Former Griffith assistant, Andrean grad Tony Scheub has the drive to win at Culver

All summer long Tony Scheub excitedly wore his Griffith black and gold coaching attire. And who could blame him?

Scheub had been a big part of the Panthers' historic run to the Class 3A Northern Semistate last February.

Then, out of nowhere, an opportunity arose for the 1994 Andrean grad and Schererville resident. It meant he would need a new gas card for sure.

In August, Scheub was hired as the head coach at Class 2A Culver Community. He had to leave Griffith and a group of Panthers he cared deeply for as well as head coach Tom Golumbeck, who Scheub had coached with for nine years.

His 20-minute commute to practice turned into a daily three-and-a-half hour journey in his 2005 GMC Sierra truck.

"It guzzles a lot of gas," Scheub said. "I've actually figured out two or three routes there and back so it doesn't get so monotonous."

Tonight, the 36th annual IHSAA girls basketball state tournament tips off. Scheub's Cavaliers open against Hebron in the North Newton Sectional. Griffith will not play until Friday in the Calumet Sectional.

"I brought a lot of what we did at Griffith to Culver," Scheub said. "The first thing we did was get rid of the 1-3-1 defense, which is all they ever played. We went to the man-to-man. And we took some offensive stuff from Griffith, too."

Culver went from 10-11 last year to 20-1 and ranked No. 6 in the state in Scheub's first year.

Scheub did not play basketball at Andrean, but he played at Indiana University-Northwest, where Golumbeck was an assistant. The two met at a wedding later and before long Scheub was on the Griffith staff.

"Tony did not have all the skills for a college point guard," Golumbeck said. "I think he led the nation in turnovers one year. But he always played hard. That's what I loved about him. And he brought that to the girls at Griffith."

Scheub also led the Panthers' scouting and he often played against the varsity in game-preparation scrimmages.

"I didn't know the kind of kids he had so I thought going above .500 would be good for his first year," Golumbeck said. "I knew he was going to be a good head coach. But they've done even better than I thought they would."

Scheub has taken advantage of the great height he has at Culver. Patrice McBee, who is 6-foot-3, and 6-foot-1 Gwen Zehner will be difficult to match up against for the teams playing at North Newton this week.

Scheub said his assistant coaches told him he could go home to Schererville after the game or games this week in Morocco. But instead, he will drive from Schererville to Culver and travel back and forth with the team to Morocco every night that his team is playing.

That is just under 300 miles of travel for each sectional game for Scheub.

"I just feel like I need to be with the kids in the bus as we get ready to play," Scheub said.

His wife, who teaches in Hammond, plans to bring their two children to the sectional games. They just won't have to drive to Culver. They can just shoot down U.S. 41.

"The Culver kids were very impressed about the run we had at Griffith," Scheub said. "They jumped on board right away. I know I'm pulling for Tom and the Griffith kids this week, too."