MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — First year University boys basketball coach Joe Schmidle is hoping his young group of Hawks will continue develop over the next couple of months and build a chemistry for a late-season run.
Schmidle, who took over for Paul Ingle after last season, is a Preston County native who played at the college level and has coaching experience with Fairmont State (student assistant) Preston and previously served as an assistant with University.
“It seemed like it took forever for (a head coaching opportunity) to get here, but I’m definitely glad I finally have the opportunity and I appreciate University High School for giving me that chance,” Schmidle said. “I’ve been really excited about it and it’s finally time.”
His first year group at University includes several sophomores, mixed in with a couple of veteran seniors in B.J. Warner and Jeremy Eckels, along with junior Tyler Hart.
The Hawks opened up the 2014-2015 campaign with a 54-39 win over Preston and a 52-44 win over Southern Garrett (Maryland). A couple of back-to-back losses, though, to Fairmont Senior and Wheeling Park, served as a reminder that the Hawks still have a lot of youth overall.
“In a nutshell, we’ve had inconsistency, which is expected,” Schmidle said. “We’ve seen some bright spots, but have made a lot of mental mistakes. We’re not real disciplined yet and that’s something I’ve been trying to instill in these kids.
“We’re going to have to be disciplined if we want to play with the Wheeling Parks, Fairmont Seniors, Parkersburg Souths and Morgantowns. We’re not there yet,” he continued. “It’s definitely a process in the making, but we’re making progress everyday and that’s the goal we’re working towards.”
University did pick up a nice bounce-back win this past week by beating John Marshall on the road 82-52. University sophomore Geoff Hamperian led the Hawks with 18 points, while freshman Ethan Ridgeway added 10 points in the win.
“We know that the youth in this program is definitely our future and we have a lot of great players in our freshman and sophomore class,” Schmidle said. “We’re trying to do everything we can to prepare them and be successful now — we’re trying to have a little bit of both.
“We understand that if we want to continue to grow and get better, those young guys are going to have to continue to grow and get the experience,” he continued. “We’re playing for March. If we can learn a little bit everyday and get a little better with each game, hopefully by the time sectionals come around, maybe we can make a little bit of noise.”
The complete interview with Schmidle is posted at the top of the page.