Even when there’s a national championship on the line… hunters have priorities.
University of Texas head coach Vic Schaefer has his women’s Longhorns team poised to win it all. The No. 1 seed cruised their way through their portion of the bracket, and now have a matchup against another No. 1 seed – the UCLA Bruins – in the Final Four.
On the other side of the bracket, another pair of No. 1 seeds are facing off (South Carolina and UConn). Safe to say there weren’t many upsets in the women’s March Madness. Come to think of it, there weren’t many on the men’s side either. They might have to change the name to “March Mildness” if the trend continues.
But shortly after Texas stomped Michigan 77 to 41 this past Monday, the Longhorns head coach told the media that he was excited about his team’s win… but he was even more excited to get into the woods the next morning. You see, turkey season came in where Schaefer lives the Saturday prior, and he hadn’t had a chance to get out to hunt because of his team’s schedule.
He decided he was going to make time around all of his preparation:
“There are two things that are fixing to happen. I’m going to kill a turkey in the morning. Turkey season opened Saturday. I’m gonna kill a turkey in the morning. I’ll be in the office by 10 o’clock, and I’ll be watching film and getting ready.
The second thing is I’m gonna leave for Phoenix tomorrow. Just being honest. That’s gonna happen. I’ve earned that right to be in the woods for a couple of hours in the morning, calling a turkey. And then we’ll get ready for whatever’s gonna happen after that.”
Legendary stuff right there.
He went on to say that he’d be watching as much film as he could that night and on the way home. However, when the morning came… he was going to be out in the woods so he could bag himself a gobbler. Once he got that out of the way, he promised to keep prepping for his Final Four matchup:
“I’ll watch film tonight. I’ll watch it all the way home til’ I can’t stay awake tonight. Just like I’ve done here for four or five straight nights, but I’m gonna treat myself in the morning to… it might not even take 30 minutes if I can call that dude off the roost. But after that, I’ll be in the office, and I’ll be getting ready for UCLA.”
Hunting accounts like Cabelas and Mossy Oak all left comments below that post commending the Schaefer’s priorities and saying they had found their new favorite basketball coach:
“Our type of coach.”
“He’s a winner in our book.”
“Get ’em, coach.
“Just became a Texas fan.”
“Hell yeah, that’s a Texas coach.”
And here’s the thing… Coach Schaefer called his shot. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte shared this photo the next morning of the women’s head coach holding up the turkey he killed that morning:
Looks like I know who I’ll be rooting for in the Women’s Final Four, which starts April 3.
