Former Penn Hills, WVU standout Drew Schifino reflects on life in basketball in new book

Drew Schifino wanted an opportunity to reflect on his time in basketball. He didn’t want to rehash the old stories of his time in European basketball or at West Virginia.

The 43-year-old Penn Hills graduate sought an opportunity for self-reflection.

Schifino decided to write a book about his time in basketball, “Drew Schifino: Buckets & Battles,” which was set to be sold through Amazon.

“Once you are older, you start reflecting on your time and the things you accomplished,” Schifino said. “It was a chance to look at the mistakes you made and what you had to go through to achieve what I did.”

Schifino said the book would discuss his life in basketball, from his success at Penn Hills and with the Mountaineers. It will also examine his eventual falling out at WVU after John Beilein took over the program.

When Schifino started with the Mountaineers, Gale Catlett was still the coach.

Schifino averaged 20.1 points per game during the 2002-03 season as a sophomore in West Virginia. During Schifino’s junior year, he was dismissed from the team. He ended up finishing his career by playing 11 games at Cal (Pa.).

Schifino scored more than 1,000 points during his time at West Virginia and finished in double figures in 48 consecutive games.

“I was a little bitter about what happened at West Virginia,” Schifino said. “It took me a few years until West Virginia hired (Bob) Huggins before I started rooting for the Mountaineers again.”

Schifino said if things were like they are now — with freedom of movement with college athletes in the transfer portal — he would have left the Mountaineers program not long after he arrived.

“I thought right away it wasn’t going to work,” Schifino said. “Once you get a coach that comes in and doesn’t recruit you, there’s not that player and coach loyalty. Back then, if you wanted to transfer you had to sit out a year and deal with it. I would have entered it 100%.”

Schifino played professionally for six seasons in Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Holland and the Czech Republic.

“It was very tough,” Schifino said. “Back then, it wasn’t during the social media era. You had to have a calling card to call back home.”

Schifino coached at the high school level at Waynesburg Central and Steel Valley once he returned to Western Pennsylvania. He is still an advocate for local basketball and isn’t shy to weigh in on various topics on social media.

After all of the time looking back, Schifino promises his book will present a look at how things happened “uncut.”

“I never gave up on my dreams and goals,” Schifino said. “I always tell people to never give up on your dreams. My goal was to play Big East basketball at the Division I level.”