Cerebral: What makes Todd Schaefer the perfect assistant coach for Mizzou women’s basketball

“Just the support that she’s given me, but then also to watch her be better at her profession than I am in mine,” Schaefer said. “What she does for our family, with our kids, it’s been a true blessing to live life with her.”

While Schaefer has had several stints as a head coach, the vast majority of his time has been spent as an assistant. Only four of the 13 jobs he’s held since his college graduation have been at the helm of a program. In fact, his last head coaching position came at the high school level, ending in 2011. While the head coaches get the vast majority of attention, the actual description and workload between the two positions are near-identical.

“I get to give advice, not make decisions,” Schaefer said on being an assistant coach. “I think my experience as a head coach does help me be a good assistant coach. I really try to bring them solutions. It’s easy to point out the problems. We all know what our problems are, but really trying to have solutions and options.”

Perhaps his most famous assistant role came working with Plum during her senior season at Washington. In Schaefer’s lone season at UW, he helped the Huskies reach the Sweet 16 while Plum broke the all-time NCAA women’s scoring record (later be broken by Caitlin Clark). Plum was drafted first overall in 2017 by San Antonio, later winning back-to-back WNBA titles after the franchise relocated to Las Vegas. She currently plays for the Los Angeles Sparks, averaging 19.5 points in her first season.

After one year at Washington, Schaefer followed head coach Mike Neighbors to Arkansas. The duo, with limited time coaching together at that point, had met well before that, as both spent extended time in Arkansas, first meeting in the late 1990s when Neighbors was coaching Bentonville High School and Schaefer was at Allen County Community College.

“We became fast friends, just sharing phone calls after that initial meeting, became somebody I called once a month for a while,” Neighbors said. “When I was in Washington, he was still coaching at Ole Miss. I was his late night call, and he was on his way home from work. I bet we talked every day for probably a three or four year stretch there.”

While the two wouldn’t work together until 2016, the plan was put into place well beforehand.

“I almost worked for Todd when he was the head coach at Arkansas Tech,” Neighbors said. “I was going through a coaching transition, and if we could’ve worked it out, I was trying to be his assistant. When I got the head coaching job at Washington, after we went to the Final Four in 2016 I lost my entire staff…that’s when the time was right to get Coach Schaefer to come to Seattle with us.”

The two were a perfect fit first at Washington then heading back to Arkansas as a pair. While Neighbors gathered all the attention, Schaefer was a crucial part of a staff that reached back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.

“He told my story better than anybody. He knew me well enough he could talk to recruits. He was a family man as well,” Neighbors said. “I was able to assign him duties that most head coaches have to take on themselves. He took over scheduling. He would always coach a side of the ball.”

Neighbors resigned following the 2025-26 season, ending a nine-year stretch of the two coaches working together. Neighbors has since reunited with Plum, joining the Sparks as an assistant coach while also appearing on SEC Network as a women’s basketball analyst. But while the two do not coach together anymore (or even live in the time zone), their friendship has persisted through these new positions.

Schaefer’s eight years at Arkansas marked the longest he had spent at any job in the coaching world, where results mean everything and turnover is simply expected for candidates and their families.

It’s for this reason that Schaefer chose his next move carefully. Instead of taking a break or perhaps retiring, he jumped right back into the market. This sort of carefulness makes it all the impactful that Schaefer joined Kellie Harper’s staff in her first year at Mizzou.

“It was appealing to me (to work) for a family person, a person that really does it for the right reasons,” Schaefer said. “Top to bottom, this is the best staff that I’ve ever been a part of in terms of people, expertise, talent.”

But what really keeps Schaefer around is something that players usually dread: Practice.

“Outside of my coffee or my workout, practice is the best part of the day,” Schaefer said. “It’s as challenging as ever, but it’s as fun as ever to try to figure it out and get the best out of the players…I’m trying to make each one of those players the very best they can be.”

But this decision has no come without tradeoffs. While Schaefer moved to Columbia ahead of the season, his wife and three kids (Landon, Will and Jake) stayed in Fayetteville for Lisa’s job as a physical therapist and the kids’ schooling. In fact, his oldest, Landon, is in the middle of his freshman year as a member of the Arkansas baseball team.

When he’s not thinking about basketball, Schaefer is thinking about his family. This two-track mind makes his life steadfast, but this year has thrown a wrench into the life he’s become accustomed to.

“It’s been tough,” Schaefer said. “I know it’s been challenging for (my kids) to not to have dad around, and for my wife not to have me around to do the dishes, help her with lunches and just to be there for our relationship. But when we discussed it and made the decision, our family and our relationship was built on a sturdy enough foundation that we could make it work.”

Schaefer still does everything in his power to see his family as much as possible, making the four-hour drive each way to Fayetteville numerous times during the season. In fact, there were several times where he left Columbia early in the morning and spent the day in Arkansas, before returning late that night. He once surprised his family by taking a detour home from the kU game in KC (even if Lisa figured it out beforehand).

The biggest game of the season for Schaefer, of course, was the return to Arkansas in February. The Tigers won 87-82 and he got yet another chance to see his family on the company dime.

“Even at 53 years old, (it’s like) the anticipation of something when you’re a kid,” Schaefer said. “It never gets old when I walk in the house and I get to see those guys.”

But this time apart won’t last forever, as it appears Schaefer is ready to help build something in Columbia. With year one in the books at Mizzou, Schaefer and the rest of Kellie Harper’s program is ready to take the next step and bring the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nearly a decade.