Zach Schneider serves as the Associate Head Coach for the Northwest Missouri State men's basketball team.
Schneider helped Northwest claimed its third consecutive, and fourth overall, national championship in the 2021-22 season.
Schneider and the Bearcats captured Northwest's third NCAA Division II national championship in the 2020-21 season. Northwest posted a record of 28-2 overall. Northwest set an NCAA Elite Eight record by winning its three games by a total of 78 points - the most ever by a Division II national champion. Schneider helped guide the Bearcats to an MIAA record 21 league victories. Northwest was led by MIAA player of the year Trevor Hudgins, first-team all-MIAA pick Ryan Hawkins and MIAA defensive player of the year Diego Bernard. Hudgins earned NABC National Player of the Year accolades, while both Hudgins and Hawkins each tallied All-America status.
In 2019-20, the Bearcats posted a 31-1 record. The Bearcats also captured the MIAA regular season title and MIAA Tournament crown. The Bearcats were poised to host their fourth consecutive NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament before the NCAA decided to cancel the 2020 tournament because of COVID-19.
Schneider helped the Bearcats capture the program's second NCAA Division II title in 2018-19 as Northwest posted a perfect 38-0 mark. He again served as Ben McCollum's top assistant in the 2019-20 season, which saw the Bearcats post a 31-1 record while being ranked No. 1 in the nation before having the season ended by COVID-19.
Schneider graduated from Northwest Missouri State in spring 2017 following a four-year playing career under coach
Ben McCollum. During his four year career, Schneider was part of four MIAA regular season championships, two MIAA Tournament championships, four NCAA Sweet 16 appearances, and the 2017 NCAA Div. II national championship team. He was an MIAA Scholar-Athlete during his senior season. After his playing career, Schneider remained with the team for the 2017-2018 season as a graduate assistant. He was also a graduate assistant with the Student-Athlete Success Program, monitoring the academics of Northwest student-athletes for multiple sports.
"Zach is well on his way to being a great assistant coach," McCollum said. He has an unmatched work ethic. Zach will also bring a great deal of knowledge on how our program works to the current players. We talk a lot about having "winners" in our program, Zach is the definition of this."
He and his wife, Kierston, were married July 2, 2022. The couple resides in Maryville.
