STARKVILLE — Mark Alexander is back in Starkville, and he has no plans to leave.
The Mississippi State graduate and former sports reporter transitioned from working in journalism to coaching basketball five years ago and found instant success in Tennessee and at Manchester Academy in Yazoo City.
On Wednesday, Starkville Academy announced Alexander as its new boys basketball coach effective at the end of the current school year.
As the Volunteers” third coach in three seasons, Alexander, 43, stressed his intentions to make Starkville his final stop.
“It wasn”t stressed during the interview, but it was maybe an unspoken thing,” Alexander said. “It was the biggest thing I stressed to the players when I met them today. This isn”t going to be a one-year thing. As long as they have me here I”m going to stay.
“There was a lot to like about this job, and competing in Class AAA, I”ll get better competing against the best players, coaches, and programs. This is where I want to be.”
Alexander led Manchester Academy, a Mississippi Association of Independent School”s Class AA team, to a 16-12 record and a district title in his only season with the team. He was named district coach of the year following a recovery from a 1-5 start.
Before his season in charge at Manchester Academy, Alexander spent three years at Tennessee Temple Academy in Chattanooga. He won 25 games or more and went to the Class A state tournament in back-to-back seasons as an assistant. Alexander also helped lead TTA to a Class A state runner-up finish. In his final season, he served as boys and girls basketball coach and athletic director.
Alexander will teach social studies at Starkville Academy. He also could serve as the school”s golf coach and assistant softball coach.
“He”s just a well-rounded, grounded individual who has got a lot of experience,” Starkville Academy Athletics Director Glenn Schmidt said. “His knowledge of the MAIS system is key, and his experience makes him a great fit for us.”
Alexander”s journey to coaching isn”t typical.
He was a former manager for the Mississippi State men”s basketball team. As a senior in 1991 the Bulldogs won the Southeastern Conference title.
For three years, he lived next door to former MSU player and current Starkville High School boys basketball coach Greg Carter.
Following college, Alexander went into journalism and later spent eight years covering Jackson State for The Clarion-Ledger.
“I”d always wanted to coach,” Alexander said, “but the newspaper job came first. I learned a lot from (former MSU coach) Richard Williams, who knew I wanted to get into coaching. Everything I did after college was approached with a coach”s mind-set.”
Alexander replaces Chris Lyle, who led the team to a 9-20 season, an eight-win improvement from the previous season.
Alexander said his offense will be up-tempo and he”ll run “more half-court sets than the Volunteers are probably used to. But with Starkville Academy graduating seven seniors in May, he knows his first season will involve adapting to personnel. He plans to lean on Schmidt, a 30-year coaching veteran, and said her presence at the school was one of the appealing points of the job. He joked about head of school Jon “Doc” Stephens, a former basketball coach, offering to draw up some baseline out-of-bounds plays if he needed them.
“I wouldn”t be too smart if I didn”t use them as resources,” Alexander said.
Schmidt and the Starkville Academy administration plan to announce as the hiring of a softball and jr. high basketball coach soon.
“We”ve interviewed several people, and we”re trying to get this situated and then we”ll move on to that one,” Schmidt said. “We”re in the decision-making process.”
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