Terri Schumacher is making the UW-Oshkosh women’s basketball team a contender once again. Mentoring a young squad, Schumacher helped the Titans increase their win total each of the past two seasons.

UW-Oshkosh’s 2011 campaign resulted in a fifth-place WIAC finish. That was the program’s best standing since 2006, when Schumacher guided the Titans to a share of the league title (19-8 record) during her first season as head coach. In her six seasons, she owns a record of 64-86.

Schumacher, who distinguished herself as a star player for the Titans during the 1984 and 1985 seasons, returned to UW-Oshkosh in 2005 after spending 13 years as the girls basketball coach and physical education teacher at Oshkosh West High School.

During her tenure at Oshkosh West (1993-2005), Schumacher piloted the Wildcats to a 148-148 record, two Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) Division 1 state championships, two Fox Valley Association (FVA) titles and four WIAA Division 1 State Tournament appearances.

Since the 2000 season, Schumacher coached Oshkosh West to an impressive 131-35 record. In 2002, the Wildcats captured the FVA title and posted a 22-3 mark, including a 44-43 loss to Hudson High School in the semifinals of the WIAA State Tournament. In 2003, Oshkosh West won the conference title and capped its 26-0 season with a 62-27 victory over Middleton High School in the WIAA State Championship. During 2004, the Wildcats finished a 21-5 season with a 54-40 victory over Watertown High School in the state title game. In 2005, Oshkosh West compiled a 17-7 record, including a 39-37 loss to DeForest High School in the state quarterfinals.

Schumacher collected several individual awards while coaching at Oshkosh West. Among them was her selection as the 2003 Wisconsin Coach of the Year by the Associated Press. She was also named FVA Coach of the Year in 2002 and 2003.

Prior to her position at Oshkosh West, Schumacher served as the girls basketball coach at Plymouth High School from 1987-92. Schumacher coached the Panthers to a 69-44 record, with her best season coming in 1990 when she led her hometown high school to an Eastern Wisconsin Conference title and an 18-6 record.

Following graduation from Plymouth High School in 1981, Schumacher attended UW-La Crosse and played basketball for the Eagles during the 1982 and 1983 campaigns. She transferred to UW-Oshkosh after the 1983 season and played for the Titans the next two years.

At UW-Oshkosh, Schumacher immediately became one of the dominant players in the WIAC and the NCAA Division III. During 1984, she received All-WIAC first team honors after averaging a league-leading 23.8 points per game. In an 82-70 loss to UW-Green Bay, Schumacher scored 41 points and made 19 field goals to establish a pair of school records.

In 1985, Schumacher led the Titans to an 18-8 record and their first WIAC championship. Schumacher received NCAA Division III All-America first team honors and was selected as the NCAA Division III Player of the Year by the American Women’s Sports Federation. She gained all-league accolades while averaging WIAC-highs of 27.3 points and 5.1 steals.

Schumacher concluded her UW-Oshkosh career by scoring 40 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in an 85-69 victory over UW-Whitewater. The first NCAA Division III All-America selection in WIAC history, Schumacher scored 1,209 points during her 47 games with the Titans. Her scoring output is the eighth-best in school history. During 1996, UW-Oshkosh inducted Schumacher into its Athletics Hall of Fame.

* - Written November 10, 2011

A former player for head coach Terri Schumacher, Jessie Wilcox now will be tutoring the Titans as UW-Oshkosh’s assistant women’s basketball coach for a second season.

Wilcox played four seasons of basketball at Northern Illinois University and finished her collegiate career with 1,007 points. The 2009 All-Mid American Conference selection also earned academic honors for her 3.86 GPA as an art education major.

During the 2008-09 campaign, Wilcox led the Huskies in scoring at 10.9 points per game. She also dished out 80 assists and knocked down 90 percent of her free throws. In her junior season, Wilcox recorded 92 assists while averaging 10.3 points and hitting 40 percent of her three-point tries.

Northern Illinois University went 19-12 in Wilcox’s second year as she started all 31 contests. Wilcox tallied 24 points in a victory over Miami (Ohio), in addition to a 13-point, 11-rebound performance during a win over Toledo. Starting 26 games, Wilcox posted 47 assists, along with 4.4 points per game, in the 2005-06 season.

Wilcox earned four letters at Oshkosh West High School, where she was a member of two state championship teams. She picked up all-state second team accolades while making the All-Fox Valley Association First Team. Wilcox also established school records for assists in a season (83) and career steals (207).