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 two Michigan coaches to win both girls and boys MHSAA Finals championships (Paul Cook of Lansing Eastern was the other), 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.)
Rebuilt Culture Driving Success as Roelens Steps Away at Port Huron Northern
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 13, 2024
The spark that helped ignite the past decade of success for the Port Huron Northern football program came early in Larry Roelens’ tenure, and, ironically, during the one full season that the Huskies finished with a losing record under him.
Northern, which had just three winning seasons over the previous 15, started 0-2 in 2015, but rattled off four straight wins under its first-year coach, who was noticing that things were changing for the better.
“I’ll be honest, Northern wasn’t in a very good state when I got the job,” Roelens said. “But for me and the guys that stayed around (on the coaching staff), I could never have done what I did without the guys on my staff. They’re like family to me and to my kids; they call them uncles. We went in with the mindset that we have to change the culture.
“We started 0-2 that first season, but then won four in a row. We lost three tough games to end the season, but that kind of changed the culture. We built on that, and the next year went 6-3.”
That next season was the beginning of the most successful stretch of football during the playoff era for the Huskies, as they made the postseason nine straight years, tripling the number of playoff appearances they had made during the 40 years prior.
The ninth postseason appearance was the last for Roelens, however, as he stepped down as Northern coach following a Division 2 District Semifinal loss to Warren De La Salle Collegiate on Oct. 24. He has accepted a position as assistant principal at the school, and administrators in the district are not allowed to hold head coaching positions.
“Honestly, that was a very hard decision to make for me,” Roelens said. “I went into education to be a coach and a teacher. But it was very much based on a family decision. I’ll be able to spend more time with my kids (Audrey, 5, and Brady, 3), and coach their teams.”
Roelens leaves the Northern program in as good a place as it’s been, perhaps ever.
He was 69-30 over his 10 seasons, with the nine playoff appearances and four Macomb Area Conference Blue titles. Northern also won four postseason games under Roelens.
Before he took over the program, Northern had three playoff appearances in program history – 1986, 1999 and 2010 – and a single postseason victory.
The program had not won eight games in a season since 1987, but did so four times under Roelens, including with a 10-2 mark in 2018, which matched the school record for wins.
“It’s pretty crazy,” said Northern senior quarterback Ty Fletcher. “He kind of morphed the program to what it is today. … I feel like, when he started getting into the playoffs and they had all those playoff appearances in (consecutive) seasons, that started that trend of winning football. Then we ended up staying there and being a competitive team.”
As it so often does, the success built an excitement around the program that found its way through the youth levels.
“We were all coming up through the youth teams, and we all stayed together on the freshman level, and we always talked about how everyone wants to play for Northern,” Fletcher said. “About how cool it was to play under the lights there.”
A lot of that excitement at the youth level has also been buoyed by a string of Division I college talent that has come through the program during Roelens’ time, led by Braiden McGregor. The defensive end was among the top recruits in the country in 2020 and played a key role on Michigan’s national title team. He is now playing for the New York Jets.
He wasn’t a one-off for the Huskies in terms of DI talent, as Luke Fletcher is now in his second year at Eastern Michigan, and current juniors Amir Morelan and Lincoln Watkins have both received Power 4 offers.
“Braiden’s class, we had a few kids that went on to play college football,” Roelens said. “That right there was proof that, even in a small town, they’re going to find you if you’re good enough. I think that pushed a lot of kids, because they started to understand that if you’re good enough and you work hard enough, they’ll find you.”
Roelens even being at Northern in the first place was a bit of a surprise for those in the area, as he was a star athlete at cross-town rival Port Huron High. Roelens played quarterback at Port Huron and went on to play baseball at Saginaw Valley State after graduating in 2004.
He student taught at Northern during the 2009-10 school year, but even then he helped out with the Port Huron football program.
His journey with Northern athletics began with assistant roles in the basketball and baseball programs later that year, and in the fall of 2010 he became the JV head football coach.
For four of the next five seasons he was on the Huskies staff, before taking over the program prior to the 2015 season.
With his new position, he’ll remain in the school and around the coaches and players in the program. And, while the thrill of coaching was something Roelens cherished, those relationships are what he’s valued most.
“I’ve been very blessed with the people I’ve had around me throughout those 10 years,” he said. “The support I had from Northern, the support of the parents, the Northern community, it’s been a blessing. My family, my wife and kids, they’ve all been tremendous.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Port Huron Northern football coach Larry Roelens, middle, is surrounded by his kneeling players during a postgame huddle. (Middle) Roelens holds daughter Audrey, and wife Kelsey holds son Brady on the field. (Below) Roelens hoists the Brick Fowler Trophy after a Northern win over rival Port Huron. (Photos courtesy of the Roelens family.)