By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- Meelad Doroodchi (Mooresville, NC/Pine Lake Preparatory) arrived at Willamette earlier this year as a first-year forward on the men's basketball team. He traveled one of the longer distances among WU athletes after graduating from Pine Lake Preparatory in Charlotte, North Carolina. What led Doroodchi to decide to cross the United States and join the Bearcats in Salem?
"I chose Willamette University for a few reasons," Doroodchi said. "The basketball atmosphere here was amazing. Even though I could not come to visit, I could see the coaches and players being outgoing and talking to me. The education at Willamette is also very good and I am extremely excited to be here."
In the end, it was a simple decision for Doroodchi to become a Bearcat. However, the overall process took some time and a lot of information gathering about college options.
"I went through a long process before I chose Willamette," Doroodchi recalled. "I had about 10 offers from other schools, but the coaches at Willamette drew me out all the way from North Carolina to Oregon and I am very happy with my decision."
Basketball is an important part of Doroodchi's life. His involvement as a student-athlete at Pine Lake Preparatory taught him many lessons about sports and life in general. It also provided a chance for Doroodchi and his teammates to be active in their school and community. Doroodchi performed about 120 hours of community service in high school.
On the court, he was named All-Conference and earned an All-Tournament Team selection. His success increased his interest in continuing to play basketball in college.
"Pine Lake Preparatory will always have a special place in my heart," Doroodchi commented. "The basketball team every year left a mark on the school, and each senior class while I was playing taught me something different. My senior year was great with the team and I remember some of the biggest games of the year. It was a preparatory school which got me ready for college much better than I could have imagined. The classes were hard, but as long as I put the work in, I was successful."
"Due to COVID, we haven't gotten much of a chance to see Meelad the player but have enjoyed getting to know him as a person," Willamette men's basketball Head Coach Kip Ioane said. "He's a guy willing to express his thoughts in our Character Development discussions and you can see he and his fellow first-year players getting more comfortable as part of our program."
Doroodchi is an all-around athlete, who competed in a total of four sports prior to attending high school. Before joining the basketball team at Pine Lake Preparatory, he played football, soccer, and tennis. Once he reached high school, he began to focus his efforts on basketball.
He credits a lot of his growth as a basketball player to gaining experience in the Elite Youth Basketball League, a travel team league sponsored by Nike.
"It changed my life because I was playing with the best competition in the country. I got the chance to see Coach K, Coach Izzo, Kevin Durant, all sorts of idols I have always had," Doroodchi said. "I had the chance to play with the now #1 player in the country, Jonathon Kuminga, and threw him a few lobs. It changed how hard I worked to get where I wanted to be. It taught me ... how to push myself outside of my boundaries. That applied to everything. It increased my competitive nature and how hard I worked in school as well."
Doroodchi is proud of his heritage as a Persian and about spending his first 13 years growing up in Wisconsin. He has felt welcomed into the Willamette community.
"Being Persian is my heritage and my family," Doroodchi noted. "I could not be who I am if I was not Persian and if it was not for my parents. I feel accepted here because I feel like this school is very diverse and accepting of all different people.
"Growing up in Wisconsin gave me the grit that I needed to be the player and man I am today," Doroodchi said. "Playing all different sports in Wisconsin I learned how to be extremely competitive no matter what sport I was playing."
Even so, he moved from one side of the country to the other to arrive at Willamette late this summer. It was a challenging yet exciting move.
"It is harder to be so far away from home, but it is teaching me how to be independent and how to be on my own," Doroodchi commented. "I miss my family each and every day, but being far away is going to make me a better person and man. I love that I chose Willamette because it teaches me essential traits for being a true man through the help of Coach Ioane."
"I have been very impressed with his ability to navigate the distance from home," Ioane noted. "It's not easy for any college first-year during the first month or two of college, and for him to be across three time zones during a pandemic and be doing as well as he has is very impressive.
