LONG TIME STRATFORD BASKETBALL COACH RESIGNS
Curt Schmidt announced on Wednesday that he will no longer be coaching the Stratford Tigers boys basketball team. The announcement concludes 22 years with Schmidt at the helm of Stratford boys basketball.
Schmidt said, “After starting with the boys JV team in 1999, I spent a few years with the girls team. Then found out there was an opening on the boys varsity team and I took the head coach spot with them in 2003.”
Schmidt remembers the first year as boys varsity coach well. “The football team was coming off a state championship and on day one I had football guys, and they weren’t quite basketball guys yet. It took some time to get our legs under us.”
By the end of year one it was a Marawood South conference championship and a trip to the sectional finals for Stratford. The Tigers were defeated by Mishicot in the sectional final game 65-42. Mishicot went on to finish state runner-up in division three.
Over the 22 years the Schmidt coached Tigers won the Marawood South conference championship seven times. While the most recent conference title happened in March, the most memorable may have been the 2019 and 2020 conference championship seasons. The team went a combined 48-1 during the two-year span. “We had spent 15 years building to this point, with the guys on the team with me since kindergarten”, said Schmidt. “We were one of the few schools during my time here that had school sponsored basketball in third grade”.
In 2020, the WIAA ended the season prior to the sectional final round and canceled the boys state tournament. “In the shortened 2020 season we had great size, physicality, and the shooting to compete for a state title. That was a gut-wrenching experience to be a game from state and the season to abruptly end.”
The 2020 group went undefeated, a perfect 24-0, but it wasn’t immune from facing challenges. “We didn’t have Vaughn Breit for the first six games, and we still played well. We were down 17 against Marathon at our place early in the season, without Breit, and outscored them by 25 in the second half to beat them 63-51. That was a very special group.”
Schmidt plans to continue teaching at Stratford Elementary and being part of the varsity baseball coaching staff.
High school athletic director Craig Martens said the search for a new boys basketball coach is underway. Interested candidates can email Martens at: crmartens@gapps.stratford.k12.wi.us.