hey came to Stanford from Canada, Montana and Southern California, sharing a passion of academics and basketball. They sought degrees, success in the NCAA Tournament and had dreams of playing in the NBA.
All were achieved.
Landry Fields, Josh Huestis, Dwight Powell and Anthony Brown are forever linked and brothers forever. They overcame tragedy and adversity to thrive on and off the court, thanks to Johnny Dawkins.
“It was always an open door policy,” said Fields. “I could talk to him about things that weren’t necessarily related to basketball, whether it was school or a social life. He had great insight. I’m not sure he gets enough credit.”
Dawkins, the Anne and Tony Joseph Director of Men’s Basketball, came to The Farm in the spring of 2008. It was his first head coaching job, but his resume was impeccable.
He was a two-time All-America at Duke and the consensus National Player of the Year in 1986. He left as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,556 points.
That year, he was the No. 1 draft pick and the 10th overall by the San Antonio Spurs, and Dawkins enjoyed a solid, nine-year career. Then he returned to Durham, North Carolina, to assist head coach Mike Krzyzewksi for 11 seasons.
As his new players soon discovered, Dawkins was tough, honest, compassionate, a mentor, a teacher and insisted they play the game the right way.
Landry Fields
Fields arrived at Stanford in 2006. The CIF Southern California Player of the Year from Los Alamitos High arrived as an athletic but lanky 6-5, 185-pounder. He played sparingly his first two seasons, but blossomed his junior year. Starting all but one game at shooting guard or small forward, Fields averaged 12.6 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds.
With encouragement and guidance from Dawkins, Fields worked harder than ever in the weight room and gym during the offseason and had a breakout senior year. Now, a chiseled 6-7, 215 pounder with a 39-inch vertical jump, he led the Pac-12 in scoring (22.0), was second in rebounds (8.8), and was selected to the All-Pac-12 First Team and All-NABC and USBWA District squads.
“The approach he had was great,” Fields said.
“He told us it takes a lot more than practice time, it takes coming in before your classes and at night in the summer. It might not hold as much weight from somebody who has not gone to the professional level, but to hear that come from him made us all accountable.”
Prior to his senior season, Dawkins told Fields if he wanted to elevate his game to the next level, he had to step it up. Dawkins gave him the freedom to do it and helped him become a complete player.
“I took it to heart,” Fields said. “It was something I focused on with our team, kind of leading guys and trying to remain even-keeled. There were times I was kind of stressing out, but he was always an outlet.”
Fields scored 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in a win against Virginia, then netted 23 and 13 in an overtime loss to No. 5 Kentucky. Whatever the Cardinal needed, Fields tried to deliver.
He earned a degree in communication and was named the Pac-10 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. A few months later, Fields was picked in the second round of the NBA Draft, 39th overall, by the New York Knicks, and he became an overnight sensation in the Big Apple.
In a win against Philadelphia, Fields poured in 25 points and collected 10 rebounds. He was so popular, Knick super fan Spike Lee wore his No. 6 jersey at courtside. Fields made the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
“I think it was mental more than anything,” said Fields, when asked how Dawkins influenced him the most. “I think he saw me as a player and didn’t force me to be one way. He allowed me to use my versatility. At times, he had me playing the 1 and guarding 5s. It was crazy.”
Fields spent two seasons with the Knicks, then signed a lucrative three-year contact with Toronto. Hampered by injuries, he is now recovering from off-season hip surgery and is a free agent.
Josh Huestis
Dawkins made the trek to remote Great Falls to recruit Huestis, the Gatorade Player of the Year in Montana his senior year at C.M. Russell High School. It wasn’t an easy trip, but Dawkins’ presence scored major points with the Huestis household.
“It made a big impression on me,” Huestis said. “He went out of his way to come up to a place that’s tough to get to, just to sit down and talk with me and my family. It showed how much he cared about me and how much he had invested to get me to come to Stanford.”
The 6-7, 230-pound Huestis was a three-star recruit and rated the No. 48 power forward in the nation, averaging 17.3 points, 12.8 rebounds and 4.8 blocks his senior year. What most people didn’t know was that Huestis had a smooth jump shot and could play the perimeter.
Huestis holds the Stanford record for career blocked shots with 190 and ranks eighth in rebounds (834) and fourth in games played (135). He was a lock-down defender, making the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team three straight years.
As a senior, Huestis helped the Cardinal reach the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and put the clamps on Andrew Wiggins of Kansas during a monumental third-round upset. Wiggins wound up being the No. 1 overall choice in the NBA Draft.
Through it all, Dawkins helped Huestis develop confidence and an outside game. He knew it was his best chance of becoming a successful pro.
“He was a center in high school and people didn’t see him being a wing player in college,” said Dawkins. “He ultimately paid the price to accomplish that and the price was working extremely hard to achieve what he wanted to achieve.”
Dawkins also helped him personally, serving as a father-figure. Huestis and his younger brother, Christian Dean, who starred in soccer at Cal and plays professionally for the Vancouver Whitecaps, are adopted. Their birth mother, Sutton Lindsey, already had one son and gave them up to give them a chance for a better life.
Huestis and Dean reconnected in college and lived together. Both sons and their adopted families remain close to Lindsey, who attended Senior Night for Huestis.
“Amazing family and incredible story,” Dawkins said. “A of times you are shaped by your earlier experiences, how you are raised and the environment you are in. You knew the type of values that he possessed. He wanted to draw upon those values at Stanford and I think he did.”
Huestis earned a degree in psychology and was the 29th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder, becoming just the 12th player in Stanford history to be selected in the first round. In July, he signed a four-year contract with the team.
“A lot of coaches would have just pigeon-holed me at the interior spot just because that is what I had always done,” Huestis said.
“He looked forward and saw that if I was going to play in the NBA, I was going to have to learn the perimeter position and gave me the freedom to work on it. I’ll be forever grateful to him for that.”
Dawkins develops a plan for every prospect.
“I have a vision for every player we recruit,” he said. “And if I tell those young men something, I try and honor what I tell them.”
“Now, there are times when you have transition or make changes based on personnel or injuries, things that can factor in beyond your control. When it’s in my control, I always try to make the decision to help them along their path.”
Dwight Powell
Powell was the biggest catch of Dawkins’ first class, ranked among the top 20 in the country. The multi-talented 6-11, 240-pounder from Toronto was a five-star recruit and at least one scouting service rated him the No. 2 power forward prospect. He narrowed his choices to Harvard, Georgia Tech and Stanford.
“They were all great schools, so it came down to the coaching staff,” said Powell. “Coach Dawkins was also realistic. He was encouraging and believed in us, but I could also tell he was the kind of coach that wanted us to get better. He wanted us to win and he had the tools to do that.”
Powell made 26 starts his first season and averaged 8.1 points and 5.2 rebounds, and was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team. As a junior, he was selected the league’s Most Improved Player and was the only player to rank among the top 10 in scoring (14.9) and rebounds (8.4).
Unbeknown to most, Powell’s mother, Jacqueline, was battling breast cancer. She died just before his junior season and Dawkins stepped up. Not only did he visit the hospital, he petitioned the NCAA to pay for his seniors to attend the memorial service.
“It meant a lot,” Powell said. “It was just me and my mom at that point in my life, so the team was everything to me. Those guys are still my brothers and I talk to them on a daily basis. It was no surprise that Coach Dawkins made that happen. He did it on his own and didn’t make a big deal about it.”
Powell could have skipped his senior season and opted for the NBA Draft. Instead, he fulfilled a promise he made to his mother by finishing his degree in science, technology and society, while boasting a 3.05 cumulative GPA, and helped lead Stanford to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
“Obviously the lure of the NBA is glamorous and exciting and that was my ultimate goal,” said Powell. “Coach Dawkins was supportive either way. He had my back. He helped me lay down the pros and cons. But at the end of the day, he said it was my decision.”
Powell earned first-team all-conference honors and not only completed his degree, he was named the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He produced five 20-point games and led the Cardinal in assists (112) and steals (47). Powell ranks seventh in school history in rebounds (853), 10th in steals (125), third in games played (136) and sixth in starts (107).
Powell was the 15th player chosen in the second round of the 2014 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets. He now plays for the Dallas Mavericks and has become a key contributor off the bench, averaging 11.4 points and 8.0 rebounds while playing 23 minutes per game.
Anthony Brown
Brown was only 17 when he came to Stanford. A 6-foot-4, 215-pound shooting guard/small forward, he was the CIF Southern Player of the Year and first-team all-state as a junior at Ocean View High in Huntington Beach, California.
Growing up, Brown dreamed of playing at Kentucky. Dawkins convinced him otherwise.
“He was a mentor and father figure,” said Brown. “With him having played in the NBA and having guys with NBA aspirations, it was great to be able to have open conversations because he was talking from first-hand experience and telling you ways to improve.”
Brown made the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team, averaging 8.7 points and 3.2 rebounds. As a sophomore, he poured in 42 treys and helped the Cardinal win the NIT Championship. Four games into his junior year, he sustained a hip injury and underwent surgery.
Brown took a medical redshirt year in 2012-13. Initially, he had doubts about returning to form or improving. Dawkins helped him through the process, making sure he contributed in other ways and kept his spirits up.
“Coach telling me that he still believed in me was big,” Brown said. “Without that, I for sure wouldn’t be where I am today.”
Brown came back strong in 2013-14, averaging 12.3 points and 5.0 rebounds. He helped Stanford reach the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and was named the Pac-12’s Most Improved Player.
As a fifth-year senior, Brown averaged 14.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and was second on the team in assists. He was also the defensive stopper, earning First-Team All-Pac-12 honors.
Brown scored 25 points in an overtime win at No. 9 Texas and helped spark the Cardinal to its second NIT title, averaging 15.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and shot 91 percent from the free throw line during the postseason.
He ranks 11th on Stanford’s career-list in scoring (1,562), 14th in rebounds (691) and fifth in 3-pointers made (218). He’s also tied for first with former teammate Chasson Randle in games played (144) while ranking second in minutes played (4,200) and eighth in starts (106).
Brown, who earned a communication degree and hopes to complete his masters in media studies next summer, realized his childhood dream last June. He was drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft and was the 34th overall pick by his favorite team, the Los Angeles Lakers. Brown is on the active roster and firmly believes that playing for Dawkins has given him an edge on the competition.
“The thing that I probably learned or valued the most was how to do things the right way, with attention to detail,” he said. “Coming to this level, there were a lot of rookies that don’t understand the game. They have talent but don’t know how to play the right way. I learned how to play with my teammates and all the other stuff that comes with that.”
First and foremost, Dawkins is a teacher. Players don’t always like what they hear, but have learned his advice pays off in the long run.
“I think he loves sharing the game and sharing it the right way,” said Powell. “It’s been a privilege to play for him and learn from him. He prepared all of us for the next level in ways that we didn’t even know we were being prepared for."
“Some of the challenges other players are facing right now as they make the transition, we aren’t even noticing. We already know what it means to work, we already know what it means to go through trials and tribulations and to keep your head up. We already know how it feels to have our back against the wall and not give up. I think Coach Dawkins has prepared us well because of how much he genuinely respects the game and refuses to take shortcuts.”
Then, there’s the passion.
“I don’t think there’s anybody on the planet who loves the game more than he does,” Huestis said.
No one knows better than his wife, Tracy, his high school sweetheart. “Many dates we had were on the basketball court,” she said. “He wanted to spend time with me, but he had to get his shots up. I said, ‘Okay, let’s go to the gym.’ He didn’t have to twist my arm. I would just rebound and pass him the ball.”
Eddie Cue was a classmate at Duke. They met playing pool as freshmen and have been good friends since.
“He lives and breathes it,” said Cue, a Senior Vice-President of Internet Software and Services at Apple. “It’s his family and basketball and that’s it.”
Some mistake Dawkins’ stoic bench presence as passive or confused. He’s not a yeller or screamer.
“Nobody wants to win more than he does,” Cue said. “One of the problems with that jumping around – I’m prone to that and I think any fan is prone to that – you see somebody jumping around as the desire to win. If they don’t, they’re just not as vested in it. But that’s just not true. Johnny has been a winner in everything he has ever done.”
He also has a sense of humor.
“If you don’t know him well, he comes off as this very serious, business-like person,” said Huestis. “Once you get to know him, he’s always cracking jokes, laughing and having a good time. When he relaxes, he’s pretty funny.”
Dawkins and his wife have four children, but in reality it’s an extended family. He has always treated his players the same way and his home is always open.
“Absolutely,” Tracy said. “There’s no distinction.”
Dawkins stays in touch with his former players. Many drop by for practices and games, home and away, when schedules allow.
“Coach Dawkins had the motto you can always come home,” said Powell. “That’s part of the reason why I am so comfortable coming back. But also to support my teammates. The culture that we built while I was there was one of family and supporting each other through thick and thin. That’s something all the guys want to do.”