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.)
Grant, Carrying Perfect Record Into Final Weeks, Quietly Making Statewide Name
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
February 12, 2026
Don’t expect to see Dan George yelling and screaming and snapping clipboards.
In fact, he rarely raises his voice and doesn’t write down any Xs and Os during timeouts, instead calmly talking to his team, often with his hands in his pockets.
“You can’t teach during a timeout, there’s not enough time,” explained George, 73, a longtime college coach who came out of retirement and is now in his second year as the head coach at Grant.
“I just want to refocus everyone and reinforce what we’ve taught at practice.”
Those lessons from the old ball coach appear to be hitting home with the Tigers, who are one of the few remaining unbeaten teams in the state, with a spotless 19-0 record heading into Friday’s home game against Reed City.
Grant, which has already clinched its second-consecutive Central State Activities Association Red title, still has not cracked the Top 10 in the Division 2 Associated Press state rankings. The Tigers were among the “others receiving votes” in the latest poll.
Zaiden Phillips, a 6-foot-1 senior guard/forward, is the team’s ringleader, averaging 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists per game.
Phillips is one of three skilled long-range shooters for the Tigers, along with fellow senior Blake Rider (averaging 15 points, four rebounds and four assists) and junior Kohen Obenauf (eight points, six rebounds). On Wednesday at Big Rapids, the game began with each of those three hitting a 3-pointer as Grant took a quick 9-0 lead.
When Big Rapids adjusted its defense, Phillips and others started cutting to the basket in the Tigers’ motion offense, where he is a great finisher. If those cuts result in drawing fouls, he’s also a strong free-throw shooter.
Phillips and Rider are Grant’s two senior starters (the other three are juniors) and best friends, and their many years of hanging out and playing basketball together is evident in their on-court chemistry.
Junior Austin Gragg is the team’s “big man” at 6-3, averaging eight points and six rebounds per game. The final member of the Tigers’ starting five is junior point guard Jack Swanson, who also excels at driving to the hoop and puts up nine points and five rebounds per game.
Grant goes seven deep, with senior Owen Chesebro and junior Jacob Gates the main reserves.
The Tigers had only nine varsity players as the season approached, before Phillips and Rider talked their buddy and fellow senior Rory Fish – a baseball standout – into playing hoops, which allows the team to scrimmage 5-on-5 at practice.
Those practices are where George’s old-school coaching techniques and the players’ developing skills come together.
“In practice, I make them throw six passes before they take a shot, and they also can’t dribble,” said George with a smile. “They learn in a hurry to be looking up and seeing the court.”
The defense is in the capable hands of assistant coach Kirk Rider (Blake’s father), who is also Grant’s athletic director. The Tigers play primarily man-to-man, but it often looks like a zone as they clog the lane to prevent penetration and force opponents to beat them from the perimeter.
The formula has been working to perfection, literally, this winter.
Phillips has garnered the most headlines, earning MVP honors at the inaugural Be Legendary Showcase at Grace Christian in early January, then scoring 22 points in a victory over Montague on Jan. 6 to top 1,000 career points.
He has remained hot recently, scoring 27 against Remus Chippewa Hills and 31 at arch-rival Fremont in back-to-back games last weekend. His shot was slightly off on Wednesday at Big Rapids, and he finished with 14 points.
“When his scoring falls below his average, he will fill the stat sheet with assists, rebounds, and steals,” said George. “He understands the importance of doing the little things.”
Phillips said the key to his scoring, and the team’s consistency, is defense. Grant forces an average of 12 turnovers per game.
“We get after it on defense and cause a lot of turnovers, then we get easy buckets off of those,” said Phillips, who has received college basketball offers from Kuyper College and Grace Christian.
Grant, which has not won a District during Phillips and Rider’s high school careers, will be favored to win the Division 2 District tournament at Sparta, as it has beaten all four of the other teams in the bracket.
“It would mean a lot to get a District this year,” said Rider. “We’ve been close, but we just haven’t got it done. We know that we need to step up our defense and rebounding in the tournament.”
This year’s perfect season comes on the heels of last year’s 20-3 finish, giving Coach George a 39-3 record while wearing Grant’s orange colors, a gaudy 93-percent winning percentage.
Winning basketball games is nothing new for George, who made his mark as the head coach at Jordan College and later as an assistant coach at Grace Christian University, where he coached for 17 years and was part of six National Christian College Athletic Association championship teams.
But hang around George for even a few minutes and you’ll see that winning games is low on his list of priorities.
“I always tell my players that I want to accomplish three things,” said George, who noted he is having a blast because his team is so coachable.
“First is to have fun. Second is to help them become better people, better brothers and better husbands. And third is to see them in heaven someday.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Grant’s Zaiden Phillips, far left, interacts with his teammates before a recent game. (Middle) Veteran coach Dan George talks with a game official. (Below) Phillips considers his next move with George looking on from the sideline. (Photos courtesy of the Grant athletic department).