Where Are They Now:  Milan’s Stan Joplin

In the continuing Sun Times News series “Where Are They Now,” which features graduates from area high schools, meet Stan Joplin, 68, from the Milan High School Class of 1975. Educator, high school and Division I basketball coach, husband, father, son, friend, neighbor and mentor to many, are just a few words that describe the life of Stan Joplin.

Early in life, Joplin learned the value of staying close to home. He credits one of his high school administrators for being like a second father to him. “Mr. Phil Barnes took me under his wing and helped me,” Joplin said. “You never want to get too far from home. If you are close to home, people will remember you,” Barnes told him.

Though Joplin has traveled extensively, he has always managed to never settle far from his roots. He lives in Sylvania, Ohio with his wife of forty-three years LaDonna. His two grown sons are Aaron (38) and Shaun (34) who have settled close to their parents.

“I grew up in Milan. It was a small town and the townspeople were very kind to me,” Joplin said. “Milan has always been a place where I felt like I belonged. I am proud to say I am from Milan.” He also gave credit to former Big Reds basketball coach Ron Dingman for his advice and support while a student-athlete in high school.

Joplin credits two men for having a significant influence on him as a boy. Barnes and Sandy Sanders of Ann Arbor. “Sanders took me to the UM campus as a 16-year-old to play against some of the best players around, including players from UM’s team. “That gave me a taste of playing basketball at a whole new level,” Joplin said. “As a kid, I got to talk with Cazzie Russel, UM hoops star of the 60’s and former NBA player.” Russel talked about playing basketball while in the spotlight and still maintaining a sense of who you are and remembering where you came from.

Joplin’s life has been defined by his commitment to serving others, on the court and off, and helping kids become who they were meant to be. He lives by the words: “You can’t take credit for something that you’re just supposed to do.”

Joplin became one of the first student-athletes to become a four-year starter for the Milan Big Reds’ basketball team. He talked about playing against rival – the Saline Hornets. “Saline had this really big kid, I think he was David Ziegler, and they also had a good shooting guard, Tim Slepsky, and we had some good, tough games against them,” Joplin said.

“I thought about what Mr. Barnes said, stay close to home and people will remember when making every life decision I had.” Following his graduation from high school in 1975, he was recruited by several schools. Joplin chose to play at The University of Toledo. Again, close to home.

Joplin started for Toledo for three of his four years with the team. He described the magic of his senior year on the team. “We had won the Mid-American Conference (MAC) title and made the 1979 March Madness Tournament. We won our first game, knocking off the Big Ten Champion Iowa. We lost our second game against Notre Dame, which featured four players drafted to the NBA.” 1979 was the year the championship game featured the forever rivals – Magic Johnson from MSU and Larry Bird from Indiana State.

Following his graduation in 1979 with a degree in elementary education, Joplin coached  one year at the high school level before accepting a job as an assistant coach at Kent State. Joplin moved to U of Toledo and then joined Michigan State University under Head Coach Jud Heathcote, with another assistant coach – Tom Izzo.

Coaching at the college level kept him away from home frequently. “My wife didn’t have to work outside of our home which was fortunate. She kept things going and really was the one raising our sons.”

He was fired from a job with a year left on his contract and rather than accepting an assistant coaching job from Penn State, he was advised by Barnes to spend time with his son and figure out what he wanted to do with his life. “Being able to spend that time with my son meant everything to me. To us,” Joplin said. “I also began to think about what comes when basketball ends, because it always ends.”

Joplin had not been in a classroom as a student in decades but he made the decision to go back to school to get certified in educational administration. “I came to realize that teaching, being a coach and working to help young kids, is what I was meant to do. And if I had a chance to do it all over, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Joplin is now an assistant principal at Southview High School in Sylvania. He said he finds things different about students today than when he began, He cites social media as having the biggest impact on students today – tending to be a negative influence.

Stan Joplin, the skinny kid who always understood the value of being close to home. And he still travels to Milan, the place where his story began.