Mark Adams, starting his fifth year as Bronc head basketball coach, owns a national reputation for rebuilding teams and teaching them defense that ranks among the top 20 in NCAA Division I.
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    Just two years ago, the Broncs ranked No. 10 nationally in scoring defense. Now Adams faces another rebuilding challenge after losing top seniors including the
tallest Bronc in history. But he has recruited a hustling group of 10 new Broncs to go with three letterman. By tournament time, the underdog Broncs figure to make waves in the Sun Belt Conference as usual.
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    "I would hate to wake up one morning and not be challenged," Adams said. "I can't imagine having a job where there weren't challenges in front of you. Challenges can create the excitement and emotion of getting the job done."
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    He has built winners at four levels of college basketball—NCAA Division I and II, NAIA and junior college. His record for 13 seasons at 4-year colleges is 249-144, an outstanding 63.4 percent victories.
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    In 1981, age 25, Adams took Clarendon College to 20 and 26 victories his first two years as a junior college coach. Next he moved into the 4-year collegiate ranks at Wayland Baptist, and led the Pioneers out of a 30-year wilderness of no-playoff teams. His first team won 20 games.
    For an encore, Adams' next club went 30-10 and came within a single basket of the school's first NAIA national championship. Adams stayed in Plainview for two more 20 win seasons, taking two more teams to the national tournament and compiling a glittering 100-39 (.719) record before moving on to a greater challenge.      Â
    In 1987, West Texas State called Adams to revive a victory-starved program. He took the program to a pair of 25-7 records and Lone Star Conference Tournament Championships. In five years at WTSU, Adams complied a 108-40 record.
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    Despite all his success—254 wins in 11 years and eight 20-win seasons—Adams had not yet reached his professional goal.
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    "I had aspirations of being a head coach on the Division I level since I took my first coaching job at age 25," he said. Those dreams became a reality on June 3, 1992, when Adams was named the ninth head coach in Texas-Pan American's 44-year history as a four-year college.
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    At age 39, he was the second-winningest coach (behind legendary Wimp Sanderson of Arkansas-Little Rock) in the Sun Belt Conference. He also ranks second in seniority (to Marty Fletcehr of Southwestern Louisiana) in the strong Sun Belt, where many coaches have proved upwardly mobile in recent years.
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    His first Broncs team, consisting of 11 new players, produced the nation's leading scorer, Greg Guy. Adams' second team finished 16-12 after a brilliant rebuilding year. His next team finished 14-14 but was 10-8 in the Sun Belt. His fourth team also proved highly competitive, winning again in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. One of his proudest accomplishments is the fact that nearly 90 percent of seniors who played for him have earned degrees.
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    Adams was a three-sport tar at Brownfield High School before taking his game to South Plains Junior College. After his playing days, Adams earned his bachelor's degree in social science from Texas Tech in 1979 and a master's degree in administrative education from The University of Texas-Permian Basin in 1982. While a student at Texas Tech, he served as a team manager under former coach Gerald Myers.
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    Basketball isn't the only sport about which Adams is passionate. He won a pair of golden gloves regional titles in the late 1970's and fought before 10,000 fans in the Golden Glove state tournament, reaching the Texas semifinals of the 156-pound division.
