Former Bonnies share their favorite Schmidt stories

With a win on Sunday, Mark Schmidt broke St. Bonaventure’s all-time coaching wins record with his 203rd victory.(Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports)

By CHUCKIE MAGGIO

To commemorate Mark Schmidt‘s all-time St. Bonaventure coaching wins record, I asked his former SBU players to share their favorite Schmidt stories.

From comical practice tales to meaningful reflections on the 12th-year coach’s role in their careers, here are a handful of stories from people who spent hundreds of days with the new record holder.

Idris Taqqee, Bonnies guard from 2014-2018: “Being coached by a perfectionist is something you don’t take for granted. Coach’s playbook has to be perfect, exactly how he pictures it. If it doesn’t then ‘We’ll be here all night’ becomes a hit record.

“Preseason before my sophomore year, we came in at 6 a.m. for at least a month until a percentage of the playbook was perfected. ‘You don’t set the screen there! You set it here!’ (As he steps two feet forward) ‘That’s the difference between winning and losing!’ Now we all know. Two inches, two feet or two miles, it’s the difference between being forgotten or being remembered forever. Congratulations Coach!”

Demetrius Conger, Bonnies forward from 2009-2013: “The one story I have is when we beat St. John’s at St. John’s my sophomore year, Coach Schmidt came in and gave the best pregame speech I’ve heard since I been there. I think you would have to ask him exactly what he said for the right quote but that pregame speech stood out to me and we won.”

Matthew Wright, Bonnies guard from 2010-2014: “Coach Schmidt loved to catch people slipping on baseline out of bounds plays. I remember he drew up a play to run when I was on defense. He drew a trick play almost to fool me and it worked. And he walked by and slyly muttered, ‘Sucker.’ He loved doing that.”

Danny Farrell, Bonnies walk-on guard from 2011-2014: “Being a walk-on, there were some tough times to deal with in practice. From standing on the sideline for an hour and half and then getting asked to go in full speed, after you hadn’t ran for that long (which is what you sign up for).

So there was one time in practice where we were working on pick and roll offense and defense, and I got asked to come in on offense and be the point guard. As I am coming off the screen the defender hedged real hard, so I tried to split the screen. I was tripped as I was going through (of course, no foul called ha!) and I went on to turn the ball over. As I am getting up I just hear from Coach Schmidt, ‘C’mon Danny, you need to play your game. You’re not Derrick Rose, you’re just Danny!’ in his high pitched voice. At the end of practice, I was the front of all the jokes in the locker room among my teammates. At the time, I was not the happiest camper hearing him say that because in my head I didn’t think it was my fault that I turned it over because I was fouled.

Looking back on it now, I realize what he was saying and trying to do. Coach Schmidt is one of the best coaches in the country when it comes to Xs and Os as well as getting the most potential out of his players. He always preaches ‘know your role’ and excel in whatever that role is. No individual is greater than the team. He does a great job of getting everyone prepared, to where his players know the plays better than the other teams sometimes.

Coach always wanted you to grow as a man outside of basketball as well. Academics always came before basketball, but basketball was not far behind it. He keeps the same blue collar mentality as he did the first day stepping on campus, which is a huge reason why they have had continued success throughout the past 10 years.

It is really cool to be a part of this experience. I just want to say Congrats to Coach Schmidt on becoming the winningest Coach in Bonaventure history!”

Caleb McGuire, Bonnies walk-on guard from 2015-2017: “My best memories have to be just some of his quotes. His favorites included, ‘We’ll do this until the cows come home, and the cows never come home!” which was usually said when we repeatedly would do things that weren’t quite up to the standard he expected. And also getting used to hearing a coach refer to his players as ‘Babe’ was pretty different for me but it soon became second nature.

“I have stories for days but I’m not sure I could say all of them in a story. There was never really a dull practice, game or moment with Schmidt but I can tell you that practices after Patriot losses were never fun.

“Above everything, the best memory was being in the Saint Louis locker room watching the Dayton/VCU game and seeing the thriller of a game that ensured us an A-10 regular season championship. I’ve never seen Schmidt smile like he did that day. I also heard a little bit of joy in his voice for the first time that season that night too.”

Tyler Relph, Bonnies guard from 2005-2008: “Coach Schmidt gave me a second chance with basketball. He took me in his office when he got to Bonas and said to me, ‘I don’t care what happened before I got here. I care what happens from here on out and I need you to be my guy.’ For me, and everything I had been through throughout my career, he brought my love of basketball back.

“I don’t remember the bad times. All I remember is playing for the greatest coach in the program’s storied history. He’s a special coach but an even better person and the respect and admiration I have for him is second to no one. He changed people’s view of me as a St. Bonaventure basketball player and I’m just extremely thankful that I was able to be the first stepping stone in Coach Schmidt gaining this great program’s respect back!”

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