By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It’s always hard for a high school coach to decide when to retire, due in part to the fact that there's always student-athletes coming up that want and need good coaching
“If you’re going to evaluate just on the kids, there’s never a good time to retire because there’s always great kids,’’ said longtime Washburn Rural hurdles/sprints coach Doug Stanley. “There’s always great kids coming up and in three more years there would be another great kid.’’
But although Stanley knows he’ll miss being around a sport he loves, he was able to walk away with one of the highlights of his career as well as a unique accomplishment.
The 59-year-old Stanley had coached Stephanie Reed (now Bush) to a state hurdles title in his first season as a Junior Blues assistant and he ended his long tenure the same way, with Rural senior Marquel Russell, who had been mentored by Stanley throughout his high school career, capturing the Class 6A state title in the boys 110-meter hurdles.
Longtime Washburn Rural assistant track coach Doug Stanley (middle) with his first state hurdles champ, Stephanie (Reed) Bush, and his 2021 state champ, Marquel Russell, at the state track meet in Wichita. [Submitted]
The fact that Bush, who now is the head coach and coaches hurdlers at Eisenhower High School, and Russell were both able to share the moment with Stanley was an added bonus.
“I saw her at regionals, but I didn’t say anything to her at regionals (about retiring),'' said Stanley, who retired from coaching and as a middle school science teacher at the end of the 2020-21 school year. "But when I saw her at state I told her I was retiring.
"Stephanie was my first state champ my very first year and I was a Rule 10 coach, so that was like 35 years ago and here we are again this year. That’s cool.’’
Russell had to overcome countless challenges off the track to become one of the state's premier hurdlers after being born with agenesis of corpus callosum, a rare brain disorder which means that the right and left hemispheres of the brain don't connect.
To see Russell, a three-year state medalist in as many state appearances, overcome those challenges to end his career with a title was something Stanley will always cherish.
“It was really kind of -- for lack of a better phrase -- an old dog new tricks thing to teach differently and coach differently because of what he can do and what his capacity is,'' Stanley said about coaching Russell. “You can’t give a whole lot of instructions and you’ve got to break it down more sequentially and give him time to learn it. He’s very kinesthetic so he has to feel it and once he gets it then he adopts that behavior or that skill pretty easily.’’
Stanley said that the tougher the competition the more Russell flourished.
“His freshman year when he took second, he was pretty average all season long and then we got to the city meet and he just started accelerating and taking off and he’s been that way every year,'' Stanley said. "Once he starts getting around better and better competition he runs faster. He runs to the level of his competition. That’s the interesting thing.''
And when Russell crossed the finish line with the 6A titles in the state meet it was one of the biggest highlights of Stanley's long coaching career, as well as a big sense of relief.
“There was a big emotional release,'' he said. “There were just so much expectation. His dad (Jason) and I had conversations after practice and stuff, lots of them, but one in particular about how difficult it is to get to that level again. There’s no many variables that can go wrong and he can do his part and I can do my part and everybody else can do their part and of course Marquel still has to run it. It was a storybook ending, definitely.''
Now Stanley, who coached multiple state champs at Rural, will begin his adjustment to retirement and feels secure that it is time to begin his next chapter.
“I love what I do,'' he said. "I love teaching, I love the coaching part, but I knew it was getting close and, as I’ve heard from a lot of people, when they decide to retire there’s just a click moment and they go, ‘Now it’s time.’
“I looked at my wife one evening and I said, ‘This is it.’ ''
Longtime Washburn Rural assistant track coach Doug Stanley (right) with Rural head coach Keith Wetzel (left) and 2021 state champion Marquel Russell. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural head coach Keith Wetzel said there's no doubt Stanley will be missed.
“We’re going to miss every part of Coach Stanley, Stan as we call him,'' Wetzel said. "He is blessed with both the science and the art of coaching. He knows the technique. He knows how to coach it and teach it, but he is also very relational and he can communicate with kids. He can motivate.’’
Although he won't be around on a regular basis, Stanley has every intention of attending Rural track meets next spring.
“I’ll still come out to meets because they’re going to need help,'' Stanley said. "They're going to need hurdle hustlers and that kind of thing.''
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