When a father, brother or male mentor get involves in a young mans life, they take great pride in watching them grow up and mature. When a young man makes mistakes, the mentor feels the pain. When the young man makes great strides, they beam with pride.

Erik Harden has been involved in the lives of young men for several years. He coaches summer basketball in Los Angeles and is one of ‘the good guys’ on the summer circuit.

He also took an early interest in the newest member of the University of Iowa men’s basketball team, Doug Thomas.

”When Doug was coming up, the competition to get him (on various summer teams) was fierce. But I had a relationship with him from very early on, before he went on the traveling tour and before the vultures and buzzards began to come around,” said Harden, referring to a few unsavory characters that give summer basketball a bad name.

But Thomas stuck with Harden, as the relationship mattered most. Harden was there in the California years, years that saw Thomas make a name for himself on the court in various ways; some good and some bad.

”I know that people have spread rumors about Doug or have labeled him as being uncoachable or as having a bad attitude on the court.” Harden said, referring to various reports over the years, including one where a writer labeled him Doug ‘Loose Cannon’ Thomas.

”Those rumors are just that; rumors. Those labels are not only unfair to Doug, but it makes the Iowa coaching staff look bad in the eyes of some people as they have bought into what Doug Thomas is or isn’t on the basketball floor.”

What Thomas is, Harden explained, is a throwback to an earlier era in some ways. But Harden also believes that Thomas is unlike anything most people have ever seen in other ways as you will learn later in the article.

”When Doug was just coming up, he had played very little organized basketball and is some regards, he didn’t know how to act on the court. He needed coaching.” Harden said.

”The biggest mistake people make about Doug is what they perceive as an attitude is not really the case at all. Doug is a very intense competitor. He likes to win, period and he plays hard.”

”He is not there to make friends with the guys on the other team. He is all about the competition and he does not fraternize with the other team during competition, even if he knows someone.” Harden said, reminding me of comments attributed to one of the most dominating pitchers of the 1960’s, former St. Louis Cardinal Bob Gibson.

Gibson made several all star game appearances and apparently he did not like the idea of fraternizing with players who were your sworn enemies for six months out of the year and he rarely said even a word to his all star ‘teammates’. Gibson was a hard-core competitor. Harden’s description of Thomas fits that old-fashioned frame of mind.

”People who know Doug know how he is and who he is. They think that the way that he acts on the court; aggressive and fierce, is the way that he is off the court. They just don’t know him.” Harden said.

”The people who gave him those labels just don’t know him. You will not find one former teammate or former coach who has anything bad to say about Doug Thomas. In fact, he is the type of guy that you love to have on your team, but you hate to play against him.”

We wanted to know why people hate to play against Thomas and Harden had a lot to say about his former pupil.

”He is a big, intimidating presence, a true physical specimen.” Harden said. “In my opinion and remember, I get out all over the country and have for years and have seen the best of the best, in my opinion, there is not a better athlete in the country.”

”No one runs as fast as Doug and jumps as high as Doug and slams the ball like Doug, all in the same package. I just have not seen it.”

Harden continued.

”In fact, there are not 10 amateur forwards in America that are better than Doug Thomas is right now.”

We will cover more basketball ability issues in a moment, but I wanted to know about Doug’s decision to ‘head east’ as it were, the decision that led him across the country to a North Carolina prep school.

”Doug had a lot of options available to him,” Harden said. “Some of those options would have been great for the colleges pursuing him, but not great for Doug in the long haul.”

”Doug got some bad grades not because he is a bad kid, but because he had a slow start. He just needed some guidance in the proper direction.” Harden said. And that direction came at Creedmoor Christian Faith Academy in Creedmoor, North Carolina.

”I didn’t have any discipline when I was in California,” Doug Thomas told HN.com. “I really had never been truly coached. But when I went to Creedmoor Christian Faith, my coaches out there showed me discipline and that was just what I needed and I worked hard and left my California past behind me.”

Harden also feels that Thomas needed a more nurturing environment than the Southern California circles he was running with.

”He wanted to know that someone cared about him; that his teammates cared about him, the person.” Harden said. He feels that Thomas got that and more at Creedmoor.

Inevitably in an interview session I will ask a coach, player or parent a very simple query: Why Iowa? Harden was involved with Thomas during the recruiting process so I knew he would have some insight along those lines.

”Why Iowa?” Harden answered back, then paused very briefly before speaking at length about Thomas’ decision to become a Hawkeye.

”I want Doug to succeed. I think that he has a very bright future ahead of him and a great career ahead of him. I know of coach (Steve) Alford’s background. He was a high school all-American, an Olympic gold medal winner, a college all-American who played for whom I feel is a great coach (Bobby Knight). I also see that Steve is a very good coach and is going to be great some day.” Harden said.

”Basketball is King at Iowa and I think it’s a great environment for him. The Big Ten is where the cream of the crop play and Iowa has a great basketball tradition.” Harden said.

”When Doug gets to Iowa, he is going to take care of his books and basketball. The only distractions that I see for him are the fans, but that is in a good way. I hear that Iowa’s fans are some of the best.”

”It’s just a perfect fit for him.”

When I hear terms like Iowa is ‘a perfect fit’ coming from a basketball coach from Los Angeles speaking about a former player who currently resides in North Carolina, it makes me want to know what lies underneath the cliché.

And as was the case during our entire interview, Harden not only had an answer, but an answer that made perfect sense to him and to Doug.

”You have two players coming in there that I am painfully aware of: Greg Brunner and Jeff Horner,” Harden said. “Those two kids ripped my heart out last summer at the Speice tournament (played in Ft. Wayne, Indiana). We lost to them (the Martin Brothers team Brunner and Horner played for) by one point and they went on to win the championship.”

”Horner killed us and Brunner was an absolute beast in the post. And I know the kid they have coming in from Northern California, (Josh) Rhodes and I really like him too.”

”Doug and I pictured that lineup in our head and thought that he would be the perfect compliment to that recruiting class.” Harden said.

”I really feel that in a year or two down the road, Iowa is going to have a team with the potential to reach the final four.”

As we neared the end of the interview, Harden could no longer contain the excitement he feels for his former player’s future. The image that Harden painted with his words was not unlike the image of a caterpillar weaving a cocoon.

After some time and some seasoning, what emerges is no longer an insect that dwells within the earth and crawls on its belly.

Rather, the end result is a majestic creature that can soar with the eagles.

”The Iowa fans do not even realize the treat they are in for when Doug will get to play,” Harden said. “I know that Carver-Hawkeye is rowdy, but this is the type of kid who could blow the roof off of that place.”

I have heard some comparisons made about Thomas to two former Hawkeyes. One person told me that Thomas had the athletic ability of Gerry ‘Sir Jamalot’ Wright and the rebounding tenacity and body of a Reggie Evans.

Harden was familiar with both players. Of course, he knew of Evans double-double exploits as a Hawkeye, but he also knew about Wright. That should come as no surprise as Gerry was a southern California native and played at USC before transferring to Iowa.

So when I threw out that comparison to Harden, I was taken aback by his simple, one sentence comment.

”Gerry Wright was no where near where Doug Thomas is athletically.”

I guess seeing is believing and Iowa fans will have to be content with descriptions and words for right now, as Thomas may be more than a year away from playing in an actual game. There is a chance that Thomas will be a partial-qualifier and have to sit out next year, virtually a red shirt situation.

That is not all bad for players who need some help academically. It allows them to get acclimated to the college environment and focus on their studies as well as hone their basketball skills as they can work out with the team.

Former Illinois point guard Frank Williams was a partial qualifier who had three brilliant seasons at Illinois before entering the NBA draft last month.

Recruiting and talent analyst Van Coleman of ‘Future Stars’ said that Thomas might remind some people of former Michigan State power forward Andre Hutson, who was also 6-feet-8 and 240-pounds. He was a second team all-Big Ten selection his senior season and played in 138 games for the Spartans.

But Coleman said that Thomas is a much better athlete and leaper than Hutson was.

And what of Thomas’ skills? What areas does he need to work on and where does he excel? There might not be a better source on these matters than Harden.

”He still has some work to do skill wise, but he has always been able to dominate on sheer athletic ability and guts.” Harden said.

”People tell him that he needs to work on his mid-range jump shot and I agree. But Doug will tell you ‘Why should I worry about putting the ball of the glass when I can dunk the ball in my opponents face?’ It’s hard to argue with him because he can do just that.”

”Just ask some of the Hawkeye players who played against Doug last weekend.”

Thomas told me that he dunked on ‘Big E’ Erek Hansen while he was in town. Harden said the list of great players who have tasted the wrath of a Thomas dunk is too long to get into.

”He is an average to above average ‘on ball’ defender, but he is a wicked ‘off ball’ defender,” Harden said of Thomas’ ability to come off his man and block shots.

”He is a great rebounder, shot blocker and will dunk the ball in your face.”

With Iowa rumored to be heading into a more up tempo style of play in the future, I asked Harden how Thomas was in transition.

”He is the King of transition,” Harden quipped. “He runs the floor very well and the guy can grab change off the top of the backboard.”

”He jumps very well off of two feet, but he is an even better one-foot leaper.”

Harden feels that Thomas is going to add not only a different dimension to Iowa basketball, but he will add a different dimension to the Big Ten.

”He is going to bring a buzz into that league, not just in Iowa City,” Harden said of Thomas.

”People are going to tune in just to see ‘Who is Doug going to dunk on tonight?’”

”The Iowa fans are going to love him and I guarantee you that you will be seeing Doug Thomas jerseys all over the state of Iowa before he is done there.” Harden said.

”And I promise you that there are going to be a lot of people who labeled him as this or that who are going to realize that they were dead wrong about Doug Thomas.”

”They just don’t know him.”