Wendy Schuller was hired as the seventh head coach in Eastern Washington University women’s basketball history prior to the 2001-02 season. The 2020-21 season is Schuller’s 20th season at the helm.
Eastern has advanced to the Big Sky Conference Tournament in 17 of Schuller’s 20 seasons as head coach, including the past 10 campaigns. She also guided EWU to its first-ever bid to the WNIT following the 2009-10 season before taking the Eagles back to the prestigious invitational at the conclusion of the 2012-13 season and again in 2014-15. During the 2009-10 season, Schuller led the Eagles to its first-ever Big Sky regular-season title and she was named Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year. In 2016-17, the Eagles advanced to the second round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational for the first time in program history.
Under Schuller’s tutelage, players have earned a total of 54 All-Big Sky awards while Julie Piper and Brianne Ryan received Big Sky Player of the Year honors in 2010 and 2012, respectively. She also coached Julie Page to the program’s first-ever Big Sky Newcomer of the Year honor in 2004. In 2013, Eagle Hayley Hodgins become the first player to earn Big Sky Freshman of the Year accolades in twenty years before her sister, Delaney Hodgins, earned the honor in 2015. In 2021, Schuller coached Maisie Burnham to the program’s fifth Big Sky Freshman of the Year award.
Schuller has also established EWU Women’s Basketball as one of the nation’s top academic programs in her time in Cheney. The Eagles have earned a spot on the prestigious Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Top 25 Honor Roll in 16 of Schuller’s 20 seasons in charge. Eastern has been among the top five academic teams in the country in eight of those 16 years, including the 2003-04 campaign when it led the nation with a 3.63 grade point average.
2020-21, 20th Season: The Eagles ended the season 6-17 overall with a 5-12 mark in Big Sky Conference play to finish ninth in the conference. Schuller coached Maisie Burnham to the program’s fifth Big Sky Freshman of the Year award, while also earning Honorable Mention status. Burnham led the Eagles and ranked seventh in the Big Sky with 14.3 points per game, setting a new Eastern Washington freshman scoring record.
2019-20, 19th Season: Despite a 4-26 overall record (3-17, Big Sky) the Eagles were one of the nation’s prolific three-point shooting teams, ending the season ranked 31st nationally with 8.1 three-pointers per game. Under Schuller, freshman Jenna Dick made 70 and ranked in the top-ten in Division I with a three-point field goal percentage of 44.3 percent. Against Montana State, the Eagles launched a school-record 17. As a team, the Eagles made 243 total from behind the arc which is second all-time in single season history.
Schuller coached sophomore Bella Cravens to Big Sky Honorable Mention status after she led the conference with 8.5 rebounds per game. Schuller also coached the Big Sky leader in assists in Jessica McDowell-White who averaged 5.4 per contest.
2018-19, 18th Season: The 13-20 overall record (9-11 in conference play) doesn’t show the historical season that Schuller led the Eagles to. After earning a No. 6 seed for the conference tournament, the Eagles upset Weber State, Idaho State and Northern Colorado all in thrilling fashion to advance to the first Big Sky Championship game in Schuller’s tenure, finishing as the runner ups to Portland State.
Violet Kapri Morrow became the 18th member of Eastern’s 1,000-point club and ended her career seventh on Eastern’s all-time scoring list with 1,357 points, earning Second-Team All-Big Sky honors. Freshman Grace Kirscher was named Honorable Mention while Uriah Howard earned the program’s first Top Reserve of the Year award. The Eagles finished the season ranked in the top-fifty nationally in three-point field goals per game with an average of 8.3.
2017-18, 17th Season: Schuller’s squad posted 12 wins in conference play for the sixth time in a row, the only Big Sky school to do so. Delaney Hodgins became Eastern Washington’s new all-time leading scorer on Feb. 1 and became the first male or female EWU basketball player to eclipse 2,000 points. She also set a new BSC single-game record with 46 points against Northern Arizona. She was named to the First-Team All-Big Sky while Violet Kapri Morrow was named to the third team after averaging 17.1 points per game during conference play. On Jan. 20, Schuller coached in her 500th game at home against Southern Utah and picked up career with No. 250 on the road against Montana, only the fifth time in program history a team has beaten the Griz in Montana.
2016-17, 16th Season: Schuller coached the Eagles to a 19-14 overall record during the 2016-17 season. EWU finished fourth in the Big Sky Conference standings and made it to the tournament for the seventh year in a row. Schuller led the team to their first-ever bid in the Women’s Basketball Invitational where they made it to the second round with a 66-62 overtime victory over Texas State. Schuller coached a trio of Eagles to All-Big Sky honors, as Delaney Hodgins (first team), Tisha Phillips (second team) and Ashli Payne (honorable mention) all earned conference recognition.
2015-16, 15th Season: Schuller led the team to a second-place finish in the Big Sky Conference, its best finish since 2009-10 when they finished first. After posting a 20-12 overall record, the Eagles returned to the Big Sky Tournament for the sixth consecutive year. Schuller coached Hayley and Delaney Hodgins to All-Big Sky honors, with Hayley earning first team honors and Delaney receiving second team recognition.
2014-15, 14th Season: Schuller coached Lexie Nelson and Hodgins to All-Big Sky honors with Nelson receiving first team accolades while Hodgins earned honorable mention recognition. The Eagles returned to the Big Sky Tournament for the fifth consecutive year and landed nine student-athletes on the Big Sky All-Academic Team.
2013-14, 13th Season: Eastern Washington finished 16-14 overall with a 12-8 mark in Big Sky play. They closed the nonconference season with four-straight wins
2012-13, 12th Season: Schuller’s 12th season was a banner year for the Eagles as Schuller led the squad to 19 wins for just the fourth time in school history and a trip to the WNIT for the second time in school history. Eastern won a school-record 14 Big Sky games that year, finishing third after being picked eighth in the preseason poll. Nelson picked up First Team All-Big Sky honors while senior Carrie Ojeda was an honorable mention pick.
2011-12, 11th Season: Schuller led the team to a third-place finish in the Big Sky Conference -- the second-best effort for an Eastern squad since 1988-89, when the Big Sky started sponsoring women’s sports. Eastern posted a 10-6 league record, which included a school-record six road wins. Two of those were against Montana and Montana State, which marked the first-ever sweep of the Montana road trip in the history of the Eastern women’s basketball program.
2010-11, 10th Season: Eastern compiled an overall record of 13-18 and finished 8-8 in the Big Sky Conference, qualifying as a sixth-seed and going 1-1 at the tournament.
2009-10, Ninth Season: The most successful season in Schuller’s tenure, and the best the school has seen in more than two decades, came in 2009-10. Under her direction, Eastern Washington won its first-ever Big Sky regular-season title and hosted the league tournament for the first time in school history. Schuller was named Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year after leading the squad to a 12-4 mark in the conference and 19-12 overall, which were the best records posted by an Eagle squad since the 1984-85 season when Eastern was still a member of the Mountain West Conference. The Eagles advanced to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, marking the school’s first national postseason appearance since the 1987 season.
2008-09, Eighth Season: The Eagles finished 10-19 with a 5-11 mark in conference play, finishing the year eighth in the league standings. Kyla Evans was named first-team CoSIDA Academic All-America.
2007-08, Seventh Season: Eastern Washington finished ninth in the Big Sky. Sydney Benson was named second- team CoSIDA Academic All-America.
2006-07, Sixth Season: The Eagles won its first three games and went on to finish seventh in the Big Sky with a 10-19 overall record.
2005-06, Fifth Season: Eastern Washington qualified for the Big Sky Conference Championship for the seventh consecutive season and was the fourth seed at the event for the second-straight season -- its highest seeding since the 1994-95 campaign.
2004-05, Fourth Season: She led Eastern to a winning campaign in 2004-05 (16-12) to start the team’s second set of consecutive winning seasons for the Eagles since the 1986-87 and 1987-88 campaigns.
2003-04, Third Season: Eastern advanced to the Big Sky Tournament semifinals for the third-straight season. Prior to that, Eastern had not made it past the first round since 1994-95.
2002-03, Second Season: The 2002-03 season saw Eastern earn its first winning record in 16 years at 17-12. That year, EWU barely missed making the Big Sky championship game for the first time in school history, as it fell in the semifinal round to top seed host Weber State by just nine points, 64-55.
2001-02, First Season: Eastern Washington claimed a tournament quarterfinal win as the fifth seed. The Eagles topped No. 4 Northern Arizona 70-57 to mark its furthest advancement in the tournament in seven years.
Prior to Eastern Washington: Prior to arriving at Eastern, Schuller began her coaching career at Northwestern State University. In 1993, she started coaching as a graduate assistant for the Lady Demons while earning a master’s degree in sports administration.
Following graduation, Schuller became a full-time assistant, and her duties included acting as defensive coordinator and primary recruiter, working on opponent preparation and general operations. In 1997, she was promoted to associate head coach.
Her last six years at the Natchitoches, La., school saw her also serve as the senior woman administrator. In total, Schuller coached for nine seasons at NSU under head coach James Smith -- the most successful coach in Southland Conference history. In that time span, the team won 185 games and two conference titles and earned a pair of wins over top-25 teams, as one of the top-30 winningest NCAA Division I programs of the 1990s.
Personal: Schuller’s successes at Eastern have been making waves throughout the entire Northwest. She has been a featured speaker at various basketball coaching clinics in the area.
But her contributions in the community extend beyond basketball. Every year, Schuller and her team volunteer with Special Olympics Washington, Cheney Clean Sweep and host a Spokane Guild School Penny Drive among various other organizations.
Schuller earned her bachelor’s degree in business in 1992 from Fresno Pacific University after playing for the Sunbirds as a shooting guard.
Her senior season, she helped lead FPU to a 25-6 record, a No. 14 ranking in the NAIA national poll and advancement to the NAIA Tournament’s Round of 16. She was also selected as an NAIA Academic All-American that season.
A native of Redlands, Calif., Schuller and her husband, Mark, have two sons, Rory and Brandon and a daughter, Megan. The family resides in Cheney.
SCHULLER'S ALL-TIME HEAD COACHING RECORD
