Published Sep 10, 2007
Steve Schultze - right man for the job
David Fawcett
Special to VirginiaPreps.com
When Steve Schultze chose his confirmation name as a 13-year-old, he
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paid homage to an unlikely candidate for such a sacred rite. Schultze took the
name St. Basil in honor of a local high school football player he loved
watching on Friday nights.
Traditional names like St. Anthony or St. Christopher? Not for Schultze. He
wanted something different. And Basil Lansdowne, a former star running back at
Stonewall Jackson High School in the mid-1970s, fit the bill.
I love that story for one simple reason: it reminds me why Schultze was the
best choice in 2002 to take over an Osbourn football program in desperate need
of a jolt.
Perhaps another coach could have accomplished what Schultze did in the last
five years, taking a despondent program in the midst of a 32-game losing
streak and transforming them into state champions last December. But it's
unlikely.
Schultze's history here gave him an advantage, an extra dose of passion and
enthusiasm if you will, to confront head on the challenges before him and turn
things around.
This was more than just a job designed to serve as a steppingstone to
something else. This was his alma mater in dire straits. Leave? Not a chance.
Schultze was here for the long haul.
And so who better to take all this on than a guy who grew up on
Manassas-area football, who played in the youth leagues, who viewed the annual
Osbourn-Stonewall rivalry as the can't-miss game of the year?
Who better than a guy who takes the name St. Basil and then takes his
fanaticism one step further, naming his dog Basil?
"The bottomline is pride in where you grew up," said Schultze,
who moved to Manassas from Alexandria when he was five and graduated from
Osbourn in 1980.
Schultze, who began his coaching career at Loudoun County High School in
1988, first applied for the Osbourn opening in 1999, but Randy Bove got it.
Still living in Manassas and tired of the three-hour round trip, Schultze
tried again three years later to find a head coaching job closer to home.
At the time, there were two openings, first at Brentsville, which ended up
hiring Schultze's friend and classmate from Osbourn, Dean Reedy, and then
Osbourn after John Iannucci left following the 2001 season.
This time, he was hired, becoming the Eagles' fourth coach in five years.
"I went after it hard, but I didn't realize what I was getting myself
into," Schultze said.
A tireless worker with a constant current of energy crackling through his
body, Schultze began to rebuild the program, step by step. It wasn't easy, but
slowly things came into place.
Schultze refuses to take any of the credit for Osbourn's success. And
certainly, there are other factors that lifted the Eagles to unprecedented
heights a year ago.
It helps to have Brandon Hogan, a once-in-a-lifetime talent, who dazzled
fans with his deceptive moves, fast feet and gun for an arm as a quarterback
before taking his talents this fall to West Virginia University.
And yes, it helped to have someone on your coaching staff like Sonny Hagy,
a former Marine who brings 40 years of experience and a hard-core passion to
the game.
But someone had to take that first step to junk the offense you've always
used and help come up with something else to take advantage of Hogan's gifts
or see the wisdom in bringing someone like Hagy on staff. That's what Schultze
did and the fruit of his efforts is clear.
These are heady days for the 45-year-old. Winning a state title creates
demand for your time.
Schultze had hoped for some down time following Osbourn's championship in
December, but it never happened. There were seniors to get into college
football programs. He coached in the Virginia High School Coaches Association
All-Star game in July.
There were also clinics to speak at. Schultze estimates he spoke at eight
or nine of them since the end of last season, some local, others more regional
and national.
But never one to rest on his accomplishments, Schultze kept an eye out for
new ways to motivate his team.
The best came last spring when the Eagles attended a speed camp in Loudoun
County. One of the speakers, former Redskin Eddie Mason, opened the camp by
encouraging the participants to demand "Nothing But Greatness."
What started as a proclamation at a camp turned into a team motto.
The white t-shirts created by members of the Eagles' coaching staff
captures another inspirational message. On the front is a variation of the
skull and crossbones in an Osbourn helmet and on the back, three trophies,
district, regional and state resting on top of the declaration "Whatever
It Takes."
It's a new season now with new challenges, but in some ways, the mission
remains the same for Schultze. It's not just a football-thing measured in wins
and losses Never was. It's something more personal. Doing "Whatever It
Takes" is his way of giving back to a community that gave to him first.
Schultze almost never became a coach, much less one in football. Baseball
was his first love and he had hoped to walk on at Virginia Tech after
graduating from Osbourn in 1980. But it didn't work out, leaving Schultze in a
state of shock.
"It crushed me," Schultze said. "I was a jock."
Schultze had also planned on majoring in accounting at Tech. For the first
three years, that's what he did, hoping to get a degree in a field that would
make him a lot of money. But as he got closer to fulfilling his requirements,
Schultze wasn't comfortable with being an accountant. It didn't fit his
personality, he said.
He left Virginia Tech, enrolled at NOVA for a semester and then attended
George Mason University. The return home allowed him to be closer to his
future wife Jan, who was at GMU. It also gave him a chance to help out Wayne
Gryder with Osbourn's baseball team. It was then that something clicked:
coaching as a profession.
Schultze thought more about coaches who had influenced him at Osbourn, ones
like Gryder and basketball coaches like Barry Sudduth and Pat Brizzi. It made
sense. He liked sports and knew them inside and out. What a better way to stay
involved than in something you love?
When he finished up college, Schultze could not find a physical education
job in the Manassas area so he headed out to Loudoun County, where he coached
baseball for eight years and football for 14 years. It was at Loudoun County
High School that Schultze decided football was better for him.
He enjoyed the time of the year it was played and the scheduling format:
one game a week to prepare for.