Meet Mark Sears, cadet: Alabama basketball star's adventures in military school
Alabama basketball star Mark Sears only got in trouble for one thing during his time at Hargrave Military Academy.
But he got in trouble for that thing many times.
Boarding schools aren't always last-resort places to mend bad habits or behavioral issues. Sears didn't fit that bill. He came to the school in Chatham, Virginia, to hone his craft. That's the same reason he broke into the gym after hours, knowing he'd suffer consequences the next day.
Five years later, Sears can still be found shooting in the wee hours of the morning. Most notably until 3 a.m. after a scoreless night against Illinois in November, after which he bounced back to score 24 points against Houston, now a No. 1 seed heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Before he was the free-wheeling, three-point-shooting All-American who led Alabama – a No. 2 seed in March Madness heading into Friday's opener vs. Robert Morris – to a historic Final Four run last season, Sears spent a year as a cadet at the private prep school. This is the story of that time and his first hunt for a national championship.
Life at Hargrave Military Academy for Alabama basketball's Mark Sears
High Point University basketball alum Bryson Childress was one of Sears’ teammates on Hargrave's last Final Four run in a national tournament. As the postgrad liaison, he moved into the barracks − two-man quarters − for "Hell Week" to acclimate Sears and others when they arrived.
That week started with physical training each day at 5 a.m.
“They're testing you on your outfits, how clean your room is, but they’re just a little more intense about it and strict on it," Childress said.
Childress remembers Sears arriving looking a lot different than he does today. There was no goatee, and his hair was in a military crop, a far cry from the bleach tips he rocked while terrorizing Alabama high school teams. The 6-foot-1 guard was also at least a dozen pounds lighter than the 185 pounds he weighed when he arrived at Ohio University, from which he transferred to Alabama, as a freshman.
Life at Hargrave was different from the uniform-free halls of Muscle Shoals High School, Sear's hometown school from which he transferred.
Bugle calls for alarm clocks signaled that beds needed to be made. To buy extra minutes, some brought sleeping bags to put on top of a pre-made beds. Upon rising, it was time to get in uniform and head to the mess hall before daily formation.
“It's a big old loop you do," Childress said. "And if you're not in sync marching, they'll send you back around and back around until everyone's on the same page and you look good.”
Founded in 1909, Hargrave is an all-boys school with a mission to develop leaders through academics, athletics and military training. Visitors can see cadets in step before the five-story, brick-walled main building with white columns.
Military discipline and punishment in the bullring
Physical training included 50 pause push-ups in cadence, or, sometimes, flutter kicks. They continued until everyone was in synch.
“Could be five minutes a day. Could be an hour-and-a-half a day,” Childress said.
If cadets were caught without hats outside, it meant 100 push-ups, or up to two hours on the what is known as the bullring, a square painted on concrete in the middle of campus.
Sears and his basketball teammates spent a lot of time doing walking tours in the bullring for protocol violations. A tour consisted of an hour walking in uniform with a replica rifle.
“If you can get through a year at Hargrave, then you can get through any college coaching program,” Childress said. "... The hardest part about it is when you're going there as an 18-year-old, as a 19-year-old post-grad, and you have 15-year-olds that are telling you to do 50 push-ups."
The cadets who arrived at younger ages could discipline older ones because they'd been at it longer and had mastered military routine.
"It's not like a normal high school," said Alan Petty, the current basketball coach at Hargrave.
Sneaking into the gym and paying a price
Ben Veshi now leads Hargrave's postgrad program, but during the 2019-20 season he was on the coaching staff that recruited Sears to Virginia. He remembers those gym break-ins by Sears and his teammates, which resulted in two bullring tours each time they got caught.
"There's what bonds you, too, when you're ... walking with your toy rifle for an hour," Childress said.
Childress remembers those walks, or being lined up along a hallway polishing shoes for two hours – and what he and his friends did to merit those punishments – as the "best nights of our lives."
The gym was where players could escape their regimented lives. It's why they would get punished and go do it again the next evening.
“It was everyone’s safe haven,” Childress said.
How 'fireball' KD Johnson helped Sears find his voice
Veshi remembers Sears saying "about five words" his first few months at Hargrave. Childress recalls the player often just putting his head down to “blend.”
Hargrave is as known for its athletics as much as its military program. It has produced numerous future NFL players. Longtime NBA coach Larry Brown and a host of future players in the pro league also came through the academy.
Sears was on a team that included eight Division I players and five power conference recruits.
“It was one fun backcourt we had that year,” Veshi said, adding Hargrave practices were "probably tougher" for Sears than games at Muscle Shoals.
Sears' best matchup? KD Johnson in practice.
Johnson started his college career at Georgia, transferred to Auburn and is finishing now at George Mason.
“I think that what was tough for Mark ... was that KD Johnson is such a personality. He's a fireball,” Veshi said.
Johnson helped Sears find his voice.
In one of Sears' first first ESPN appearances, he dropped 18 points with 13 rebounds. Johnson topped him with 35 points.
“Mark was more than comfortable, I guess, being the Robin to that Batman, and he was able to just be about his business and do what he was supposed to do,” Veshi said.
Childress said it was "unique to see how Mark went from kind of being timid" to blossoming into the leader he'd become by March. A big part of it was Johnson "picking and messing with him a little bit,” Childress said.
Sears' recruitment to Hargrave and path to stardom
Sears moved from Muscle Shoals to Virginia to play before college coaches week after week and increase his exposure but was still met with skepticism by recruiters as a 3-star prospect.
“Had COVID not hit, he probably would have come back as a post-grad to improve his stock,” Veshi said.
Johnson wasn't Sears' only competition in practice. The roster included players like Corey Walker Jr., who played at Tennessee before transferring to USF, and Gabe Wiznitzer, who began at Louisville and ended up at Ohio.
After going to Ohio with his Hargrave head coach, Lee Martin, who took a position on the Bobcats' staff. Sears spent two seasons there before transferring to Alabama.
The Hargrave tragedy that led up to Final Four run
Hargrave’s season took a heartbreaking turn in March 2020, when Ashley James, who had committed to Missouri State, was killed in an accidental shooting just four days before Hargrave learned it made the 14-team field for the National Prep Championship.
On the way to Virginia Beach for the tournament, the team attended James' funeral. Players served as pallbearers.
“I still remember that day and everything, just finding out, and then being around Mark and the other guys and being able to tell your brothers you love them,” Childress said.
Petty was coaching elsewhere in the area when James' death rocked the community. He remembers seeing the pain on Sears' face.
“It was a deep cut. Then, it was a catalyst,” Petty said.
Hargrave made it to the semifinals, giving Sears his second Final Four experience: He had made it to the state semifinals with Muscle Shoals in his final season there.
Since what Childress remembers as the “most hectic, crazy two weeks ever,” players from the 2019-20 Hargrave team haven't seen each other. Before they arrived back at Hargrave from the tournament, the country shut down due to COVID-19.
On the way back, players were told to gather their things while the school tried to arrange transportation home.
“We didn't even realize we were all saying bye right then," Childress said.
Sears' legacy still lives at Hargrave
Though their paths didn't directly cross at Hargrave, Petty is impacted by Sears every day. A giant picture of the Alabama star hangs in the gym he used to break into when he was a student.
"Hargrave family" is a thing on campus. Petty says current athletes and alumni service members will be rooting for Sears in the NCAA Tournament. The checkerboard-floored activity room where Sear's Hargrave team used to relax will be filled with supporters watching him on the big screen with pride.
“There's kids from Connecticut and should be rooting for UConn," Petty said. "But they're going to be rooting for Alabama."
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Meet Mark Sears, cadet: Alabama basketball star's military school past
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