Vic Schaefers long-awaited Texas homecoming must wait a little longer

Vic Schaefer’s wife, Holly, and his daughter, Blair, were walking through their neighborhood Friday morning when they were spotted by a woman living nearby.

The neighbor opened her front door, stuck her head out and began to boo.

“But then she said, ‘Well, we’re happy for you,'” Vic Schaefer said, laughing. “Most everybody understands. Most everybody. Not everybody. It’s the ‘not everybodys’ that really bug you more.”

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Schaefer, of course, doesn’t blame them. How could he? Across eight seasons as the women’s basketball coach at Mississippi State, the Texas transplant’s easygoing manner and workmanlike approach endeared him to those in his community, and that’s to say nothing of consecutive appearances in the NCAA championship game in 2017 and 2018. He made it easy to appeal to them. They made the effort to embrace him.

That’s why, after Schaefer decided Sunday to take the same position at Texas, he learned the hardest part of leaving can be saying goodbye — even if he hasn’t been able to leave just yet.

As the COVID-19 pandemic restricts travel and interpersonal contact, Schaefer has spent his first few days replacing Karen Aston, whose contract won’t be renewed after her own eight-season tenure, in relative quiet. While a hire such as his would have been made into an extravagant affair at a major college program like Texas, his inauguration was instead held via the cold simplicity of a teleconference. Players who would’ve stopped by Cooley Pavilion for a handshake and a hello have had to settle for a phone call from a 662 area code. And as for film — last season, any season — Schaefer can’t even review clips without the help of a video coordinator, who can’t be hired until the position has been posted for seven days.

All he can do, really, is recruit. Then again, for many, the 59-year-old who was born on the southern edge of campus at Brackenridge Hospital needs no introduction.

“When we decided we were going to target that search and that individual, that’s what we did,” athletic director Chris Del Conte said. “That’s exactly how you should conduct a search: Go get the very best. Swing for the fences and see what you can do. … When we all coalesced around the idea that we could get Vic Schaefer, it’s a no-brainer.”

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Del Conte needed to be sure the decision was not only unanimous among decision-makers, but also that it received the blessing of Jody Conradt, who led the Longhorns to a national championship in 1986 and whose 31-year tenure as coach ended in 2007.

The 51 hours between the school’s official decision to move on from Aston, an assistant to Conradt for 10 years, and its unveiling of Schaefer as her successor suggested an agreement was already in place. But Del Conte insisted he didn’t believe it was possible until Schaefer and his family arrived on a charter flight for an in-person interview Saturday morning.

It also helped that Texas offered Schaefer a contract reportedly worth close to $2 million a year; the university has not yet responded to an open-records request regarding specifics. Schaefer earned nearly $1.6 million annually on a four-year extension he signed with Mississippi State in 2018. Aston, meanwhile, made $745,000 in base salary and bonuses this season, the last of a three-year extension she signed in 2016.

“What we’ve been charged with comes with a tremendous responsibility,” Schaefer said by phone Friday. “I’m excited about that opportunity, and I wear that responsibility every day.”

That doesn’t mean the terms of his departure don’t gnaw at him. Schaefer regretted that his goodbye to his players — half of whom were underclassmen this season — also had to take place by phone. And because of concerns about impropriety and tampering, Schaefer hasn’t interacted with them since, a situation he called “really difficult.”

It’s unclear whether any will follow him to Texas, though one person close to the program said several underclassmen are considering transferring. (Chloe Bibby, a rising senior forward who started all but two games last season, entered the transfer portal during the week.) Even then, there might not be room; the Longhorns will balance the departures of five players to graduation with a five-player recruiting class to complement center Charli Collier, who averaged nearly a double-double as a sophomore, and dynamic guard Celeste Taylor, who will be entering her second season.

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And with top assistant Johnnie Harris overlooked to succeed him at Mississippi State despite the players’ campaign — the Bulldogs will reportedly hire Old Dominion’s Nikki McCray-Penson, a former Tennessee standout and three-time WNBA All-Star — Schaefer said Friday that he expects his whole coaching staff to join him at Texas once hiring protocols have been met.

“I believe we’re all coming intact,” he said. “Continuity through your staff is critical to any successful program, and I’m tickled to death that I’ve got my whole staff coming with me. That’s a big piece of what we do, so I’m excited about that.”

They’ll provide a measure of certainty in uncertain times. With the campus closed to all but essential employees through at least the end of May, Schaefer doesn’t know when he’ll finally be able to go to Austin, the place that’s been home regardless of where he’s wandered in a 35-year career. (When asked why he wouldn’t try to find a house immediately, Schaefer detailed the risks related to the pandemic, saying, “It ain’t worth it, buddy.”)

But when he can, there are goals to be achieved, relationships to be rekindled and a sense of belonging to be recaptured.

“It’s an incredible opportunity,” Schaefer said. “Everything at the University of Texas that’s there, that we feel like we can accomplish there, and me being close to where my parents are buried and being able to go to the cemetery — it’s just, you know, it’s just time. Sometimes in athletics, these things happen. Sometimes, it’s just time.”

(Photo: Joshua S. Kelly / USA Today)

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