Steve Schmidt, 18 seasons as head men’s basketball coach at Mott Community College, has built arguably the top junior college program in the nation—and from the ground up.
Schmidt took over a program in danger of closing down shop and almost immediately transformed it into a contender on the national scene with a mixture of hard work, basketball savvy and a no-excuses approach to winning.
The Schmidt File
- Three national championships (2003, 2007, 2008).
- Three NJCAA national coach of the year awards and six regional coach of the year awards.
- Career record: 478-115 (81%); conference record: 240-39 (86%)
- Winningest coach in school history.
- Six national tournament final four appearances and five championship game appearances.
- A track record of player development: three national players of the year and 15 All-Americans.
- Highest winning percentage in NJCAA national tournament history—a record of 20-3 (.870)
- Six regional, six state and eleven conference titles.
- Inducted into the Greater Flint-area Hall of Fame in 2006.
- Sent players to major conferences including the Big Ten, Big East, SEC, Big 12 and ACC.
And in 18 years, no excuses have been necessary.
Since taking the reins at Mott in 1991, Schmidt has never lost more games in a season than he has won; and in the past 14 years, no Schmidt-coached team has won fewer than 25 games in a season.
In 2007, Schmidt’s 35-3 record—a school record—culminated in a second NJCAA national championship. The Bears started the season ranked number one in the country and turned pollsters into prophets at the national tournament in Danville, Illinois.
Then, he did it again.
The Bears won 35 more games in 2008 against only two losses and finished off a 33-game winning streak in the national tournament with their second national championship in as many years. This past season (2008-09) Mott finished with a 29-5 record and ranked 8th in the final national poll.
Coach Schmidt takes a great deal of pride in helping student-athletes develop as players and people in order to attain their goals at Mott and beyond. During Schmidt’s tenure, over 70 former players have had the opportunity to continue their careers at four-year colleges and universities.
This past season Bear alumni competed for the following programs at the NCAA division one level: East Tennesee State, Ohio State, Detroit, Ball State, Texas A & M Corpus Christi, and Bethune-Cookman.
Schmidt’s tireless enthusiasm for coaching is manifest at Mott—on the court and in the classroom—where discipline, unselfishness and accountability are the “Bear” essentials.
