 In only his
second year as Decorah High School’s head boys basketball
coach, David Brown has made a vast improvement from last
year. Being finally able to successfully run the
system he had in mind two years ago has helped greatly.
“I have been prepping the kids for learning to make reads in
our motion based on what the defense does. It has been
a long process and I knew patience would be the key for it
to ever take hold. Now that it is starting to flow for
the guys, it’s fun to watch them. As a unit, they are
making connections with each other and creating options to
score by being on the same page, which is really impressive
and exciting to watch.”
On the defensive side, Coach Brown likes to play aggressive,
in-your-face defense. He favors half court man to man,
but in transition defense, he says that’s where his team has
struggled. “Defensively, we like to get back and guard
our basket. I think that our team is one of the best
in the state at guarding people man to man in the half court
and we take pride in protecting our hoop. What we’ve
struggled with a little this year is offensive turnovers
that lead to baskets because of our defensive transition.
We’ve really focused on that the past few weeks and will see
how much we’ve improved in the coming weeks, as we play the
conference leaders and head into the district tournament.”
Coach David Brown’s coaching
roots go back to 1997, when he started as a student
assistant coach at Augustana College in Rock Island,
Illinois. From 1998 to 2001 he was a Graduate
Assistant at Wayne State College (NCAA Division II) for two
years and a top assistant coach at Wayne State for one year.
At Wayne State he worked under head coach Greg McDermott,
who is now the head coach at Iowa State. And finally,
from 2001 to 2006, he was the 7th grade boys and 8th grade
girls basketball coach in Fremont, Nebraska as well as
middle school athletic director.
Coach Brown wants to teach
his players to experience success somewhat like he did in
his early career. “I had a successful high school
career and was part of a great college basketball program at
Wayne State under Greg McDermott. These times of my
life were special for me because the teams and their success
brought community members, families and athletes together in
a way that we all shared in the experience of a winning
team. My goal is to create a program that can allow
for the young athletes I have here in Decorah to experience
success so that they can have those memories.”
One of the keys of trying to
coach a winning program is the desire and love for the game.
That is something David Brown doesn’t lack. “I enjoy
getting to know the kids and preparing them to play at a
higher level than they currently do. It’s a daily
process to keep them focused on getting better at the little
things that will eventually allow them to succeed in
statewide basketball games but it's working. As they
get more skilled, it makes the things we can do more
exciting and it makes our team more competitive.”
Coach Brown says he has a
unique relationship respect to the player/coach role.
“It’s something I have worked on since my first day in town.
Off the floor we can give each other a hard time about
pretty much anything, but when we take the floor for
practice or games we are all on the same page with the
effort and focus we need to achieve the goals we have set
for ourselves.” The focus seems like another element
that has brought this team together. At the same time,
not over exaggerate on something that wasn’t executed the
correct way. “We don’t have down periods in practice
or games and I don’t have to spend a lot of time trying to
motivate them to go hard --- that’s a nice thing and it
allows us to take a break in practice, throw a couple of
jokes out and then get back to working.”
 |
|
The 2007-2008 Decorah High
School boys basketball team |
This season stand out star
Brett Van Sloten has been no question one of the leaders in
the state for points per game and rebounds per game.
However, it isn’t just his unbelievable numbers he puts in
day in and out. “Brett has a lot of athletic ability
alongside his 6’7” frame, but that’s not what makes him
successful. He is a very competitive kid and wants to
be a part of successful teams in everything he does – it’s
that drive that pushes him to do whatever he needs to help
us win. The thing Brett does consistently which
improves our team the most is that he shows up every day and
works as hard as he can. It’s a contagious thing and
it’s a measure of his team mentality. The papers and
the stats don’t say anything about how the day after a game
when he puts up high numbers, he will show up to practice
and push himself and everyone around him to get better.”
Van Sloten may be the leader
but there are a lot of new faces having the same thing in
mind as Brett. Newcomers like Steve Drost and Robbie
Jewell have played an important role and have seen more
playing time as sophomores. However, it’s the seniors
that the coach has mentioned who seem to be under the radar.
“I think when you’re on a team with a player who is putting
up the numbers like Brett does everyone, aside from that
high numbers guy, can feel unsung from time to time.
Every guy in my rotation does things that make them special
for us – Bryan Lowery is the best anticipator on defense
which creates a lot of opportunities for our offense, JJ
Svestka brings a nice high post game for us and he can go
inside to bang when we need him to.”
On the guard’s side, Coach
Brown explains some players who feed it around.
“Jackson Stalberger is the best passer we have in the
program who thrives on making an assist over a bucket.
Adam Bohr brings athleticism and quickness on the floor and
is a sneaky offensive threat. Whitley Teslow brings a
strong body and understands our defensive scheme as well as
anyone, Robbie Jewell is on the brink of becoming a great
point guard with solid ball handling and vision to see
things ahead of time, Steve Drost has emerged as an
offensive threat from the 3 point line and Chris Wanless is
quickly becoming a great all around player. We also
have several guys from our sophomore team who spend a lot of
time in practice learning our opponent's plays so that we
can prepare for games. Their job is an unnoticed key
to us being prepared to play.”
Basketball is not the only
thing in David Brown’s life. His first two years at
Decorah seemed to go pretty smoothly. “On the personal
side, my wife (Katie) and I really like this community and
have developed some really solid friendships with people.
We have two kids with Noah (2 ½ years old) and Josie (6
months) and feel this is a great place to raise a family.
Decorah is such an unique community and we feel fortunate to
have gotten the opportunity to experience it.”
Coach Brown would like to
contend for the state tournament every year, which is
something Decorah boys basketball really doesn’t have a
history of success in doing. However, he is determined
to change that. “My goal is to always have my team
playing its best game of basketball the last game of the
season. If we can do that I think we will find
ourselves in a good position. On any given year that
last game can be at the state tournament. Boys
basketball in this town has never made it to the final 8 (to
my knowledge) and I strive to make Decorah Basketball a
yearly contender for that level of competition." |
