Will he stay or will he go?
That is now the question facing University of Tampa men’s basketball coach Richard Schmidt.
After 24 seasons and over 500 wins at UT, Schmidt ranks this past season as the biggest frustration he’s ever had as a coach.
“The reflection on this season was a disaster,” Schmidt said. “We should have been much better than we were, and that has to come back to me. I thought we practiced well, prepared well but for some reason we lost games we shouldn’t lose.”
This season saw the Spartans go 15-14, with their last defeat coming in the quarterfinals of the Sunshine State Tournament to Nova Southeastern. The Spartans started the season out strong with a 6-1 record but then went on a path of inconsistency and underachievement.
“We’re capable of playing with anybody,” Schmidt said. “We would beat Rollins, who wins the league twice, but then we would turn around and lose to the worst team in the league. It’s a mystery to me.”
Team captain Jeremy Black, who was named first-team All-Sunshine State Conference, understands his coach’s frustration.
“It was barely a winning season,” Black said. “I expect him to be frustrated, especially since we should have won more.”
Point guard play was one of the biggest problems for Schmidt as a lack of cohesiveness from the point guard position to everyone else on the court led to inconsistent play.
Injuries also plagued the Spartans, as guards Matt Pezzullo and Jeffrey Moore were either injured or sick for much of the season.
If Schmidt decides to return for a 25th season, he will have his team from this season nearly intact, with senior guard Matt Pezzullo being the only player not returning.
Whether he will come back or not seems uncertain.
“I haven’t given it a lot of thought,” Schmidt said. “I think its way too soon to see where we’re going or what I’m doing. We just have to see who’s going to come back and who isn’t. We have several people who may be back and may not be back. Who knows?”
Players seem to know or at least think they do.
“I don’t really know if he we will retire or not,” Black said. “I assume he will be back.”
Chris Evans seemed to be more confident that Schmidt will return.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Evans said. “I don’t think he’s going to retire.”
For now, all players and Spartans fans have a long offseason to reflect on an unfulfilling year.
And to wait to see if their coach will be back.