One if by land, two if by sea ... Wake Forest skipper Skip Prosser's path to the Sweet 16 was anything but easy.
By GARY SHELTON
Published March 25, 2004
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - You begin by joining the Merchant Marine, even though you have no earthly idea how to swim.
You cling desperately to the rail of a ship, heaving over the side, a thousand miles from the nearest basketball court.
You start along the road to the Final Four by taking a ride on the Marrakesh Express.
And that is how you get to the Sweet 16.
Thanks for asking.
For Skip Prosser, the Luckiest Man Alive, the trek down the hallway to his Wake Forest team's locker was a slow one on Thursday. He would take a few steps, and someone else was grabbing his hand. It is that way when a coach reaches the round of 16; everyone wants to tell him how success was waiting for him all along.
Prosser moved down the hall, stopping here, smiling there, answering a question about tonight's game against Saint Joseph's every now and then. In the end, it took him almost 15 minutes to reach his locker room. Give or take the 32 years leading up to it.
If you are going to feel good for anyone during this NCAA Tournament, feel good for Prosser, college basketball's accidental success. No one has come from farther away, and no one has taken a more improbable journey. And the delicious thing is this: Prosser is fully aware of the strange line of dominoes it took to bring him here.
Perhaps it is because Prosser never hungered for this that makes him seem so different from the normal cut of coach. Most coaches chase after the career the way a guard runs after a ball headed out of bounds. Prosser? He sailed a few waves. He walked in the Holy Land. He read a little Emerson.
Oh, you know the normal career path for a college coach. You spring forth from the head of Mike Krzyzewski. You sit at the right hand of Tubby Smith. You clean up after the General. You swap ties with Rick Pitino.
Somewhere along the way, you find yourself a mentor. You recruit a few players. You watch film until you think you're a Spielberg. You bring resumes to coaching clinics.
Finally, you get a job at an unknown school, then trade it in for a barely known school. You wait for the right opening, created when the former coach chases a bigger Nike deal, and you pounce.
Of course, that's the easy way.
If you want a challenge, try tracing Prosser's steps. You could play a little college basketball at the Merchant Marine and wind up "only 852" points shy of the 1,000-point mark.
You could decide to become a high school teacher, only to discover if you want the job, you also have to coach the freshman basketball team.
You could remember your coaching debut, when it seemed as if the other team was going to pitch a shutout. And you could wonder: How do you get to success from here?
Prosser still laughs when he tells the story. First game, and his freshmen were behind 18-0 after one period. It was 22-0 before his team finally got on the scoreboard. Oh, yeah. You could tell a successful career had been launched, all right.
For goodness' sake, Prosser never wanted to coach. He joined the Merchant Marine for the free education, but he really never was a sailor. There were times Prosser was so sick, he has said, "I would have had to improve to die."
Oh, Prosser liked visiting the ports of call, but even Casablanca loses its charm after a while. He wanted to be a teacher, and he heard about an opening at Linsly Institute in Wheeling, W.Va.
Even now, it isn't hard to picture Prosser in front of a chalkboard. He has the easy manner of a teacher, and his literary references are unforced.
"There are things you learn in a gym you can't teach in a classroom," Prosser said. "Of course, there are things you learn in a classroom you can't teach in a gym."
Prosser coached that freshman team for four years, and he coached the junior varsity for a fifth. He was a high school coach for eight years, and he was quite happy with the notion he was going to spend his career there. He won a state championship. He won five region championships.
Um, guys. One question.
Are you sure Dean Smith did it this way?
Prosser was 35 years old before he joined a college coaching staff. He had struck up a friendship with a Xavier assistant named Pete Gillen. When Gillen took over the program, he hired Prosser as an assistant.
Things didn't exactly take off from there, either. Prosser was Gillen's assistant for eight seasons. He finally took over his first college program at Loyola, then replaced Gillen at Xavier the next season. In six out of seven seasons, his teams won more than 20 games.
Wake Forest called in 2001. Prosser took the job. It seemed like a challenge, he says.
It didn't take long before Wake fans considered Prosser one of their own. He won 21 his first year, 25 his second. But it was only when Pitt, the university of his hometown, came calling that Wake fans realized how much they liked Prosser.
During those days last spring, players urged him not to go. Students decorated his doors with messages pleading for him to stay. The file of letters sent from fans was 5 inches thick. In the end, Prosser decided to stay.
"Pitt is better off," Prosser says. "I hope Wake is, too."
How does a coach get to the Sweet 16? It's easy, really. Bringing perspective along is the difficult part.
You could get drafted into the profession. You could rally from a 22-0 deficit in a freshman game.
Along the way, instead of just quoting Wooden, you mix in a little Shakespeare.
That's all you have to do. That, and play a little defense.
