Baseball coach leads team to conference

Schreiber

By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor

When Doug Schreiber and Todd Murphy were assistants for the Butler baseball team in 1992, the Bulldogs were finishing a blowout game on spring break in Florida when a reserve second baseman committed an error.

All of a sudden Schreiber grabbed a metal folding chair and started bashing it against the wall.

"That's the memory I think about every time when I'm asked about Doug's competitiveness," said Murphy, now an assistant at Purdue under Schreiber. "He's a feisty guy and he expects you to make plays."

No wonder Schreiber has Purdue in contention for its first conference title since 1909.

"I've been competitive my whole life," Schreiber said. "I don't like to lose."

Schreiber didn't develop this attitude. He was born with it in his blood. His father, Ken, a two-time national prep coach of the year, is a coaching legend, having led LaPorte High School in northern Indiana to seven state championships in the '80s and '90s before retiring in 1998 after transforming LaPorte's program into one of the nation's best.

"My dad taught me a lot about the game and respect for the game," Schreiber said. "But he never shoved baseball down my throat, and that was a nice thing.

As a youngster, Schreiber found a way to be around baseball most of the time, whether he was in the stands as a fan, in the dugout as a batboy or on the field as a player.

With countless neighborhood acquaintances and four brothers, Schreiber never had trouble rounding up friends to get a game together with when he was young. After all, he and most of his friends had dreams of one day donning a LaPorte Slicer uniform.

"Baseball was our love," said Schreiber, who started at shortstop for the 1982 state champion Slicers his senior year.

He had trouble with only one thing — losing.

"I've been competitive my whole life; whether it was board games or backyard games like football, I didn't lose," Schreiber said. "I didn't like to lose."

On the rare occasions when he did lose, he lost sleep.

"I was too anxious to get back out there and play again," he said.

He was also eager to make himself better through education. And that desire to learn so that he can get better has remained with Schreiber throughout his life.

He learned through experience when he started at second base for the Boilers for four years from 1983 to 1986 and guided Purdue to 37 wins — a school record — his senior season. On Purdue's career list, Schreiber is in the top 10 in walks, games played, runs, at-bats, doubles and triples.

Since becoming the head coach at Purdue before the 1999 season after educational stints as an assistant at Butler, Ball State, Notre Dame and Arizona State, Schreiber has tried to get his players to embrace his "refuse to lose" attitude.

"Attitude is a huge part of it," Schreiber said. "Attitude to me is more important than the talent that we're going to bring in, more than the baseball knowledge that we're going to teach the kids. It all starts with having a positive attitude and maturity level."

To get the message through to his players, Schreiber doesn't give a lot of speeches. He simply goes out and runs a disciplined program.

Before Schreiber became coach at Purdue, when the team finished with more losses than wins four times in five years, there was a lot less discipline and organization.

Players would show up to practice in inappropriate attire and most players spent more time standing around then they spent actually working on an aspect of their game.

Now, in their black and gold practice jerseys, the players come to practice knowing that their time will be well spent.

"It's crisp; you get in, get your work done and get out," said second baseman David Blomberg, a senior for the Boilers who spent a year under Steve Green and Bob Shepherd in 1998.

"It's nice from a standpoint where we're not burnt out and tired and we still get our work done."

Murphy, who came to Purdue the same year Schreiber did, said Schreiber's interpersonal communication with his players is neither too heated nor too lax.

"He has a very good rapport with players, and he brings a good intensity to the game," Murphy said. "He expects a lot out of his players in terms of accountability and it just kind of carries over to things getting done."

Schreiber has his own way of getting things done.

"I like to have fun, but I think a big part of having fun and having success is getting your job done," Schreiber said.

For example, on opening weekend this season Purdue, having beaten then-No. 1 Rice to open the season, was in a close game with then-No. 24 Wake Forest two days later. With Wake Forest rallying in the ninth, Blomberg made an exceptional play to complete a game-ending double play.

"I don't think it was fun for him to turn that play," Schreiber said. "But it was a great feeling afterwards."

If teams want to goof around and call it camaraderie, so be it. Schreiber will have none of that.

"I'm not in the entertainment business as far as being funny or anything like that," he said. "We're just teaching our kids and trying to increase their confidence."

That confidence is definitely high as Purdue (24-17, 14-4 Big Ten) heads to Bloomington, Ind., for a four-game series with Indiana (20-23, 3-12) this weekend. The Boilers are in second place in the conference, a half game behind Minnesota, after spending the last two weekends in sole possession of first.

A few years ago, the thought of Purdue being this close to first place this late in the season was preposterous.

"Coach Schreiber came in and made it a real tight ship and established a philosophy on winning and playing the game," Blomberg said. "And since then, it's been going pretty good."

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Purdue beats Minnesota, faces Northwestern today

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SPORTS DESK PHONE:
(765) 743-1111 ext. 251

Sports editor:
Paul Trembacki

Assistant sports editor:
Anne McLaren

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