Saint Louis Basketball: Josh Schertz is new head coach of Billikens

The wait is over Saint Louis University basketball. SLU was finally able to sign Indiana State head coach Josh Schertz. After three years of reviving the Sycamore program, now Schertz is tasked with lifting the Billiken Atlantic Ten fortunes. 

Schertz’s Indiana State team just finished its National Invitation Tournament runner-up finish and a 32-win season. The former Lincoln Memorial coach was named the Missouri Valley Conference’s ‘Coach of the Year’ and received the ‘Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach-of-the-Year’ award.

During his three year stay in  Terre Haute, Indiana, Schertz compiled a record of 66-40 after a 13-year run at Division 2 Lincoln Memorial where he won 337 games.

Schertz replaces recently released Travis Ford. The former coach led Saint Louis to 146 wins in eight Billiken seasons. Ford led the Billikens to one NCAA Tournament and two other postseason appearances. Saint Louis slipped to 13-20 last year. While that was Ford’s only losing season in the Gateway City, SLU never won an Atlantic Ten regular season title. 

Schertz brings his explosive offensive concepts with him to Saint Louis. Indiana State led the nation in effective field goal percentage (.600), finished third in field goal percentage (.505), seventh nationally in scoring (84.8 ppg), eighth in assists (17.9) and eleventh in three-point percentage (.382). 

The looming questions surrounding both programs are around the current Sycamore players. All five starters were part of Missouri Valley ‘all-conference’ teams and have eligibility remaining. Will Robbie Avila, Jayson Kent, Isaiah Swope, Ryan Conwell and Julian Larry stay in Terre Haute, follow their coach to Saint Louis, or transfer to some other program?

Schertz’s Associate Head Coach Matthew Graves has been named ISU’s Interim Head Coach. 

Saint Louis University will host Schertz’s introductory press conference on Monday.