Saint Louis is hiring former Indiana State coach Josh Schertz, the school announced Saturday.
Schertz, 48, just completed her third season at Indiana State, compiling a 66-40 record and leading the Sycamores to the 2024 NIT championship, which they lost Thursday to Seton Hall, after being a top four finisher teams excluded from the NCAA tournament. The 32 wins this season are the most since Larry Bird led the program to the 1979 national championship game.
Named Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year this season, Schertz was previously the head coach at Division II Lincoln Memorial for 13 seasons, where he led the Railsplitters to nine regular-season conference titles and nine tournament appearances NCAA DII, including three trips to the Final Four. . Before that, Schertz was an assistant at High Point, part of a unique coaching journey for the former youth tennis star.
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He was a tennis prodigy and a high school dropout. He is now one of the hottest coaches in the country.
Schertz replaces Travis Ford, who Saint Louis fired after going 13-20 in 2023-24, including just 5-13 in the A-10, finishing 14 of 15 in the conference standings. Ford amassed a 146-109 record in eight seasons with the Billikens, including an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019.
OFFICIAL: Josh Schertz is a Saint Louis Billiken.
We are excited to announce Josh Schertz as the next head coach of our program.#SLUBillikens pic.twitter.com/qLDXHSenjq
– Saint Louis Men’s Basketball (@SaintLouisMBB) April 6, 2024
What Schertz brings to St. Louis
Schertz has been one of the hottest names on the coaching market this offseason, also drawing some interest from top programs, including Louisville. But this hiring has been trending for several weeks in Saint Louis.
Indiana State has had a top-20 offense this season by KenPom metrics, including the best field goal completion percentage in all of college basketball. It was largely a product of Schertz’s five-and-out offensive philosophy, with a unique big man in Robbie Avila as the playmaking center. The Sycamores ranked in the top 30 in the nation in offensive tempo and were one of the best shooting teams in all facets, converting 50.5 percent from the field, 38.5 percent on 3-pointers and 79.7 percent from the free throw line. .
Defensively, Indiana State was in the top 10 in defensive rebounding percentage.
Schertz faces an interesting adjustment in resources and recruiting, going from a program with an annual budget of approximately $2.5 million, located at the lower end of the MVC, to a budget at north of $7 million in St. Louis and one of the highest in the world. A-10.
(Photo: AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)