Kate Schrader served as an assistant women's basketball coach at Youngstown State from 2010-13 under head coach Bob Boldon.
Schrader was responsible for junior college recruiting, on-floor coaching, game preparation and compliance needs.
"Kate has a tremendous understanding of how to play the game of basketball, and she will be counted on to be a great teacher," Boldon said. "She was an All-American as a player, and she was in two consecutive postseasons as a coach. She is a winner, and I am thrilled to have Kate on our staff."
Schrader was brought on board prior to Boldon's first season, and the Penguins have improved significantly in their two seasons. Behind a motion offense that is geared toward shooting open 3-pointers and driving for lay-ups, YSU has become a very dangerous team in the Horizon League. The Penguins convincingly beat second-place Detroit in 2011-12 and took the other teams that finished in the top four to overtime. One of those teams was Green Bay, which finished the season 31-2 and was ranked No. 11 in the nation when YSU lost a heartbreaker in overtime.
Perhaps the most obvious indicator of YSU's improvement is its scoring margin. The year prior to Boldon's arrival, YSU lost games by an average of 25.8 points and lost 16 Horizon League games by double digits. In 2011-12, YSU's average margin of defeat was one possession - 2.9 points. That is a 22.9-point improvement from what Boldon's staff inherited.
The 2011-12 campaign was YSU's best on the offensive end in several seasons. The Penguins' 38.4 percent field-goal shooting was its best in six years, and their 33.7 percent shooting from 3-point range was its highest in seven years. Their scoring average of 64.6 points was the highest in 10 years and 18 points higher than it was the year prior to Boldon and Schrader arrived.
Most importantly, Schrader and the rest of the staff have created a feeling in the locker room and in the stands that had not existed for years - the Penguins can win every time they step onto the court.
With Boldon and Schrader on the bench, YSU has broken almost every one of the program's 3-point shooting records. In 2011-12, the Penguins set school and Horizon League records in 3-pointers made (275) and attempts (828) for the season, and their 16 3-pointers at Loyola set a new school mark and tied the league record. YSU made 188 3-pointers during conference play, which shattered the previous Horizon League record by 58. The Penguins finished the season ranking fifth in the nation with 9.2 3-pointers made per game, and they were one of just 10 teams in the country to make at least 16 3-pointers in a game during the year.
YSU finished the 2010-11 campaign winning three of their final seven contests. The three wins in that four-week span matched the program's win total of the previous two seasons combined. Overall, the Penguins went 6-24 for the campaign for a six-win improvement from the previous year. YSU improved its scoring margin from 2009-10 from minus-25.8 to minus-10.6. That 15.2-point improvement was the second best in the country.
Schrader and the rest of the staff have placed a high emphasis on player development. Brandi Brown has developed from a promising low-post player to one of the best combo players in YSU's history. She has earned Second-Team All-Horizon League honors in each of the last two seasons and is on her way to finishing among the top three in school history in both points and rebounds. Kenya Middlebrooks led the Horizon League in 3-pointers per game in 2011-12 after making 26 treys combined the two seasons prior to when Schrader and the rest of the staff arrived on campus.
After two remarkable seasons on the court for FGCU, she spent two years on the Eagles' bench. She was a graduate assistant in 2008-09, and she and Boldon were both assistant coaches in 2009-10.
In Schrader's two years on the FGCU staff, the Eagles went 50-12 in just their second and third seasons at the Division I level.
In 2008-09 with Schrader as a graduate assistant, FGCU went 26-5, won the Atlantic Sun regular-season title and advanced to the second round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament. One of those victories came against Florida in the season opener. The Eagles won 17 straight games before their loss to South Florida in the WNIT, and they received votes in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.
In 2009-10, FGCU went 24-7 and earned invitations to compete in both the preseason and postseason WNIT. The Eagles were 17-3 in the Atlantic Sun and went a perfect 14-0 in home contests.
As a student-athlete, Schrader led FGCU to a combined two-year record of 63-3. She was a First-Team Division II All-America selection her senior year when she led the Eagles to an appearance in the National Championship game. She finished second in the nation in field goal percentage (.628), and she led FGCU in free-throw percentage (.809), rebounds (5.5 per game) and points (17.4 per game). She was a Division II Honorable-Mention All-America honoree as a junior in 2006. Despite playing only two seasons at FGCU, she is the school's all-time leader in points, field goals made, free-throws made, free-throws attempted and free-throw percentage.
Schrader went on to play professionally in Holland for the Perik Jumpers.
Prior to her days at Florida Gulf Coast, Schrader played two seasons at Yavapai Community College in Prescott, Ariz.
Schrader, a native of Fort Collins, Colo., received her bachelor's degree in Psychology from Florida Gulf Coast in 2007.
