Mark Schmidt is back where he started. He’s back where his head coaching career began. Back in Western Pennsylvania.
When the former Robert Morris coach leads No. 13 St. Bonaventure against No. 12 La Salle on Wednesday morning in the opening game of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at PPG Paints Arena, it could be the last game of his long coaching career.
Last week, the 63-year-old Schmidt announced he was retiring for good after 19 seasons at St. Bonaventure, and six before that at RMU.
“It’s just time,” he said Saturday after a 91-82 overtime loss to George Washington in the regular-season finale at St. Bonaventure’s Reilly Center. “From a financial standpoint, I don’t need it. It’s time to give somebody else a voice.”
Unless Schmidt’s team makes it all the way to Sunday and wins the A-10 Tournament championship to advance to the NCAA Tournament, he’ll likely be coaching his final game in roughly the same spot where he experienced his first game as a head coach following 12 years as an assistant.
It was Nov. 20, 2001, when Robert Morris opened the Schmidt coaching era with an 86-62 loss to Pitt at Fitzgerald Fieldhouse, a short distance from PPG Paints Arena.
In between, he’s spent a lot of time at “the heartbeat of Olean and Allegany (N.Y.).” St. Bonaventure, he said, is a wonderful place. And basketball at the school is the main event.
“I’m appreciative of everything. I’m a lucky guy to be able to be the head coach at St. Bonaventure, such a storied program, for 19 years.”
His 338-254 record represents the fourth-most coaching victories at the school.
“I’ve known him since I was at Akron,” former Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said. “We played Robert Morris.”
Later, the two met quite often on the hardwood, as St. Bonaventure is Duquesne’s most frequent opponent.
“We played a lot of close games,” said Dambrot, who spent seven seasons at Duquesne.
George Mason associate head coach Steve Curran snickered at the mention of Schmidt’s name.
“He’s a ball coach. He’s old school. He doesn’t use a computer,” Curran said. “He has tons of legal pads. He draws up plays on them.”
Curran spent 13 years on Schmidt’s staff at St. Bonaventure, including a time as associate head coach.
“He puts players in a position to be successful,” Curran said. “They like him. They respect him. As long as I was there, I don’t think he ever missed a practice, even during covid.”
What Dambrot and Curran agree on is Schmidt’s level of character.
“He’s a character all right, but believe me, he has character,” Curran said.
Added Dambrot: “The one thing that sticks out to me is when we beat them in the A-10 Tournament in ’24, he saw my wife in the arena and said he was happy for us and happy that she was feeling better.”
Donna Dambrot had undergone successful surgery for breast cancer earlier that year and has been in remission since.
“That says something,” Dambrot said. “There he was, his team had just lost. They don’t make ’em like that. That’s what sets him apart. Besides being a great coach, he’s a great human being.”
Coming off back-to-back 20-win seasons, St. Bonaventure enters the A-10 Tournament under .500 at 15-16. In a short time, it’s led to sporadic fan discord.
The recent appointments of St. Bonaventure alums Robert Beretta as athletics director and former ESPN basketball insider Adrian “Woj” Wojnarowski to the newly created position of general manager of men’s basketball appears to have created more chaos for the Bonnies’ “old-school” coach.”
But Schmidt wasn’t looking for any buses. He’s been taking the high road.
“I’m not leaving because of anything that’s happened,” he said. “The university has been terrific. The alumni … I couldn’t ask for a better 19 years.”
You can bet that when Schmidt is on the sideline in front of St. Bonaventure’s bench at PPG Paints Arena, you’ll witness an intense presence, a focus offered like few others.
“I’ve been in basketball for the last 37 years,” Schmidt said. “If you go to sleep, the last thing you do is you think about the team. And when you wake up in the morning, the first thing you do is think about the team. It’s consuming. It’s consuming, and I’m tired of that.
“As I told the team, I want to travel, spend time with my family. I want to play golf. I want to drink beer without any consequences.
“What we’ve done is pretty good. It’s pretty cool.”
The Bonnies, who were 24-88 under former coach Anthony Solomon in the four season before Schmidt’s arrival in 2007, made three NCAA Tournament appearances under Schmidt.
“We’ve restored this program. It’s back to being credible,” Schmidt said. “I’m proud of what we accomplished. I’ve had great assistant coaches and great players. I think we did it the right way.”