Schneider to receive Harley Redin Coach’s Award
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas head women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider has been chosen as the 2019 recipient of the Harley Redin Coach’s Award by his alma mater Wayland Baptist as announced by the university.
The Harley Redin Coach’s Award is presented to a Wayland alumnus who has demonstrated outstanding success as a head coach at the university or public/private school level. The recipient also is recognized for outstanding contributions to community, school and church.
The award is named in honor of Wayland’s most successful coach, Harley Redin, who coached 27 years at Wayland. He led the Pioneers to a 171-97 record from 1948-57, then as coach of the Flying Queens from 1955-73 went 431-66, winning more games than any other women’s program in collegiate history. The Flying Queens won the first 76 games Redin coached, completing a streak that set a still-standing collegiate-record 131 straight victories. During his 18 years with the Queens, Wayland won six AAU national championships, was runner-up seven times and took third three times.
Redin was an inaugural member of the Women’s National Basketball Hall of Fame and last year was presented the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award by the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Schneider will be honored during Wayland’s homecoming activities on Nov. 2.
A native of Canyon, Schneider was a four-year basketball letterman at Wayland from 1991-95, his first two seasons under current WBU Director of Athletics Rick Cooper. Schneider helped the Pioneers to a 28-6 record and a district championship as a freshman, to a 21-12 mark and the district semifinals as a sophomore, and to a 19-13 record and the regional finals as a junior. His senior year in 1995 marked Wayland’s first season in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
Schneider graduated with honors and was Wayland’s first-ever All-American Scholar-Athlete and NAIA Scholar-Athlete, capturing that honor three times.
Schneider’s first coaching stop was at Emporia State in Kansas from 1995-2010, first as an assistant then the last dozen years as head coach. Schneider established himself as the second all-time winningest head coach at the NCAA Division II level, guiding the Lady Hornets to a 306-72 (.810) record and the 2010 NCAA Division II national championship. The school’s all-time leader in wins and winning percentage, Schneider ranks among the all-time top 10 in fastest coaches to 100 victories, and third-fastest among women’s basketball coaches.
In his 12 seasons at ESU, Schneider guided the Lady Hornets to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, forging a 21-10 (.677) record. During that stretch, Schneider’s teams recorded two 30-win seasons and nine 20-win campaigns. Along with the 2010 national championship, Schneider coached ESU to four NCAA Division II South Central Regional titles, two Final Four appearances, six regular-season conference crowns and three league tournament titles.
The Lady Hornets were nearly unbeatable at home, forging a 143-14 (.917) record under Schneider. His teams posted a 39-26 (.600) record against nationally-ranked opponents, which included four wins over No. 1 ranked teams.
In 2006, the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association of four-year colleges voted Schneider as its coach of the year. He was also a three-time Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association Coach of the Year.
The 2010 Bulletin Women’s Basketball National Coach of the Year and the WBCA South Central Region Coach of the Year, Schneider coached two NCAA Division II Player of the Year selections, eight conference MVPs and seven players went on to play professionally, including one in the WNBA.
Schneider next went to Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches from 2010-15, returning the Ladyjacks to the top of the Southland Conference. SFA won back-to-back league titles in 2013-14 and 2014-15, when Schneider was named Southland Coach of the Year, and the Ladyjacks made three postseason appearances. Schneider’s Ladyjack teams were 95-66 overall and 57-29 in Southland Conference play.
Schneider now is in his fifth season at the helm of the Kansas women’s basketball program. The Jayhawks have increased their win total every season under Schneider, and last season Kansas received votes in both the AP and USA Today Coaches polls. Schneider coached the 2016-17 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, and seven of his players have been recognized for their efforts in the classroom.
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