Storybook season for Scheub at Culver

Updated: March 23, 2011 9:16AM

It was a decision Tony Scheub wrestled with for a couple of weeks.

Leave his position after nine years as assistant girls basketball coach at Griffith to become head coach at Culver, or stay put for the 2010-11 season.

"It was a really tough decision for me, because I'd spent a lot of time there and had grown close to (head coach Tom) Golumbeck and the girls," Scheub said. "I'd spent a lot of time with them and was close to them. I didn't want to regret not taking the job later, so I really thought about it carefully.

"I always told our girls not to regret anything. It made me think: ‘How could I tell them that and then not apply it to myself?'"

Scheub then accepted the challenge of coaching the Cavaliers - who were 10-11 a year ago - and the rest is history.

History as in turning out the best team in school history in a span of about four months. Scheub has turned Culver's program completely around, virtually upside down.

The Cavaliers (25-1) have won 18 straight games as well as sectional and regional titles. The latter - won with a furious rally from a six-point fourth-period deficit over Fairfield last Saturday night - was the first in school history in any team sport.

"When I arrived, I told the girls about the the run we made to the semistate at Griffith and what it takes to get there," Scheub said.

"I told them I had watched some tape of their games from the year before, and liked what I'd seen. I told them I thought we could win some games. They bought in and busted their butts from Day 1 - no questions asked. They worked their butts off for me, and that's why we're (in the semistate) at Elkhart."

Considering what he's accomplished with his first team at Culver in a little over four months, Scheub could probably run for mayor of the town and win in a landslide.

"This town has really come together and supported these kids," he said. "I remember going to Hebron to play when I was at Griffith. I always loved to play there because of the atmosphere. It's like that, here. This town has embraced these girls. It was crazy how many fans were there for the regional championship game. It was awesome."

What's awesome is the coaching job Scheub is doing in his first season.

He brought Griffith's tough man-to-man defense and the offensive transition game with him to Culver and combined it with his own philosophy to produce a winning formula.

"Tony's great at motivating players and communicating with them," said Hobart girls head coach Mike Hamacher, who spent two years as an assistant with Scheub at Griffith from 2002-04.

"Tony has that rare combination of being able to be a good cop and a bad cop at the same time. He has the ability to get kids to like him and respect him and be excited about playing the game. The kids know he's really into it and that he cares about them, and that really helps him. I know what it takes to coach girls - and the personality you have to have -- and get them to where they're having fun playing.

"I knew he'd make a great coach when he went there, but I'm still impressed and amazed by what he's done the first year. It couldn't have happened to a better guy."

Golumbeck and a few Griffith coaches, along with Hamacher, are making the trip to Elkhart to support Scheub for Saturday's game against Fort Wayne Luers.

"It's kind of crazy, it really is," Scheub said. "It's happened so fast, it's been kind of fun. Going 25-1 so far is a great accomplishment. The kids just kept saying: ‘We want more. We want more. They've really bought into ‘We want more.'"

"We're very proud of him and very happy for him," Golumbeck said.

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