8A - Thursday, March 24, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Bacari lexander: The man teaching posts to be artists in the paint The writi much or Michiga ball coach John in Bacari Alexa tant. Alexander w formidably diff verting Beilein tingent into a compete with t of big men - and Marcus M Jared Sullingr JaJuan Johnsor To face off a aths, Alexande two redshirt handful of true Few thought be able to do it. wrapped up in 73-71 loss at th Alexander seen verted some oft Freshman Jo and redshirt Morgan scored Kyle Singler an Devils. Freshm: who only star midway throug with some of t the country. And still, A himself as fo stood on the sl through every ing career. Bu again this seaso ers on his sho "labor of love," it. He turned t that don't just s in Division-I b compete with a Alexander st ketball in midd didn't get seriou freshman year western High S Between mi ng was pretty passes. My strength was probably n the wall when defense and rebounding. I figured an men's basket- you didn't have to have a talent Beilein brought to do those things. Just 'effort. nder as his assis- So that was my calling card as a youngster." 'ould be given the Alexander graduated from ficult task of con- Southwestern in 1995 and went on 's young post con- to play for Robert Morris College group that could (now Robert Morris University). :his year's resume "It was the No. 1 team in the Kansas' Markieff country if you read your newspa- orris, Ohio State's per upside-down," he joked. "We er and Purdue's were awful, but the thingthatwas n. really beneficial from that experi- gainst these Goli- ence was that it was an environ- r would be given ment where I could really shine." freshmen and a But in 1997, after his coach freshmen. at Robert Morris had left for Alexander would another opportunity, Alexan- But, as the seasrn der returned to his hometown to the Wolverines' play for the University of Detroit- ie hands of Duke, Mercy. At UDM, he was under the ned to have con- tutelage of Perry Watson, who the unbelievers. had coached him during his first n Horford dunked two years of high school. freshman Jordan And like his first few years in d 10 points over high school, he made leaps and nd the other Blue bounds under Watson once again. an Evan Smotrycz, He helped his team to two con- ted playing post ference championships and two h the season, stuck NCAA Tournament berths. And he top recruits in in his senior year, he was named to the conference's all-defensive Alexander counts team. But more important, Alex- rtunate to have ander was named UDM's most houlders of giants outstanding senior student-ath- step of his coach- lete. t time and time The student part was, and con- n, he put his play- tinues to be, critically important ulders through a to Alexander when it comes to " as he describes student-athletes. hem into big men It would become a cornerstone tand their ground in his coaching philosophy. asketball but can "It had agreat influence on who nybody. I've become as a coach,"iAlexan- der said. "I think a lot of times *** when you approach things with a lesson plan, with progressions, it arted playing bas- gives your students an opportuni- Ile school, but he ty to grow at a pace that's normal s about it until his and thatthey're accustomed to. So at Detroit's South- that kind of fuels my enthusiasm chool. as it relates to coaching because ddle school and trulythe court is a classroom." AssistantcoachBacari Alexander (left) made an easy transition ram Kalama- zoo to Ann Arbor, bringint his experience to help Michigan's youthful post game. shows, traveling to 13 countries. But an aching body told him it was time to transition into something new. That 'something new' led him back to his roots at the UDM, where, after two months as the director of basketball operations, he was promoted to an assistant coaching position. He spent six seasons there before moving to Ohio Univer- sity and becoming an assistant coach on a team that took part in the inaugural CBI Tournament in 2008. In 2008, Alexander transi- tioned to the MAC conference and became an assistant coach at Western Michigan University. In his first year in Kalamazoo, the Broncos featured a roster of 16 players, eight of whom were freshmen. There was only one returning post player with sig- nificant playing time the previous season. "Through a labor of work and love, we were able to develop those guys to become contribu- tors in the first year and then forces in the second year," Alex- ander said. "So as you're devel- oping (Michigan's post players) and using the methodology that, quite frankly, we used at Western Michigan, it's really boded well for our young bigs." It was with the Broncos that Alexander began to solidify his post coaching philosophy. He decided that the most important aspect in coaching was establish- ing a superior work ethic within each player. "A lot of times athletes want to be really good players but it's always a tremendous challenge to learn the level of intensity that it takes to achieve those goals," Alexander said. "I tell our play- ers all the time, 'Don't mistake intensity for anger. Just because I have a scowl on my face and I have a volume on the delivery of my words doesn't mean that I'm upset at you fellas. "It just means that we're trying to establish a mentality in terms of the approach that you have to take each and every day on the practice court.'" He would transition from Kalamazoo to Ann Arbor easily by bringing with him his experi- ence to a very similar situation. Alexander didn't personally know Beilein when his phone number appeared on Alexan- der's cell phone that afternoon. Beilein had called to talk about a job opening at the University of Michigan. That phone call led to an in-person interview where Alexander ran a full workout for Beilein's son, Patrick. "I was looking for, first of all, a big-man coach," coach Beilein said. "When you're small and ... you're effective as a big man, you know a lot of the trade secrets. I could sense that right away. Then I ended up talking with his former head coaches, Tim O'Shea and Steve Hawkins, they both said the same thing. And then I just loved his energy, his personality when he came to his interview. "I could tell right away he was a very good teacher." Alexander was offered the job and knew he would be coming into nearly the same situation as when he was an assistant at West- ern Michigan. The Wolverines had two red- shirt freshmen forwards, Morgan and Blake McLimans, but beyond that, it was a slew of freshmen. The heavy task of taking these players and turning them into Big Ten contenders was placed on the broad shoulders of Alexander. He immediately took to the players and brought an intensity that few had ever seen in a coach before. "He always says he'd never make us do anything that he hasn't done himself, so he's basi- cally just trying to make us in his image," Horford said. "Having strong post play is crucial to any team that wants to have great suc- cess like the success we're looking for." Morgan added: "He tries to have a different approach about everything. He finds a way to make doing good things fun. You do a lot of good things to be a great player. And he finds a way to break everything down and make it real simple for you." With the true freshmen, Alex- ander taught them the what's, how's and why's of being a Divi- sion-I basketball player. But with McLimans and Morgan, Alex- ander focused more on teaching them the when's and the where's, since they were expected to see By Chantel Jennings Daily Sports Editor the most game time. With each player, he brought game-like intensity to every prac- tice and every game. "My personal belief is that you win games in practices," Alexan- der said. "Practice is the process that takes care of the outcome. So for me to stand onthe sideline and not give a 'yes face' to our play- ers is really a recipe for disaster on some levels when you have a young developing talent of guys that are trying to establish confi- dence consistently forthemselves. "So I'm always sitting over there with a 'yes face,' apat on the back, a smile, awink, you know, or even some laughter, just to break up the mood and keep it light." When Alexander was at UDM he wore the jersey No. 34. He said he wanted to pick a number that great, tough players like Charles Barkley once wore. It was a big deal to him because he also believed that the number was lucky - the two numbers added up to seven. And while he doesn't wear the uniform number anymore on the sidelines, the coach is still con- cerned with his attire. It may have started as a joke, but now Alexander is a four-time winner of CollegeInsider.com's Runway to the Fashionable Four - the only coach in the country to do so. He said that his game-day decorum is more aboutbeing pos- itive than about what he wears, but he admits that his wife does pick out his suits for the game because it's important to always look put together. "(You must) not only dress for where you're at, but dress for where you're trying to go," Alex- ander said. At this point, none of the Wol- verines wear No. 34 and Alexan- der jokes that "they still have to earn their stripes and the jury is still out" on whether any deserve to wear his historic number. But perhaps after a season that saw the Wolverines' post group@ make leaps and bounds, every player this summer will be wear- ing No. 34 jerseys. It is, after all, where they're all trying to go. high school, Alexander grew from 5-foot-8 to 6-foot-1. While the growth spurt made him a more legitimate post player, his talents hadn't caught up to his height. "I arguably was the worst play- er in the Detroit Public School league at that time," Alexander said of his first year at South- western. "Ain't no doubt about it, airballing layups and dropping Following graduation in 1999, Alexander stayed in Detroit, working a short stint as the play- ers programs coordinator for the Detroit Pistons before joining the Harlem Globetrotters. In his two years with the Globetrotters, he performed in more than 400 Not only does On John Beilein: On LaVall Jordan: exanderhave an "He's like the 2011 version "He's got a workman-look award-winning type. Rolled up sleeves ofBilly D. Williams. He's fashion taste, but and the coordinating ties. so smooth. His clothes are made not by what he he can out clothing I thnk that has wears, but by the man swag to it." ,, wears theman compliments, too:wg that wears them." On Jeff Meyer: "He has the best hair in our conference. Not to mention oufits, but I think that hair really brings creedence to whatever he wears. He can literally wear anything." Best dressed player: "In his mind, Jon Horford. He has a very eclectic, European style... He's into the straight-legged jeans and rainbow-style colors. He tends to gravitate toward purple." Trip to St. Louis takes Berenson down memory lane By STEPHEN J. NESBITT Daily SportsEditor Seventeen days ago, Michigan coach Red Berenson stepped onto the ice at Scottrade Center to drop the puck for the opening faceoff between the St. Louis Blues and the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was the curtain closing on Berenson's illustrious career with the Blues -'Salute to No. 7.' Alongside the 17-year NHL vet- eran stood three other legendary No. 7s: Garry Unger, Joe Mullen and Keith Tkachuk. But just as the last strains of light vanished from behind the curtains in St. Louis, the 'Red Baron' burst back onto center stage. Friday, Berenson and the No. 6 Michigan hockey team will tangle with No. 14 Nebraska-Omaha in the opening round of the NCAA West Regional. The matchup will be the Wolverines' first ever inSt. Louis. Though the Gateway City rolled out the red carpet for the veteran coach last time, there certainly will be no homecoming party this time around - that's Berenson's initiative. "I still have a lot of friends in St. Louis, but this is a business trip, this isn your fr Berens go to St talk tor play ho ButI owes h seven y Canadi scoring St.. eves to Berens( That be endi Bere alty kill after be the cen bone or wanted town. wasn't( "I th 't going back and visiting all son said. "I told them, 'Trade me that era. iends - I'm not like that," or give me a lot more money.' And "I was traded for the icon of the on said Monday. "When I they gave me the money." community," Unger told reporters . Louis, I don't even want to But one person in particular was at 'Salute to No. 7.' my friends; we're comingto looking out for Berenson - Blues Berenson later returned to the ckey." coach Scotty Bowman. Berenson Blues' coaching staff, spending Berenson readily admits he had excelled under Bowman with three years as head coach. is career to the Blues. After the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens, tally- When Berenson retired follow- rears of floundering in the ing 48 points in 30 games for the ing the 1977-78 season, Berenson ens and Rangers' systems, minor-league affiliate of Montreal. finished as the seventh-leading just 16 goals in 185 games, When Bowman heard Berenson goal-scorer in St. Louis history was on the Rangers' trading block, with 172 goals. he made the move. So the Rang- And six of those tallies came ers dealt Berenson to St. Louis, on a single night. On Nov. 7, 1968, When I go to an expansion team with a ragtag Berenson torched the Philadelphia bunch playing in a sad excuse of Flyers for a half dozen goals - the Louis, I don't an arena, first player to ever record a double "(Bowman) knew I could play, hat-trick in a road game. n w ant to talk so he made the deal, he got New But at 71 years old, the ever- York to trade me," Berenson said. humble coach has heard enough my friends."' "He said, 'You've always needed about that night. He remembers it a chance. You're getting a chance as an 8-0 win. now.' That was my chance, and I During last Tuesday's practice took off. at Yost Ice Arena, Berenson skated on needed a change.' "It gave me a chance to prove in front of the empty net and rifled change, he thought, might that I could play. I bumped around a backhand just beneath the cross- unghis career. a little bit. When I came out of bar. And then he did it four more nson played solely as a pen- school, I was with Montreal, they times. ler with the Canadiens, and didn't play me, I was a fourth-line The veteran coach hasn't lost ring traded to the Rangers, player." his touch. ter broke his toe and cheek- Berenson went on to play eight "He's got a better backhand n Christmas - the gift he years with the Blues, sandwiched than me ... And he doesn't just 1 next was a ticket out of around a four-year stint with skate, he flies," senior forward ks Berenson says, he "just the Detroit Red Wings in which Rust said after the NCAA Selec- cut out for New York." he was traded for Unger to join a tion Show placed the Wolverines ought I was done," Beren- team coined the "Dead Wings" in in St. Louis for the West Regional. tED MOCH/Daily Michigan coach Red Berenson returns to St. Louis this weekend, where he was an All-Star caliber forward for the Blues. As a player who took his knocks in the NHL and saw time as both a fourth-line player and a six-time All-Star, Berenson has carried his experience into his tenure as coach of the Wolverines. "I was up and down," Berenson said. "I can relate to players that aren't having success, and I can relate to our players that are hav- ing success." Added senior forward Louie Caporusso: "(Berenson) shows no signs of slowing down. He's the most intense person in the rink every time there's a game. We feed off him. His pregame talks and some of the things he says are very inspirational - you can't ask for a better coach." In St. Louis this weekend, Berenson hopes to close the cur- tains with a pair of wins, and not get sent home singingthe blues.