Coach DoBee Plaisance reflects on her basketball experience

Nicholls women’s basketball Head Coach DoBee Plaisance reflected on where her coaching philosophy came from, along with what she has tried to teach every athlete she’s had on her team over the last 30 years.

“My parents raised me on very high standards, high ethics and everything like that and really instilled the benefits of working hard and working smart,” Plaisance said.

Plaisance accredited a lot of her moral foundation to her faith, which she said has helped her stay mentally strong through challenges.

“In my opinion, my core values are God, family and education, in that order,” Plaisance said. “It’s how I discern a lot in my life. It’s very simple, I go back to those three fundamental issues.”

Plaisance stressed the importance of doing things the right way. Plaisance said she tried to lead by example, and has always wanted her players to do things the right way as well.

“My thing is, I want to make a difference in people’s lives, and I believe God has given me basketball as that tool,” Plaisance said. “We will always fight the good fight. We’re going to do the right things.”

Plaisance primarily played power forward at the University of New Orleans, but also played center because of her size and skillset. Plaisance finished her two final collegiate seasons at Southeastern Louisiana University, where she met coach Ace Bryant, whom she said was one of her biggest influences and mentors.

“(Bryant) was big on applying basketball to life,” Plaisance said. “He instilled a lot of high standards in our program.”

Ultimately, Plaisance has wanted the knowledge coach Bryant passed onto her to be taught to her players, and that starts with her players having good work ethics.

“If you just do what you’re supposed to in life, you’re going to be in the median,” Plaisance said. “The biggest thing for me is trying to get these kids to understand that if you’re just doing what I’m telling you to do, you’re not doing enough.”

Plaisance emphasized the importance of a team playing together, and not just individual numbers. She has experienced first hand what can happen when a team gels, by winning back-to-back state championships like she did at St. Martin High School in 1993 and 1994.

“You’re thrown into an arena where you have to depend, you have to trust, you have to care, you have to go the extra mile and I think a big piece of that was the work ethics Coach Bryant really instilled in us,” Plaisance said. “In athletics, whether you personally like somebody or not, you have to love them enough to trust them, support them, all those entities that allow for a good friendship,” Plaisance said

According to Plaisance, her recruiting style consisted of finding players that will work hard for her and apply her teachings to the sport as well as their outside lives.

“I really learned to appreciate the value of those players that work hard with a high IQ,” Plaisance said. “Not that talent can’t win you ballgames, but I’ll take that IQ and hard worker over a little bit more talent 10 out of 10 times.”

Plaisance said she benefitted from her experience as a player and even coached Amateur Athletic Union teams during her time off from playing in college before landing her first head coaching job with St. Martin.

“When I was coaching AAU, they were young,” Plaisance said. “The younger they are, the more impressionable they are, so I felt like I could really get my teeth into them early and set some really good groundwork.”

Plaisance said she always wanted to get the best out of her athletes, and pushed them to be better in all aspects of life.