Former Pioneer Schneider named coach at Kansas

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LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - Former Wayland Baptist basketball player Brandon Schneider has been named head women's basketball coach at the University of Kansas.

Schneider, a native of Canyon, will be formally announced at a press conference scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 21 in the Allen Fieldhouse media room.

Schneider is a 1995 graduate of Wayland Baptist University and was a four-year letterman in basketball, having played under current WBU Athletics Director Rick Cooper before finishing under Kevin Cleveland. Schneider was a three-time NAIA Scholar-Athlete, the first of only two Pioneer basketball players to earn that designation three times.

He came to coaching naturally: His father, Bob, won more than 1,000 women's basketball games in a coaching career that spanned 43 years, and coached West Texas A&M to the NCAA Division II Championship game in 1988.

Schneider has spent the last five years as the head women's basketball coach at Stephen F. Austin, leading that team to the 2014 and 2015 Southland Conference regular-season titles His SFA teams won 95 games and reached postseason play three times, including an appearance in the championship game of the 2014 Women's Basketball Invitational.

Before going to SFA, Schneider won 306 games and the 2010 NCAA Division II National Championship at Emporia State University in Kansas. He led the Lady Hornets to 11 NCAA tournament appearances in his 12 seasons in Emporia, winning 81 percent of his games there. In addition to the 2010 NCAA Championship, his Lady Hornets reached the Division II Final Four in 1999, two Elite Eights (2000 and 2006) and three Sweet 16s (2001, 2005, 2008).

"Brandon is an excellent fit for the University of Kansas," said KU Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger. "He is an exceptional teacher, and someone who has spent his entire career in Kansas and Texas. He is known as a terrific recruiter and a firm, knowledgeable coach. And we know he has coaching in his blood, having watched his dad have so much success for so many years. We are confident that Brandon's teams at KU will display the same tenacity and competitiveness that his teams have shown at Emporia State and Stephen F. Austin."

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