Schuckman: Schwagmeyer-Belger is first name to come to mind to fill coaching void at QU

QUINCY — The manner in which Quincy University athletic director Josh Rabe approaches hiring head coaches is quite simple.

Know the person, know the system, know the product.

And for the candidates he doesn’t enjoy a previous relationship with, Rabe doubles back to colleagues, former bosses and former players to gain a sense of what the person, the system and the product will be.

His hiring style works, as evidenced by the bright, young talent he has assembled.

That’s also why Rabe finds himself facing another coaching search.

His home run hire of Courtney Boyd as the QU women’s basketball coach led to the Hawks’ first Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament championship in two decades, the first NCAA Tournament appearance in nearly a decade and NCAA Division I programs wanting to poach the championship-level skipper.

That happened Friday when Boyd resigned after two seasons to become the head coach at Missouri Valley Conference member Valparaiso University. Rabe immediately began putting together a short list of candidates while also being curious to see who may apply.

Who might be on those lists?

Let’s start exactly where Rabe would. Who does he know?

The obvious one is Ali Schwagmeyer-Belger, who has been a mainstay on the regional basketball scene for the past two decades. She graduated from Camp Point Central as the program’s all-time leading scorer — she now ranks third — and spent two seasons at Charleston Southern before transferring to QU.

In two seasons with the Hawks, Schwagmeyer-Belger was a two-time first-team All-GLVC selection, the GLVC Player of the Year as a junior and scored 978 points.

Her professional playing career took her to Germany, Spain, Romania, Australia and Serbia. She was named the head coach at John Wood Community College last summer and guided an injury-riddle lineup to a 10-20 record.

The Trail Blazers are expected to have a full roster next fall for the first time in several seasons chock full of area talent. The ability to keep players close to home is another intriguing aspect for QU, as is the potential two-for-one such a hire presents.

Schwagmeyer-Belger’s husband, former QU men’s basketball point guard Courtney Belger, could come back to the fold in some manner as well.

Two other names with local ties to consider are Kyle Bent and Terra Helm.

Bent is currently the head women’s basketball coach at Danville Area Community College, but he is a Camp Point native who has head coaching experience at both the NAIA and the NCAA Division II levels as well. Helm is an assistant coach at McKendree, having spent time as an assistant at Lindenwood and three seasons as an assistant at Culver-Stockton College.

In March, Helm received the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Thirty Under 30 honor for up-and-coming coaches aged 30 and under at all levels of the game.

One other name with local ties to keep an eye on is Martin Pazanin, the former Quincy High School girls basketball coach who currently is an assistant coach at Sam Houston State University. 

Pazanin also has worked with the staffs at Loyola Marymount and Eastern New Mexico. He coached the QHS girls program for two seasons, leading the Blue Devils to a 21-9 record during the 2018-19 season.