Report: Indiana State's Josh Schertz expected to accept Saint Louis head coach job after NIT loss

Saint Louis’ coaching search, at long last, appears to be nearing the finish line after parting ways with Travis Ford. Indiana State coach Josh Schertz is expected to accept the position following Thursday’s NIT loss to Seton Hall, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reported.

Schertz spent the last three years at Indiana State after taking over for Greg Lansing – his first Division I opportunity. But the 48-year-old is no stranger to leading a college basketball program and was the coach at the Division II level with the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters, where he enjoyed immense success both in the regular season and postseason.

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He spent 13 total years with Lincoln Memorial, but over an 11-year span from 2011 to 2021, he led the Railsplitters to 10 Div. II NCAA Tournaments, won his conference regular season in nine of those seasons, and won the conference tournament championship an additional five times.

When it came to the Div. II tournament, he was successful as well, but never could get that elusive national title. Nonetheless, Schertz made at least the second round in seven straight seasons, and appeared in the Final Four in 2016, 2017 and 2021 before ultimately getting the call up to coach a Div. I school in Indiana State.

With the Sycamores, Schertz faced a rebuild in year one as the team struggled, but turned things around in year two for a 23-13 record and appearance in the CBI quarterfinals. But it was his third year, 2023-24, where Schertz made his name.

Indiana State won 32 games and was a top-two team in the Missouri Valley Conference alongside Drake, who narrowly edged the Sycamores out in the MVC tourney to take the auto-bid, leaving ISU just outside the NCAA Tournament picture. However, the Sycamores were a No. 1 seed in the NIT and rattled off a run to the championship, where they eventually fell to Seton Hall.

As for his coaching style, well, Schertz has quickly proven himself as an elite offensive coach. Indiana State finished 2024 as the No. 1 team in the country in effective field goal percentage after finishing No. 4 last season — and they were No. 1 in each of the last two years in two-point shooting percentage, topping out at 62.5% in 2024. Only Gonzaga in 2020-21 posted a better mark so far in the 2020s decade.

Plus, their 3-point shooting was arguably more impressive. Indiana State was No. 13 in the country knocking down 38.1% of their 3s while shooting them at the sixth-highest rate in the nation. To be that highly-ranked in efficiency and volume is extremely impressive, especially coupled with the 2-point numbers.

To illustrate their efficiency, take a look at this graph of 3-point percentage vs. 2-point percentage for 2024 and where Indiana State fell in:

Indiana State was most efficient team in the country in 2023-24, and by a decent margin.

Schertz’ teams the last few years have played fast, made their free throws and shot the ball with remarkable efficiency. But Indiana State also posted top-15 numbers in defensive rebounding rate in all three seasons. Oddly, though, they rarely grab their own offensive boards and rate close to last nation-wide in that department the last three years.

Which gets us to the defensive side of the ball, where Schertz is a more conservative coach. His teams trade offensive rebounding opportunities for transition defense, and they don’t expose themselves by gambling for turnovers, evidenced by a sub-250 turnover rate every year he’s been there. And that all leads to pretty solid numbers at defending opposing team’s two-point tries.