The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Hires Bill Schmitz As Assistant Football Coach
5/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
May. 2, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- Bill Schmitz, who has more than 20 years experience in the coaching profession -- at the professional, collegiate and high school levels -- has been named assistant football coach at UAB, according to an announcement by Blazers' head football coach and director of athletics Watson Brown.
Schmitz, who will coach UAB's tight ends and H-backs, has been a head coach at two colleges during his career, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and Austin Peay. He spent six seasons at Austin Peay and in 2002, his final campaign there, he guided the Governors to their first winning season in 18 years.
Schmitz comes to UAB after spending two seasons as the head coach at Jesuit High School in Tampa, Fla. He led Jesuit to a 14-7 record the past two years, including a 9-3 mark and a berth in the Florida Class 3-A Regional Finals in 2004.
"I am ecstatic about the opportunity to join the staff at UAB under Coach Brown," said Schmitz. "Not only did I have eight great years with Watson earlier in my career, but he gave me a chance to grow in the profession. He really jump-started my career. In the years that I have been a head coach, anytime I had something I wanted to talk about or bounce off someone in the profession, I would call Watson. He's been a great sounding board for me.
"I've been up there for several spring practices and am excited about where the program is right now coming off its first bowl game. This is a great opportunity for me and my family."
A native of Cincinnati, Schmitz has worked as an assistant at Columbia, Cincinnati, Rice, Vanderbilt and Eastern Michigan. He also served as the quarterbacks and wide receivers coach of the London Monarchs in the World Football League for the 1992 season.
"I am very excited about having Bill join us as a member of our coaching staff," said UAB's Brown. "We have known each other a long time and have worked together at three schools (Cincinnati, Rice and Vanderbilt). He knows our offense extremely well and has an abundance of coaching experience. He also will be an asset to us in recruiting with his ties in the state of Florida."
Prior to being named as head coach at Austin Peay, Schmitz spent four years as the head coach at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy,, his alma mater, from 1993-96. In `96, he directed Coast Guard to a berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs for the first time in history as he was named the Freedom Football Conference Coach of the Year. Also in 1996, U.S. Coast Guard Academy running back, James Jones, was the runner-up for the Gagliardi Trophy which goes to the Division III Player-of-the-Year.
At Austin Peay, running back Jay Bailey was the NCAA I-AA leader in rushing. In all, he has coached eight quarterbacks who have played professionally; 13 All-Americans; and four players who have played in the Super Bowl.
At both Austin Peay and Coast Guard Academy, Schmitz's teams virtually rewrote the schools' offensive record books.
As a student-athlete at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Schmitz played both football and baseball. As a quarterback for the Bears, he was coached by NFL Hall of Famer Otto Graham. In 2001, he was inducted into the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Athletic Hall of Fame.
Schmitz and his wife of 27 years, Lynn, have two children: Matt, 24, who was a four-year football letterwinner at Austin Peay and is a graduate assistant coach at UAB; and daughter, Allison, 20, is a student at the University of Tennessee.
