High Schools

TROTWOOD — Mark Baker's philosophy goes like this:

"We want to win forever. What I mean is, we don't want to just win a game or a championship. We want to win for life."

Such thoughts, conveyed in his interview with Trotwood-Madison athletic director Jim Ladd, helped Baker become boys basketball coach this season despite never having run a high school program.

So far, so good. The Rams are 8-0, and before Greater Western Ohio Conference foes Fairmont and Troy hung with them last week, they had throttled five opponents by an average score of 94-53.

"After I listened to the other (candidates), I knew he was the right fit," Ladd said. "He's been able to portray a different view to our young people. You can see it starting to show itself — on the court and in the hallway."

Baker's players paint a canvas of chaos with quickness and intensity on the hardwood. In the hallway, they project a more gentlemanly image, wearing suits and ties on game day. They arrive for games the same way.

"He wants us to look our best, play our best and work the hardest," senior forward Dominique Reed said. "It's more a mental thing. It's easy to find guys who love to play ball, but to get them to think they're good enough to compete on the highest level is hard."

Basketball success is hardly novel at Trotwood. The Rams have thrived under a variety of coaches. But Baker wants to apply his stamp, and the business suits have come to symbolize his approach.

Paid for by donations solicited by Baker, the clothes would make David Stern, the NBA's image-conscious commissioner, proud. A holiday card from the team featured the players in business attire on one side, in uniforms on the other.

"I'm trying to teach them that all good men have at least one suit in their wardrobe," Baker said. "One of the proudest moments of my life is seeing them interact in those suits."

And one of the funniest came this past weekend on a trip to Columbus, where the Rams whipped Worthington Christian.

"They asked me when they need to take them to the cleaners," Baker said, chuckling. "We're going to talk about it."

History of mentoring

Baker is basketball royalty in the area. He grew up in a single-parent Dayton home, won a state high school championship at Dunbar and flourished at Ohio State as a point guard in the early 1990s. Mentoring teens has been his focus for years. It's the mission of the Mark Baker Foundation, which consumes a good chunk of his non-coaching, non-family time.

And if that hasn't prepared him for this Trotwood challenge, there are his three children. Baker and his wife, gospel singer Tonya Baker, have a son, Tavion, 21, who played basketball at Northmont (where Baker assisted Jim Brown), and daughters Shayla, 12, and Naomi, 10.

"Mark has the ability to reach out to kids way beyond basketball," reserve coach Chris McGuire marveled.

McGuire played for Baker when he coached the Dayton Jets of the International Basketball League in 2006, their only season. The friends share a vision of where to take the Trotwood program. McGuire agrees the dress code is a good start, along with stressing academics (no casualties yet, Baker reports) and turning the players loose in the community for charitable endeavors, a sickle-cell event being one recent example.

"I used to hear recruiters say Dayton kids and kids from the area weren't ready for the next level," said McGuire, a Chaminade Julienne grad who played at Wright State and Miami University. "And that was insulting to me. That's something we're trying to change."

McGuire, like Baker, looks at high school as a job interview for life. Why not dress for success, he figures.

"Nothing against the urban look. I wear it. I love it," McGuire said. "But a coach who's recruiting you looks at you different than he would another young man. That's reality. In a job interview, it's better to come with a shirt and tie than with your shirt wide open. We're not reinventing the wheel, but we know where success lies."

Or, as Baker puts it, "We're here to challenge young men athletically, socially and academically. The basketball part is good, but there are other areas."

Climbing the ladder

At 39, Baker can see himself coaching in college one day, perhaps even in the NBA (where he played one game for the Toronto Raptors in the 1998-99 season). But he seems in no great rush.

"I'm enjoying it from the standpoint that I enjoy new, creative things," Baker said. "I'm having fun implementing the program. I could be here a long time."

For basketball counsel, Baker turns in a number of directions and feels secure. Assistant coach Rocky Rockhold had a 108-58 record at Greeneview, for example. But he also keeps in touch with Michael Redd, a fellow Ohio State alum now starring for the Milwaukee Bucks, and Randy Ayers, his OSU coach, now an assistant with the Washington Wizards.

Another influence has been former Cleveland State coach Kevin Mackey, who won a championship in the United States Basketball League with Baker as his point guard. From Mackey, now a scout with the Indiana Pacers, Baker says he derives some of his tactics, particularly the pressing and trapping defense that often works well.

How far can the Rams go? They hope farther than last season, when they were ousted in the regional semifinals by Newark after conquering Cincinnati Moeller, which had been No. 1 in the state.

"I tell my guys all the time, players win games," Baker said. "I have players."

Leading scorer Aaron Robinson averages 19 points and plans to play at Findlay University. "They're getting a steal," Baker says. Reed, who began his high school career at Centerville, provides a spark off the bench.

"We have the senior leadership that can help us go all the way," Reed said. "I believe we have the talent. We're loaded. And we like each other. Some teams don't have that bond."

The schedule has not exactly been Murderer's Row to this point and the players are looking forward to matching up with nationally ranked Montrose Christian (Maryland) in the Flyin' to the Hoop showcase Saturday night, Jan. 17.

"We're just playing the cards we've been dealt," Baker says. "The North (Trotwood's division in the GWOC) is a little down this year, but our kids have done a great job."

Ladd says he pays little attention to wins and losses until the sectionals, but it's clear he likes what he sees:

"Mark puts his heart and soul into everything. You just hope he doesn't burn himself out. The guy really cares. You have to admire that. He loves what he's doing, and he does it with a passion."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2408 or smcclelland@DaytonDailyNews.com.