Montague announced Monday that it has hired Gretchen Schneider as its new volleyball coach. Schneider will replace Shawn Bectel, who announced on Facebook earlier in the offseason that he and the district had mutually agreed to part ways after 12 seasons at the helm.
“MHS wanted to find a coach who would care for the student-athletes, be a positive role model for them, and provide opportunities for the players and program to grow,” athletic director Jay Mulder said in a statement. “Gretchen meets all of these expectations and more. Coach Schneider and MHS are excited to get to work and begin preparing for the upcoming season.”
Schneider is no stranger to Montague, as a graduate of the school, nor to the sport of volleyball, which she has been involved with for decades in various capacities. Schneider has been a head coach before, at Beal City and at Oakridge, most recently in 1998. She has also coached at the JV and middle school levels since then. Schneider also officiated the sport for the MHSAA for 27 years, including working a pair of state final fours and 12 quarterfinal matches.
So why jump back in now? Schneider “is an empty-nester now” after daughter Lauren graduated from college; she’s always felt like she’d end up back in coaching, and the timing lined up perfectly with the Montague opening.
“There was never a question in my mind that I was coming back to coaching,” Schneider said. “Whenever I was officiating and saw something new, I just made a little note of it. You get to spend a lot of time with the coaches interacting with them. That just kept me on fire for the sport. I never really lost the passion for it. We looked for new opportunities (to get involved) every year, whether I was officiating or coaching. Those officiating opportunities were almost like opportunities to scout, to see what the latest and greatest is, what are the new tricks of the trade.
“I’ve got a few unique situations I’ll put my girls in and we’ll see if we can use that as a little secret weapon.”
More than X’s and O’s, though, Schneider said she hopes to bring an infusion of excitement to the program. She feels the ability to see the sport from the perspective of a coach, a player’s parent, and an official will bring results for the Wildcats.
“I think if we get that passion back and the skills (Bectel) honed through being a tough coach, we’ll have a successful year coming up,” Schneider said. “We’ll have a solid senior core and a lot of promising juniors coming out. This isn’t me stepping in and creating a winning team. They’ve put in the work.”
