{"id":226024,"date":"2026-03-29T17:39:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T17:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/226024\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T17:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T17:39:07","slug":"vic-schaefer-chases-standard-set-by-jody-conradt-as-texas-eyes-second-straight-final-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/226024\/","title":{"rendered":"Vic Schaefer chases standard set by Jody Conradt as Texas eyes second straight Final Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Vic Schaefer<\/a> took the job at Texas<\/a> six seasons ago, he knew it was a big cross to bear.<\/p>\n

But he also envisioned some weekly coffee dates he thought would make the task a bit less daunting.<\/p>\n

Schaefer knew as Texas\u2019 women\u2019s basketball coach, he\u2019d get to learn from one of the best \u2014 Jody Conradt<\/a>, the first full-time women\u2019s head coach at Texas, who coached the Longhorns for 31 seasons and led them to their only national title in 1986.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I took the job, I envisioned me and her having coffee after games the next morning, talking about the game the night before,\u201d Schaefer said Sunday morning. \u201cI mean, I just have so much respect and admiration for her and what she\u2019s done in her career.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Six seasons later, Schaefer is on the verge of accomplishing what only Conradt has \u2014 leading Texas to consecutive Final Four appearances. All it takes is a win over 2-seed Michigan at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth Monday night. With three more wins, he\u2019ll join Conradt as the second coach to lead the Longhorns to a national title.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Conradt and how good they were for so many years and the elite level that they were at, that was kind of my charge \u2014 to try to get them back to that elite level,\u201d Schaefer said.<\/p>\n

Conradt served as UT\u2019s coach from 1976-2007, tallying 900 career victories by her retirement \u2014 second place all-time for an NCAA Division I coach. Between 1982-90, Texas had a 241-24 record, reached the Elite Eight or better seven times, made the Final Four twice and won the national championship in 1986 with a perfect 34-0 record. She led Texas back to the Final Four nearly 20 years later in 2003, its only other appearance before Schaefer took over. She was also inducted in the inaugural class of the Women\u2019s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999. <\/p>\n

After retiring from coaching, Conradt remained with UT\u2019s athletic department in an advisor role. But on Dec. 31, she retired altogether, now just serving as a volunteer.<\/p>\n

Conradt, however, remains closely tied to Schaefer\u2019s team, joining them in Fort Worth this weekend for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s always around us so much, but for someone of her caliber and her knowledge, she doesn\u2019t give us enough advice,\u201d Texas point guard Rori Harmon said. \u201cWhen she\u2019s around, she likes to keep her peace, keep her distance. She talks to Coach Schaefer, obviously, a lot. To feel her energy all the time, that\u2019s something I think we need as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some combination of Schaefer\u2019s own abilities as a coach, a talented roster and some words of wisdom from Conradt have allowed Texas to return to the national spotlight it lived in during her days. But it was a lengthy road back.<\/p>\n

Texas made just two Elite Eight appearances over its previous 30 seasons before Schaefer was hired. With Saturday\u2019s 76-54 win over Kentucky<\/a>, the Longhorns have now advanced to their third straight Elite Eight and to the regional finals for the fifth time in Schaefer\u2019s six-year tenure.<\/p>\n

That long-awaited return to the national championship is just within reach. Schaefer, who\u2019s coached into late March and April plenty of times in his career at both Texas and Mississippi State, says those growing pains have been necessary. That included a 74-57 loss to South Carolina<\/a> in the Final Four last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes those are growing pains and things that you have to go through,\u201d he said. \u201cYou go through these stages. Again, I\u2019ve said this a million times. The only thing harder than building it is sustaining it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Schaefer and his players are able to learn from the best, who found a way to sustain that success across decades.<\/p>\n

Simply having her presence in Dickies Arena Monday night may mean all the difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel her presence,\u201d Harmon said. \u201cI feel that national championship presence. It\u2019s that undefeated season presence around us. That\u2019s almost like all you need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twitter\/X: @Lassimak<\/a><\/p>\n

Texas sets records en route to second straight swimming and diving national championship<\/a>Texas rides historic start past Kentucky, into Elite Eight for 5th time under Vic Schaefer<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Texas coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Vic Schaefer took the job at Texas six seasons ago, he knew it was a big cross…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3688,116,48876,154,27,29,537,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-226024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-colleges","9":"tag-fort-worth","10":"tag-march-madness","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-texas-headlines","14":"tag-texas-longhorns","15":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}