By Treyvon Andres
Student Reporter
Teaching players about basketball and the mechanics of the game is what a good coach does, but a great coach teaches you how to be a man on and off the court. Teaching discipline, respect for your peers, honesty and loyalty.
This is what a head coach brings to his players.
Shawn Dirden, head basketball coach here Northwestern Oklahoma State University, said he enjoys being active with his players and teaching them about life situations beyond the confinements of a basketball court.
“You can’t teach effort” is the quote that he is always telling the team. You have to be willing to work, sacrifice and be able to be coached.
He brings that same mentality every day to practice because he would not be here in the position he is in if he didn’t give 100 percent effort always.
The person who helped build Dirden’s character as a man was his father.
His father showed him that hard work and dedication are essential to having a good life. You have to work for what you want, nothing is going to be handed to you.
Dirden always wanted to do something that involved basketball whether it was being a coach or a player.
He began his college career at with the University of Idaho Vandals located in Moscow, Idaho. There he played a total of 54 games, averaging 11 points, three rebounds and 1.6 assists a game.
While attending U of I, Dirden had a lot of responsibilities that his head coach Joe Cravens at the time was worried about. Dirden took in his little brother Thomas while he was in college, saying that he needed to be under his supervision.
“I forbid Shawn [to watch over Thomas] because Shawn couldn’t run his own life.” Cravens said.
By showing an indisputable work ethic, getting decent grades, giving proper guidance to his brother and generally becoming a better person, he was able to get back on Craven’s good side.
After his time in Vandal, Dirden went to Texas. Following that he was able to play overseas for the 2002 season.
His professional career included stops in Venezuela, Lebanon, China, Sweden, Korea and Holland.
Dirden also participated in the Phoenix Suns rookie and veterans camp in 1997 before playing for the Idaho Stampede in the Continental Basketball Association. He also spent with the Columbus Cagerz of the United States league.
While Dirden was overseas, he had gotten in trouble for running a red light. The judged ordered Dirden to court, but by that time he was already back in the United States.
Knowing what he had done was wrong, he owned up to it and sent a letter to the judge apologizing that he was wrong and that this should not have played out the way it did.
The judge noticed his act of integrity and owning up to what he did. The judge was lenient and dropped the case. It is a story he tells his players to teach them about taking responsibility.
Dirden returned to Denver, Colorado to coach the Cherokee Trails 5A high school team.
There he would stay for three seasons. While he was there, he mentored the young adults the best he could.
“For me, with my basketball experiences. I feel like I’m in the position to relate more to kids on a variety of levels.” Dirden said. “I know the first day we met him he came at us with all this stuff and about being in the NBA.”
Former player for Dirden, Temani Adams, said he continued to talk about how he was amazed that they finally had someone professional.
Dirden would continue his coaching career as he got an assistant coaching job at the University of South Dakota. There he played a different role.
He wasn’t head coach, but he was a lot closer to the players. He was the assistant who would make you laugh, someone you could come in and talk to, someone dependable and honest.
He said he would make sure that his players knew that his door was always open for them whenever they needed it.
Dirden said he learned a lot himself being in a new position. In new ways, he learned how to motivate the team on a personal level and be more involved in the academic part of the player’s lives.
However, by being a coach that just says yes all the time, he said he molded players into the best person on and off the court that they could be.
After his career at North Dakota, where his team went 8-22 (4-14) in the Big Sky Conference, he got a head coaching job here at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.
During his first year at NWOSU, it was clear that he wanted to establish the team as an up and coming program, and a force the Great American Conference should look out for.
During his first year, student Adrian Motley averaged 20 points and seven rebounds under the watch of Dirden.
As a head coach, Dirden said he needed a staff of coaches who he knew that he could trust, relate to the players and have the same winning mentality as he does.
He hired Jordan Franz, Oliver Willis and Jarvis Jackson.
“I just want to come in and be able to contribute whatever I can to this team and pass down some experience to what I learned at the collegiate level,” Franz said. “Coming in as an assistant head coach you take on somewhat of the same responsibilities as the head coach, helping with the game plan, scouting, individual workouts, etc.”
“Oliver Willis is a coach that will be around the players more,” Dirden said.
“He is a player’s coach I feel as if people could relate to him in certain situations. Willis is learning and absorbing things now but he has a good connection with the team.”
Upon Dirden’s arrival at NWOSU, the team had a record of 9-18.
After his first year here, the team finished 12-15 and his second year he would go 22-7, being the first team at Northwestern to win a GAC playoff game, losing in the second round of the playoffs.
Athletic Director Brad Franz was the one who brought Dirden in for the head coaching position.
“Coach Dirden’s philosophies regarding academics, personal student growth and development of the individual and team basketball is exactly and fall right into line with Northwestern Athletics,” Franz said. “I know he will provide the leadership and guidance for our team as a whole and the players individually.”
Franz said he has worked for great organizations and he knows what it takes to build a winner.
Dirden is not only a person that has experienced a lot, but he has gotten through those situations by establishing himself as a man he said, who is to be respected, kind to others and learning from other people’s experiences.
“Brad Franz has been a mentor of mine for over 25 years, and being chosen to lead his men’s basketball team is an opportunity that I could not pass up,” Dirden said.
Dirden said he is excited to bring everything to the table for Northwestern as he tries to lead the school to a NCAA DII Great American Conference title.