The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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(Ind.) High School four years ago, just hoping to play at the Big Ten level, for the University of Michigan. Four years later, he's in position to play more games for the Wolverines than anyone ever has. The senior captain hasn't missed a single game over the course of his four seasons in Ann Arbor. He played in his 128th straight contest when the Wolverines hosted Illinois at Crisler Center Feb. 12. That put him on the cusp of Michigan's all-time top 10 in games played, and the zenith of the list is clearly in sight. Loy Vaught (1987-90) established In On Iron Man Mark Stu Douglass emerged from Carmel Douglass Is Closing himself as Michigan's iron man more than two decades ago, appearing in 135 contests over the course of his career. Glen Rice (1986-89) is right be- hind, at 134. Douglass has a clear shot at both, cently close, and we were trying to run out the clock. I'm going in from the left side, at about 15 feet, and I'm about to shoot. I don't know what happened, but Coach was yelling at me, just to bring it back out. "I was jumping, and as I heard him say that, I turned toward him. I didn't know what to do with the ball, so I just flipped it up behind my head, and it banked in. "One of my teammates' dads was ent aspects of leadership the duo can provide." "We had a good example when Novak also appreciates the differ- we were freshmen, with C.J. [Lee] and Dave [Merritt]," Novak recalled. "They were very different in the way they led, but together they were very effective. I think we have that same kind of dynamic going. "He's not as vocal as I am, but you filming the game, so he sent it in. It was actually the Play of the Week. Some of my friends from other schools saw it, and thought it was funny. "The worst part is, you're sup- posed to win a Gatorade cooler and a bunch of Gatorade. We never got it sent to us. Nobody was happy about that." look at what he's done. He's made how many big shots at the end of games? He's always pulling guys aside, explaining, talking to them. He's a good example for our young guys to look at." It's not that Douglass is wholly incapable of anger. As a senior at Carmel (Ind.) High, he once reduced a sophomore to stunned silence by asking him, among other things, if Head coach John Beilein on Douglass should he stay healthy as Michi- gan's season steams toward tour- nament time. If Douglass plays in the Wolverines' final five contests of the regular season, he'll find him- self tied with Courtney Sims at 133 game appearances. With the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament to follow, Douglass stands an excellent chance of winding up taking the court more times than any Michigan player in history. He's racking up the minutes as well. "When this is all said and done, he'll come out of here as an incredible leader for our program." der the bridge since then, with more than enough happy memories to overcome the mild disappointments. Douglass never dreamed he'd be- come not only a key performer at Michigan, but also a captain at the heart of a basketball renaissance in Ann Arbor. He's there, in an odd couple cap- There's been a lot of Gatorade un- Through the Illinois game, Douglass had recorded 3,615 on-court minutes for Beilein's squads, good for eighth place on Michigan's all-time list. Not bad, for someone who admit- he'd ever played basketball in his life, amid a series of screw-ups by the younger player. Douglass also once returned to the residence he shared with Novak at the most inopportune time, Novak recalled. "There was one time when he was tedly, like fellow captain Zack Novak, wasn't overwhelmed by top-tier offers coming out of high school. "I knew Coach wanted to build a program, with the first recruiting class, gems by any means. We were kind of just ragtag, put together because people might not have believed in Beilein at first. "Zack and I really seized that oppor- " Douglass noted. "We weren't tunity, but it wasn't on our minds to build a program. years, every single time the Wolver- ines stepped on the court, Douglass joined them in the construction effort. — John Borton They did so anyway. And for four " 88 THE WOLVERINE MARCH 2012 tain's arrangement with roommate and fellow Indiana native Zack No- vak. Novak draws perhaps the most ink, with his fiery displays of emo- tion, while Douglass is more than happy to take a subtler role in lead- ing the Wolverines. Douglass laughs when he consid- ers the chasm in their approach to- ward the captain's role. "In some article, he said he was the vocally abusive father and I was like the nurturing mother," Doug- lass noted. "He's very vocal, and I'm more the guy to pull somebody aside and take a personal, individ- ual approach, help somebody with confidence. "It's a good contrast. It's been good for the team. There is not pres- sure for me to be loud and vocal all the time. It's not my strength, and it's what Zack does well. He's not the most nurturing person, so it works." playing video games in my room, and he left some dishes or some garbage," Novak recalled. "I went and put it on his bed. I didn't realize there was still some liquid in there. It dumped on his floor. "He wasn't home, and I was going to go wash his sheets. He literally walks in, right that second. He got mad and I got mad." "It was pretty funny," said Doug- lass, who now joins with Novak in laughing over the incident. "I kind of blew up, more than ever. I don't know why. I think I was upset at something else, school or basketball. That was the boiling point." For the most part, Douglass has remained the even-keel advisor throughout Michigan basketball's surges and stalls over the past cou- ple of years. He's not a natural-born leader like Novak, Beilein quickly cautions. That's why Douglass' progress in that department has been very grati- fying to the head coach. The senior