Coaching that multiplies

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, June 13th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Mentorship. In Iowa, basketball is big, and the biggest name this year…

ANNCR: … the mythical mastery of Caitlin Clark continues [Cheering]

That is University of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark… a superstar in this year’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

REICHARD: But great players start with great coaches. And in the northwest corner of Iowa, a generational legacy has shaped some of the region's top basketball coaches.

World Journalism Institute graduate Josephine Lee has our story.

JOSEPHINE LEE: Les Douma sits in a hospital bed in Orange City, Iowa, recovering from a hip replacement.

DOUMA: ‘What I need to do is just, therapy is the best and just see what happens.

Just one mile away is the college where he coached basketball forty years ago, mentoring dozens of athletes who would become great coaches themselves.

But before Douma was a coach, he was a student athlete in Sheldon, Iowa.

DOUMA: I always liked athletics in high school. So I played all the sports. And I knew by my sophomore year in high school that I wanted to be a basketball coach.

Douma wasn’t skilled enough to play in college. But the example of his high school basketball coach stuck with him.

DOUMA: His name was Fred Brower. And he was just a gentleman. I liked his demeanor. He was an encourager, high expectations.

Douma took many of those qualities into his coaching when he came to Northwestern in 1981. He made it a point to learn as much about the game as he could.

DOUMA: you didn't have the internet, you couldn't go to a computer and checkout, ‘I wonder how this team is playing? Let's watch a game. Let's watch each player.’ So you had to do it, just the old fashioned way.

To research the college’s competition, Douma would call fellow coaches with questions. After his own practices, he would drive out of town to watch other teams play.

BRENT: Dad was extremely detail oriented…

That’s Brent, Les Douma’s oldest son. He played for his dad at Northwestern for four years.

BRENT: And he had things thought out really well over the years of how he wanted his teams to perform, how he wanted to develop his players.

In 1986, Douma’s hard work took the team to the national tournament for the first time in 15 years. Brent and his brother Craig would both go on to become successful coaches.

But Douma was more than focus and drive. He was about people.

BRENT: If some kid went upstairs to his office – he's on the second floor looking at the gym – and they walked in, and they wanted to talk, he dropped what he had to do. When you invest in people like that, the return is the they put it all on the line for you and I think that’s what happened.

AUDIO: [Sound of school]

At MOC Floyd-Valley High School, Loren De Jong has coached basketball for 34 years.

DE JONG: Perfect. Thank you, Donner. Appreciate that.

But before starting his career here, De Jong was a college student at Northwestern’s rival school, Dordt, 11 miles up the road. He would make that trek each week to learn from Douma.

DE JONG: In the summer, he offered a basketball coaching theory class and guess who, guess who took the class? A Dordt guy. That’s how much respect I had for Les.

Some years later, as a young coach, De Jong’s team suffered a major loss in the state tournament. Crushed, he traveled again to see Douma.

DE JONG: I can remember, meeting with Les in the superintendent's office, had some tears in my eyes, because I was just hurt and frustrated, but he took the time to visit with me, took the time to listen. And he gave me some really good advice. And the very next year, we ended up making it all the way to the state championship game.

CHEERING: [Sound from 2005 state championship]

De Jong’s team has played in 8 state tournaments since and won more than 500 games. Douma remains one of De Jong’s greatest mentors.

DE JONG: Every year, I get a note from him every year before the season starts and after the season's over, it's always encouraging. I don’t know how he does it.

De Jong would go on to become Siouxland Basketball Coach of the Year in 2005. He wasn’t the only one. Bill Francis, one of Douma’s athletes, would win the same award 3 years later.

In 2019, Francis’s team would advance and compete for a state championship.

ANNOUNCER: Aiming for Title Number Four…

…which would elude them that year, but next year—2020—they did capture that fourth championship.

At Northwestern, Earl Woudstra and current coach Kris Korver are the winningest coaches in Northwestern history.

AUDIO: [NAIA Tournament game]

They have six national titles between them. Both were mentored by Douma.

AUDIO: [Douma and his son laughing]

But Douma, who retired a few years ago, is thankful for more than just their successes.

DOUMA: You see the investment in it later in life beyond basketball, and they still come and refer to you as friend and you’re privileged to call them friend.

Reporting for the World Journalism Institute, I’m Josephine Lee.

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