Norwin ‘power couple’ patrols soccer sidelines

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Monday, October 25, 2021 | 7:06 PM

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Scott and Caitlin Schuchert met on a soccer field. Because of course they did.

“I remember we started coaching together and I went up to him and introduced myself,” Caitlin Schuchert said. “He was like, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ We started hanging out and it kind of went from there. We played in a fundraising game together at Penn-Trafford.

“I never imagined I’d marry someone who shared my passion for the game.”

That was 2007. They coached together in the local Penns Forest youth league when they were young, wide-eyed assistants.

Jump ahead to present day and the Schucherts are Norwin soccer’s power couple.

Scott Schuchert has been the boys varsity head coach since 2012. Caitlin (formerly Caitlin Martz) joined the staff this season as an assistant after helping the boys and girls teams last year as a volunteer.

She is a former girls head coach at Penn Hills and Plum, her alma mater, where she was a standout player before a four-year college career at Lock Haven.

She and her husband still play the game, finding time to escape the coaching grind to extend their playing careers.

Caitlin still plays for the Pittsburgh Hotspurs First Team, and in other leagues, including a men’s Hempfield Recreation league on Scott’s team.

“We haven’t had a date night in a while, but that’s all right,” said Scott Schuchert, 38. “We have the rest of our lives to spend together. We love what we do and it’s nice to share it together.”

Said Caitlin: “Does he ever pass me the ball? I don’t know, maybe.”

With three kids, a family landscape business and Caitlin’s teaching job at Plum Junior High School, the feasibility of both of them coaching at the same time, on the same team, seems limited. OK, impossible.

But they are truly in this together — the family, the business and guiding the Knights to another WPIAL 4A playoff run. A couple of soccer junkies whose admiration for the game rivals their love for one another.

Norwin (12-4) is the No. 3 seed in 4A and will open the playoffs Saturday after a first-round bye.

The Schucherts have three children: Wyatt (9), Scarlett (4) and Stella (2).

“It’s never been difficult and we make it work,” said Caitlin Schuchert, 36. “We know the commitment level it takes to do this. Our families and friends have really helped.

“We’re eating really bad food at this time of year, but we’re getting our groceries delivered, so there was some good from covid. The simplest things are a little harder.”

Family members help to make this endeavor work. Consider them the back line to the Schuchert team.

“Our parents have been great,” Scott Schuchert said. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without them. It’s a special thing because they know how much we love (soccer).”

Scott’s parents are Rege and Terri, Caitlin’s John and Cathy Martz, who live in Plum.

The babysitting captain is Terri Schuchert, who is a familiar face at Norwin athletic events.

“She has seen more soccer games in this stadium than anyone,” Rege Schuchert said.

Rege Schuchert, the longtime coaching director for the Norwin Soccer Club, is also on the Norwin varsity soccer staff, adding another year to his three-decades of coaching, and another layer to the family coaching legacy.

He first introduced Scott to Caitlin. Caitlin as an assistant on Rege’s Penns Forest youth girls team in 2007. The team logged many miles traveling to out-of-state tournaments. When Scott came on board to coach, Rege encouraged him to ask out Caitlin.

“They have a lot in common,” Rege Schuchert said. “They have that same intensity. They like a lot of the same things.”

Coaching is a year-long venture, especially with the Schucherts’ son Wyatt’s involvement with cup soccer.

After a long day of work and soccer practice or games, it’s off to a cup workout, a quick bite to eat, then home to help the kids with homework.

It all starts again the next day.

Scott is up early ready to mulch someone’s hillside, work the backhoe on an excavation project or run a skid-steer loader to eliminate brush.

He then heads to practice, changes clothes and reconnects with his team.

“It’s like a Superman quick change,” he said with a laugh.

Caitlin teaches math all day before meeting up with Scott and the team at Norwin Knights Stadium.

“When we get home, our attention gets divided with the kids,” Scott Schuchert said. “We talk about (soccer) sometimes. Like my dad, Caitlin helps me see the little things that make a big difference.”

Scott Schuchert, a former All-WPIAL player at Norwin, played one year at Slippery Rock before taking a job with the landscaping business.

He is now the CEO of the business and Caitlin handles the financial side of Schuchert Landscaping.

The Schuchert name has long been a part of Norwin athletics history. Six family members are in the Norwin Athletic Hall of Fame, including one-time standout wrestler Todd Schuchert, the former Norwin wrestling coach.

Jody Schuchert, Scott’s sister, was a standout soccer player.

Rege’s brother, Ron, coached the Norwin girls soccer team to back-to-back WPIAL championships in 1996 and ‘97, and a PIAA title in ‘96. Their mother is 100 years old and has 38 great-grandchildren.

Watching each other coach is almost as thrilling to the Schucherts as winning section titles and chasing WPIAL gold.

“He is so good with the boys,” Caitlin Schuchert said, tearing up. “It’s so hard to make everyone happy. If he makes 99% of the players happy, it’s that 1% that kills him. He is so invested here and is such a good figure for them. He really cares.”

Scott Schuchert also showed emotion talking about the woman to whom he’s been married since 2011.

“She can sense when I need her (advice),” he said. “We don’t ever get upset at each other. She knows me well, and that makes a big difference.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Norwin