UPDATED: Schrader resigns after 16 seasons

Updated information:

Jack Schrader has been named head coach at NAIA Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo. Culver-Stockton announced the hire Friday afternoon.

"I am excited that Jack will be joining our athletic department and college community," said Greg McVey, Culver-Stockton athletic director in press release. "He possesses the drive, character and expertise to move Wildcat Basketball forward in the Heart of America Athletic Conference."

Schrader replaces John Windham, who resigned in January after a three-year tenure. Culver-Stockton finished 2-29 overall and 2-17 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference in 2010-11.

McVey did not return an Index phone call requesting comment.

KTVO in Kirksville was the the first to report the hire. Schrader told KTVO that he has been happy in Kirksville but the climate was not right for him to continue coaching at Truman.

Schrader told KTVO that Truman assistant coach Tim Deidrick originally applied for the job at Culver-Stockton but withdrew his name from consideration. Schrader said that he then replaced Deidrick as a candidate.

Schrader has not returned Index messages this week requesting comment. 

Athletic Director Jerry Wollmering told the Index earlier this week, when asked if Deidrick is a candidate to replace Schrader, that he and Deidrick had not yet talked about it. Deidrick has been an assistant for 11 years.

Original story:

Jack Schrader, men's basketball head coach, will no longer be on the sideline for the Bulldogs.

Athletic Director Jerry Wollmering said Schrader notified him of his resignation Tuesday night.

"He had not indicated previously that he was contemplating retiring, as he said," Wollmering said. "He informed me and informed some of the media [Tuesday night]."

Schrader was in the midst of his worst four-year stretch as head coach at Truman. The Bulldogs are 23-84 during the last four years and 13-67 in MIAA play.

This year, the 'Dogs finished 7-19 overall and 5-17 in the MIAA. They won only one game on the road and were the only MIAA team to lose to Lincoln University.

"I don't think anybody was more disappointed about us not practicing or playing this week than coaches and players," Wollmering said. "We all share the disappointment. We had seven seniors, great young men who never got to experience [the] MIAA postseason."

Schrader finishes his Bulldog career with a 165-274 overall record and an 85-203 MIAA record. He became head coach in 1995 and had five winning seasons in 16 years. In two of those five seasons, he won at least 20 games.

During the 1998-99 season, Truman finished 26-7 and advanced to the Div. II Final Four. The team won the MIAA Tournament that season. The Bulldogs also played in the NCAA Tournament during the 2005-06 season, finishing 20-9 overall.

"There's no doubt that he had a heart for Bulldog basketball and the University," Wollmering said. "He put in his time and volunteered before he became a full-time assistant. There's no doubt that he wanted to do it because it was this University. There's no doubt that we appreciate the effort and dedication that he put toward the program."

Schrader was a volunteer coach at Truman from 1981-1985. After coaching high school basketball locally, he traveled overseas to coach in Spain. In 1994, he became a full-time assistant and took over the program the next year.

Schrader won two MIAA Coach of the Year awards and took home the NABC South Central Regional Coach of the Year award during the 1998-99 season.

"It's always a difficult situation when you have to go through a coaching change, especially when you only have nine guys," sophomore guard Tom Norton said. "We don't even have enough guys to scrimmage. Hopefully we can get someone in here in a timely manner and we can get some recruits in here."

Wollmering said the process of finding a new head coach would start immediately. He said there isn't a set date to have a new coach hired, but he would like a new head coach by the beginning of April. National signing day for college basketball is April 13, and Wollmering said he would like to hire a coach before then.

"[We're looking for] someone who can recruit, who has a rapport with the high school coaches," Wollmering said. "We'd prefer someone who had the rapport somewhere is the Midwest, that has that network — someone who can find that student athlete that fits what Truman's all about, yet can compete at the MIAA level. There's no doubt that we want our basketball programs to be competitive and vying for a spot in conference tournaments. We're not going to say, ‘If you don't win a championship in five years, you're gone.' That's not how we've dealt with things historically. Wins and losses aren't everything."