April 8, 2013

OXFORD, Miss. – First-year Ole Miss head women’s basketball Matt Insell has announced the addition of assistant coaches Alex Fuller and Todd Schaefer to his staff.

Accompanied by his new assistants, Insell will be formally introduced as Rebel head coach to the media and general public Friday at 11 a.m. at the Gillom Sports Center on campus. Fans are encouraged to attend the event, which will be streamed live and free on RebelVision.

Fuller, a former national champion as a player at the University of Tennessee, has spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach at Middle Tennessee State University, helping lead the Blue Raiders to three NCAA Tournament appearances during that time.   

“I’m excited to have Alex join us at Ole Miss,” Insell said.  “I’m excited to have someone join our staff that has Alex’s level of experience in recruiting and developing post players.  Having someone on staff like Alex, who has won two national championships as a player, and who has that championship mentality, is huge for us.”

Most recently with Blue Raiders during the 2012-13 season, Fuller helped coach forward Ebony Rowe to WBCA honorable mention All-America status as well as to AP honorable mention All-America accolades. She was also a top-30 finalist for the Naismith Award.

Fuller’s work with the post players during the 2011-12 season saw Middle Tennessee grab the most team rebounds in the program’s history since 1983 and the third most in its 37 years. Two players, Rowe and Icelyn Elie, formed a matchup nightmare for opponents on their way to garnering All-Sun Belt First Team and Second Team honors, respectively.

In her first season with the Middle Tennessee program in 2010-11, Fuller helped establish a solid foundation for its post players. She tutored Rowe to Freshman All-American and Sun Belt Freshman of the Year accolades. Rowe grabbed 21 rebounds against North Texas, the most in over 20 years by a Blue Raider player.

Fuller, a 2008 Tennessee graduate, she was a graduate student manager at Kansas in 2009-10 under Bonnie Henrickson. Fuller completed her undergraduate work at Tennessee, while lettering for four seasons for head coach Pat Summitt. She was a part of two NCAA Championship teams, in 2007 and 2008. Fuller graduated from Tennessee in December 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science.

Schaefer, who comes to Oxford with 18 years of coaching experience at various levels in the college ranks, comes to Ole Miss from Arkansas State where he spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach.

“I’m excited to have Todd join our Rebel staff,” Insell said.  “He brings a lot of experience not only in recruiting but he also brings a wealth of experience on the court in the development of players. He’ll be working with our wing players and he’s spent seven seasons as a head coach in Division II. We are excited to have Todd, his wife, Lisa, and children, Landon and Will, as a part of the Ole Miss family.” 

At Arkansas State, Schaefer’s duties included working with the Red Wolves’ perimeter players, opponent scouting and video. During the 2012-13 season with the Red Wolves, the team finished second in the Sun Belt Conference West Division and won 12 conference games.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Schaefer came to Arkansas State after serving the two seasons (2009-11) as the head coach at Greenbrier (Ark.) High School. Before coaching at Greenbrier, Schaefer was an assistant coach at the University of Cincinnati from 2007-09, where he coordinated the Bearcat offense and served as the director of opponent scouting, among other duties. 

Prior to his time at Cincinnati, he spent three seasons at Arkansas Tech, including two as head coach during the 2005-07 seasons.  While head coach at Arkansas Tech, he led the Golden Suns to a road victory over the top-ranked team in Division II basketball and a berth in the 2007 NCAA Division II Regional Tournament.

Prior to his time at Arkansas Tech, he served as head coach at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tenn. from 1999-2004.  In his first season at Christian Brothers, he led the Lady Buccaneers to their first-ever berth in the Gulf South Conference Tournament.  Four years later, Schaefer directed CBU to the GSC West Division title and to the NCAA South Regional Tournament for the first time in school history.

Before coaching at CBU, he spent two seasons as head coach at Allen County Community College and two seasons as an assistant at Western Illinois.

Schaefer earned his Bachelor of Arts degree while majoring in English at Thomas More College in Crestview, Ky., where he was a student assistant basketball coach and a member of the football team.  He and his wife, Lisa have two sons, Landon (5) and Will (2).