John Schaefer has been the head coach of Logan-Rogersville Boys Basketball for the last seven years but has been in hoops all of his life. On Friday, Jan. 5, the Wildcats defeated the Marshfield Bluejays to give Schaefer his 500th career win.
“I’d like to congratulate John on reaching this milestone,” said director of the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Denny Hunt. “500 wins is tremendous. You have to coach for a long time to reach 500 and be very successful during that time. John Schaefer has done that. There are not many coaches that reach that milestone nowadays.”
A Hartville Eagle by raising, Schaefer was involved in baseball and basketball throughout his time in Wright County. In 1992, Schaefer and the Eagles made it all the way to the Final Four. Schaefer made All-Conference and All-District honors for both baseball and basketball throughout his high school career.
He graduated in 1994 as an Eagle and took his talents as a second baseman and outfielder to Missouri Southern State University. Schaefer only played for one year before having kidney surgery and ending his baseball career. He transferred to Missouri State University to get his bachelor’s in physical education.
Schaefer also has his master's degree in educational administration.
Schaefer began his coaching career at Greenwood while still at MSU.
“MSU and Greenwood work hand in hand,” said Schaefer. “I learned a lot from the coaches at MSU. I even had a P.E. class with Jackie Stiles. I’ve been around a lot of good basketball.”
After graduating in 1999, he took a job at Dadeville as the head of both the boys and girls program at 23 years old.
“It was good because I was 23 and didn’t know any better,” laughed Schaefer.
For the next four years, Schaefer headed the Bearcats before taking an assistant coaching job at Glendale for one year. He also had a brief stint as head coach of Mountain Grove’s Panthers for one year.
Schaefer took a job at Hillcrest as head coach of the boys program in 2007. Over the course of the next seven years, not a single Hornets team coached by Shaefer won fewer than 18 games. He helped Hillcrest clinch three Ozark Conference titles and four district championships.
In 2010, Hillcrest won the Class 5 State Championship after winning 25 games with the help from star athletes Dorial Green-Beckham and Trey Sparks. Green-Beckham was a Missouri University Tiger before being drafted by the Tennessee Titans as a wide-receiver in 2015.
The next year, the Hornets won second in the 2012 Class 5 State Tournament.
In 2014, Schaefer took a job at Belton High School outside of Kansas City as both the Athletic Director and the head coach of boys program, a big undertaking for anyone at such a large school. At Belton, Schaefer helped pass a bond issue to help fund a new gym, pool, performing arts center and offices for coaches.
In 2017, Schaefer returned closer to home to take the head coaching position at Logan-Rogersville.
“I’ve been to a lot of places and good schools,” explained Schaefer. “I’m fortunate to have had the players I’ve coached. I’ve had a lot of great assistants, all great people.”
Schaefer is currently engaged to his fiancé Ashley Kell, head coach of Mountain Grove volleyball. He has two children. Chloe is 19 and a student at Missouri State University. His son, Ari, is 10-years old.
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