October 17, 2024 • 13 mins
Vic Schaefer spoke at the SEC Media Days as College Basketball season is almost upon us! Coach Schaefer talks about Madison Booker and Rori Harmon, the evolution of SEC basketball, and more...
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Back to the Craig Way Show. Connect with Craig through.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The text line by text Team Texas to eight one
five three zero, followed by your message.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Standard message and data rates may applock.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Continuing here on a Thursday afternoon on Sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred Zone Craig Wayne Cameron Parker, let's hear from
Longhorn's women's basketball coach Vick Schaeffer and talk about First
of all, there's what this is an introduction cam with Greg.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Thank you the commissioner. Yeah, Greg Sankie introducing Fix Shaeffer.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
He was the first coach to speak today or you
assumed me yesterday at the SEC media Days. And of
course Fixed Safe was a Mississippi state beforehand, and him
and Sinkie have this relationship. So you can kind of
tell that these two gentlemen know each other very well
because even in fixed statement opening statement, he does reference
Reg sink I see all right.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Here's the commission leading into Vick's opening comments.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
First coach of the afternoon is our first coach from
one of our new member of universities, Vick Schaeffer. Vic
is in his fifth year as a head coach at
the University of Texas. His fortieth year of coaching is
twentieth as a head coach. So Vic and I have
intersected all along our career journeys. We first met when
he was the head coach at sam Houston State University,
(01:36):
literally driving the van first team back then lived that
life for a while. He moved to Arkansas to work
with Gary Blair as an assistant coach. Was at Texas
A and M. Then we re introduced ourselves. I guess
it was at the celebration event when we added.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
A and M.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
And he moved to Mississippi State, where he coached eight years,
leading his team to two final fours. Today, October sixteenth
is his thirty first wedding anniversary. So I knew I
knew Vic when he was the head coach at sam
Houston State and his wife was an assistant coach, Holly,
at the University of Texas at Arlington. At his wedding,
(02:15):
I'm reading he's saying all my exes live in Texas,
so you can ask about that and Vic and I
actually don't know this until I read this right now.
He runs regularly and I got my four miles in
this morning as well. So the university of Texas head
women's basketball coach Mick Shaeffer.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Thank you, Commissioner. We have known each other a.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
Long time, and we've obviously in our career pass have.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Come a long way.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
I think, as the old saying goes, so excited about it,
the opportunity to be here today as the head coach
at the University of Texas, and excited to have Rory
Harmon and Madison Booker with me too. Outstanding young ladies
at are not only great players, but are two tremendous
(03:03):
young ladies. So we're excited to be a part of
this conference. I'm very familiar with the conference obviously, and
as I've spent six years an assistant at Arkansas in
it and eight years as head coach at Mississippi State,
so back in some familiar stomping grounds.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Yeah, he certainly is now.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Of course, Vick Schaeffer was part of a national championship
program as an assistant under Gary Blair at Texas A
and M. That was the twenty eleven team, and that
was before the AGG He's got into the SEC, but
there are other Gary Blair former assistants who are now
coaching in the SEC. And he was asked about coaching
against that coaching tree.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
Well, yeah, coach, you know, I was with him fifteen years,
and he's had several assistants throughout the throughout his career,
and you know, there's a there's several of us out
there that are still doing it and still still.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
In this great game.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
And you know, I think again, coach and I we
were together a long time, won a lot of games together.
We had some great, great experiences together both at Arkansas.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And at A and M.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
And he's so special to me. I learned, you know,
being with him fifteen years. He's a seven or eight
time Hall of Famer. I mean, shame on you if
you don't learn anything being around him. And I learned
so many valuable lessons that you know, have allowed me
(04:35):
to have any any of.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
The success that I've had.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
And so it's it's pretty special, you know. I think
as a head coach now, I try to do some
of those same things and mentor and developed coaches. I've
had four former players on my staff forever. This year
I only have two, but for the last four or
five six years, I've had four former players on my staff,
(04:59):
just trying to give them an opportunity to get in
the game, and because I think that's that's our job,
you know, as part of what we do as head coaches,
and certainly coach was did that as well, so you know,
he's still talked to him regularly. He's somebody that I
love dearly. And again, he's somebody that I really appreciate.
(05:23):
I'll tell you this about Coach Blair. Nobody knows the
history of our game or appreciates the history of our.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Game more than that man, and he is.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
He's just He's made an unbelievable impact in my life,
and I'm forever grateful.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
He was also asked how SEC women's basketball has evolved
from the days when he was first starting out in
the game as a coach.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
You know, you have to remember when I got in
the league, you had powerhouses. You know, Pat Summit's teams
were Georgia with Coach Landers. You know, Joe Champion was
finishing up his career and had some great teams at Auburn.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
It was a monster league then.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
And as a young coach, I can remember sitting courtside
at SEC tournaments scouting and going and that's when you
really as an assistant, you sit there and go, well,
when I've become a head coach, I want my team
to look like that team. I want my team to
play like that team, and so I really have tried to,
(06:31):
you know, throughout the course of that time. You know,
you go from ninety seven to ninety eight. My first
year at Arkansas we finished sixth, and we can paid
it to the final four, you know, and to where
we are today.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And you know, I.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Think it's a different time, in a different day, but
I think it's you know, the parody that we have
in our league right now is really incredible. Back then,
you had some really dominant teams and then you had
some some teams that maybe weren't you know, they couldn't
beat those top teams. I think in our league right now,
you've got on any given night, if you're not ready
(07:09):
to play, you won't get beat, You'll get embarrassed. And
so I think that's where the credibility of our league
is tremendous. Coaches, Hall of Fame coaches. You've got future
WNBA players, night in and night out. And so I
think the you know, leaving the league that I just
left to come to this one, all I did was
(07:29):
jumped out of the frying panning into the grease.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
So it's it's just a you know, it's a monster,
and I think you've got to prepare for that.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
I think that's why our conference and our coaches are
so adamant about staying at sixteen games, because our league
is that good, and yet every year we still have
a large amount of teams making the NCAA Tournament because
of that.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
So it's, you know, it's a challenge in a night out.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
But I think I've seen, I've been able to see
front row an evolution of a conference. And again, I
think the parody is what really separates us right now.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
The two players he brought with it, Madison Booker, a
National Freshman the year, Rory Harmon, who was a preseason
All American last year before sustaining the knee injury. And
he was asked, You've seen an awful lot from these two.
What have you not seen from Madison Booker yet? And
what can Rory Harmon bring.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Back to the team.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
You know, I think last year I saw a little
bit of everything for Madison, you know, as a freshman,
as a young player early in her career. Having that,
we'll be blanket in Rory Harmon, who's your point guard
running your team?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
And I said this earlier.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
I thought, I thought Rory was really really good last year,
was on pace to have a first team All American
season as well. But I thought she created Madison and
created a lot of opportunities for Rory, and of course
Rory being a point guard, she creates opportunities for everybody.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And then when Rory went down.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Most of the time, y'all in basketball, when your point
guard goes down, your two guard is who you might
lean on.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
We went to our three player in Madison.
Speaker 5 (09:25):
But I knew after recruiting Madison her entire high school
career and knowing my team that I had last year,
Madison Booker was the answer.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
It wasn't a tryout. That's who was going to be
our point guard.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
And while we had some bumps in the road along
the way early, the kid has so much presence for
such a young player, she had tremendous.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Presence on the floor.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
She nothing rattled her her first three four minutes in
that very first game against Baylor, when we only had
three days to get ready, that was the worst of
the worst. After that, I took her out, and then
when we put her back in I never saw that again.
She was just she was really ready to embrace the
(10:18):
role that she was in. And so you have to
give the kid a ton of credit what she was
able to do leading that team. That team won thirty
three games. In the history of Texas women's basketball, they've
only won more games one time, and that's when they
won the national championship in nineteen eighty six and they
(10:38):
were thirty four to oh But that team would not
have been that if it hadn't have been for Madison
Booker embracing being the point guard. So now you fast
forward to where we are now, Madison Booker, there's nobody
more excited on our team that Rory Harmon's back than
Madison Booker because she wants to go over there and
get on the wing where she's really comfortable.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Just think that it allows us as a team.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
We've got a lot of flexibility there, and we have
a special freshman in Breonna Preston who's going to be
an unbelievable point guard force.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
But Rory just.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
Rory's presence, how hard she plays, the energy that she
plays with permeates through my team every day, every game,
and I think she really is a settling influence on
my entire team, and it gives my team a lot
of confidence.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
And I know this.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
It gives her head coach a lot of confidence to
know that we have her back on the floor leading
our team. And so it's a really good feeling to
know we've got great guard play.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
You win with guard play in basketball. You have notes.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
You can have all the size in the world, be
if you don't have a guard play, you got no chance.
We've got guard play this year, and I've got depth
at guard play with Brie and Jordan Lee to exceptional freshmen.
Leilophilia y'all is a monster. She's gonna be so good.
(12:16):
Shay Holly has been the glued to my my program
for the last few years. So I just named off
five six guards that they're all gonna play every night,
and they're gonna play a lot, and they're all going
to impact our team.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
And so.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
I think our team, our future is in really good
shape at the guard spot. And this year's team, we
finally have some depth. I just haven't had it the
last couple of years. And give those teams credit, they've
learned how to stat of foul trouble and play play
through some issues, but this year's team we finally have depth.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
All right.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
So there's from Vick Shaefer, Texas women's head coach. Well here,
Rodney Terry coming up next, as well as more from
Steve Sarcasian. We'll be back to wrap up our number
two on Sports Radio AM thirteen Under the Phone.
Back to the Craig Way Show. Connect with Craig through.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The text line by text Team Texas to eight one
five three zero, followed by your message.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Standard message and data rates may applock.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Continuing here on a Thursday afternoon on Sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred Zone Craig Wayne Cameron Parker, let's hear from
Longhorn's women's basketball coach Vick Schaeffer and talk about First
of all, there's what this is an introduction cam with Greg.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Thank you the commissioner. Yeah, Greg Sankie introducing Fix Shaeffer.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
He was the first coach to speak today or you
assumed me yesterday at the SEC media Days. And of
course Fixed Safe was a Mississippi state beforehand, and him
and Sinkie have this relationship. So you can kind of
tell that these two gentlemen know each other very well
because even in fixed statement opening statement, he does reference
Reg sink I see all right.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Here's the commission leading into Vick's opening comments.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
First coach of the afternoon is our first coach from
one of our new member of universities, Vick Schaeffer. Vic
is in his fifth year as a head coach at
the University of Texas. His fortieth year of coaching is
twentieth as a head coach. So Vic and I have
intersected all along our career journeys. We first met when
he was the head coach at sam Houston State University,
(01:36):
literally driving the van first team back then lived that
life for a while. He moved to Arkansas to work
with Gary Blair as an assistant coach. Was at Texas
A and M. Then we re introduced ourselves. I guess
it was at the celebration event when we added.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
A and M.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
And he moved to Mississippi State, where he coached eight years,
leading his team to two final fours. Today, October sixteenth
is his thirty first wedding anniversary. So I knew I
knew Vic when he was the head coach at sam
Houston State and his wife was an assistant coach, Holly,
at the University of Texas at Arlington. At his wedding,
(02:15):
I'm reading he's saying all my exes live in Texas,
so you can ask about that and Vic and I
actually don't know this until I read this right now.
He runs regularly and I got my four miles in
this morning as well. So the university of Texas head
women's basketball coach Mick Shaeffer.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Thank you, Commissioner. We have known each other a.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
Long time, and we've obviously in our career pass have.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Come a long way.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
I think, as the old saying goes, so excited about it,
the opportunity to be here today as the head coach
at the University of Texas, and excited to have Rory
Harmon and Madison Booker with me too. Outstanding young ladies
at are not only great players, but are two tremendous
(03:03):
young ladies. So we're excited to be a part of
this conference. I'm very familiar with the conference obviously, and
as I've spent six years an assistant at Arkansas in
it and eight years as head coach at Mississippi State,
so back in some familiar stomping grounds.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Yeah, he certainly is now.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Of course, Vick Schaeffer was part of a national championship
program as an assistant under Gary Blair at Texas A
and M. That was the twenty eleven team, and that
was before the AGG He's got into the SEC, but
there are other Gary Blair former assistants who are now
coaching in the SEC. And he was asked about coaching
against that coaching tree.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
Well, yeah, coach, you know, I was with him fifteen years,
and he's had several assistants throughout the throughout his career,
and you know, there's a there's several of us out
there that are still doing it and still still.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
In this great game.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
And you know, I think again, coach and I we
were together a long time, won a lot of games together.
We had some great, great experiences together both at Arkansas.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And at A and M.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
And he's so special to me. I learned, you know,
being with him fifteen years. He's a seven or eight
time Hall of Famer. I mean, shame on you if
you don't learn anything being around him. And I learned
so many valuable lessons that you know, have allowed me
(04:35):
to have any any of.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
The success that I've had.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
And so it's it's pretty special, you know. I think
as a head coach now, I try to do some
of those same things and mentor and developed coaches. I've
had four former players on my staff forever. This year
I only have two, but for the last four or
five six years, I've had four former players on my staff,
(04:59):
just trying to give them an opportunity to get in
the game, and because I think that's that's our job,
you know, as part of what we do as head coaches,
and certainly coach was did that as well, so you know,
he's still talked to him regularly. He's somebody that I
love dearly. And again, he's somebody that I really appreciate.
(05:23):
I'll tell you this about Coach Blair. Nobody knows the
history of our game or appreciates the history of our.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Game more than that man, and he is.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
He's just He's made an unbelievable impact in my life,
and I'm forever grateful.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
He was also asked how SEC women's basketball has evolved
from the days when he was first starting out in
the game as a coach.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
You know, you have to remember when I got in
the league, you had powerhouses. You know, Pat Summit's teams
were Georgia with Coach Landers. You know, Joe Champion was
finishing up his career and had some great teams at Auburn.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
It was a monster league then.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
And as a young coach, I can remember sitting courtside
at SEC tournaments scouting and going and that's when you
really as an assistant, you sit there and go, well,
when I've become a head coach, I want my team
to look like that team. I want my team to
play like that team, and so I really have tried to,
(06:31):
you know, throughout the course of that time. You know,
you go from ninety seven to ninety eight. My first
year at Arkansas we finished sixth, and we can paid
it to the final four, you know, and to where
we are today.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And you know, I.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Think it's a different time, in a different day, but
I think it's you know, the parody that we have
in our league right now is really incredible. Back then,
you had some really dominant teams and then you had
some some teams that maybe weren't you know, they couldn't
beat those top teams. I think in our league right now,
you've got on any given night, if you're not ready
(07:09):
to play, you won't get beat, You'll get embarrassed. And
so I think that's where the credibility of our league
is tremendous. Coaches, Hall of Fame coaches. You've got future
WNBA players, night in and night out. And so I
think the you know, leaving the league that I just
left to come to this one, all I did was
(07:29):
jumped out of the frying panning into the grease.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
So it's it's just a you know, it's a monster,
and I think you've got to prepare for that.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
I think that's why our conference and our coaches are
so adamant about staying at sixteen games, because our league
is that good, and yet every year we still have
a large amount of teams making the NCAA Tournament because
of that.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
So it's, you know, it's a challenge in a night out.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
But I think I've seen, I've been able to see
front row an evolution of a conference. And again, I
think the parody is what really separates us right now.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
The two players he brought with it, Madison Booker, a
National Freshman the year, Rory Harmon, who was a preseason
All American last year before sustaining the knee injury. And
he was asked, You've seen an awful lot from these two.
What have you not seen from Madison Booker yet? And
what can Rory Harmon bring.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Back to the team.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
You know, I think last year I saw a little
bit of everything for Madison, you know, as a freshman,
as a young player early in her career. Having that,
we'll be blanket in Rory Harmon, who's your point guard
running your team?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
And I said this earlier.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
I thought, I thought Rory was really really good last year,
was on pace to have a first team All American
season as well. But I thought she created Madison and
created a lot of opportunities for Rory, and of course
Rory being a point guard, she creates opportunities for everybody.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And then when Rory went down.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Most of the time, y'all in basketball, when your point
guard goes down, your two guard is who you might
lean on.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
We went to our three player in Madison.
Speaker 5 (09:25):
But I knew after recruiting Madison her entire high school
career and knowing my team that I had last year,
Madison Booker was the answer.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
It wasn't a tryout. That's who was going to be
our point guard.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
And while we had some bumps in the road along
the way early, the kid has so much presence for
such a young player, she had tremendous.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Presence on the floor.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
She nothing rattled her her first three four minutes in
that very first game against Baylor, when we only had
three days to get ready, that was the worst of
the worst. After that, I took her out, and then
when we put her back in I never saw that again.
She was just she was really ready to embrace the
(10:18):
role that she was in. And so you have to
give the kid a ton of credit what she was
able to do leading that team. That team won thirty
three games. In the history of Texas women's basketball, they've
only won more games one time, and that's when they
won the national championship in nineteen eighty six and they
(10:38):
were thirty four to oh But that team would not
have been that if it hadn't have been for Madison
Booker embracing being the point guard. So now you fast
forward to where we are now, Madison Booker, there's nobody
more excited on our team that Rory Harmon's back than
Madison Booker because she wants to go over there and
get on the wing where she's really comfortable.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Just think that it allows us as a team.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
We've got a lot of flexibility there, and we have
a special freshman in Breonna Preston who's going to be
an unbelievable point guard force.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
But Rory just.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
Rory's presence, how hard she plays, the energy that she
plays with permeates through my team every day, every game,
and I think she really is a settling influence on
my entire team, and it gives my team a lot
of confidence.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
And I know this.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
It gives her head coach a lot of confidence to
know that we have her back on the floor leading
our team. And so it's a really good feeling to
know we've got great guard play.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
You win with guard play in basketball. You have notes.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
You can have all the size in the world, be
if you don't have a guard play, you got no chance.
We've got guard play this year, and I've got depth
at guard play with Brie and Jordan Lee to exceptional freshmen.
Leilophilia y'all is a monster. She's gonna be so good.
(12:16):
Shay Holly has been the glued to my my program
for the last few years. So I just named off
five six guards that they're all gonna play every night,
and they're gonna play a lot, and they're all going
to impact our team.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
And so.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
I think our team, our future is in really good
shape at the guard spot. And this year's team, we
finally have some depth. I just haven't had it the
last couple of years. And give those teams credit, they've
learned how to stat of foul trouble and play play
through some issues, but this year's team we finally have depth.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
All right.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
So there's from Vick Shaefer, Texas women's head coach. Well here,
Rodney Terry coming up next, as well as more from
Steve Sarcasian. We'll be back to wrap up our number
two on Sports Radio AM thirteen Under the Phone.
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