Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Some call it a merger between “old school” and “new school” basketball.

Thusfar, it has been a successful one.

For the first three years since the inception of the Iowa City Liberty boys’ basketball program, the Lightning were led by veteran coach Stu Ordman.

Ordman, 65, has won more than 500 games in over 35 years at the prep level with a tough, physical, defensive approach.

Before the 2020-21 season, the former Cedar Rapids Jefferson and Iowa City Regina coach promoted two-year assistant coach Ryan Kelly to co-head coach, a move roundly applauded by the Liberty players.

“I think it has really helped,” Liberty senior forward Ethan O’Donnell said. “I look at it as, other schools only have one head coach. We have two. We have Coach Ordman, who has been coaching for so long, has so much experience. Then coming in with a new coach, a new mind, putting their brains together and doing what will help us work best.”

Kelly, 31, spent eight years at Dubuque Senior – three as coach of the freshmen team, five as a varsity assistant – before joining Ordman’s Liberty staff as an assistant before the 2018-19 season.

The Chicago native has also coached the Amateur Athletic Union-level Iowa Barnstormers 10th-grade team for several years.

“Coach Kelly is really sharp,” Ordman said. “He is great at analyzing game situations, at scouting and at the same time, he has a lot of enthusiasm, upbeat energy, he can connect with the kids. But I think the main thing that I think is terrific about Coach Kelly is, he is an educator. So he brings an educator’s sensibilities. We talk all the time about, ‘What are the best practices in the classroom? Can we bring that to the court?’ And then sometimes, ‘How can you use it on the court? How can you use it in the classroom?’ He has been very open with what we want to do with culture, with mindset and I think he also really loves working with young people. He is going to far surpass me.”

The coaching pair collaborate on every aspect within the Liberty program.

Before each practice, they discuss which coach will lead which portions.

On game days, Kelly directs the on-court action, while Ordman works closely with the players just leaving the game after a substitution.

“I think it is going really well,” Kelly said. “Coach Ordman has been phenomenal with me. I have learned a lot working with him. It has been fantastic to have the opportunity to listen to him and for him to pass down some wisdom. He has been coaching a really long time. And a successful one at that, so I can’t ask for a better mentor. I just hope that I can continue the legacy that he started here at Liberty and continue to build off that.”

The concept is not a new one for Ordman.

At Jefferson, Ordman promoted Brandon Horman to associate head coach.

When Ordman left Jefferson to lead Regina before the 2014-15 season, Horman became the head coach of the J-Hawks.

While with Regina, Ordman had Jared Galpin on his staff.

“We had a great rapport and in essence, we co-coached,” Ordman said of Galpin, who led Regina for three years and is now the boys’ head coach at Solon. “It was understood that he was going to take over once I stepped away.”

After averaging nine wins a season over the past three years, Liberty is off to a strong start under Kelly and Ordman.

The Lightning had their first four contests canceled while the Iowa City Community School District conducted online-only coursework.

Since its return Dec. 18, Liberty (2-0, 1-0 Mississippi Valley Conference) has won both of its games against two teams it lost to last season.

“I think with the two co-head coaches, it has been great,” Liberty senior forward Kelby Telander said. “Coach Kelly, he is all about pushing the ball up, fast transition points. … He is used to the quick tempo type of stuff. He has traveled all across the country for these types of tournaments. He has coached the best of the best athletes. He recognizes talent. He knows what to fix and what needs to be fixed or not.”

Telander, an Iowa football preferred walk-on recruit, leads the way in both scoring (21 points per game) and rebounding (10 per contest) for a Liberty team averaging 75.5 points through its two wins.

He, along with O’Donnell and guards Grayson Tyler and Basil Aldoss, share the unique perspective of being the only four players to experience the new co-head coach arrangement after also playing varsity ball in each of the three previous Liberty seasons which Ordman directed.

“Coach O, I think he is great,” Telander said. “He knows how to slow things down a bit. He knows how to get into good sets and plays and stuff like that. He really knows the offensive sets and the majority of plays we run are what worked for him in the past.”

Liberty returns from winter break Jan. 5 with a game at Iowa City High.

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