Douglass Completes Climb for 1st Championship
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
April 10, 2021
EAST LANSING – Detroit Douglass senior guard Pierre Brooks II sought out his coach, who’s also his father, as the final seconds ticked away.
The pair shared an emotional embrace as they celebrated the program’s first state title with a 47-41 win over Wyoming Tri-unity Christian in Saturday’s Division 4 Final at the Breslin Center.
“This is the best feeling in the world, and especially winning a state championship with your dad,” Brooks II said. “It’s been a long road since my freshman year, and we used to butt heads a lot. Towards the end of my high school career we really started to click a lot more, especially with the pandemic.”
Brooks II, a Michigan State signee, recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds to help lift the Hurricanes to the victory in their first Finals appearance.
He also added five assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
“I've never said this to him personally, but Pierre is the best player I've ever coached,” Douglass coach Pierre Brooks Sr. said. “I've been coaching for 22 years, and the work that he puts in on his own and the dedication he has to get better is amazing. I’ve never had a kid like him, and he just so happens to be my son, so this moment is really special for me.”
Douglass’ 6-foot-10 senior center, Javantae Randle, also played a pivotal role and produced a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
“I didn’t take basketball seriously until I was in 10th grade, so I never thought I would be here,” Randle said. “I never thought we would win a state championship, so I’m going to remember this forever.”
Tri-unity was playing in its ninth Final, but came up short as runner-up for the fifth time.
The Defenders were searching for their first championship since 2011, but were unable to rally in the second half after a strong start.
Tri-unity played well early, and led 19-13 in the second quarter before the Hurricanes mounted a comeback.
Brooks II drained a deep 3-pointer during the closing seconds of the first half to cap a 9-0 run and give the Hurricanes a 22-19 lead at the half.
“That was huge,” Brooks Sr. said. “That gave us a little confidence, and I think it swung the momentum in our favor.”
The Hurricanes took control during the final minute of the third quarter.
Randle converted a three-point play, and then seconds later Brooks II stole the ball and threw down a thunderous one-handed dunk to make it 36-27 heading into the fourth quarter.
The lead swelled to double digits with six minutes remaining, but Tri-unity junior guard Brady Titus wouldn’t let his team go away quietly.
Titus, who had a game-high 21 points, kept the Defenders within striking distance, and teammate Owen Rosendall knocked down a 3-pointer with a minute left to make it 43-40.
“We told the guys it was going to be a game of runs, and Tri-unity always makes runs because they are a well-coached team,” Brooks Sr. said. “We had to keep focused, but Titus is a special player and he played a heck of a game.”
Tri-unity coach Mark Keeler had a game plan to try and contain Brooks II, who averaged more than 30 points per game this season.
“We threw the kitchen sink at him,” Keeler said. “We knew that Randle and Brooks were keys to their team, and we tried to make (Brooks) earn every point he got and I think we did a pretty good job of that for the most part.”
The Defenders shot only 33 percent from the field and 20 percent (5-25) from beyond the 3-point line.
“We had a bad start to the second half, and then we had to play catch-up,” Keeler said. “We didn’t take care of the ball at critical times and that cost us, but we were excited to be here and I’m proud of my team.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Douglass’ Pierre Brooks II (1) reaches high to grab a rebound during Saturday’s Division 4 Final at Breslin Center. (Middle) Douglass’ Damonn Tiggs (3) makes a move toward the lane with Tri-unity’s Brady Titus defending. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Energy, Competition, Moments & More Continue to Spark Unity Coach Soodsma
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
February 15, 2023
HUDSONVILLE – The pep band is blaring the school fight song, the boisterous crowd of a couple of thousand fans has long grown weary waiting for the opening tip-off, and the antsy players are crowded behind the locker room doors ready to spring like a pack of lions.
It's like the scene from the epic basketball movie "Hoosiers" where coach Norman Dale pauses before entering a rollicking and packed Friday night gymnasium to mutter to himself, "Welcome to Indiana basketball."
Scott Soodsma not only grasps the significance of that scene firsthand, it's why after four decades he still loves coaching.
"The fierce competition, the band, your heart pounding like a dog – it's still like it was 30 years ago," said Soodsma, the Hudsonville Unity Christian coach and dean of West Michigan basketball coaches in his 41st season of a run that’s included two states and three schools.
"How does it get any better than that? I'm always telling the kids to live for the moment. You can't replace all that; I still get the shivers. I've had so many moments like that."
Among those highlight moments are being one of just three Michigan coaches to win both girls and boys MHSAA Finals championships (Paul Cook of Lansing Eastern boys/Lansing Catholic girls and Johnny Jones of Lansing Everett were the others), and the moment he claims is easily No. 1 on his all-time personal list: coaching his daughter Amber as part of the 2006 Class B champ. Unity Christian also won a 2019 boys state title. He also won a third Finals championship with the boys at McBain Northern Michigan Christian.
Soodsma, 63, admits there have been myriad changes in coaching basketball since his first season at North Dakota's James Valley Christian High School in 1983 and coming to Unity Christian in 1993. For starters, players are bigger and stronger and are more schooled in the game through AAU and offseason programs. In addition, the influence of parents – for better or worse – has increased dramatically. As for the on-court game, Soodsma unabashedly admits he at first fought the institution of the 3-point shot. And the emphasis on winning has definitely only increased pressure on many coaches.
Soodsma, a member of the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Hall of Fame who ranks ninth on the state's all-time boys wins list with 635, said he's adapted to the times. He wants to win as much as he ever has, still broods for days after losses and still considers himself receptive to the changing Xs and Os aspect of coaching.
But where his booming voice routinely used to resonate loudly into the middle sections of the Unity Christian bleachers, most of those comments now are only audible to fans perched in the first couple rows of the stands. Which is probably a good thing, Soodsma adds sheepishly.
Coaching, he readily contends, is still coaching – and winning still heads the list of priorities. He does add one disclaimer, however, in terms of winning. Whereas it used to be about a young coach building a resume through wins, it's now about what winning can do for today's teenager athlete. An old-school coach? Yeah, probably. But one who has learned much about himself, players and parents after 41 years.
"I've learned to enjoy the kids more; I'm definitely a different kind of person in the ’90s as opposed to now in the 2000s," he said. "I am a stubborn man, and it took a long time (to change). But winning? Oh, yeah. I've never backed down. The winning and losing hasn't changed, and I make no excuses that I still want to win."
Which is then strange, perhaps, that he doesn't list being just one of two coaches to win Finals titles in both girls and boys basketball as the zenith of coaching for 41 seasons. That honor goes to having his daughter, who went on to a stellar career at Dort College, on the state championship club.
"It's not that big of a deal," he said of being on the bench for what likely will never happen again as boys and girls basketball are now in the same season. "To me it's not an accomplishment I would rank (at the top). I'm just being honest. Winning a state title with Amber, and the picture I have of her and me in my office, that's the best."
How well has Soodsma adapted his coaching style over the years? Two people in a position to know offer their own opinions on the topic, including 22-year assistant Bruce Capel and Randy Oosterheert, who with son Rylan are the only father/son combination that Soodsma has coached.
"Scott has always been vocal on the sidelines as a coach. As I sit in the stands and watch as a spectator, same Scott," said Randy Oosterheert who played for Soodsma in 1992-93 and 1993-94 and whose son is a current Unity Christian player. "I will say that my son and I agree, if you do something wrong on the floor, he is the first person to greet you on the sidelines and point out your failure. However, if you do good, he is the first person to greet you on the sidelines and tell you good job.
"The latter is done at a little lower decibel level than the offense, and those with a watchful eye from up in the stands unfortunately (don’t) get to hear the praise, only the punishment. Scott is obviously very competitive, then and now. He expects a lot but gives a lot."
As far as the competitive side, Capel hasn’t seen much of a difference over their two decades together.
"Certainly, coaching is a lot different in how you approach kids from more than 20 years ago," he said. "There's a difference in society and you have to change with it, and he's done that. I don't think it's as much life and death with Scott anymore. But in terms of winning, I haven't seen that go away."
It's a coin flip as for how much longer Soodsma will be directing traffic from the sidelines. He broke into the top 10 among the all-time winningest boys coaches in Michigan history by passing Warren De La Salle's Bernie Holowicki and Ray Lauwers of Morley Stanwood last season. Next on the list is Big Rapids' Kent Ingles (644). When you factor in Soodsma's win total as both boys and girls coach, the 742-and-counting combined wins rank eighth in state history.
He does admit the desire to spend more time with wife Mary, the longtime away scorekeeper for the program, and 11 grandkids scattered from Denver to Seattle to San Diego. Retirement could strike when this season ends in March, or it could still be several Marches away. But when the end comes he anticipates making a contented transition from arguing with officials, coming to an "understanding" with parents and devising new Xs and Os. Soon, he mused, will come time for much-anticipated passions such as hunting, fishing and pickleball.
"For the first time I've contemplated it," he said. "There are a lot of things I'd like to do. I'm not a basketball junkie."
That may be true. But it'll still be tough to surrender those noisy pep bands, bright gymnasium lights and the din of Friday night crowds.
PHOTOS (Top) Hudsonville Unity Christian boys basketball coach Scott Soodsma stands in front of a portion of the school’s trophy case, which he’s helped fill over decades coaching basketball. (Middle) Soodsma and daughter Amber embrace during their team’s 2006 Class B Final victory. (Top photo by Steve Vedder. Middle photo courtesy of the Soodsma family.)