Buck Scheel - Women's Basketball Coach - Grand Canyon University Athletics

Buck Scheel

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
buck.scheel@gcu.edu

Buck Scheel enters his fifth year at GCU after spending three years as an assistant at Drury under Lopes Head Coach Molly Miller.

Scheel has been instrumental with Lopes' post play and has aided in the rebounding efforts GCU has portrayed over the past four seasons. The Lopes have had at least four players record 100+ rebounds in each of the past four seasons including four in 2023-24 and five during the 2022-23 campaign.

Scheel coached Olivia Lane in both her senior and graduate student years, to which she totaled 199 rebounds and a WAC leading 106 offensive boards in 2023-24. Scheel also coached Evan Zars during her final collegiate season in 2022-23, who grabbed 209 rebounds, good for second most in program history for a single season during the Division I era. Zars had six double digit rebounding performances under Scheel's watch, who while as a Lope, notched her 1,000th career rebound and point that season.

In 2023-24, the Lopes ranked second in the conference in rebound margin (4.4) as the team pulled down 36 boards per contest. GCU grabbed 38 or more boards in 46% (17-of-32) games last season with 11 games of 40 or more. The post play from both Lane and graduate Laura Erikstrup aided to the team's WAC best field goal percentage, with Erikstrup earning WAC Sixth Woman of the Year while shooting a team-best 60% from the floor.

GCU ranked third in the WAC in offensive rebounding (13.0) and third field goal percentage (43.4%) in 2022-23. The post play from the Lopes, which included Zars, Olivia Lane, Alaina Harper and Tiarra Brown, combined to shoot 52.2% from the floor and gathered 548 of the team's 1,145 rebounds (47.8%). Brown was named to the All-WAC First Team and earned All-WAC Defensive honors that season.

The 2021-22 season saw GCU rank fifth in the conference in total rebounds (1,132) while limiting opposing teams from scoring with a 61.0 points per game opponent average, third best in the WAC that season. Jay Christine shot nearly 50% from the floor (49.8%) and grabbed a team-best 185 rebounds.

In his first year in Phoenix as assistant coach, GCU totaled 906 rebounds, second most in the WAC with five players totaling 100+ rebounds. Helping lead the rebounding efforts and scoring was Katie Scott, who tallied 144 rebounds, including a team-high 57 on the offensive end, and shot 54.2% from the floor en-route to WAC Freshman of the Year honors. Brown also earned All-WAC Second Team and Newcomer Team accolades.

Scheel helped direct Drury to a 108-4 record which included three conference titles, a pair of NCAA DII Midwest Regional championships and a Final Four appearance.

Scheel spent the previous two and a half seasons as the head women’s basketball coach at Northwest Missouri State University. Before taking over as head coach midway through the 2015-16 campaign, he served as an assistant with the Bearcats for two years. During his tenure, he recruited and coached several all-conference performers including the 2018 MIAA Co-Freshman of the Year, Jaelyn Haggard.

From 2010-2013, Scheel was the top assistant at State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Missouri and helped the program to a 68-28 record through three seasons and a district championship in 2011. He worked as the head women’s basketball coach at Southwestern Community College in Iowa for three years and also served as an instructor for Midwest Elite Basketball where he designed and customized curriculums for players and teams.

Scheel is originally from Columbus, Nebraska. He started his collegiate playing career at Kaplan University in Lincoln, Nebraska, before finishing at Waldorf College in Iowa. He served as a team captain at both programs and graduated from Waldorf with a degree in Business Management. Scheel also earned a Master’s degree in Sports Management from Columbia Southern University in Alabama.