Mater Dei graduate, former assistant to take over Mascoutah boys basketball program
Growing up in Albers and a graduate of Mater Dei High School, Cole Schomaker still remembers all the battles on the basketball court against the Mascoutah Indians.
Now, more than a decade later, Schomaker has been chosen to take over an Indians program recovering from but still dealing with tragic loss of head coach Justin Love less than two months ago.
Schomaker 30, was announced as the Indians new coach by Mascoutah Athletic Director Scott Battas on Friday. Schomaker’s appointment is pending approval at the Mascoutah School Board meeting Aug. 18.
“It feels amazing. I’m excited, hungry. It’s a dream come true to call me the head coach at such a good program,” Schomaker said. “I’m ready to go to work.
“I feel like our basketball program is in excellent shape. We lost three or four seniors who had excellent leadership skills. But we have a good group coming back. We may not have the tallest players, but we’re long and lanky and we’re pretty athletic. We’ll give it our best shot.”
A 2008 graduate of Mater Dei, Schomaker has been a teacher and assistant basketball coach at Mascoutah the past three years. Previously, Schomaker also was the athletic director (2013-17) and head basketball coach (2013-16) in the Sandoval School District.
.Schomaker takes over a program in a community and at a high school which lost its head boys basketball coach June 23. Love, the Indians coach for three years and a former standout player at St. Louis University, was found unresponsive on the Mascoutah High School campus, rushed to a local hospital, and pronounced dead. He was 41.
“Coach Love was a tremendous role model for the kids. He was always so organized and so well prepared, and I think that comes from being around the game so long and knowing it so well,” Schomaker said. “The program is so much better off for him being a part of it and I look forward to carrying on what he started.
“Just with the love of the game that he brought was tremendous. You could tell that every day when he came to practice that he wanted to make a difference in the lives of his players.”
Mascoutah AD expresses full confidence in Schomaker
Battas said Schomaker is the type of coach and person who can lead the Indians program going forward
“I’m really excited to introduce coach Schomaker as our next head basketball coach. Cole has shown us throughout his tenure that he has the leadership to take over, what we feel like, is one of the premier basketball jobs in the area,” Battas said. “The trust he has developed with the players and fellow coaches puts him in a great position to continue to move our basketball program toward new heights. He comes highly recommended by great basketball people in the metro-east. We are lucky to have him in our program.”
Battas continued, expressing his sadness over Love’s tragic passing while also showing unwavering support for Schomaker’s ability to anchor the Mascoutah program.
“All of this is done with a heavy heart considering that coach Love had become such an impactful member of our athletic program and community. On top of that, he was a dear friend. While I hated the fact that hiring a new coach was inevitable, I feel like Cole is the man to continue to build on what that a great man (Love) has established.
“Going back in history, this is a hoops program with a proud past. There is no doubt in my mind, that under Cole’s leadership, we will have many more moments to be proud of straight ahead of us.”
New coach excited about his squad
Schomaker takes over an Indians program which had shown tremendous growth under Love the past three years. In a Mississippi Valley Conference which had been dominated by Highland and then won a year ago by Triad, Mascoutah was improving.
After a 15-17 season a year ago, the Indians return an athletic group of players which should flourish in Schomaker’s up-tempo style of play.
“I like to get it and go. I feel that with our personnel and the kids we have in the program that rebounding the ball and pushing it up the floor gives us the best chances to be successful,” Schomaker said. “I’m looking forward to leading this basketball program.
“Obviously this was not the way I wanted to get the job. But I feel we can win and I’m going to help to give these young men the opportunity to be successful.”
