POKIN AROUND: A year of difficulty, a year of blessings
Soderberg talks about his faith and how to sell a home
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| Brad Soderberg |
No one had looked at the home in 90 days. In the same span, not a single offer had been made on the dozens of similarly priced homes in St. Charles County. The market was terrible.
"They said it could last for all of 2008," Brad said.This was the Soderbergs' dream home, complete with a half-court basketball gym. They bought it for more than $1 million in February 2006, back when Brad was the men's basketball coach at St. Louis University.
But in April, the cruelest month, Brad was fired.
As he listened to the dire housing forecast, Brad knew his severance package would not sustain his family and the mortgage much longer. And November is not a good time for a Division 1 men's basketball coach to find work. There are 329 such positions. Openings typically occur in March or April. Brad worried about foreclosure.
After the real estate agents left, Brad, a Catholic, grabbed his rosary and headed to the treadmill.
"I was pounding that treadmill," he said. "I prayed, 'Lord, this has been hard. I'm tired of this. And now this house thing. I know there's a bad real estate market. But Lord, you can do real estate, can't you?' I just prayed, 'You need to intervene. Otherwise we're dead.' I was thinking bankruptcy in March."
Brad told this story Tuesday morning while standing on his home court, the gymnasium at St. Cletus Catholic Church, where he coaches his son Davis' fourth-grade basketball team.
Brad was the guest speaker of the St. Charles Catholic Business and Professional Association. He mostly talked about his faith. But he also discussed, for the first time, his firing and his life since. I also spoke with him in a follow-up interview Thursday.
The past year has been difficult, he said. For 23 straight years he'd coached a college basketball team. For 23 straight years he'd been employed.
But the past year also has been one of blessings. "I think my faith is stronger now," he said. "When you get emptied out, you reassess your priorities."
The blessing in large part has been a respite from a demanding pressure-cooker job that can make even the strongest and most dedicated of coaches wilt.
Because Brad lost his job, he could watch with pride as his son Kramer, a senior guard, led the St. Charles West Warriors to a 30-2 season and second-place finish in the state tournament.
Brad not only coaches Davis, but also was the assistant coach of his daughter Daley's frosh team at St. Charles West. He exercised more. Lost 15 pounds. Spent more time at the Bread Company with his wife.
In November he sat in Lambeau Field - something he would not have had time for as SLU's head coach - with his sons and his father. They saw quarterback Brett Favre lead the Green Bay Packers to victory.
Brad grew up in Stevens Point, Wis., where his father was his high school basketball coach.
At 45, Brad is no longer a rising young Division 1 coaching star. Instead, he is seasoned. He compiled an 80-74 record in five seasons at St. Louis University. And he is hungry to coach again.
"I coached 23 years, and now I've had a year off," he said. "I've had time to reflect on it all. I'd like to coach another 20-25 years. If that happens, then this has been God's little halftime for me."
Because early spring is when coaches are fired, it also means, conversely, it's when coaches are hired.
Brad is interested in the Missouri State job. Coach Barry Hinson was fired this month after nine seasons.
He also is interested in the job at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, a Jesuit school, like St. Louis University, with a beautiful campus a mile from the ocean.
What he misses most is the competition and camaraderie. "The fans, the boosters, the pressure - I love it," he said. "And I hate it."
He does not miss the nervousness of game day or the pain of a loss.
"I hope that I have learned from this experience," he said. "If and when I get another job, I don't want to let the job become bigger than it really is."
Part of what it takes to succeed - some would say the key part - is recruiting. He was on a recruiting trip on April 16 last year. He had just visited Stephon Pettigrew, Kentucky's top prep player. He'd stopped for gas when his phone rang. It was his boss, Athletic Director Cheryl Levick.
She told him to cancel his trip to Tulsa. She needed to meet with him in the office of the school provost at 8 the next morning. She did not say why.
"I knew it wasn't good," Brad said.
The team had finished 20-13, the most wins by a SLU team since 1998, but for the third consecutive year failed to qualify for postseason play. Brad knows the harsh reality of his professional calling.
"In the business of college basketball, if you don't get your team into the NCAA Tournament, I think anybody's job is up for review."
He did not call his wife because he was traveling with an assistant and did not want to spread his concern.
"It was about a three-and-a-half-hour drive," he said. "It seemed like eight."
The next morning he met with Levick and Provost Joe Weixlmann. He was handed a five-paragraph letter of termination. It mentioned the lack of postseason play and the coming move into a new on-campus arena in the 2008-09 season. It was subsequently reported that school president Fr. Lawrence Biondi made the decision, overruling Levick, who in June resigned to take a job at the University of Maryland.
Brad has not spoken ill of St. Louis University, and it's not because he agreed to keep quiet as part of his severance, he said. There was no such prohibition.
"I am not interested in throwing stones at St. Louis University," he said. "They got one heckuva basketball coach in Rick Majerus."
Brad and Linda quickly put their biggest financial worry, their dream home, on the market.
And six months later, the day after Brad prayed the Rosary and asked for divine intervention, the Soderbergs went to Wisconsin to attend a surprise 70th birthday party for Brad's mother. That day, Brad said, the real estate agent called to report that a Wentzville couple toured the home and seemed interested.
On Sunday, Brad was at Lambeau when Linda called. The Wentzville couple had made a solid offer.
They wanted to close Dec. 27 but didn't want to move in until June 1, Brad said. "Guess when my son graduates high school? June 1." And the buyers agreed to let the Soderbergs stay in the house, rent-free.
"It was a modern-day miracle in my eyes," Brad said.
That Monday, back in St. Charles, the Soderbergs reviewed the paperwork on the offer.
"That's when I saw the names," Brad said.
(These, in fact, are the names on the property records.)
Brad highlighted certain parts. The buyers were CHRISTina and CRISTopher. Last name of CRISTea.
"Coincidence?" Brad asked.
I think you know his answer.
