As a Pied Piper of basketball, Doug Schakel is so convincing to his followers that he hasn’t been able to break away from the game.
After an 18-year run coaching men’s basketball at Mesa State College — where he went 304-195 before retiring in 1996 — Schakel is back coaching. Only this time, the Pied Piper is an assistant coach for the women’s team at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kan.
Schakel, 68, is finding that he likes coaching women’s hoops in his second go-round.
“The women play a purer game of basketball,” said Schakel, who recently completed his first season at Johnson County. “It’s all fundamentals, and I love a more fundamental game. I’ve never been impressed with things such as dunks. It’s still only two points.”
Schakel served as Mesa State’s athletic director after resigning as men’s coach, and he stayed on the floor as an assistant coach for the women’s team for two more years. After resigning that post, he thought his coaching days were over.
However, he relented and followed his passion when the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs was in need of an interim coach to finish the 2005-06 season. He coached the Mountain Lions men’s team for the last third of that season.
“My tank was empty after that,” Schakel said.
But after a 30-5 season with the Johnson County women’s team this past winter, he’s still hearing the melodic sounds of the pied pipe. He’s raring to go for at least one more year.
Schakel first became known as the Pied Piper of basketball on Colorado’s Western Slope when he took the Mesa State coaching job in 1978. In those days, high school basketball on the Western Slope — except for Glenwood Springs, where coach Bob Chavez held court — usually gave way to track and field and baseball without much of a whimper.
Wrestling was the sport of choice on the Western Slope at that time, leaving basketball pretty much a stepchild.
“When I got to Grand Junction, there were no youth basketball programs outside of the basketball season,” Schakel said. “Mesa didn’t have anything to offer. We started a summer skills camp and a team camp. We also started the Mesa College Junior Basketball Association for both boys and girls.”
At its peak, the Mesa summer program attracted 3,700 youths over an eight-week span.
“Basketball skills are acquired,” Schakel said. “It’s no different than learning how to play a musical instrument. We provided an opportunity in basketball that wasn’t there before.”
There were results.
In 1983, Fruita Monument High School — with Schakel’s son, Matt, a starting guard — came to Denver and won the Class AA state championship.
Before arriving at Mesa, Schakel was well-traveled in coaching basketball. He first made his mark as the hoops coach at Crowley County in Ordway, east of Colorado Springs.
“I had visited Estes Park when I was in college and fell in love with the mountains,” Schakel said. “Ordway wasn’t in the mountains, but if I stood on top of the press box at the football stadium, I could see them.”
Schakel coached the Chargers for three seasons, taking them to the state tournament all three years. In 1968, they won the Class A state championship, finishing at 24-0.
Crowley County’s opponent in the state championship game was Chavez and Glenwood Springs.
When he applied for the Mesa College job, Chavez’s son, Robert, was a member of the basketball team and the coaching search committee.
“When I saw who was on the search committee, I didn’t think I had a chance for the job,” Schakel said.
Schakel’s dream was to coach college basketball. On the way to Mesa, he had coaching stops in Iowa, Nebraska and then back to Wasson High School in Colorado Springs in 1974-75, as well as the University of Utah as an assistant coach.
“I think the good players of today are as good as those in the past,” Schakel said. “But the average players of today aren’t as good as the average players of 20 years ago. I could make an average player into a good defensive player in two weeks, but it takes a long time to develop offensive skills.”
Once a coach, Schakel always will be a coach.
Doug Schakel bio
Born: March 1, 1942, in Pella, Iowa
High school: Pella Community
College: Central Iowa College
Family: Wife Sharon, son Matt, daughter Kristin
Hobbies: Golf, fishing
Wish list: Attending the Masters in Augusta, Ga.
