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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2009 > June > 18 > Entry
Coles: Mark Anderson and the negative effects of LeBron & Kobe
Charlie Coles — who will receive the Ohio High School Athletic Association Ethics and Integrity Award Friday night in Columbus — was talking both affectionately and sadly about Mark Anderson, his prized recruit who hadn’t panned out.
You could tell it pained the Miami University coach that Anderson — the Sinclair All American basketball player and Dunbar High product — had clanked one off the rim academically and wouldn’t be coming to Oxford to play for the RedHawks this fall.
“We had talked a lot on the phone and I don’t know if there’s ever been anyone I enjoyed talking to like that more than Mark,” Coles said quietly. “He is a truly nice kid, one of those kids you say, Let’s take a chance with him.’
“And when things worked out like they did, something happened that never has happened to me before in all my years of coaching. Mark called me up and thanked me and said he was sorry it didn’t work out. No player has ever done that.
“I felt bad and he felt bad and I really do wish the best for him.”
Coles thinks some hangers on may have gotten in Mark’s ear and kept talking to him about playing at the next level — the NBA — rather than stressing the opportunity that college basketball offered provided he meet the classroom requirements.
“In some ways, what guys like LeBron, Kobe, Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett have done is pretty amazing,” Coles said of the four NBA stars who jumped straight from high school to the pros. “But in a lot of ways it’s a bad thing and it hurt a lot of kids.
“Guys like LeBron and Kobe and the rest don’t come along very often, but a lot of kids see what they did and see themselves doing the same thing and they can’t. That may have happened to Mark.”
I think Coles is right. When I talked to Mark after one of his big games this year, he ended up talking more about going to the NBA than going to Miami. He is a good kid but I don’t think he had the realistic future in his crosshairs. I’m sure part of it is the Daequan Cook factor, too He sees what his old Dunbar teammate is doing in the NBA and he wants some of the same.
As for the award Coles receives at the OHSAA banquet Friday night, it’s given annually to an Ohioan who has displayed outstanding ethical behavior and integrity in performing his or her duties and who is a role model to others.
Among those who previously have won the award are: John Glenn Jr., Archie Griffin, Jim Tressel, Wayne Embry, Bill Hosket and Jo Ann Davidson, the first woman Speaker of the House in Ohio.
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