Great coaches win games. The best coaches inspire their athletes.
Over 27 years, Bill Schnobrich has done both.
A driving force in the development of Village Christian volleyball and a boys soccer staple for years, Schnobrich’s time as a coach, teacher, director, and dean has brought out the best in his student-athletes both personally and athletically, and now he can add VCS Athletics Hall of Famer to his vaunted list of accomplishments.
As a coach and director, he won CIF Southern Section titles with boys volleyball in 2003 and 2019 and girls volleyball in 2015 and 2018. The Crusaders also won the CIF State championship in 2018 and were State Regional champs in 2015 with Schnobrich at the helm.
He has built programs and rebuilt others, never missed the playoffs as a head coach nor had a losing record, won 562 total games with a .723 win percentage, and earned 12 league titles.
“The strength of the program over his tenure is him,” said Micah Behrend, who currently serves as the head boys volleyball coach under Schnobrich and was one of his former players. “The fact that this program has never really dipped under his time, always competing, always moving forward, is incredible.”
While that strength remains ever-present, it’s his heart that has made the success so lasting.
Former outside hitter Mike Richards, a member of the 2003 boys volleyball championship team coached by Schnobrich (the first CIF-SS title in school history), experienced his coach’s ability to connect with players firsthand.
“He was very, very good at rallying our team and understanding our personalities,” Richards said. “He understood each person’s personality on the team and how to coach them individually. All of that would then culminate into a more cohesive team.”
During the 1998-1999 school year, Schnobrich achieved the incredible feat of winning a staggering three league titles in one year – girls volleyball, boys soccer, and boys volleyball. He’s the only coach in school history to achieve the “Crusader Hat Trick.”
“I know it sounds cliché, but I wanted the athletes to have an experience they would remember,” he said. “I wanted them to have memories. I wanted them to play at a high level and play in college if they wanted to, but I wanted them to be a good team and have that family feel.”
However, it’s his heart for students and passion for helping them develop in their God-given abilities that truly sets him apart.
“I really believe that there are things we can teach on the field and on the courts that you just can’t teach in the classroom, things like being able to depend on other people, dealing with failure and getting back up to keep performing, being resilient, perseverance,” Schnobrich said.
As a result, he’s taken on other roles through the years – mentor, confidant, culture-changer, and supporter, among many others.
“He has been the godfather, the father of volleyball, the longest-tenured coach there has ever been within a program, and just being the anchor, the rock going through all these times,” Behrend added.
That can be said on the field, on the court, or in the classroom – and Village Christian is better because of him.
Please join us in congratulating Bill Schnobrich as a 2023 inductee into the VCS Athletics Hall of Fame.