Mr. Douglas’ Journey from Coaching to the Classroom

By Journalism Student Evan S. and edited for clarity by New Life Academy

Middle and Upper School math teacher Isaac Douglas believes that teaching and coaching are more connected than they may seem. As a teacher at New Life Academy (NLA) and a coach at South St. Paul and NLA, Mr. Douglas uses lessons from both to help guide students and athletes.

Mr. Douglas graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2021 and worked in the business field for a little bit. After a while, Mr. Douglas knew he wanted to get back into the game he loved. He says, “After I was done playing basketball, I realized I would still love to be involved with athletics.” So, Mr. Douglas decided to get back into the game he loved.

Mr. Douglas started his coaching career with the South St. Paul girls’ basketball team in 2021. After a while, Mr. Douglas realized his work and coaching schedule weren’t working out well, so he decided to try teaching. Mr. Douglas says, “I started teaching, and I just loved it and have been teaching ever since.” Since then, Mr. Douglas has had the opportunity to join the New Life basketball team as an assistant coach.

After coaching girls’ basketball for a while, Mr. Douglas got the opportunity to coach another sport that he grew up loving. He also had the opportunity to coach the South St. Paul football team, where he has served as the team’s cornerback coach for the past four years.

Although Mr. Douglas loves coaching and is very passionate about it, he takes teaching just as seriously. In many ways, coaching and teaching are very similar to Mr. Douglas, but there are big differences, especially between public and private schools.

Mr. Douglas finds many similarities between teaching and coaching. “A lot of times the kids are choosing to be there when they are at their sport, so they have a little bit more of an open attitude,” he says. “When teaching, you have to break down more walls. You naturally have a bond with people in sports, and you don’t necessarily have that when you’re in the classroom.”

Luckily for Mr. Douglas, his extroverted, kind demeanor makes it a lot easier to break down those walls. When walking through the halls, it is rare to see Mr. Douglas without a big smile on his face. Mr. Douglas loves making new connections and relationships with students and is always open to conversation. It is fair to say that Mr. Douglas has made a very big impact at both New Life Academy and South St. Paul. Mr. Douglas is always trying to leave an everlasting impression on students and athletes.