Mark Anderson to coach Jays basketball after 7 seasons at Moberly

Mark Anderson
Mark Anderson

Mark Anderson helped mold Jefferson City Jays assistant coach Jordan Chapman as a player in middle school. Now they'll coach together.

Anderson was named the new head boys basketball coach last week, replacing Blair Thompson, who stepped down after a 10-16 record and loss against Battle in the Class 5 District 8 championship game.

"It certainly feels like home to me," Anderson said. " It's something I'm really excited about."

Anderson got into coaching at the youth level in Jefferson City, moving up to the middle school level at Lewis and Clark and Thomas Jefferson before coaching the Jays freshman team.

Ten years ago, he took the head coaching position at Knob Noster and went to Moberly after three years. The Spartans finished 16-8 with a loss in the Class 4 District 13 tournament semifinals this past season, Anderson's seventh at the school.

"A lot of great friends, loved the school, loved the administration, loved the kids," Anderson said. "The meeting that we had on Wednesday when I told them that I was not coming back was hard because you've built relationships with those kids over time."

Moberly finished with a winning record each season under Anderson's, winning a district title in 2015.

"We've been very consistent and I think part of that is we have guarded people and we've found ways to win close games," Anderson said.

Anderson said he'll bring a defensive mindset to the Jays, playing mostly man-to-man. He's mostly ran motion offense but said he'll run the style suitable for the roster.

"I still think you can win a lot of ball games by guarding people," he said. " That's what we'll hang our hat on."

Anderson met with Jefferson City players Tuesday morning before their workout.

"I don't know much about them yet, kind of by design," he said. "I want to form my own opinions. I have not looked at any film on them, I've talked with some people about the kids that are coming back. I know there's some really good guards, young guards, coming back. I know the incoming freshman class is pretty good, pretty deep."

The Jays graduated three seniors, including leading scorer Kamari Balton. They are projected to have five seniors, three juniors and two freshmen with varsity experience back this winter.

"I'm excited about the athleticism and the fact some of them will be in the program for a couple more years yet," Anderson said.

But before then, Anderson will spend the summer getting to know his team and working to improve each day.

"We're going to play in the Lincoln summer league starting next Monday," he said. "We're going to try to get to a team camp at Central Missouri. We're going to have some workouts and things like that along the way. I'm excited for the chance to see the kids this summer and get to know them and for them to get to know me."