One of the most compelling stories of March Madness began on Valentine’s Day.
That morning, Adam Strom learned he’d been fired as head coach of the women’s basketball team at Haskell Indian Nations University.
He was one of almost 40 employees to be terminated at the federally run university in Lawrence, Kansas. About two dozen Native Americans working as federal employees elsewhere were fired, too.
The abrupt action was part of the massive layoffs being carried out by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk and empowered by President Donald Trump. It’s unlikely either man knew about the Haskell women’s basketball team, their coach, or what might happen next.
The same day Strom got fired, he offered to coach his team for free. Stripped of his salary of about $80,000 a year, he stayed on as the volunteer head coach of the Fighting Indians ‒ and part of what he sees as a bigger mission.
“We’re not just playing for the name across our chest or on our back,’’ Strom told USA TODAY Sports, referring to the team’s jerseys. “We’re playing for our ethnic background. … We’re playing for Indian Country.’’
Haskell, which competes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), opened the season 2-10. That tested the relationship between the players and their coach.
Before the second semester started, the players agreed to stay on campus for three weeks to participate in individual workouts and extra practices. ‘A change occurred,” Strom said.
The Fighting Indians won 11 of their next 15 games on the way to the championship game of the Continental Athletic Conference tournament.
On March 2, Haskell beat North Mexico College for the conference title in signature fashion. They fell behind and fought back for a 57-52 victory, which secured a berth in the NAIA tournament and allowed an unemployed coach and his players to cut down the nets.
How Haskell fought back
A week after Haskell won the conference championship, a group of tribal nations and Native American students sued the Trump administration over the firings that cost Strom and other Native Americans their jobs.
The lawsuit was filed by the Native American Rights Fund. The group’s staff attorney, Jacqueline De Leon, was well aware of the Fighting Indians and their coach.
“I’ve been really inspired by the basketball team as a symbol for the university of resistance and of resilience,’’ she said. ‘And I think that what it shows is that Native people will rise when faced in really difficult circumstances.”
On Feb. 28, about 40 Haskell students gathered at the state capitol in Topeka to protest. Haskell’s athletes wrote a letter to Trump, asking him to rehire the fired employees that included instructors, cafeteria workers and maintenance workers.
Mahpiya Irving, a senior guard on the women’s basketball team, said two of her instructors were fired.
“At first they replaced them with other faculty and we had to start over pretty much,’’ Irving told USA TODAY Sports. “I’m not graduating until the fall, but I was still nervous.’’
Despite the stress, she said Strom kept the team focused on preparing for the six-team conference tournament.
Haskell, which as the No. 2 seed got a bye into the semifinals, beat Washington Adventist 88-61. Then came the victory over New Mexico College that set Haskell up for a first-round matchup in the NAIA tournament against the defending national champions, Dordt University of Sioux Center, Iowa.
Who is Adam Strom?
During each water break at Haskell’s practices, Strom asks one of his players to say “water’’ in their native language.
For Lish Spoonhunter, a sophomore forward from the Arapaho tribe, it’s “nec.’’ For Star Her Many Horses, a senior guard from the Lakota tribe, it’s “mni.’’ For Lilly Smith, a junior guard from the Comanche tribe, it’s “paa.’’
For Strom, the fourth-year Haskell coach from Yakama Nation, it’s ‘’chúush’’ – and a chance to blend basketball with Native American history.
Jim Thorpe and Billy Mills, both Olympic medalists and two of the most celebrated Native American athletes, attended Haskell, a school with about 900 students. It opened in 1884 as a boarding school, and a remant of hardship is an on-campus cemetery. It includes 103 marked graves, the last body buried in 1913, according to Haskell’s website.
Native American schools are chronically underfunded, and the recent layoffs of 25% of the school’s staff underscored that issue. That stirred protest over the mistreatment and injustice Native Americans have suffered in the United States for hundreds of years.
It’s not lost on the women’s basketball team, according to Strom, who with pride noted his team’s combined grade-point average is 3.3.
“We take the floor with 100% tribal-affiliated student-athletes,’’ said Strom, adding his players are aware of “generational trauma, historical trauma, things that Native Americans endure today and have for the last 400 years.’’
Strom participates in Bilingual Basketball, a program started in 2021 to “use basketball as a conduit to build more equitable communities.’’ He also holds summer basketball camps and coaches an Amateur Athletic Union team. And does most of it for free, according to his wife, Relyn.
“Just whatever anyone needs, he’ll do it,’’ Relyn Strom said. “Sometimes I’m like, ‘You need to get compensated for your time.’ But he’s like, ‘Nope, I’m doing this because this is what I need to do.’ ’’
A contract worker during his first three years at Haskell, Strom reapplied last summer to be a federal employee. It took about two months, during which he did not get paid, according to his wife.
“And I’m like, ‘OK, it’s going to work out,’ ’’ Relyn Strom said.
Five months later, still a probationary employee, he was fired.
Valentine’s Day at Haskell
Strom brought donuts to practice for his players on Valentine’s Day. Later that morning, he drove to drop off flowers and gifts for his wife, a principal at Robinson Middle School in Topeka.
On his way back to Haskell, Strom said, he got a call from the school’s athletics director.
Come straight to the office were the instructions, Strom said. That’s where he got the news of his firing. He did not share it with his players until after their game the following night because he did not want to disrupt Senior Night.
The next week, the Fighting Indians gathered for their first practice since they learned about the dismissals. The players were subdued but grateful Strom would finish out the season.
Irving, Haskell’s captain, said of Strom, “He just shows how dedicated he is and just how passionate he is about the game. I really like that about him because he makes me enjoy it more.’’
But Strom said his twin sons, who played for the men’s basketball team at Haskell this year, handled it differently.
“They were equally frustrated, disgusted, hurt, let down,’’ Strom said. “Without a better way to say it, they know that their father … is probably more dedicated, more committed to the women’s basketball program than to the family during the season.’’
Season ends for ‘true winners’
On March 10, as he was preparing for Dordt, Strom learned he was one of 15 employees at Haskell who had been rehired.
But he declined to speak more about the matter, saying it’s a sensitive issue.
Haskell’s president, Francis Arpan, did not return phone messages left by USA TODAY Sports seeking comment. Zach Wilkerson, Haskell’s athletics director, told USA TODAY Sports he could not comment without approval from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIE).
“Haskell Indian Nations University remains focused on providing quality education and supporting its students,’’ the BIE said in a statement provided to USA TODAY Sports. “We do not comment on personnel matters.”
De Leon, the attorney at the Native American Rights Fund, said there are no guarantees the employees rehired will keep their jobs after the spring semester ends.
Last week, Strom seemed focused not on his future at Haskell, but on his team’s game against Dordt (27-2) in Sioux Center, Iowa.
The Fighting Indians rolled in on a charter bus Thursday and kept rolling when the game started Friday. Haskell quieted the crowd by opening a 21-16 lead and at the end of the first quarter led mighty Dordt, 23-21.
Soon after, Dordt’s taller and stronger players began to wear down the Fighting Indians and pulled away for a 95-80 victory.
Thus ended an inspiring season.
“Regardless of the outcome,’’ Strom said later, “we were true winners.’’