Bio

Highlights

2022 Big 12 Coach of the Year
Guided Kansas to 2023 WNIT Championship
Led Kansas to largest win improvement in program history (2021-22)
Earned career win No. 500 with a 66-57 victory over Oklahoma State on Feb. 26, 2023
Won 2010 NCAA Division II National Championship
Five-time conference Coach of the Year in his career

Brandon Schneider is entering his ninth season at the helm of the Kansas Women’s Basketball program. He was named the sixth head coach to lead the Jayhawks on April 20, 2015, and he signed a new four-year contract on March 9, 2022, that will keep him in Lawrence through the 2025-26 season.

Schneider has led the Jayhawks to the postseason in each of the past two seasons. The 2022-23 season saw Kansas finish with a 25-11 record after winning the WNIT with a 66-59 victory over Columbia in front of a crowd of 11,701 fans at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks played all six of its WNIT games at home and averaged 3,481 per game for the season, marking a 122 percent increase in home attendance from the 2021-22 season.

KU finished with 25 wins for just the sixth time in program history, and the first since 1996-97. The Jayhawks have now won 20 or more games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2012 and 2013. For his efforts, Schneider was named the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association (KBCA) Women’s Four-Year College Coach of the Year in 2023, his third time earning the honor after also claiming in 2006 and 2010 as the head coach at Emporia State. During the 2022-23 season, Schneider became the 33rd active Division I coach to reach 500 career victories, picking up win No. 500 on Feb. 26, 2023, with a 66-57 win over Oklahoma State.

Schneider guided the Jayhawks to a breakthrough campaign in 2021-22. Kansas finished the season with a record of 21-10, marking the program’s first 20-win season since 2012-13, and the Jayhawks had 20 wins during the regular season for the first time since 1999-2000. Schneider was named the 2022 Big 12 Coach of the Year after guiding the Jayhawks to a fifth-place finish with 11 conference victories, the most by a KU team since 1999-2000.

Schneider guided Kansas to the 2022 NCAA Tournament, earning a No. 8 seed in the Spokane Regional. The Jayhawks defeated No. 9-seed Georgia Tech, 77-58, in the opening round before falling to eventual regional champion Stanford in the second round. The tournament bid was the 14th in program history for the Jayhawks and first since 2013.

During his tenure at Kansas, Schneider has coached 11 players who earned All-Big 12 postseason recognition. The Jayhawks have also had two players named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team and two named to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team along with six Big 12 Players of the Week and three Freshman of the Week. Schneider has also coached 37 players who received Academic All-Big 12 recognition, including a program-best seven student-athletes earning a spot on the team in both 2022 and 2023. Additionally, Schneider’s program set a new team-record with a 3.44 Team GPA in the 2021 fall semester.

Schneider increased the Jayhawks win total in each of his first five seasons in Lawrence, which culminated with a 15-14 record in 2019-20. That year, the Jayhawks finished with a winning record for the first time in seven seasons and were set to play in a postseason tournament prior to the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling the Big 12 Tournament and beyond.

Prior to Kansas, Schneider had a five-year stint at Stephen F. Austin, where he returned SFA to the top of the Southland Conference. Schneider guided SFA to three 20-win seasons and the Ladyjacks won back-to-back league titles in 2013-14 and 2014-15. SFA made three postseason appearances under Schneider, including the WNIT in 2015 after he was named the Southland Conference Coach of the Year. As head coach at Stephen F. Austin, Schneider was 95-66 overall in five years and 57-29 in Southland Conference play.

Schneider was named head coach of the Ladyjacks on April 20, 2010. Recognized as one of the top names at the NCAA Division II level, Schneider went to Nacogdoches after a highly successful 12-year stint at Emporia State.

The Canyon, Texas native is the second all-time winningest head coach at the NCAA Division II level. At Emporia State, Schneider guided 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.

Schneider spent 12 seasons at ESU guiding the Lady Hornets to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances. 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.

Schneider was the first MIAA rookie head coach to win both the MIAA regular-season and tournament titles. In 2006 and 2010, the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association of four-year colleges voted Schneider as its coach of the year. He was also a three-time MIAA 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’s players have reaped the rewards of his guidance. He coached seven All-Americans, including two NCAA Division II Players of the Year, eight conference MVPs and seven players who have gone on to play professionally, including one in the WNBA.

A 1995 honors graduate of Wayland Baptist, Schneider was a four-year letterman in men’s basketball for the Pioneers and the school’s first-ever Academic All-American, capturing the honor three times.

Schneider was raised in a coaching family. His father, Bob, was a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022 following a 40-year coaching career at the high school and collegiate levels. Bob Schneider was one of the most successful women’s coaches at the NCAA Division II level, having served as the head coach at West Texas A&M from 1981-2006. They became the first father/son combination to take teams to the Elite Eight. In addition, Schneider’s brother, Brett, is currently the head women’s basketball coach at Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas.

Schneider and his wife Ali, have two sons, Cash and Cole.

THE SCHNEIDER FILE
Alma Mater: Wayland Baptist, 1995
Hometown: Canyon, Texas
Wife: Ali
Children: Cash & Cole

COACHING EXPERIENCE
2015-Present, Kansas (Head Coach)
2010-15, Stephen F. Austin (Head Coach)
1998-2010, Emporia State (Head Coach)
1995-98, Emporia State (Assistant Coach)

PLAYING EXPERIENCE
1991-95, Wayland Baptist

Name	Title	Phone	Email Address
Brandon Schneider	Head Coach	864-4938
Aqua Franklin	Associate Head Coach	864-7394	quafranklin@ku.edu
Katie O'Connor	Assistant Coach	864-7159	koconnor@ku.edu
Daylyn Harris	Recruiting Operations Coordinator		dlharris@ku.edu
Andy Majors	Director of Player Development	864-4938	amajors@ku.edu

University of Kansas Athletics

2016-17 Women's Basketball Coaching Staff

Coaching Staff