Originally published by The Messenger.
Joe Schaefer had a choice.
Sit in the dugout being bitter for losing a game his team seemed destined to win.
Or he could do what he has always done as a head coach – be there for his players no matter the outcome of the game.
He chose the latter, rushing out to the field to comfort pitcher Jonathan Zayas, who had thrown the ball away, allowing the winning run to score.
"Some of those guys didn't just lose that game, but it was the last game they would ever play," Schaefer said. "I was just trying to love on them and let them know that their whole career or season doesn't come down to one moment. Yes, the pain is going to last, but look back on the accomplishment of making it that far."
The Nighthawks were two outs away from reaching the NCAA Division II Baseball National Championship series, only to have it wrenched away in the bottom of the ninth inning.
"In the moment, he just told me, 'Thank you for being you,' " Zayas said. "He was just hugging me and telling me how proud he was of me and that this doesn't change anything that we accomplished."
NNU had just put together the greatest season for a team in the school's 24-year NCAA history.
The Nighthawks won the GNAC regular-season title, the GNAC tournament title, the NCAA West Region title, and won two games at the Division II College World Series. Their 46 wins shattered the program record of 36 and also set a conference record. Schaefer was named the 2025 ABCA West Region Coach of the Year, while Ernesto Lugo-Canchola and Cole Calnon earned consensus All-America honors.
There was a lot to be proud of in that moment, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow.
"In maybe your greatest moment of disappointment as a coach, instead of thinking about that or being frustrated or mad, he was out there giving that pitcher a hug," NNU athletic director Paul Rush said. "He handled that moment the way we all as coaches would like to – picking a kid up, instead of focusing on what could have been."
For Schaefer, that calming influence on his team and those around him was developed as a young coach at Point Loma Nazarene University.
As a player and then an assistant coach at PLNU, he was fiery and wore his emotions on his sleeve – sometimes throwing stuff or yelling when a game didn't go his way.
When he was promoted in 2009 to head coach at his alma mater, then athletic director and hall of fame coach Caroll Land pulled him aside and said Schaefer needed to work on being more even-keeled and less emotional.
"It allows your players to be more relaxed and take on a similar personality," Schaefer said of his style of leadership. "I still remember that conversation with coach Land vividly and it changed how I approached coaching ever since."
Schaefer graduated from NNU's sister school in 2003 with a degree in theology. He had no real plans in his life at that point and was working at Home Depot the summer after he graduated. At church, he ran into his old coach, who asked if he was interested in helping with the team.
Schaefer volunteered in 2004, joined the staff as a paid assistant in 2005 and was named the head coach in 2009.
"I had no intention of going this route," said Schaefer, who became a head coach at just 27 years old. "God opened the door and said this is what you are supposed to do."
After 10 successful seasons in San Diego, he and his wife, Cheryl, felt like God was calling them to go elsewhere. Eventually, the NNU job came open and he applied and got it, moving north with his three sons and wife in 2019.
It was a big shift for a guy who had only lived in Southern California his whole life.
"Everyone in the baseball community thought I was an idiot, but everyone close to us thought it was 100 percent the right move," Schaefer said of leaving San Diego for Nampa. "I think we were here about six months and my wife and I looked at each other and said, 'Gosh, we should have done this 10 years ago.' "
Since Schaefer arrived in 2019, the baseball program has reached heights that were previously unimaginable at Elmore W. Vail Field.
The Nighthawks had one previous conference tournament title in 2016 under their belts before he arrived, but everything quickly changed thanks to Schaefer and assistant coach Matt Hollod.
The two immediately showed off their recruiting prowess, convincing players from all over the country to come to Nampa. It quickly led to great success, as the team reached the NCAA West Regionals in three of four years, including reaching the World Series in 2021.
"There are coaches who control everything in their programs – and they can be successful – but Joe is a guy who gives freedom to his players," Hollod said. "He wants them to make their own decisions lots of times and he is willing to let them make mistakes and learn from them."
That type of leadership has paid off for the Nighthawks, who have had different players step up into leadership positions throughout his tenure.
"He does a good job of staying consistent and being honest," Hollod said. "His style works for him because he is so consistent and a man of integrity. Players appreciate honesty more than someone blowing smoke."
That is something that drew Kyle Ethridge to the program both as a player and now as an assistant coach.
"He is a very calm guy who doesn't let situations speed up on him," the 2024 graduate said. "Everything has a purpose, whether it is in practice or a game, or a decision on what to do with a runner or whatever. He is good about not getting caught up in the moment."
Being a leader doesn't come easily to Schaefer, who is a bit of an introvert.
"It's not a strength of mine and it doesn't come easy," he said, "but I understand whole heartedly how meaningful relationship building is – not just in coaching, but in life. Being a Christian, I want to have an impact in the lives of these guys.
"It is something I try to be better at every single day."
That relationship building has impressed his fellow coaches and his current athletic director.
Rush, a former basketball head coach at the high school and collegiate level, described Schaefer's approach as the perfect answer to the age-old question in college athletics that asks if coaches actually care about the players as humans or if they only see the players as a way to win games.
"When you lose, you have a chance to show kids that the result doesn't change how you feel about them or who they are," Rush said. "I think that is what Schaef did in that moment. He got a chance to really show the athletes that this relationship is about supporting and loving them as a person and if they help you win games, that is great, but if you lose games, I still love and care about you."
So, when Schaefer was facing a devastating professional moment, he took a bit of time to sit on the bench trying to figure out what had just happened.
Fellow coaches were shell-shocked. Players were wandering around crying. Fans were stunned. The opposing team was celebrating wildly.
And yet Schaefer calmly strolled to the first base foul line and met his pitcher and told him some simple words.
"Someone needed to talk to the guys after that – and he was crushed," Hollod said. "But he talked to the team and he did it in a real honorable way. He handled that loss as well as anyone could. It was crushing."
Schaefer has relived that day many times in the last six months, as has nearly everyone involved in the game.
"That was one of the hardest games I've ever had to go through," he said. "I spent weeks and months not understanding why it had to go the way it went. Losing is one thing, but losing in the fashion we lost was gut-wrenching. I would have rather just gotten blown out."
Reaching the College World Series at any level is a daunting task and rarely happens consistently. Schaefer reached the pinnacle at the NAIA level in 2009 and 10 with Point Loma, losing the national title in 2009. It was 11 years before he made it back to the championship round with NNU.
All of that isn't lost on Schaefer and that is what he has tried to get across to his teams over the years.
"I don't know if I have learned a lesson from it just yet," he said. "God will have to show me something down the road and then I will understand why it happened.
"For now, we've turned the page and moved on, and our goal is to get the players back there to have an opportunity to win the game."
