History of Success: Schulte Uses Standout Gridiron Career to Become High School Teacher and Coach
Written by Doug Goodnough
Work hard. Prepare well. Treat people right.
Those are the guiding principles Scott Schulte, ’94, learned as a student at Hillsdale College.
One of the all-time great running backs in Charger football history is now a high school coach and teacher, and he said those are qualities he is now trying to instill in others.
“The thing I always think about when I think of Hillsdale College is just great people,” said Schulte, who is currently a world history teacher and offensive coordinator at Oak Harbor (Ohio) High School on the east side of Toledo. “People treat you the right way. That is how I try to go about being an educator. I am trying to help people become what they want to become.”
When Schulte was a high school senior in Delphos, Ohio, he wanted to become a successful college football player. Only Hillsdale and Bowling Green showed serious interest, and when Schulte visited the Hillsdale campus, he was sold on the College.
“The campus was great and the facilities were great,” Schulte said. “Once I got up there, I thought it was awesome.”
However, the fact that he was lightly recruited was also a driving force in his success with the Chargers.
“I wanted to use the opportunity I was given at Hillsdale to show people what they were missing out on,” he said. “I tried to play extremely hard and with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder.”
Making an instant impact as a freshman, Schulte became a dominating running force during his final three years, collecting three 1,000-yard seasons and all-conference accolades. During Hillsdale’s conference championship season in 1992, he rushed for 1,582 yards and 16 touchdowns. He finished his career with 4,495 yards, still second in program history. Schulte was inducted into Hillsdale’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.
After attempting a professional football career with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Rough Riders, he served as an assistant football coach at the University of Indianapolis, working for former Charger coach Joe Polizzi, ’76, who recruited Schulte to the Hillsdale campus. He then went into high school teaching and coaching.
Schulte met his wife, Amy (Colwell), ’96, at Hillsdale, and they have four children. Their oldest son, Clayton, is a member of the Indianapolis football team, while their daughter, Hannah, attends Wheeling University and plays soccer. Daughter Effie and son Isaac are still in high school.
“I played with a lot of good guys,” Schulte said of his football experience. “Going to Hillsdale was definitely the right choice.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in June 2023