THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: 'I don’t know if it could have gone any better’ — MØDE Prep head coach Jon Adams, the former Coeur d’Alene High boys basketball coach, reflects on first season

Like other basketball fans, Jon Adams tuned in last weekend to watch the Chipotle Nationals, featuring many of the top high school and prep programs in the country. 

This year, it hit a little closer to home for the former Coeur d’Alene High boys basketball coach, who recently completed his first season as head coach at MØDE Prep, a prep school boys basketball program in Liberty Lake which recently completed its first season on the prep hoops circuit. 

“We played them ... we played them ... “ Adams thought, as he watched the various teams on TV last weekend. 

“It’s just different from, we’re at Coeur d’Alene playing other North Idaho teams,” Adams said. “And now I’m looking at this one kid who’s playing for Prolific Prep, and he’s one of the top players in the country. And I’m like, 'Oh my gosh, we played those guys.’ It puts everything more into a national perspective, than just a local perspective.” 

In its inaugural season, MØDE Prep finished with a 16-17 record. MØDE played in the second division of the adidas GrindSession (the Elevation division), losing in their first game at nationals. But along the way, MØDE Prep was invited to play in some tournaments where it faced first-division (Power division) teams. 

Adams said 10 of MØDE Prep’s 33 games were against Power division teams, and MØDE won three of them — vs. Star Alliance (Italy), Huntington (West Virginia) Prep and AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.) 

“We played Prolific Prep (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), we played Bella Vista (Scottsdale, Ariz.), we played AZ Compass,” Adams said. “Didn’t win any of those games, but again, we’re playing some of the top players and top teams in the country. It was good for us to do, too.  

"The greatest takeaway from those games was, they beat us. Other teams beat us, but they beat us by their full-court defensive pressure. That was just a great lesson for our kids. I was like, we can shoot as good as those guys, they are super-athletic and super-aggressive, and their defense just suffocates you.  

“So that was a good lesson. That was the greatest thing that we could have taught them — ‘geez, I guess I need to get better at my defense, as opposed to working on my shot all the time.’  

“I said you can make a career, and get a scholarship, by playing defense.” 

AS FOR the season, it was about more than the wins and losses. It was more about setting the foundation for the program at MØDE Prep. 

In that respect, “I don’t know if it could have gone any better,” Adams said. 

“Were we able to recruit a team? Were we able to convince these kids and these parents, this is the place you should be, and take a chance on a first-year program? Are we able to house these kids? What are the complexities of housing these kids, these kids living together, and this kid has dietary issues, and this kid, he recognizes Ramadan and can’t eat during these periods (from dawn until sunset during that month).  

This year’s team ended up with nine players. The players lived in a large home near the school, in which construction was taking place in preparation for more players coming into the program next year.  

Then there was creating the academic model, making sure the players were on track to move on to college. What tournaments were MØDE Prep going to attend, to gain the most exposure. 

“Our travel is not driving to Wallace or St. Maries,” Adams said. “Our travel is we’re heading to GEG (Spokane International Airport) and we’re flying to Kentucky.” 

Originally, MØDE Prep planned to field three teams — two national prep teams, and one that would play at the high school level in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. 

Eventually, due to time constraints and the abovementioned factors, MØDE chose to consolidate into one team. 

“We said, ‘We need to figure this out,’” Adams said. 

“When they hired me they said, 'We may not win a game.’ 

“I said, ‘I don’t know if I can do that.’” 

At the GrindSession Elevation Division nationals, MØDE Prep lost its opener to a team that went on to win the tournament. 

Three teams from the Elevation tournament advanced to the Power Division nationals, “and the top teams go on to play in the Chipotle Nationals that you’re watching right now,” Adams said. 

MØDE Prep’s goal is to be selected for the Power Division next year, where there is more exposure to college scouts. 

“People were coming up to us and saying, 'We love how you play, we love how organized you guys are. You guys look like you’ve been doing this for 4-5 years and we know it’s your first year,’” Adams said. “That made us feel like we’re doing something right here. 

“The GrindSession, they want to see talent on your roster, but they also want to see that you’re not just a fly-by-night operation, grabbing pieces from here and there. And I think we presented that well.” 

OF THE nine players at MØDE Prep, two were transfers from Coeur d’Alene High, and three were transfers from Utah Prep. 

“Our strength and conditioning coach was from Utah Prep, and some other advisors from Utah Prep were incredibly helpful,” Adams said. 

“The founder of Prolific Prep is now essentially a sports agent; he came up and visited our facility and recommended two kids — Alassane (Doucoure), and Vuk (Zelic), from Serbia. 

“He (Doucoure) was going to be great,” Adams said. “He was only a sophomore (last year), but his agent said 'We know he would be a marquee player for you tomorrow.’ 

“And he was. Alasanne was absolutely terrific, and he brought a lot of attention to us.” 

Zuby Toms, who ended up bring MØDE Prep’s leading scorer (18.7 points per game), was recommended to Adams by Matt Cummins, who MØDE had already recruited, and had played AAU ball with Toms in Las Vegas. 

Early in the second, MØDE needed a “3 and D guy,” and Cummins and Toms suggested Rayan Elghahy, who they have played with at another AAU tournament. 

“You guys are doing the recruiting for us,” Adams told Cummins and Toms. 

“If we would have started earlier on this, and I’m not regretting this because one team was exactly what we needed to do, we could have filled five rosters with players,” Adams said.  

Still ...  

“I just basically got a crash course in how to start a prep basketball program,” he said.  

The lone seniors on this year’s team were Elghaly (12 points per game), who Adams said has “multiple offers,” and Beau Hansen, a late addition from Utah Prep who is visiting with a number of colleges. 

Zelic, Adams said, has reclassified as a junior. 

Other juniors are Doucoure (16 points, 11.7 rebounds, 2.1 blocks), Cummins (5.7 assists, 2.1 steals), Toms and Bodo Konan, a 6-9 post and midseason addition from the Ivory Coast. 

According to prephoops.com, Toms (No. 3 overall) is ranked as the No. 1 shooting guard in the state of Washington, Doucoure (No. 4 overall) is the top post, and Cummins (No. 15 overall) is the fourth-ranked point guard. 

The Coeur d’Alene products, Collin Simon and Hudson Reid, are sophomores. 

“When they approached me about this job, I said I won’t take this job if this is just to showcase basketball — give it to that guy, see what he can do, give it to the next guy, see what he can do,” Adams said. “If this is not about winning, and team-oriented basketball, I’m not interested. 

“They assured me, if you can bring out a group that plays as a team, and is competitive and wins, you’re going to draw all the attention. 

“’Perfect. I’m in.’ And we got kids to buy in in one year, which is great. Alassane, who is our best player, is probably our most unselfish player.” 

Adams and his staff are currently recruiting for next year’s teams. He said all of the current players said they’d like to return if possible, though he’s not naive to the fact the prep school circuit is somewhat like the college basketball landscape, where players often leave if a better situation arises. 

MØDE Prep is privately funded by Luke Kjar, founder of MØDE Prep. Other revenue streams include student tuitions, office and health and wellness facilities memberships, and corporate sponsorships (including Adidas).  

MØDE Prep plans to showcase its current players, and invite future players to be evaluated, during three sessions this month at the HUB Sports Center in Liberty Lake — April 14-16, April 21-23 and April 28-30. 

NEXT YEAR, MØDE Prep is planning to field three teams — two at the national prep school level, and one that will play at the high school level, in Washington’s class 1B as Liberty Launch Academy, which is the actual name of the K-12 school in Liberty Lake.  

Enrollment in grades 9-12 at Liberty Launch is roughly 50 students, Adams said. 

This year’s roster included two players from Africa, one from Serbia, two from Nevada, one from Utah and one from New Jersey, in addition to the two Coeur d’Alene products who knew Adams from his time coaching at Coeur d’Alene High. 

“We are still looking at this through more of a global lens,” Adams said of MØDE Prep’s recruiting philosophy. “The players that are coming to us are coming from all over the planet. Are we turning away from local kids? No. If a local kid or parent calls us ... we’re not going to say no. But the caliber of player, there’s only so many roster spots, and we’re trying to compete at the highest level. And that requires us to get kids from all over the globe. But we look at everybody.” 

MØDE Prep is building an on-campus facility that will be home to several sports — and available to the public when not used for school activities.  

Adams said it’s possible the facility could be ready for MØDE Prep to practice and perhaps play in during the 2026-27 season. But if not, MØDE will practice at the HUB and play mostly on the road, as it did this year. 

MØDE Prep’s lone “home” game last season was played at North Idaho College in November, and Adams said they hope to play a couple games at NIC this season. 

He said MØDE Prep hopes to play as an “undercard” of sorts in this coming season’s 509 Classic at the Numerica Veterans Arena in Spokane, facing another prep school team in the prelim to the game before Eastern Washington plays Washington State. 

There was talk of doing that this past season, but MØDE Prep was already committed to playing in the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas during that time. 

"It’s been a really cool experience,” Adams said of his first season coaching and overseeing a prep school program. “It’s been super-educational. We’ve really got a lot of momentum, just in this first year, so I just hope we can parlay this into next year — keep it going, keep expanding.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.