The Texas-Texas Tech basketball rivalry recently reached a boiling point when former Red Raider men’s basketball coach Chris Beard spurned the Tech program for his alma mater, Texas, back in April 2021.
Now, following Texas Tech’s 74-61 upset of No. 9 Texas on Wednesday night, there appears to be bad blood brewing between the two figureheads of the women’s programs.
After Texas saw its seven-game win streak come to an abrupt end at the hands of rivals Texas Tech, Longhorn coach Vic Schaefer had some choice words for Lady Raiders coach Krista Gerlich, in regards to their post-halftime dispute.
“You ain’t going to sit there and jump all over my people at the table,” Schaefer said postgame. “I don’t give a [expletive] who you are.”
The dispute originated right after halftime, when Gerlich was visibly frustrated with the scorer’s table at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. Gerlich was upset that she was not able to start the second half with the group that she had wanted to, after subbing in two of her starters at the first whistle.
Schaefer took exception to Gerlich confronting the Erwin Center statskeepers, and the two got into an animated exchange. Both coaches were assessed technical fouls, as the Lady Raiders led by four coming out of the break.
Not sure what happened but both teams took the court and then were pulled back. During the delay, Texas Tech coach Krista Gerlich got very animated at the scorer’s table and then she and Vic Schaefer exchanged words. Both coaches were assessed technicals. #HookEm
— Danny Davis (@aasdanny) January 6, 2022
After the Texas loss on Wednesday night, Schaefer spoked to the media after Gerlich, tearing into his counterpart.
In a news conference on Thursday, Gerlich was given the chance to respond, saying she was “irritated” by Schaefer’s postgame comments.
“It actually was an A-B-C conversation,” Gerlich said. “[Schaefer] should have seen his way out of there to be quite honest, because it had nothing to do with him.
“I wasn’t going to have that. We talk to our kids about standing up and fighting for one another, and it really was as simple as that. I was a little irritated that he decided to say some things in the press conference about it, because it should have just been left out on the court.”
With the win on Wednesday night, the second-year Tech head coach improved her record against Schaefer’s Texas to 2-1. No love will be lost between the two Lonestar State programs, who are due for a rematch on Feb. 9 in Lubbock.
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