By Pete Van Mullem
(December 30, 2025)

Team USA scorched the nets for a 126 to 52 win over Croatia in the quarterfinals and beat Canada 120 to 71 to advance to the finals of the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup in Argentina. Jalen Green, the future number two overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft, led the Junior National team against Croatia with 27 points. In the semi-final win over Canada, Green and his teammate, Scottie Barnes, the future 2022 NBA rookie of the year, both tallied 25 points. Undefeated France awaited Team USA and their coach, Don Showalter, in the final. Coach Showalter owned a 61-0 record and nine gold medals leading the Junior National Team. The gold medal contest would be his last game in this role, as Showalter would step aside to let other coaches have the opportunity to coach the USA Team.

In the final, the U17 squad led 23-14 at the end of the first quarter. Showalter needed three more quarters to cement his legacy with Team USA, unscathed. Yet, if Showalter never stepped into another gym, his legacy is complete. Jay Bilas, who observes and interacts with coaches in his role as a college basketball analyst for ESPN, considers Don one of the great coaches in the game. “He is one of the examples I use that great coaches aren’t subject to levels,” said Bilas. “It’s not that the NBA has the best coaches or that college has the best coaches. Don’s been one of the iconic high school coaches in the game for years and has such a command of the game.”

The U17 team had command of the gold medal game, forcing turnovers and outrebounding France to take a 20-point lead into halftime. They extended their lead in the third period and into the fourth, ultimately winning 95-52. Coach Show captured his tenth gold medal and finished 62-0 as the U16-U17 Junior National Team coach. The fact that he was in this position, a high school coach from rural Iowa, coaching the best young talent in the world, seemed surreal.

Showalter grew up on a farm in southeastern Iowa. He garnered 601 victories in 42 seasons as a boys’ basketball coach. A career that spans four high schools in Iowa, including 28 seasons at Mid-Prairie High, a few miles from the family farm. Iowa is home. Yet, anywhere on a basketball floor, Showalter feels comfortable. He stayed in the game, transitioning his love for playing basketball into a passion for teaching others how to play it all over the world. The book Cornfields to Gold Medals documents Showalter’s life and coaching career.

Don Showalter pursued his passion to coach and became a coach for everyone, from youth to elite athletes. Today, his voice resonates with those involved in the game of basketball. “He has a preferable personality and style, and it translates to young people, it translates to his peers, it translates to younger coaches,” said Jay Demings, currently the 3X3 National Teams Director for USA Basketball. “But it also translates to coaches and celebrity-level basketball coaches and general managers because when they want to know something about a player and they want the truth, they go to Don and they get the truth.”

How did Showalter stay in the game by pursuing his passion to coach? If you have the passion to coach, teaching others how to play the game you love, like Showalter, you can build a career by developing athletes, building support systems, and applying winning habits –the three ways to stay in the game.

Develop Athletes

Coaches who stay in the game know how to teach the fundamentals, the physical movements and mechanics required to play the game. They also teach athletes how to play the game, the strategies of working with their teammates on offense and defense, and how to make decisions individually and as a team. Your ability to teach will determine how your athletes develop, which sets the stage for their performance and your team’s performance. And how your athletes and your team perform is how you and others will measure your ability as a coach.

Athletes want a coach who can help them reach their goals. When athletes recognize they are getting better individually and as a team under your guidance, they will reciprocate by trusting your instruction and respecting you as a coach. Your influence over them grows. So does your reputation to develop athletes. The ability to teach becomes part of your coaching identity – how people think about you as a coach.

Showalter sorted through the mail on the counter. He discarded the coupon mailers and stacked a few bills. Then he noticed an envelope displaying the letters UCLA in the top left corner. Ignoring the letter opener next to the coupons, Showalter tore into the envelope. He lifted out a single piece of paper and laid the torn envelope on the counter. He unfolded the paper slowly, tempering his excitement and potential disappointment at the same time.

For basketball coaches in the 1970s into the early ‘80s, John Wooden stood alone. The retired head men’s basketball coach of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) represented the pinnacle of success on the court, winning 10 NCAA National Championships, including seven in a row from 1967 to 1973. Wooden started his career as a high school teacher and coach. At UCLA, he considered himself a teacher with the basketball court serving as his classroom. Coach Wooden operated an instructional summer basketball camp from 1971 to 1988 through an organization called SportsWorld.

A college senior with aspirations to coach, Showalter penned a letter to Coach Wooden in 1974, hoping for an opportunity to work at Wooden’s camp. When he did not hear back the first year, he tried again in 1975, in ’76, and once again in ’77. His persistence paid off; the letter in his hand confirmed his role working at the camp for the upcoming summer of 1977.

As an athlete, if you want to get better at executing a skill (e.g., passing a soccer ball), you practice the skill. This also applies to coaching. As a coach, you can practice teaching athletes how to correctly execute the fundamentals required to play the game. And you can practice teaching athletes how to play the game and make decisions. Teaching is a learnable skill – you control how good a teacher you want to be. For Coach Showalter, he found the best place to practice teaching basketball was working at instructional summer basketball camps.

The growth in summer instructional basketball camps across the United States increased each summer from the early 1960s into the mid 1970s. Although there is no official documentation of the number of summer basketball camps in operation in the 1970s, some of the more prominent camps included the Five-Star Basketball Camp in Honesdale, Pennsylvania; the Snow Valley Basketball School in Santa Barbara, California; and the John Wooden Basketball Fundamentals Camp in Thousand Oaks, California.

During this time period, summer basketball camps served as a training ground for basketball coaches, with national, regional, or local level camps helping coaches learn how to better teach the game. For the coach working a camp outside their home state or a thousand miles away, the experience can led to new connections in the sport; a network of like-minded individuals coaching the game of basketball in different corners of the United States and the world; and this network becomes the source of information, where a coach goes to have conversations about basketball, coaching jobs, and life.

Don Showalter looked over his notes one more time. In a few minutes, he would lead his first instructional clinic at the Snow Valley Basketball School. He had prepared, but he felt nervous. Showalter knew the eyes of Herb Livsey would watch his every move: how he spoke to the kids, how he taught the skill, and how he led them through the drill. Livsey’s observational approach bordered on intense to a little overbearing. He sat close enough to hear, often in a metal folding chair; his body hunched over a yellow legal pad, scribbling notes. His eyes penetrated the action before him; he never lost focus, and he never said a word. Livsey evaluated the coach on their ability to teach the game of basketball, and he did this by observing the youth being taught: their body language, the energy they displayed, and how they responded to instruction from the coach. Herb Livsey has spent a life in hoops. He began his career as a high school teacher and coach. Today, Livsey is an NBA scout with the Denver Nuggets. For 41 years (1961-2001), he operated one of the top instructional basketball camps in the United States: the Snow Valley Basketball School.

The instructional clinics separate Snow Valley from other basketball camps; structured sessions focused on teaching fundamental basketball skills. And Showalter, for the first time, in front of Livsey, was running an instructional clinic as the lead clinician. Showalter explained, while demonstrating, how to execute a screen and roll, dissecting each component: the proper footwork, body balance, a reverse pivot, and opening to the ball. Camp coaches stood alongside him, ready to assist. Showalter finished the demonstration and then sent the athletes and coaches to separate baskets to practice the screen and roll in small groups. After a few minutes, Showalter calls all the athletes back together to provide additional instruction on creating a correct angle when rolling out of the screen. The athletes returned to their baskets with camp coaches for more practice.

When Showalter finished his instructional clinic, he glanced towards Livsey, looking for some type of feedback. Herb offered no response. While Livsey’s assessment of Don’s ability to lead a clinic may have been clear to Herb, he did not communicate this to Showalter; it was not until Showalter started picking up more instructional clinics that he knew he must be meeting Livsey’s expectations. “He was always asking questions,” stated Livsey. “I could tell he loved the game, he loved teaching it, and he loved seeing those kids getting better.”

Snow Valley helped Showalter become a better teacher of the game. His passion to coach drove his quest for knowledge throughout his career. He enjoyed being in live settings with coaches and talking with them. He went where coaches shared knowledge and where other coaches were going. He attended basketball clinics around the United States, in the Midwest, and Southeastern Iowa. He observed collegiate practices in his backyard at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, and professional team practices like the Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics.

How can you get better at teaching your sport? What opportunities do you have to connect with other coaches to help you become a better teacher? Is there a place you can go where you can practice teaching and get feedback from your coaching peers?  Pursue your passion to coach. Find your place and peers; go where the coaches go for your sport to get better at teaching the game.

Coach Showalter stayed in the game because he could teach it – his athletes and teams improved. Yet, his longevity as a coach goes beyond his ability to develop his athletes. He embraced his role as someone who can influence those he leads by teaching life skills, offering guidance, and serving as a role model. Showalter values relationships. And by building relationships with others, he established a support system over his career to stay in the game.

Build Support Systems

Coaches face numerous challenges that limit their tenure as a coach, including burnout, pressure to win, and a lack of opportunity for advancement. Overcoming these challenges and achieving longevity in coaching requires that the coach build support systems. Working with an established support network can provide the coach with personal and professional assistance that enhances resilience, well-being, and their overall effectiveness in teaching and leading a sport team and program.

Developing a foundation of support is about building relationships with the people involved and impacted by your team and program. For example, the community, which includes the fans that come to cheer the team and the parents of the athletes you coach; alumni, former athletes who remain loyal to the program; donors, those who provide financial support; people in your school or the organization you work for, your supervisors, co-workers, and the support staff; the athletes you work with each day and athletes you may work with in the future; coaching peers, the coaches in your professional network; and personally, the people in your family.

Community

Frost coated the windshield of Don Showalter’s Pontiac Grand Prix. The dry, cold, wind-chilled air presented a temperature in the low teens. Already running late, Don scraped away the ice to create an opening the size of a basketball on the driver’s side window, wide enough to see the road ahead, not much else. He slid behind the wheel, only his face visible in the windshield like he was at a carnival posing with a life-size cut-out. He shifted the Grand Prix into ‘drive’ and guided the Pontiac over the snow-packed road toward the Keystone Bridge. The Keystone Bridge, built in 1889, is a historic 346-foot-long limestone structure that spans the Turkey River, connecting the east and west ends of Elkader, Iowa.

Ken Pittman steered his vehicle towards the Keystone Bridge. He, too, scraped the ice from his windshield like Showalter, just enough to see the road ahead. Both Pittman and Showalter reached the bridge at the same time. Snow piled along the bridge’s rails forced both cars to hug the center of the bridge. With their limited vision and compromised space, the two vehicles were on a path for a head-on collision. “All I could see were Showalter’s big eyeballs staring at me,” recalls Pittman.

They avoided the collision, but it gave them something to talk about at the next Sunday service. For Don and his spouse, Vicky, their time in Elkader, Iowa, was a coming-of-age period in their young adult lives together. Already raising their two-year old daughter, they welcomed their second child, a son, and forged close friendships in the Elkader community; other couples to share in faith and leisure, which included Ken and Karen Pittman, and Lee and Joyce Probert.

Vicky met Ken at the Elkader Community Co-op, where she worked. Ken and his spouse, Karen, radiated southern hospitality. Soft spoken and patient, Ken complimented Karen’s loving, outgoing personality. Through the Co-op and a weekly bible study, the Showalters and the Pittmans formed a friendship. During the season, Ken and Karen often watched the Showalter children, so Vicky could attend Don’s games. And the Showalters enjoyed some of the southern culture the Pittmans brought with them from Mississippi, especially Don. “He sure did like Karen’s sweet tea,” remarked Ken.

At the Community Co-op, both Ken and Vicky reported to Lee Probert, a servant-minded supervisor, strong in his faith. Lee and his spouse, Joyce, recognized the importance of faith in Don and Vicky’s lives and helped them adjust to life in Elkader. “Lee and Joyce became our go-to family up there. We really needed that,” recalls Vicky. “They would call us on a Sunday and have us over for popcorn. We then started attending a bible study in their home.”

The Pittmans also attended the bible study. With a commitment to serve others, the Showalters, Pittmans, and Proberts, along with others in the community, created a church: the Grace Evangelical Free Church, a new local Christian congregation in Elkader. To start a church or to engage in church planting requires a commitment from all involved; each person has a distinct role to play. At the new church, Don taught Sunday school, and both Don and Vicky served on numerous committees.

Starting the Grace Evangelical Free Church helped Don and Vicky establish themselves in the community, demonstrating their commitment to their faith and, for Don, his commitment to basketball. “Don started Tuesday morning’s men’s basketball. It was just a bunch of us guys (many from the church),” recalls Ken. “That carried on for years even after he left. You knew Don loved to coach. You could tell what his mission in life was going to be.”

The mission to coach, guided by his commitment to faith, led Showalter to start a local chapter, through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), for all student-athletes in Elkader. Once or twice a week, the group met, often at the Showalter home. The student-athletes led discussions about the bible and about being a teenager. “We talked about our faith a lot. I enjoyed that part,” recalls Bob Possehl, a top scorer and an all-conference performer for Showalter at Central Elkader High School. “One time, he (Showalter) took us to Marshalltown, a state meeting for FCA, and we did activities there. I enjoyed that time with him, off the court.”

Showalter offered his expertise and time to the Elkader community through basketball and faith, and they supported him during his eight-year tenure at Central Elkader High School. He built a support system. The experience taught him that he could be purposeful in making connections and garnering support when he moved on to new opportunities and new communities. How do you engage with the people impacted by your team and program in your community? While you need to have strong relationships with those in your community, you also need to build connections with those you work with day to day at your school or organization, your supervisors, co-workers, and the support staff.

Co-Workers

Postcards covered the side of a file cabinet in the Mid-Prairie School District office. Pictures from across the United States, places like the Empire State Building in New York City, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Wrigley Field in Chicago; and photos from around the world: a double-decker bus in London, a pyramid in Egypt, and a sunset over the city of Seoul, Korea. “Wherever he was, he would always send us, in the office, a card from where he was,” shared Mark Schneider, the superintendent for the Mid-Prairie School District for 11 years, while Showalter served as the athletic director and head boys’ basketball coach. “He understood the value of the relationships he had with other people and maintaining those relationships.” 

“He was always doing something for you – he was thoughtful that way,” recalls Jaynie Bontrager, who worked for Coach Showalter as his athletic secretary for five years. “You knew he appreciated what you did. He made you feel like what you were doing was good.”

“He was just fun to be around,” recalls Carmela Ulin, who worked in an office next to Don. “He would make his rounds daily (at the school) just to say hi to the kids. He helped the less fortunate children. It might be as simple as giving them rides or giving them shoes. This was not something he made public.”

Showalter understood that positive relationships made up the foundation of his interactions with people. “He gets to know you at a personal level. And it was a genuine interest. He made sure he made those connections first before he asked anything of you,” shared Schneider. “When he was an AD, he would do little things for people. He would give you a t-shirt. If you helped work a game, he might buy you a hot dog. When it was his turn to organize a track meet and get all these people to help, he never had a problem getting anybody to help.”

Showalter navigated the roles of athletic director, coach, and teacher by being approachable and available. This helped him connect with students and his athletes. “It was not uncommon to walk by his office and see a student visiting with him and not just basketball players,” remembers Steve Hollan, a longtime teacher and coach at Mid-Prairie. “Students and players were constantly stopping in before school, after school, and between classes.”

Showalter worked at building relationships at Mid-Prairie over 28 seasons. And they supported him when he pursued opportunities outside the school to advance his basketball knowledge and coaching opportunities. “With his connections and his notoriety, he started going overseas a lot, giving basketball clinics,” said Schneider. “It did create some animosity, and I did take some heat for that, but Don was so good. He and I worked out an arrangement that he could go on those trips and be gone for a month or a week at a time, but he had to be reachable. No matter where he was, if there was an issue, he would take care of it. He earned the right to do that. He was still able to accommodate and do his job while doing that. If I felt like Don was taking advantage of it, I would have said something.”

How are you perceived inside your school or organization? Have you established relationships with people you work with daily to build a support system? The support system you build within your organization provides you with the groundwork to build a sustainable program and connect with your athletes.  

Athletes

Over two seasons (1990-92), the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks won 40 games, against 4 losses; energy surrounded the program and basketball continued to be the sport of interest for youth in Wellman-Kalona; juniors and seniors continued to go out for the team, even when their chances of playing were slim to none. “We suited 15 in a game but had 19 on the team. No one dropped out,” remembers Craig Showalter, a starter on the 1991 team and Don Showalter’s cousin. “The last five to 10 players on the team stuck it out – they wanted to be a part of the team.”

The culture created in the basketball program by Showalter attracted them. First, they won a lot of games; second, the community came out to support the team, filling the bleachers at home games; and third, swag: “We had excellent things for our kids, and they knew that,” stated Chris Kern, an assistant coach for 28 seasons with Coach Showalter. “Sometimes you might get a few kids out because they liked that gear.”

Beyond the perks of being on the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks roster, Showalter had a way to make everyone feel like they were a part of the team. “He was a master of getting that closeness and chemistry flowing,” recalls Kern. “We were a very close team,” recalls Craig. “He had the ability to make everyone feel valued and a part of the team.”

Tom Hill’s minutes on the court during that 1991 season occurred when the Golden Hawks had a big lead in the fourth quarter. Yet Hill felt just as much a part of the team. “His expectations for me as the third-string point guard were the same as the first-string point guard,” remembers Hill. “I never felt like I was on a different level when I played basketball. Show would tell me good things, and he was hard on me, too. I never felt he gave up on me. He rode me as hard as the starters.”

Hill, like his coach, grew up on a farm, working for his father. “My Dad was pretty hardcore. I would get off practice and have to go home and do chores and study,” recalls Hill. “My Dad and I weren’t real close going through high school. I can honestly say that Coach Show motivated me in so many ways to be better. I relied on him a ton growing up.”

Showalter built a successful program at Mid-Prairie, a team that won on the court. Yet, he spent time connecting with his athletes. He knew why they were there and who they were. How are you connecting with your athletes? What strategies do you use to get to know your athletes better? The support system you create by building relationships with your athletes will help you stay in the game. So will connecting with your coaching peers.

Peers

In addition to those you lead and those you work with, you need professional support in your role as a coach. Showalter found coaching peers at the Snow Valley Basketball School and other basketball camps he worked each summer; the coaches he met became peers he could connect with during the season for discussion on coaching topics and to commiserate on the daily challenges of high school coaching. And many of the coaches Showalter met became mentors, those he could seek guidance and support from throughout his career. How often do you engage with your coaching peers? Go where the coaches go in your sport to expand your network. Then engage with your coaching peers for insight and guidance. While peers provide strong professional support for coaching longevity, a coach’s family offers personal support to stay in the game.

Personal

Don Showalter backed the gray Dodge Ram conversion van out of the driveway; packed for a family summer adventure with camping gear: a tent, sleeping bags, air mattresses, cooking utensils, and a cooking stove; duffel bags filled with shorts, t-shirts, tank-tops, swimsuits, and ball caps; and summer essentials: sunscreen, bug spray, swimming googles, and beach towels. The Showalter family: Don, his wife, Vicky, and their children traveled en route to California.

Don steered the van west, and they chased the slow, setting summer sun; it escaped them somewhere in the middle of Nebraska, and then appeared behind them early the next morning, over the mountain passes of Colorado. The 1800-mile trip from Wellman, Iowa, to Thousand Oaks, California, included one overnight stop; after 20 hours of driving, the Showalters stopped to relax and enjoy the evening at a roadside motel with a swimming pool. The next morning, they finished the last six hours of the drive, arriving in time for Don to check into the John Wooden Fundamentals Basketball Camp.

For the next two to three weeks, the Showalter kids’ summer vacation looked nothing like the summer vacations their friends back home were taking. They stayed together with other families in the dorms and ate meals in the cafeteria with the campers and the coaching staff. They swam in the campus swimming pool, played games, and visited local tourist attractions.

Showalter pursued his passion to coach while including his family. Vicky made sacrifices to make it work, watching the kids while Don worked camp. But once basketball camp was over, Vicky made sure that the return trip from California offered the commonalities of a traditional summer vacation. “Every year, I would plan our route coming back. We would hit most of the National Parks. One year, we went all the way to Seattle, up the coast. We tried to see most of the western states between Iowa and California,” Vicky recalls. “We camped; that was the only way we could afford it.”

Thus, a more traditional summer family vacation ensued on the trip home: cooking over the camp stove, roasting marshmallows, and tent camping in a KOA campground. Before they left California, they often spent a couple of days at Disneyland, pitching a tent in the campground by the amusement park. Summer family travel extended twice to Alaska and even overseas, to England, Scotland, and Switzerland. For Don and Vicky, including their children, aligned with their family values, and for Don, it provided a balance between family and his passion for coaching. How can you build support from your family? How do you involve your family in your coaching life? To stay in the game, build support systems with the people involved and impacted by your team and program, continue to get better at developing your athletes, and learn how to apply winning habits.

Apply Winning Habits

The phone rang. The loud, landline ring tone startled the coach as she sat at Don Showalter’s desk in the athletic director’s office at Mid-Prairie High, thumbing through a spiral notebook. The notebook contained the schedule for the next month, which teams played, where, and listed the assigned officials for the contest. Showalter let coaches come in and check the notebook.

The phone rang a second time. Then a third.

“Can you pick that up?” Showalter shouted from the hallway, pausing his conversation with a student.

The coach picked up the receiver –  “Hello, Mid-Prairie Athletics.”

“Hello, this is Coach Mike Krzyzewski. I am trying to reach Don Showalter.”

The Mid-Prairie coach paused. Then, thinking it was a joke, stated into the receiver: “Yeah, sure it is,” and hung up.

Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K) is the NCAA Division I all-time winningest men’s college basketball coach, with 1,202 career wins. He won five national championships, leading the University of Duke Blue Devils from 1980 to 2022. He is a master teacher, and people seek his expertise on leadership and motivational strategies. With Coach K leading the USA Basketball men’s national team and Showalter leading the developmental national team, a phone call from Duke University to Mid-Prairie High School happened on more than one occasion. Showalter embraced the opportunity to learn winning habits from Coach K.

As a coach, some things are out of your control. For example, a basketball coach designs a play to create an open shot for the team’s best shooter. Whether the player makes or misses the shot is out of your control. You will never be able to shoot the shot or make the play for your athletes. However, you can put your athletes in a position to achieve individual success and your team an opportunity to triumph on the scoreboard. You can apply winning habits.

Winning habits applied by the coach start with establishing a culture based on clear standards, followed by being consistent in holding athletes and all those involved in the program accountable to the standards. You can help your athletes apply winning habits on the field of play through their effort, resilience, competitiveness, and decision-making. To learn winning habits, observe how other coaches run a practice, how they teach teamwork, how they teach gaining an edge on offense and defense, and how they teach athletes to make decisions, individually and together as a team.

Showalter sketched out the action before him, drawing arrows representing the movement of players and dotted lines detailing the path of the ball. Sitting ten rows off the court above the baseline, Showalter occupied Section C in Carver Hawkeye Arena at the University of Iowa all to himself. Dr. Tom Davis, the head men’s basketball coach for the Hawkeyes, orchestrated the action on the court.

Dr. Tom Davis led the Hawkeyes from 1986 to 1999. He earned the title “Dr. Tom” after completing doctoral work at the University of Maryland while serving as an assistant coach, and due to the manner in which he carried himself as a coach, he looked like a professor. Dr. Tom is the second all-time winningest coach in Hawkeye basketball history with 270 victories. He has 598 career wins in 32 seasons as a head collegiate basketball coach.

On this Saturday morning in early October, Showalter watched a master teacher help his players execute the team’s offense better and make better decisions as a team. Showalter did not have to go far to learn winning habits from Dr. Tom, as Iowa City is only 28 miles from his home in Wellman, Iowa. Who are the coaches you can learn from near you? What practice sessions can you attend to observe coaches working with their athletes?

While there is no universal blueprint for applying winning habits as a coach and getting your athletes to display them on the field of play, proven methods are being implemented by coaches in all sports and in all settings, from youth to the pros. Coach Showalter sought the advice of master coaches, coaches that also pursued their passion to coach; teachers of the game, who found success developing athletes and building relationships, and who had found competitive success – winning basketball games.

Roy Williams, the University of Kansas Men’s Basketball Coach, was among the college basketball coaches in attendance at the 1998 USA Basketball Youth Development Festival. Don Showalter coached the North team, which included Williams’ prize recruit, rising senior Kirk Hinrich. Hinrich became a three-year starter for the Jayhawks, leading them to back-to-back Final Fours in 2002 and 2003, before spending 13 seasons in the NBA.

Roy Williams won 418 games at the University of Kansas before leaving for the University of North Carolina, where he finished his career with 903 career wins and three national titles. Showalter met Coach Williams when he worked the Jayhawk summer basketball camps. During a break between games, Showalter noticed Coach Williams sitting courtside next to an unoccupied seat. He approached the Jayhawk coach. The two coaches exchanged pleasantries and a few words about Hinrich.

“Coach, I really enjoyed how your teams ran the secondary break this past season,” stated Showalter. Coach Williams briefly shared his thoughts on the Jayhawks’ secondary break, and a short conversation ensued. Showalter knew the best way to converse with a coach with the notoriety of Coach Williams was to show a genuine interest in learning about the way they coached. He came prepared, knowing what to ask Coach Williams before he approached him.

Back in Wellman, a week after the Festival, Showalter wrote Coach Williams a note, stating it was nice to see him, reiterating a couple keys points about their conversation. For Showalter, his approach to speaking and interacting with coaches led to future conversations about the technical aspects of basketball, but also how to lead and work with athletes – winning habits that may or may not be visible when observing a practice session, like motivational strategies, team standards, or attention to detail.

How can you connect with coaches to learn more about their winning habits? How can you lean on your coaching peers to develop new connections with coaches who have stayed in the game? Can you build a mentor-mentee relationship with a coach that exemplifies winning habits for ongoing guidance and connections in your sport? For Coach Showalter, Coach Wooden became that mentor.

Coach Wooden greeted the Showalter family, welcoming them into his condominium in Encino, California. He led them to his den, a room adjacent to the main living space, a living monument to a living legend. Wooden’s den featured memorabilia from a life in leadership: framed letters of recognition and a Presidential Medal of Freedom, given by President George W. Bush; and mementos from championship success: team pictures and plaques; and memories in photos of family, coaches, and players. This was not the first time the Showalter family visited Wooden’s den.

Coach Wooden, at 90 years of age, no longer operated his summer basketball camp, which ended in 1992. But on August 4, 2001, in Van Nuys, California, coaches who worked the camp over the years converged for a John Wooden Fundamentals Basketball Camp reunion. The Showalters engaged in small talk with the 90-year-old Hall of Fame coach. Wooden deflected any questions about himself and spent most of the time asking questions of the Showalter children. Wooden had a quiet charisma about him; he oozed greatness beyond the significance he had achieved, a greatness displayed in how he interacted with others, thousands of players, and coaches over the years. Through his basketball camp, Wooden became a mentor to the next generation of coaches, including Don Showalter.

Wooden’s and Showalter’s love for teaching the game of basketball and those they taught fueled their relationship. Wooden showed Don he could stay true to himself as a person and still find success as a coach. “Coach Wooden tapped into the fact that love is the greatest motivator of all. If you get someone to understand that you really care about them, they will run through a wall for you, and I think that Don understands that and taps into that,” shared Steve Middleton, who worked with Showalter at the Snow Valley Basketball School as a coach and served as an administrator of the camp for over 30 years. “He (Don) took that (an understanding of love), along with the knowledge of fundamental teaching. Then he married that with a personality that a lot of people like and trust. The combination of those two things meant that Don was given opportunities, and he certainly took them, and that is how he got to be where he is.” 

Coach Showalter pursued his passion to coach, rising from a rural high school coach to coaching future NBA stars. Showalter stayed in the game because he became a master teacher, acquiring the skills to develop athletes at the elementary school and elite level; he established support systems by building relationships with athletes, colleagues, supervisors, coaching peers, and with his family; and he learned winning habits by studying and connecting with master coaches, who have proven they know how to apply winning habits.  

How are You Preparing to Stay in the Game?

Pursue your passion to coach and build a career to stay in the game. Focus on what you can control. Turn inward to seek longevity. Whether you are new to coaching or have coached for multiple seasons, make time to reflect on your foundation for longevity in coaching – your passion, perseverance, and resilience. Then work to get better at developing your athletes, building support systems, and applying winning habits.

Author’s Note

Scenes and quotations used in the article are excerpts from the book “Cornfields to Gold Medals” or content cut before the book’s publication.

Editors’ Note

Pursuing Your Passion to Coach is a two-article series and a part of The Stay in the Game Project. The Stay in the Game Project examines how coaches achieve longevity and what support they need along the way. Discover strategies to develop athletes, build a support system, and learn winning habits.

Read more from the Stay in the Game Project:

• Pursuing Your Passion to Coach (Part I): Building a Foundation to Stay in the Game
• Pursuing Your Passion to Coach (Part II): Three Ways to Stay in the Game
• The Four Essentials to Serve as a Coach
• Embrace the Future of Skill Development: Adapt Your Role as a Coach

Follow the Stay in the Game Project: https://stayinthegameproject.substack.com/

Photo Credits

All photos are courtesy of Vicky Showalter and USA Basketball.

Sources Used

• Elkader-Iowa.com
• HawkeyeSports.com
• Hayes, G. (2015). Camp with Coach Wooden: Shoes and socks, the Pyramid, and “a little chap”. Wooden Book.
• NCAA.org
• O’Connor, I. (2022). Coach K: The rise and reign of Mike Krzyzewski. Mariner Books.
• TeamUSA.org
• The Iowa City Press Citizen
• Van Mullem, P. & Showalter, D.(2023). Cornfields to gold medals: Coaching championship basketball, lessons in leadership, and a rise from humble beginnings. Triumph Books.
• Van Mullem, P. (2023, March 14). I raised my hand: Slaymaker reflects on a 64-year career teaching basketball. Sport Coach America. https://sportcoachamerica.org/i-raised-my-hand-slaymaker-reflects-on-64-year-career-in-basketball/
• Van Mullem, P. (2024, May 30). The four essentials to serve as a coach. Sport Coach America. https://sportcoachamerica.org/the-four-essentials-to-serve-as-a-coach
• Van Mullem, P. (2025, December 26). Pursuing your passion to coach: Building a foundation to stay in the game. Sport Coach America. https://sportcoachamerica.org/pursuing-your-passion-to-coach-building-a-foundation-to-stay-in-the-game/
• USAB.com