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Mott Community College’s Steve Schmidt interested in CMU basketball coaching job
By Aaron McMann on March 18, 2012 5:00 pm / 7 comments
A 2006 finalist for the head men’s basketball coaching job at Central Michigan University is interested in the job again.
Steve Schmidt, head coach at Flint’s Mott Community College, said he has not been contacted by CMU, but is “absolutely” open to becoming the program’s next coach.
“I would be interested,” Schmidt told Central Michigan Life Friday by phone. “It’d be an honor to be considered and I’d love to coach there.”
Schmidt, in his 21st season as coach at Mott, is prepping his team for another run at a junior college national title. He’s brought the Bears to the championship game six times (winning three), won 14 conference titles, eight state titles and amassed a 568-123 overall record.
MCC is 31-1 this season, winning conference, state and regional titles, and opens the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II tournament as the No. 1 seed Tuesday against Danville Area (Ill.) Community College.
“As you could imagine, my focus is leading the Mott program to the national tournament,” Schmidt said. “In fairness to my kids, they deserve 100 percent of my attention going after this national title.”
While Schmidt tries to remain focused on the postseason, this isn’t the first time he’s made public statements about wanting to coach at the Division I level. In February, he told the Flint Journal one unfulfilled goal in his career is “to coach guys for four years.”
“I still have a lot of energy left, so it may still happen,” he told The Journal. “I don’t want people to think I’m trying to leave Mott, but it’s just some things that I have unfinished in my own coaching career.”
Schmidt is no stranger to CMU basketball, either. A former player on the team and supporter of the program, Schmidt was interviewed for the head coaching job in 2006 after then-coach Jay Smith abruptly resigned following the 2005-06 season. Ernie Zeigler, who was fired Wednesday after going 75-111 in six seasons at CMU, was later hired.
Schmidt said he knows Zeigler personally — he’s attended fundraising events for the program in the past — but declined to comment on his tenure, saying he doesn’t like to comment on other coaches.
“You don’t like to see anyone else lose their job,” he said. “I was a candidate when he got hired, and it was good going through that process.”
One vital part of the recruiting process, something Schmidt has been praised for at two-year school Mott, is facilities. Since he interviewed in 2006, CMU has rolled out its $22 million Events Center and new practice gymnasium all while attracting some of the best recruiting classes — based on preseason polls — in program history.
Schmidt called the facility upgrades “impressive,” and had the opportunity to experience them in person this season when he attended a game in February with friend and former teammate Pete Lambropoulos, who helped spearhead the Dick Parfitt Gymnasium project.
“I love what they’ve done,” Schmidt said. “I’ve played at Rose Arena and thought it was great then … but they’ve done an outstanding job with that whole facility.”
In a news conference Wednesday following Zeigler’s firing, CMU athletics director Dave Heeke would not rule out going to the junior college route to find a coach.
“I’m open to the right person,” Heeke said. “I will not limit who we search and who we look for based on whether they’re a head coach or assistant coach. I’m looking for the right fit.
“I do think somebody is going to have to recruit. Recruiting is the lifeblood of college basketball. I want someone who is passionate about this program and will invest in it and develop a winning standard here.”
Follow Aaron McMann on Twitter @AaronMcMann or email him: aaron.mcmann@gmail.com.
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7 Comments
A “true” CMU man! Seems like a no-brainer to me! Keep BSC crap out of our arena!
Steve Schmidt would be a great Hire!!!
If he was a finalist in 2006, he’s a no-brainer in 2012. CMU needs a winner, a new attitude and a guy who knows how to build a championship program from the ground up.
As long as he can recruit Detroit, let’s hire him. We need to get the pipeline going with Detroit and the suburbs like days of old.
Also, to CM LIFE, maybe I have the wrong Chippewa. Ask Schmidt the next time, I think he once played for the Washington Generals who lose to the Harlem Globetrotters every night. Maybe, I have the wrong CMU alum.
He may not want us since Heeke thumbed him down last time.
You are right he did play for the Washington Generals who had to always lose to the Globetrotters every night. If you ask him about it he’ll tell you he played to win even though they had to lose, he always tried to win. He always wanted to play for Jud at MSU but Jud recruited him too late and ran out of scholarships. Instead Jud contacted CMU’s basketball coach at the time and got him to play here. He admires Jud and Izzo down at MSU but he says his blood bleeds maroon and gold. If he did take the job here, he would like to play UofM and State every year. I’d like to see that, the last time we played State in Basketball in Mt.Pleasant if I remember correctly was in 1979 the year after State won the title with Magic. I know we did have a decade where we played them every year in the 70′s-80′s but it would be nice to play them and UofM and bring them up here again. I he gets the job over Weber even if Weber is on the table.
It would be wonderful to have Steve – a true Chippewa – back on campus!
Mr. Heeke, NO MORE Wolverine or Spartan assistants!
Update on CMU coaching search: Heeke did it again! According to the NCAA want ads, he and CMU are using the same coaching search firm that found us Dan Enos! DHR.
Guess who one of the 3 consultants are? A former athletic director of Michigan State University. Hmmm.
Don’t we have an HR dept at CMU that the applications can be sent to? Then, Heeke can review the applications. Have HR conduct any necessary background checks?
Don’t we have qualified HR people?
Can CM LIFE find out how much we’re paying this search firm? Surely, we didn’t get our money back from the football coaching hire fiasco. Where is Heeke getting all this money to pay off Ernie’s contract and now to pay an executive search frim? Can CM LIFE do a FOI and find out the cost?
Also, CM LIFE needs to ask this question to Heeke: Dave, is the search firm giving you ALL the applicant’s credentials. Yes or No.
Then ask: So they aren’t screening the resumes and only giving you the ones they think are the best candidates? Yes or No. (Reason for these 2 questions. Will the search firm screen Steve Schmidt out for only having JUCO experience).
What don’t we know about Schmidt that we haven’t already scheduled his interview?
I’m tired of having the people in East Lansing making the decisions about our athletic department.
I can think of plenty of people in the CMU family that can help us find a good coach.