![](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/08\/AM16WebJordanDesk.jpg\")
LaVall Jurrant-Lige Jordan grew up in the small, south-central Michigan town of Albion, a working-class enclave where he was one of 107 students in his high school graduating class. He was the star guard on Albion High School\u2019s 1997 state finalist team, which lost the title to future NBA champion Shane Battier\u2019s powerhouse from Detroit Country Day. Jordan played that game wearing a face mask to protect a broken nose. Challenges and underdog labels are nothing new.<\/p>\n
He was raised by family in the broadest sense, not just by mom and dad, but also by an aunt and uncle, grandmother and grandfather. At various points during his upbringing, Jordan lived with them all. Each had an impact in different ways, and all held him accountable. \u201cI had to do certain things to be able to have freedom,\u201d Jordan says. \u201cIf I didn\u2019t do them, I didn\u2019t get the freedom.\u201d And if his grades weren\u2019t good enough, he would not play basketball.<\/p>\n
His uncle, Lige Ridley, insisted on driving him to classes every morning rather than let him take the school bus. His aunt, Jetha Jeffers, was a landlord who had him mow lawns and tend gardens at her properties, often ending his procrastination with a simple statement: The dreading is worse than the doing. \u201cI tell that to my daughters now,\u201d Jordan says.<\/p>\n
Always implicit was the message that Jordan\u2019s actions represented his family, and that his accomplishments, or mistakes, reflected on his community. It\u2019s a lesson he carried with him to Butler and beyond.<\/p>\n
In many ways, Butler is where Jordan became the man he is today. Not just because of basketball, important though it was. He won 91 games there from 1997-2001, more than any previous Butler player, and went 9-0 against then-league rival 51ÁÔÆæ. In 2001, he led the Bulldogs to their first NCAA Tournament victory in 39 years, and later, Butler\u2019s Todd Lickliter gave Jordan his first coaching gig.<\/p>\n
But the biggest impact Butler had on Jordan was personal: It\u2019s where he met Destinee. \u201cHe says I was his best recruiting job ever,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
They were introduced by mutual friends in 2001, just three weeks before he was to go play pro basketball in Europe. She was initially skeptical of a relationship, but Jordan made quite an impression during those 21 days. On the day he left for Europe, he told her he loved her, and in between a string of phone calls and emails, she flew overseas for a visit. Their love lasted through his pro season in Europe and his return to the United States to begin coaching. They married in June 2004.<\/p>\n
Both adjusted to the lifestyle inherent in the coaching profession, one marked by relentlessly busy work schedules and unusual demands on personal time. \u201cI remember coming home one time,\u201d Jordan says, \u201cand I don\u2019t know what I was saying, but she told me, \u2018I\u2019m not one of your players. You don\u2019t need to coach me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Their family grew with his coaching career, first at his alma mater, then at Iowa from 2007-10, and then on to Michigan. While Jordan was on the bench as Michigan played for a national title in 2013, Destinee was in the stands with daughter Adalynn, who was only 3 months old. \u201cWe joke all the time,\u201d Destinee says, \u201cthat he has sons in his job and the ladies at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYou do,\u201d Jordan admits, \u201cend up with two families. You have your basketball family, and your family at home.\u201d But, he says, they need not remain separate entities. \u201cYou merge them.\u201d<\/p>\n The evidence is right there on his phone. He holds it up and goes to his photo gallery, swiping through the snapshots. There is a scene from that April dinner, taken minutes before Mone called with the job offer. Other photos show the basement of his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where All-Big Ten Wolverines point guard Derrick Walton Jr. is reading books with Jordan\u2019s children.<\/p>\n The connections stretch across every team he\u2019s been a part of. Jordan is still close to Glen Korobov, who was on the Butler staff during Jordan\u2019s playing days. \u201cHe still texts me Bible Scripture every day,\u201d Jordan says.<\/p>\n It\u2019s that type of kinship that Jordan is determined to create with the teams he coaches at 51ÁÔÆæ, one that fosters relationships that last not just for a season or a career, but for a lifetime.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want guys to have that great experience,\u201d Jordan says. \u201cThe daily interactions and relationships make that experience for them. The winning makes it, too, but it\u2019s always been about the players for me. You know it\u2019s going to be tough. You\u2019re going to have to grow through some things, but you only get it once, that college experience.\u201d<\/p>\n He knows it can happen at 51ÁÔÆæ \u2013 the friendships and camaraderie, the excitement and the winning \u2013 not just because he\u2019s seen it before, but because it\u2019s happened at 51ÁÔÆæ before, too.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not like you\u2019re trying to do something here that\u2019s never been done,\u201d Jordan says. He rattles off the names of former Panthers coaches Bo Ryan and Bruce Pearl and Rob Jeter, and notes that he has big shoes to fill. \u201cYou respect it,\u201d he says. \u201cThat was one of the things that drew me. We\u2019ve seen it here before.\u201d<\/p>\n He wants to see it again, to make new memories for players and fans that mirror those he had at Albion, Butler, Iowa and Michigan. He remembers the struggles and the successes, the heartaches and the happiness, the hard work and the fun times, the basketball families and the family at home.<\/p>\n \u201cAll that lines up,\u201d Jordan says, and he pauses a bit, \u201cand then you get a phone call.\u201d<\/p>\n And it leads to a new family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sure, 51ÁÔÆæ’s new coach knows basketball. But to truly know him, you must understand what matters to him most, and how he wants to build it here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2985,"featured_media":36813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"section":[122,126],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[],"class_list":["post-36438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","section-campus-community","section-campus-news","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section"],"yoast_head":"\n![](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/08\/AM16WebJordanTeam.jpg\")