By ADAM FISHER, Chronicle Tribune
acfisher@marion.gannett.com
SIOUX CITY, Iowa - When the Indiana Wesleyan University women's basketball team tips off in tonight's NAIA Division II national championship game, it will complete the team's turnaround from a nobody to one of the premiere programs in the country.
The Wildcats have made the transformation under one man. Coach Steve Brooks, in eight seasons at IWU, has led the school's march to the forefront of the small college basketball landscape. But he has built the women's basketball team into a national power using unconventional methods.
Brooks can match Xs and Os with the best of them, and he certainly is a great motivator. The coach of 25 years, however, has achieved unprecedented success not with his clipboard, but with his compassion and his faith.
Now on the verge of the school's first national title, it is Brooks' passion off the court that has led to his success on it.
"We know he cares about us just like cares about his own family," Wildcats senior Liz Howerth said. "That's not something you're going to get with every coach."
Players say it's the coach's heart that separates him from most who walk the sidelines. The Wildcats say Brooks, who said he's been called intimidating on more than one occasion, is a good coach, but more importantly is a great man.
"He really cares for us other than just as basketball players," fourth-year starter Katrina Spitler said. "That makes it easy for us to respect him on and off the court."
By his admission, Brooks is a competitive person. His desire to win can be seen on the sidelines where, sometimes, Brooks yells so intensely that his face nearly matches his crimson IWU shirt and tie.
Coaching, however, is more than calling plays to the 49-year-old. To Brooks, his duties extend far beyond the hardwood.
"There is so much more to coaching than rolling the ball out and playing games," Brooks said. "To me, it's a ministry. It's a chance to have an impact on kids' lives. I want this to be a whole lot more than just playing basketball. I want it to be a life thing for them."
Senior Stephanie Culp has played for Brooks for four years. She said her coach is constantly relating the sport to life - if players can't make it through a few wind-sprints without quitting, how will they deal with a job once it gets too hard?
"He knows there are things that are ultimately more important than the game of basketball," Culp said. "He does a good job of making us see this isn't our end. We have other purposes in life. He teaches us how to fulfill those the best that we can."
A student of the game, Brooks says he follows no specific coaching doctrine. Instead he's borrowed drills, plays, ideas and philosophies from other coaches he respects.
Though he's read countless books on the subject, Brooks said one of the best bits of coaching advice he's heard came from the movie Miracle. In the movie about the 1980 U.S hockey team winning the Olympic gold medal, Coach Herb Brooks says, "I don't need the best players; I need the right players."
Steve Brooks values chemistry over stats. He'll take a team player over a Hall of Famer any day. He said he's turned away Indiana All-Stars because they didn't fit IWU's spiritual ideals or mesh with the team.
"Coming in as a freshman, I felt totally comfortable with (Brooks) and the program," senior Katy Hinkle said. "It's important you feel you can talk to your coach about more than just basketball, but about everyday stuff and know that he cares for you."
His players value the team concept, Brooks said, which has helped the Wildcats win games. After going 23-41 in his first two seasons with IWU, Brooks has compiled a 184-34 record in the past six years. He is 207-75 overall and became the school's winningest all-time coach Nov. 29, with a 62-48 victory at Spring Arbor, his 182nd win with the Wildcats.
Brooks had never coached women before coming to Indiana Wesleyan, nor did he have any intentions of doing so.
After graduating from Taylor in 1980, Paul Patterson's first year coaching the Trojans, Brooks coached at Liberty Benton High School outside of his hometown of Findlay, Ohio, for three years. He then returned to his alma mater as an assistant for three seasons before coaching the Houghton (N.Y.) College men from 1986 to 1993.
Brooks had another stint as an assistant at Taylor before accepting his first women's coaching job in 1999. With the Wildcats, Brooks found out quickly he had to tailor his coaching style to fit the women, which was a big adjustment.
"There's no way you can sit and say coaching girls is the same as coaching guys," the coach said. "It's a totally, totally different experience. Nothing I did coaching guys got me ready for this. The goal is ultimately the same, but getting to that goal is not the same."
Much of Brooks' coaching style comes from working with Patterson. Brooks only played for Taylor's legendary coach his senior year, but he served for nine years as an assistant under Patterson, who just finished his 28th season with the Trojans.
"Coach Patterson really has had a major impact on my life in so many areas, not just basketball," Brooks said.
One characteristic Brooks' teams share with Patterson's is discipline.
Brooks said his former mentor taught him to value the basketball and not make sure his players don't beat themselves. The team-first idea, while preached by most coaches, was instilled in him by Patterson, Brooks said.
In addition to Patterson, Brooks said he's studied John Wooden and former Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett. He's also good friends with Valparaiso women's coach Keith Freeman, whom Brooks said he talked to twice Friday, the day of the Wildcats' victory over Tabor (Kan.) in the second round of the national tournament.
"(Brooks) takes things, implements them and also makes them his own," Howerth said. "He's a very teachable leader, and that makes him very humble."
Brooks pours over hours of game film and studies every aspect of every opponent. His players say it is his painstaking preparation that makes him so successful.
"He does a lot for our program just getting us ready to play," Spitler said. "Sometimes I think we're overprepared and we know stuff better than the other team."
And his basketball brain never stops working, Howerth said.
"He said he was on his lawnmower this past summer, thinking about the teams we were going to play (in the national tournament) and how we're going to beat them."
Coaching at Taylor, though he was only an assistant, was a dream come true for Brooks. He thought he'd never leave his alma mater. He thought he'd retire a Trojan.
"I would have said that's where it was going to all end, but that's not what God's plan was, and I'm thankful," Brooks said. "I'm thankful to be at Indiana Wesleyan and surrounded by some really neat people."
Brooks' 73.4 percent winning percentage at IWU has drawn some attention. Brooks said he's been offered two or three men's coaching jobs, but he simply has no interest. He enjoys where he's at.
Winning a national title today will be sure to bring more suitors to Brooks' door, possibly from some NCAA schools. But the coach says he isn't drawn to the spotlight of the big stage. He knows where he belongs.
"I really truly believe if God wants me to be somewhere other than Indiana Wesleyan, I'll be somewhere other than Indiana Wesleyan," Brooks said.