”
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In his ninth season at Emporia State, Schneider finds himself on the cusp of becoming the winningest women’s basketball coach in school history. He needs one victory to tie Val Schierling’s 214 wins. If Schneider does it next Saturday against Southwest Baptist, he’ll do it in 135 fewer games.
He credits his players for the team’s unheralded success in the last decade — success that includes a 266-58 record since 1996.
Still, if you ask those around him, they’ll hint there’s something more than good players and luck helping out the Lady Hornet basketball team.
There’s also a coach with a sixth sense that helps him get the very most out of each of his players.
“He definitely knew how to get to each of us,” said Emily Bloss, former ESU player and 2001 NCAA Division II Player of the Year. “We all had our different ways of getting competitive on the floor, and he knew that.”
After graduating from Wayland Baptist with a psychology degree, the coach seems to know exactly how to deal with each of his players — whether it’s yelling to fire them up or speaking calmly to keep them listening.
“Isn’t that an art?” ESU Athletic Director Kent Weiser said. “That is one of those intangibles that you cannot explain — you can’t teach that. It just has to be a feeling you have.”
Schneider has never been afraid to challenge those on his team, especially those with the most talent.
ESU guard Michelle Stueve said that after last season — when she earned Division II All-American honors as a sophomore — the two discussed her most glaring weaknesses and how she could improve to become an even better player.
Though the criticism is not always received well, it is part of what players can expect from the coach.
“I’m sure I’ve hurt feelings, but I hope my players know I’m being really honest because I care about them a great deal,” Schneider said. “We care enough about you to be honest, and that’s the same thing that parents do.”
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Brandon Schneider was all set to go for a Ph.D. His playing days were done at Wayland Baptist, and after being named an Academic All-American three times, he started applying to some of the prestigious programs in the nation to become a sports psychologist.
There was one problem.
“At the last minute,” Schneider said, “I decided I wasn’t ready to give up on basketball yet.”
His father, Bob, was a longtime women’s coach at West Texas A&M, but Brandon was still unsure of whether he wanted to enter the men’s or women’s coaching ranks after coaching both in summer camps.
His decision was made a few months later.
In the final semester of his senior year, he decided to travel with his father’s West Texas A&M women’s team for the playoffs. The trip turned out to be one of the most memorable of his life, helping to convince him to enter the women’s side of the game.
He was hired as an assistant at ESU in 1996 before taking over for Cindy Stein in 1998.
Philosophically, Brandon and his father are similar. Calling his dad “the best fundamental teacher of the game I’ve been around,” Brandon picked up many of his coaching thoughts and also advice from his father.
“One thing he always told me is you’ve got to be yourself,” Brandon said. “He said that I couldn’t be him or Bobby Knight or Dean Smith. I had to be myself.”
Brandon has done that at ESU, creating a tough, defensive-minded team that reflects the image of its coach.
“He finds people,” ESU men’s basketball coach David Moe said, “that are committed to basketball like he is.”
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Ask Holloway why Schneider is successful, and her answer comes quickly.
“I really think that he doesn’t ever give up on you, and he never lets you give up,” Holloway said. “He’ll always be there to push you academically, physically, emotionally. He’s always on you.”
Holloway has seen it first-hand. She has never been the same since.
“He just digs at me,” Holloway said. “He digs and digs and digs.”
Schneider might say that players like Holloway have made him successful, but she’ll never believe that talk.
“He’s like the sculptor,” Holloway said. “He’s out there, taking that mold, and he’s shaping all of them.”
Holloway should know. She’s part of the clay herself.
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