The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Brooks puts focus on lessons
By Dave Merchant, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 17, 2008
Coaching is more than just teaching kids how to play basketball.
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For Ypsilanti High boys' varsity basketball Coach Steve Brooks it is all about getting them ready for life and perhaps ready to play basketball in college.
Brooks is a 53-year-old retired automotive worker who has been coaching varsity basketball for seven years now. He coached Inkster High for three years and has been at Ypsilanti ever since.
His coaching career began when former Inkster Athletic Director David Mann approached him after seeing how well he did with teams over the summer. It took Mann several years to convince Brooks to coach at the high school level.
He said he learned a lot from coaching the kids at Inkster.
"The Inkster kids are tougher mentally and they do not look to back out of much," Brooks said. "When I got to Inkster we had seven kids and no equipment. There were seven kids on each level (freshmen, junior varsity and varsity)."
He said of those seven three went on to graduate college and play in the college level.
In the first season, his team went 6-14 and couldn't compete in the tournament. By the time he left they were 23-2 and lost deep in the playoffs to Detroit DePorres.
"We were not very talented. The kids just worked very hard," he said. "The kids spent a lot of hours in the gym and a lot of hours at open gym."
The number one goal for him is making sure his players finish school and seeing if they get a chance to play at the next level. Getting them exposed to the coaches and the people in college who can help them with a career.
"Kids are hard to read," he said. "Sometimes they put unnecessary pressure on themselves."
Growing up in Flint he was involved in sports and graduated from Flint Northern in 1973. He went on to play sports at Boise State.
In high school he was recruited for sports including being a good wide receiver and what was called a "roller-back."
"The kids I have coached really hold a special place in my heart," he commented. "I have already played so this is their time. I always want them to compete and be proud of themselves. With this game you can make parallels with life."
Brooks was married for 21 years before getting divorced and has four children. His oldest is Ricky (33), Steve Jr. (28), Candice (25) and Ryan is (16). He has been married to his new wife Valencia for two years and she has four kids.
All total Brooks has nine grandchildren. His current wife is a "gym-rat" just like Brooks and they have gone on many a trip to see former players play in college.
In fact, according to Brooks they have put approximately 80 to 90,000 miles on their vehicle in the last several years to see players who he has coached or who his wife knows.
"We like to go to as many games as we can," he said. "We go all over the state and have gone as far away as six hours to see former players compete."
He said it is nice to see how the Mega Conference has really helped to help give players a chance to play in college. Brooks said the league does a nice job of getting players notices and a chance to be recruited.
"(Coach Nate) Oates at Romulus has done a good job of getting players noticed," he said. "I feel good when I see players make it to the next level."
Brooks said that players need to understand how to compete and stop putting the blame when they don't do well on other people.
"They need to take care of business in the classroom as well," he said. "They have to show a way to stay positive and get stay self-motivated to get what they want."
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