Coach Jim Scheible was inducted on Tuesday into the Wendy’s College Classic Hall Of Fame after 17 successful seasons as a leader of UR Women’s Basketball (URWB).
During his tenure at UR, Scheible guided the ‘Jackets to ten Wendy’s Classic championships in 11 years.
His inspiration to make coaching college basketball his livelihood did not come to him until 1988, when he graduated from Clarkson University after playing varsity basketball for four years––two at SUNY Cortland, and two more after transferring to Clarkson.
Upon receiving his M.B.A. in Engineering from his alma mater, Scheible remained there as an assistant coach for the Women’s Basketball team, and was eventually promoted to head coach.
His 22–4 regular season record coaching for the Clarkson University Golden Knights put him on the radar, as he became an assistant coach at the D-II University off California, San Diego while working as an engineer in the area.
After life in California, Schieble moved back to the east coast in 1999. He settled in his hometown of Rochester, where he had attended Cardinal Mooney High School.
When he is not leading URWB to Wendy’s Classic championships or to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) D-III postseason appearances, Scheible is consumed by two other interests: his family, and reading a good book.
“I like to spend a lot of time with my family and I like to read,” he said. “I have two sons, 11 and 7, and I want to make sure that I’m invested in their lives.”
Along with a strong connection to family, Scheible’s resume indicates that he has a profound connection to the program he operates.
But he emphasized that he does not deserve all of the credit for receiving the award.
“I like to think of it as an award for the team, because we’ve had a lot of talented athletes and coaches,” he said.
Scheible explained that part of his success is that he understands the business very well. Knowledge about how to recruit players is just part of the business.
“You could literally go on a recruiting event every weekend,” he said. “The challenge is knowing which ones to go to as a coach, and having good assistants.”
The URWB head coach explained how he sells the University to rising high school star prospects.
“We’re trying to give them a place that suits their academic needs,” he said. “We’re focused on making sure the players have a great experience.”
Yet, with all of the success, he has not looked for a different coaching job elsewhere, or in a different division.
“I feel very comfortable here,” he said.
He emphasizes that his players do, too.
“All of these girls could have played at the scholarship level [Division I] if they wanted to,” he explained. “But they chose to come here because of the academics, combined with the fact that they could still compete at a high level here.”
And compete they do, as in the game against the Brockport Golden Eagles on Nov. 29, in which they dominated 93–47.
Part of Scheible’s success is his aggressive, defensive style of coaching.
His players played full-court defense on almost every possession in the first half against the Golden Eagles that Tuesday. The defensive performance from the ‘Jackets yielded 22 steals and 37 points off of them.
This past weekend, URWB handily defeated both St. John Fisher and Nazareth in the Marks Pizzeria Crosstown Shootout in Pittsford, NY. Junior Al Leslie scored 23 and 24 points in both games, and the ‘Jackets defense held both teams to 49 points.
Jim Scheible has proven that he is clearly invested not only in his players, but in the University as he and the ‘Jackets will take on Ithaca College this Saturday at home.
