THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: The circle of coaching life, from college to high school

Technically, Arnold Brown was the acting head coach for the first five games of the Coeur d’Alene High boys basketball season.

But pretty much everything the Vikings did had the fingerprints of Jon Adams, the team’s actual head coach, all over it.

Adams was suspended for the first five games of the season following a rules violation this past summer. He could coach the team in practice, devise the game plan … pretty much everything but be in the gym and on the bench during Coeur d’Alene’s first five games.

“We were set up pretty good, because Jon, he walks us through everything, so we’re just feeding off of what he’s put in all week,” Brown said after the Vikings’ season opener, a 72-61 victory over Kamehameha Schools of Honolulu. "He does all the scouting, has everything set up, we (Brown and assistant coach Colby Denton) just have to make sure they execute.”

WITH BROWN as the acting head coach, Coeur d’Alene went 5-0, including a road victory over Bonners Ferry (7-3), last year’s state 3A runner-up, whose only other losses were by four points to Lake City and one point to West Valley.

Adams’ first game back on the bench was the Vikings’ first game at the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas, where Coeur d’Alene went 3-1 in its bracket. The Vikings are 10-2, heading into Friday’s nonleague game at Ferris of Spokane.

Most recently, Brown was head coach at Shadle Park for the past six seasons. Before that, he spent 15 years at Medical Lake, three at Wapato, a couple at Rosalia.

Brown was out of coaching when he got a call from Adams during the past offseason. When Adams played at Whitworth in the 1990s, Brown was an assistant coach with the Pirates.

“It’s funny; I’m working with him now; that’s the part I’ve got to get used to dealing with,” Brown said with a laugh. “It’s just kind of a blessing in disguise. It's funny how life works; I used to tell those guys (at Whitworth), ‘one of these days you’re going to take care of me.’ Well … I was kinda retired, and he talked me into it.”

Brown used to run big tournaments in Spokane for the past 15 years or so. More recently, he started helping Adams run his summer tournament at Coeur d’Alene High.

“I’m more defense and discipline, and motivation,” Brown said of his role with the Vikings.

“The (players) loved Arnold right away,” Adams said. “He’s a vocal coach; he complements me, He’s a great in-game coach. He just makes it fun, he’s a fun guy to be around.”

“He was a pretty good player,” Brown recalled of Adams at Whitworth. “Just intense. He could shoot … very smart, high IQ. Defense wasn’t the greatest — but don’t let him tell you that — but his offensive skills and his knowledge of basketball is what got him over the hump. And, obviously, a great team player.”

POST FALLS boys basketball coach Mike McLean coached against a former college teammate recently.

He’ll do the same later this month.

When the Trojans faced Baker High of Baker City, Ore., in the semifinals of a tournament in Nampa in early December, McLean coached against Jebron Jones, who was McLean’s teammate for two seasons at NAIA Eastern Oregon University in La Grande in the mid-1990s. Jones is in his sixth season at Baker.

Their teams had never played each other before; McLean tries to find challenging matchups for his nonleague games.

“You could say our teams play similar styles,” McLean said of his team and Jones’ squad.

On Jan. 20, a Saturday, Jones is scheduled to bring his Baker team to Post Falls for a game with the Trojans.

Jones played at Eastern Oregon from 1999-2001; McLean played for the Mounties from 1998-2002.

McLean and Jones would run into each other on the AAU circuit in recent years, with Jones coaching his sons’ teams; and McLean an assistant on his sons’ teams. Both have sons who are juniors in high school now, and Trenton McLean and Isaiah Jones guarded each other in last month’s game.

“Trenton and Isaiah went at it, just like Jebron and I went at each other in practice,” Mike McLean said.

It was a bit of a surreal feeling for Jessica McLean, Mike’s wife. When they were dating in college, Jessica was in the stands watching Mike and Jebron play. Nearly three decades later, she was at the tourney in Nampa, watching the former college teammates coach against each other.

As it turned out, in that semifinal game, Baker defeated Post Falls 53-51, with Jebron’s sophomore son, Rasean, scoring the go-ahead basket on a putback with 5 seconds left.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.