Softball
Randy Schneider
Head Coach
ARC 185
219-464-5047
Randy.Schneider@valpo.edu
The winningest coach in Valpo softball history, Randy Schneider guides Valparaiso into the Horizon League in 2008 after leading the Crusaders to a school record-tying 27 victories in 2007. Schneider got the 2007 Crusader team off to a 9-3 start, the best 12-game record in school history, en route to the record-tying victory total. Included among the 27 victories, which increased Schneider’s record number of victories to 82, was the third triumph in four years by the Crusaders over Purdue. Under Schneider’s guidance, the 2007 Crusader squad, which boasted five All-Conference honorees, broke numerous team and individual records. In the classroom, Valpo boasted the nation’s sixth-highest team GPA, while 12 individuals were honored as NFCA Scholar-Athletes and three players received Academic All-District status. In the community, the Crusaders’ “I Need a Hug” program grew to even greater heights. Schneider’s 2006 campaign was the most successful of his Valpo coaching career to that point, as he guided Valpo to 22 victories. With his 21st win of the season, Schneider moved into first among Crusader head coaches in victories, and enters the 2007 campaign with 55 wins at Valpo. Schneider’s arrival on campus brought a 14-game turnaround in 2004, when the Brown and Gold won 21 games and earned a spot in the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament for the first time in five seasons. The 2004 Crusaders even picked up a win at the conference tournament before falling in the championship game to Centenary. Four players from that team received Mid-Con All-Tournament honors. Schneider has coached 15 All-Conference players in his four years at the helm, including five First Team selections. Five of his players were honored following the 2006 campaign, matching the most by any team in the Mid-Con, and five more received All-Conference notice in 2007. Coach Schneider arrived at Valpo from Wartburg College in Iowa where he led the Knights to a 100-37-1 record in four seasons. Wartburg won an Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in 2001, the first in the school’s history. That same year he guided the Knights to the NCAA Division III Tournament where they finished as Central Region runner-up, and Schneider was named IIAC and Region Coach of the Year. Schneider earned his bachelor’s degree from Wartburg in 1988 with a degree in physical education. He and his wife Kristy have three children, Karli (7), Alec (4) and Bryn (2).
