After 14 years of teaching and coaching at Starr’s Mill High School, Jeff Schmidlkofer has announced his retirement from public school.
“I’ve established a lot of really good relationships here, and this is a great place,” Schmidlkofer said. “It’s been good to me, and I have nothing but good things to say about it.”
Schmidlkofer will transition to working at Trinity Christian School, a private school, where he will be the school’s head football coach. His departure marks the end of an era of education, leadership, and care for the students in the classroom and on the field.
He coached lacrosse at Starr’s Mill for 14 years, helping build the program into one of the most respected in the state. In addition to lacrosse, he has been involved in coaching football at various levels and schools for over 30 years, including McIntosh, Fayette County, Northgate, and Mundy’s Mill.
Before he became a teacher, Schmidlkofer worked in the business world. His start to education began when he volunteered as a community coach in his mid-20s. He found more joy coaching for free than working business, which led him to return to school to get his teaching degree.
Since then, he has taught various subjects in science, including physical science, physics, environmental science, and conceptual physics. He overall values watching students grow in confidence and understanding through challenges from August to May.
“From a coaching aspect, I’ve been blessed,” Schmidlkofer said. “We’ve played in a lot of big games here. We’ve won some, we’ve lost some, but being able to be in a program like Coach Phillips and Coach Yearwood ran, learning how to do it the right way, was the best.”
Other memorable moments include being able to coach his own sons, defeating Dutchtown in overtime, a major win that showed how far the program had come, and leading the lacrosse team to three Final Four appearances as well as a quarterfinal appearance.
Schmidlkofer leaves behind a strong legacy, not only of wins and titles, but of leading athletes and students into becoming strong, capable people.
“I’ll probably miss the people here the most,” Schmidlkofer said.