The search led to Schertz. Barring an unexpected change by Friday morning, Saint Louis is expected to hire Indiana State’s Josh Schertz as its next coach, sources told CBS Sports.
Schertz’s Sycamores lost 79-77 to Seton Hall in an incredibly competitive game Thursday night for the NIT championship at Hinkle Fieldhouse to cap a 32-7 season.
Schertz spent the past three seasons at Indiana State, amassing a 66-40 record. The Sycamores won this year’s Missouri Valley regular season championship and were two spots from making this year’s NCAA Tournament field after losing in the Valley championship to Drake. They instead played in the NIT as a No. 1 seed amid their rise as one of the more charming and offensively spirited teams in the sport, led by the play of sharp-shooting power forward Robbie Avila.
Saint Louis fired Travis Ford on March 13. After a potential deal Schertz had with Louisville fell through, it became transparent that SLU was waiting on Schertz as the school continued to not fill its vacant head coaching position while Indiana State’s season extended until Thursday night.
A final decision will be made Friday morning, but every indication is that Schertz will be leaving the Sycamores for Saint Louis, sources said. SLU is prepared to offer Schertz a deal that would get his salary north of $2 million, a source said, vaulting him to the top of the highest-paid coaches in the Atlantic 10.
Schertz’s profile took a quick rise to relevance at ISU (one of the toughest jobs in the Missouri Valley) and he was immediately Saint Louis’ top choice after Ford’s ouster following a 13-20 campaign in his eighth year on the job. Schertz’s coaching acumen is highly regarded, particularly after ISU’s brand of easy-to-watch basketball led to a 30-win season and a top-40 ranking at KenPom.com.
Prior to joining the Division I ranks, Schertz coached Division II Lincoln Memorial University for 13 years and made the D-II Final Four three times. Schertz’s career coaching record is 403-109. The 48-year-old was the MVC Coach of the Year, won the Hugh Durham Award this season, given to the top mid-major coach, and was a seven-time coach of the year honoree at the D-II level.
