Sports
Hoops is Big in the Schoof Family
W.T. Woodson grads John and Sarah Schoof are playing college basketball, following in the tradition of their parents.
Rick and Mary Schoof of Fairfax plan to see a lot of college basketball games this season.
Their daughter, Sarah, plays for Division I Iona in New York state and their son, John, is a freshman forward at Division I American after a standout career at .
The Schoofs were at American on Wednesday night as their son was in the starting lineup for the Eagles, who won their first game of the season 62-56 against Florida Atlantic.
Find out what's happening in Fairfax Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“It was a really good win for our club,” said American head coach Jeff Jones, a former player and coach at the University of Virginia. “Florida Atlantic is a very strong team. We earned that victory. I am pleased with the effort tonight.”
Schoof, an all-region player at Woodson, played 17 minutes on Wednesday and missed both of his shots from three-point range. He had three rebounds and one steal as the Eagles beat a team picked to win the Sun Belt Conference by some pre-season publications.
Find out what's happening in Fairfax Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"I am not too worried," Schoof said of expectations as a freshman starter. "The goal was to play. The overall goal is to win."
American is now 1-2 overall and plays Saturday in New York against Columbia in a non-league game. The Eagles were picked to finish fifth in the eight-team Patriot League this season by The Sporting News magazine.
Schoof averaged 18 points, five rebounds and five assists as a senior at Woodson, where he was a two-time most valuable player.
He was pursued by several Division I programs but made only one official visit, to American. Schoof picked the school because of the coaching staff, players and academics, where he is majoring in business.
"I was set on American," he said. "The way I play fit in with their system of tough defense. At the end of the day it was the best fit." Schoof had seven rebounds and had yet to score in his first three games at AU over a total of 52 minutes.
He was not born when Jones, a 1982 Virginia graduate, led the Cavaliers to the Final Four as a player. “He expects the best out of you,” Schoof said of Jones, now in his 12th season at American. “If you can do that you can’t go wrong.”
Basketball runs in the Schoof family.
His mother was an All-American at East Carolina and his father is a former assistant coach at Iowa State and East Carolina.
His sister came off the bench in the first three games for Iona and had a total of two points in nine minutes of action as a reserve senior center.
A former all-region player at Woodson, Sarah Schoof played in 59 games, with one start, in her first three seasons at Iona. She averaged 1.4 points per game in 21 contests last year as a junior.
John Schoof played AAU basketball on Team Takever with Mikael Hopkins (DeMatha), who now plays for Georgetown, and John Manning (Chantilly High), a freshman at St. Louis.
