Jayhawk women look to improve in Brandon Schneider’s first year as coach

Despite being picked to finish last in the Big 12 by the league’s coaches, Brandon Schneider is confident that he can bring improvements through toughness and togetherness in his first year with the Kansas women’s basketball team.

“We’ve always been a team that would rotate and take a charge, that would jump over the scorer’s table after a loose ball or would dive on the floor,” Schneider said at media day.

“I want us, especially here early, for fans and media and parents and everybody, to just evaluate us on how hard we play, first and foremost, and then can you see some evidence of togetherness.”

They started the season on Sunday with an 80-54 exhibition game victory against Pittsburg and will face Emporia State on this Sunday before beginning regular season play. They will host Texas Southern on Nov. 15.

Schneider inherits a program that went to the Sweet 16 in 2012 and 2013, but has posted losing records in the last two seasons. They fired Bonnie Henrickson, who had coached the last 11 seasons with a 15-17 ledger in her final year.

He takes over the program after five seasons with Stephen F. Austin and 12 at Emporia State, where he has led his teams to a 401-138 record and 14 postseason appearances across the last 17 years.

Schneider will also have the benefit of an experienced staff with assistant coach Katie O’Connor staying for an 11th year, 2015 graduate Natalie Knight returning as a graduate assistant and Aqua Franklin making her second trip through the program. Franklin was a part of the 2012 staff and returns as associate head coach.

That should help with a relatively fresh roster that includes nine newcomers between freshmen and transfers. A pair of local recruits, Leavenworth’s Tyler Johnson and Olathe South’s Kylee Kopatich helped the Jayhawks receive a No. 18 ranking from ESPN HoopGurlz.

“As a team, I would definitely like to play in the postseason,” junior forward Jada Brown said on media day. “It’s definitely one of our biggest goals. Of course, the ultimate goal would be to win a Big 12 Championship, but I definitely just want to be able to advance to postseason play and finish in the top half of our conference.”

Brown, a two-year starter, leads a group of six returning letterwinners. She is joined by Lauren Aldridge, Caelynn Manning-Allen, Chayla Cheadle, Timeka O’Neal and Lorraine Enabulele.

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 10:47 PM with the headline "Jayhawk women look to improve in Brandon Schneider’s first year as coach."