LOCAL BASKETBALL | A COACHING COUPLE
SCHERERVILLE | For Dave and Sue Schweitzer, coaching basketball is not only quality time spent together, but quantity time as well.
And when we talk quantity, we're talking more than 700 wins over a span of 33 years with the Grimmer Middle School girls basketball program.
Dave and Sue, who have a combined record of 725-277, have been the only head girls basketball coaches the school has ever had. Dave coached both the girls seventh- and eighth-grade teams from 1976 through 1980. Sue, who Dave met while teaching at the school, took over the seventh-grade team in 1981.
And they've been on the bench together ever since ... well, almost.
"Usually, the seventh-grade game is followed by the eighth-grade game," Sue said. "But lately, there have been more 'A' and 'B' games at each grade level. So the seventh-grade teams sometimes play away, while the eighth-grade teams play that same school at home.
"I prefer coaching with him by my side. We can bounce ideas off each other. It's just more comfortable for us."
Though Dave and Sue "never argue" and employ similar strategies for basketball -- "We try to run the same offenses and defenses as the high school, but we add a few winkles of our own," Dave said -- as teachers they come from day-and-night departments. Sue teaches language arts (English and literature) and Dave heads the math department.
And as you would expect from a numbers expert, Dave has compiled Top 10 individual statistics lists for both grades in a variety of categories. (By the way, local singing sensation Nicole Jamrose is Grimmer's all-time eighth-grade leader in steals.).
The Schweitzers' son, Ryan, is a starting guard at Lake Central. Dave and Sue have never missed their son's games, but that streak almost came to an end when the Indians held their "Senior Night" late in the regular season.
"(Dave) had a game scheduled for here, and I was scheduled somewhere else ... it didn't seem possible that we could make it," Sue said.
But a little tweak in the original scheduling enabled the Schweitzers make it to the game and halftime ceremonies.
"Our athletic director (Jeff Brooks) has been very understanding about helping us make it to Ryan's games," Sue said. "And the other schools have been very cooperative."
As for coaching at the high school level ...
"We have no aspirations in doing that," said Dave, who credits former player and volunteer assistant Sara Kuntarich for helping him and his wife during the past three seasons.
"We're happy here, and maybe we can stick around for 800 wins."
