STARKVILLE — Glenn Schmidt has been blessed a number of ways as a coach.
“For 35 years, I have only held three jobs, and each of those jobs has meant the world to me,” Schmidt said. “Each job was in either one of two counties. I have been able to leave the same place every morning and go to work and do something I have thoroughly enjoyed. I know how really blessed I have been.”
Schmidt took extra satisfaction from this season. In her ninth year as coach of the Starkville Academy girls basketball team, Schmidt led the program to three state championships, including the school’s first overall Mississippi Association of Independent Schools’ state championship.
For her team’s accomplishments, Schmidt is The Dispatch’s Large Schools Coach of the Year.
“The further we get away from the season, the more real it becomes,” Schmidt said. “It was like a dream, a magic carpet ride. However, when you are in the middle of the season, you worry about the next game. Honestly, you never have the time to stop and realize how special the season was.”
The Lady Volunteers had few things to worry about this season. They began the season as the state’s top-ranked team. After winning nine straight to start the year, the team lost to Pillow Academy. Instead of derailing the team’s championship dreams, though, the loss strengthened the team’s bond and made it work even harder to reclaim the top spot.
“Rarely would you find a coach who said a loss was the turning point of a season,” Schmidt said. “This is when I knew we had a chance to be a special team. Not one person on the team said anything about being ranked No. 1 until we lost. After that, they said, that’s OK, we will get it back. We will pay them back and be on top at the end of the year.”
The seeds for a special season were sewn in the summer, when Starkville Academy won a team camp at Jackson Academy.
“We played the whole month of June and the team did a tremendous job of coming together,” Schmidt said. “After that, we kind of had an understanding we were pretty good. We had lots of confidence. The challenge is different then. You know you are good but what do you do with that knowledge.
“Do you work hard to get the most you can out of that talent? To be a special team you have to have that understanding you are special. But you still have to go about your business in the right way.”
For Starkville Academy, business being conducted the right way is a culture. Schmidt is a task-master. At the same time, she always has her player’s best interests at heart.
“The thing with coach Schmidt is she always has the answer,” Starkville Academy junior Anna Lea Little said. “I have learned so much about basketball, but I have also learned so much about life. She pushes you hard, but you know she is always doing what is right for you. You want to go out and play hard and give all the effort you can because you know you are getting the same thing from her as a coach.”
While the Lady Volunteers only lost five games, each played a critical role in helping the squad reach its potential.
“A loss to Jackson Prep may be the turning point of the season,” Schmidt said. “We went about eight minutes without scoring. We couldn’t hit a lick. The players’ reaction to that game was amazing. You could sense it. You could feel it. It was a situation where they were not going to let that happen again. From that day forward, there was nothing that stood in the way of this team achieving its goals. Still, you don’t realize where we are headed. It was a special season, but it just gradually happened.”
Starkville Academy finished 38-5 and went 9-0 run through three state tournaments. In the Class AAA state tournament, the Lady Volunteers needed three straight come-from-behind fourth-quarters victories to claim that title.
“The team developed a winners’ mentality,” Schmidt said. “We were playing Jackson Academy in a tournament game and it was 14-10 in the third quarter. They couldn’t get anything going. We couldn’t get anything going. We found a way to win. There was always one thing that would spark the team. It might be a great defensive play. It might be a steal and a key basket. After we found our way past Jackson Academy — we won in overtime — we became more aggressive. We went on the attack.
“If you find a way to come from behind night after night, you know you have a special team. They played hard all the time. They played as a team all the time. The determination and focus was great. Having those successes reinforced what this team was capable of.”
The Lady Volunteers’ success this season shouldn’t come as a surprise. Schmidt is a 35-year coaching veteran. She spent 15 years as girls basketball coach at Starkville High School (including two as girls and boys coach), 11 years as basketball coach at Mississippi University for Women, and nine years at Starkville Academy.
“We have had so many battles down through the years,” Oak Hill Academy coach Stan Hughey said “The biggest challenge in coaching against Glenn is you have to play the perfect game. She always knows what is next. These types of games are why I am in coaching. It is the ultimate challenge. It is a lot of fun.”
Many of those showdowns against the state’s elite coaches almost never happened.
“This was not something I was going to do,” Schmidt said. “I went to Mississippi State to earn my master’s degree. I was given an opportunity to assist the legendary coach Sam Parker and also coach the junior high teams at Starkville. I thought this was a great way to make a little money while I was going to school.
“That is why I accepted the offer. I never dreamed it was going to turn into 35 seasons.”
While coaching may not have been part of Schmidt’s long-range plan, basketball always has played a vital role in her life. With an opportunity to play for high school coaching legend Jerry Henderson at Madison-Ridgeland public school, Schmidt learned so much about the game at an early age.
“I have had two great influences on my coaching career,” Schmidt said. “Jerry Henderson and Ed Nixon were monumental in making me the coach I am today. The biggest thing they did was keep me out of trouble when I was in school. Both coaches were fine Christian men. What they taught me is the big picture. Winning is not the only thing that matters. Instead, winning is a byproduct of several different factors.
“No one worked us harder than Ed Nixon. I still have the bruised up knees to prove it. I found out it is so much more than winning and losing. Looking back, I have to give credit to each of them for a large part of the philosophy I use today.”
Schmidt played basketball, volleyball, and softball at Mississippi College. Completing her degree work there in 1976, Schmidt earned All-America honors in basketball. That led to an invite to play on the 1974 World University Games team. Her teammates on that team included legendary University of Tennessee coach Pat Summit, who retired this past spring.
“President (Jimmy) Carter boycotted Yugoslavia, so we were unable to actually play in the games,” Schmidt said. “However, that experience was a lasting one I will always remember. I follow the college game very closely. My relationships with people, such as Pat, have always meant a lot to me over these years.”
While at Starkville High, Schmidt quickly impressed and eventually received the opportunity to succeed Parker. An opportunity to coach in college pushed Schmidt to leave Starkville for MUW after the Lady Jackets won the 1992 state championship. Her return to high school came in 2003 after MUW discontinued its athletics program.
“Now that I am older, I have realized you can’t focus on winning,” Schmidt said. “If you are consumed by winning and you are defined by winning, what happens when you lose? There is no reason to go on if that is your only definition of success. In my later years of coaching, I have tried to take the emphasis off winning. Now, we focus each day on what we did right and what we did wrong. The goal each day is to work harder at something you didn’t do right.
“We have a special group of kids here. They work very hard at it on their own. Some teams achieve more than others. However, you have to measure your success on other factors besides winning and losing.”
Now, the question is what will the Lady Volunteers do for an encore? Several juniors played key roles on the squad, while a five-person senior class led primarily on the practice court and in the weight room. Keeping the team engaged and ready to work hard to defend those titles will be the primary goal of Schmidt and assistant coach Kayla Mosley.
“There are days when it is not fun,” Schmidt said. “You just hope the players come back the next day. Each team is a unique set of personalities. If I could explain how a team comes together, I would write a book about it and I wouldn’t be coaching anymore. It takes a special chemistry for a team to go as far as we did last year.
“It is hard for a group of 15- to-18-year-olds to understand what just happened. Instead, you want the players to know what they felt. You want them to understand how much fun that was and you want them to want to have that feeling again. As a coach, I know you don’t want to coach against the teams with tradition. You can’t create tradition. You have to earn it.
“Now that we have taken a step in the direction of earning some tradition, I hope our players will take pride in that. I hope other teams will take note and respect that, as well. This season, we had a special group of players who knew what they wanted and did a great job of going about getting it. I just happened to be along for the ride.”
Schmidt’s guidance helped the Lady Volunteers complete a very special season.
“Every team you coach means something special to you,” Schmidt said. “It means a lot to me when I see 40-year-old women today who have jobs and families. It was great to know you made an influence. I really can’t say this year’s team is my favorite team because every team has its own personality and each season has its own value to you.
“Each year, we had fun. Each team was special in its way. However, this was one of my best years. No doubt about it. I was blessed, just like I have been for 35 years.”
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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