MEN'S BASKETBALL: HERE'S TO YOU COACH HORN
Veteran Coach Bob Schermerhorn (Coach Horn) passed away last Monday, April 23rd and will be greatly missed.
Coach Horn coached the Hornets men's basketball season for only one season, but his impression on the staff and faculty was deep. He brought with him assistant coach and former Hornet standout Andre Smith, who took over the reigns as Hornet head coach from 2009-2015.
"The thing that I will miss most about Coach is our conversations. He would always check on me, and that meant the work to me. I will miss his presence and the love he shared with me and my family. I will always carry a piece of him in my heart", longtime friend Andre Smith.
Schermerhorn coached for well over 40 years. He coached for over 30 before retiring the first time in 2005, and then came back for a stint at Fullerton in 2006-07. After that, he went on to wrap up his coaching career in his home state of Indiana at Holy Cross College in 2011.
Coach Horn was inducted into the California Community College Basketball Coaches' Hall of Fame (2003) and the Riverside City College Athletic Hall of Fame (2013).
He may have only coached one season at Fullerton College, but Bob Schermerhorn will always remain a Hornet in our hearts.
His wife Linda, his two sons Bob and Jeff, and grandchildren survive Schermerhorn.
HORN'S BIO
Coach Bob Schermerhorn has seen it all. His resume reflects head coaching experience at every level: High School, Community College, NAIA, NCAA Division I and Division II, as well as 7 years in athletic administration, and a year of retirement.
Schermerhorn, a Viet Nam Veteran, began his coaching career after serving four years in the Marine Corps. While attending college, he coached as an assistant under the direction of Coach Herb Livesy at Orange Coast College from 1968 to 1971. In 1971, he accepted a full-time teaching position at Santa Ana Valley High School, where he also coached the JV Basketball team. After just one year at Santa Ana Valley, Schermerhorn was selected to become the Head Basketball Coach at the then new Canyon High School in Anaheim Hills. Schermerhorn developed the Canyon High Basketball Program into one of the finest in Orange County. He was selected as the Orange County Coach of the year in 1978. He also coached the North All-star team in the 1978 Orange County All-star game.
Schermerhorn's desire to become a college coach was realized in 1978 when he accepted the head basketball coaching position at Chaffey College in Alta Loma. In 1980, Schermerhorn left Chaffey to join Coach Bill Mulligan's staff at the University of California, Irvine. Coach Schermerhorn helped Coach Mulligan build UCI basketball into one of the top programs in the West going to the NIT tournament in 1982.
In 1983 Schermerhorn was selected as the Head Basketball coach at Southern Utah State College in Cedar City, Utah. Schermerhorn advanced the Southern Utah Basketball Program from the NAIA to the NCAA Division I level. After directing the SUSC Thunder Birds for four seasons, Coach Schermerhorn left to become Coach Steve Patterson's assistant at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.
Schermerhorn was an assistant at ASU for a year and a half, then replaced Coach Patterson in the second season as the interim Head Coach. During his tenure as Head Coach, the Sun Devils upset the University of Oregon and UCLA.
In the spring of 1989 Schermerhorn again made a move. This time the move was back home to South California to re-join the Community College ranks, taking over for Coach Bob Boyd at Riverside Community College. Schermerhorn had tremendous success at Riverside, making the playoffs all of the nine seasons he coached the Tigers. His teams reached the State Final Four in 1993, 1994, and 1996. His 1995 team advanced to the Final Eight. Schermerhorn was selected State Coach of the Year in 1996, and Orange Empire Coach of the year in 1994 and 1996. In 2003, Schermerhorn was inducted into the California Community College Basketball Coaches' Hall of Fame. Ten years later, in 2013, Coach Horn was rightly inducted into the Riverside City College Athletic Hall of Fame.
