New season, same goals
for WC's Scheve

Coach enters season 13 wins shy of 300

Jerry Scheve

Jerry Scheve enters his 16th season at Wilmington College needing 13 victories to reach the 300-win plateau in his illustrious career. For Scheve — who was named the National Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Quakers to the 2003-04 NCAA Division III national championship — it is an enduring love for basketball, not victory milestones, that keeps his coaching fire burning.

"I coached my first team when I was 16 years old," Scheve said. "After I got out of college I started coaching again. As I was trying to find a career I knew the only thing I really enjoyed was coaching basketball. I remember telling myself that I didn't know what else I'm going to do, but I know I'm always going to coach basketball, and I have. I've done it because of everything that's involved with it — the kids, the game itself, the competitive part of it."

Since coming to Wilmington in 1990, Scheve's teams have been the epitome of competitive, winning seven regular season and six conference tournament titles in the Western Buckeye Collegiate Conference, Association of Mideast Colleges, Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and Ohio Athletic Conference. During their two seasons as an independent, Scheve's Lady Quakers posted 20-win seasons. The 2003-04 national championship season was preceded by three National Tournament appearances that included trips to the "Elite Eight" and "Sweet 16" in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

At Wilmington, Scheve has averaged more than 19 wins per season. Nine of his 15 teams have won at least 20 games. The Lady Quakers, 23-5 last season, have put together four straight 20-win seasons and reached the 20-victory mark eight of the last nine years. The numbers are impressive, if not awesome, but they are not the numbers Scheve is focused on.

"The wins are nice, but there are other numbers we concentrate on to get the wins," Scheve said. "One goal we have every year is to make more free throws than our opponents shoot. It's a real difficult goal to attain, but when you do it — and we have done it — it just indicates you¹re doing a lot of things right. Number one, you're getting to the foul line. Number two, you're not fouling; you're getting the other teams' good players into foul trouble and you're not getting your own people into foul trouble. It means you're playing smart offensively and it means you're playing smart defensively. When you do those things, you're going to be successful."

In addition to his National Coach of the Year honor, Scheve has been named Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year, Ohio Women's Basketball Coach of the Year, and Coach of the Year in the AMC, HCAC and OAC. In Wilmington¹s first five years in the OAC, the Lady Quakers have won 120 games while losing just 25, helping Scheve ascend to the summit of nearly every league coaching category. His overall .828 winning percentage ranks first among coaches with five or more years at an OAC affiliate. His .822 conference winning percentage ranks him second on the All-Time OAC list and first among current conference coaches. In OAC Tournament games, Scheve's .846 winning percentage puts him atop the All-Time Career list. His .769 winning percentage in NCAA Tournament games ranks third on the OAC All-Time list, second among current coaches. His three regular-season and three OAC Tournament championships rank third on the OAC All-Time list. He is one of only nine coaches to win 100 games with an OAC institution.

"Those statistics are gratifying, but it's not my goal to get to the top of the coaches list in the OAC," Scheve said. "My goal is just to have a successful season each year. Each year is completely new, and regardless of what you've done in the past, even if you have the same players, you've got a brand new team. You've got kids who were juniors that are now seniors, and down the line."

Having said that, could Scheve, when coming to Wilmington in 1990, have imagined the incredible success he and the Lady Quakers have enjoyed?

"Sure. If you can't imagine it, you're probably not going to do it," Scheve said. "Every year, I don't get excited about what we do usually until the middle of the summer when I'm sitting at home watching tapes of games. I don't really have time to get excited about it, but then you sit down, and that's when I feel good. I feel that we've accomplished something.

"The national championship was the same way. Things were moving 100 miles per hour that whole spring. I said to myself that this is something I'm going to enjoy more and more as the years go on, and that's exactly what has happened. As you get farther away from it you have events that happen that make you remember it — not just the winning, but the individuals you coached, that make you remember how special it was."

OFFICE PHONE: (937) 382-6661 Ext. 284
MAILING ADDRESS: Pyle Box 1331, Wilmington College, Wilmington, OH 45177
E-MAIL: jerry_scheve@wilmington.edu