Below, we put together a timeline of excerpts from various news articles showing the path Mark Coury took from Detroit Country Day High School in Michigan to enrolling at the University of Kentucky and ultimately transferring to Cornell. A 6'9" forward, Coury has two years of eligibility at Cornell commencing this season.Detroit Free Press
December 5, 2002
Preseason Michigan High School Top 25
11. Birmingham Detroit Country Day (23-2). This team will revolve around 6-7 Ije Nwankwo (Purdue), a power player deluxe. ...6-8 sophomore Mark Coury will add depth.
December 5, 2003
Detroit Free PressPreseason Michigan high School Top 25
23. Birmingham Detroit Country Day (20-4). This will be an inexperienced yet talented team. ... Junior Mark Coury, 6-8, is Country Day's only legitimate inside player, and he will be expected to carry the load in the paint.
December 3, 2004
Preseason Michigan High School Top 25
20. Birmingham Detroit Country Day (14-8). This young team has some talented underclassmen... Mark Coury, 6-8, will demand attention in the post, where he is an effective scorer with either hand...
February 23, 2005
Country Day hoop stars keep winning; Coach Keener hopes the lack of a dominant team will play in their favor in bid for state titleLexington Herald Leader
Another trip to the Breslin Center in East Lansing. That's the goal of the Detroit Country Day High boys basketball team... Country Day Coach Kurt Keener thinks his talented but somewhat inexperienced squad has a shot... "There are lots of strong Class B teams out there," Country Day senior tri-captain Mark Coury cautioned. "But with luck and good teamwork, we'll get back to Breslin." ...Coury, who averaged 10.2 points and 8.5 rebounds last year, is more than just a big guy inside. "Mark is strong and does a lot of dirty work, like covering the other team's best post player," Keener said. "But he can also shoot well with either hand."...College scouts are taking a long look at Coury during Country Day's travels, but he isn't doing much looking back. "My focus now is on our season, providing strong senior leadership," he said. "Then I'll think about playing at the next level."
August 31, 2006
Lexington Herald LeaderPower forward invited to walk on at UK
Not satisfied with his scholarship offers, a high school prospect took a year off from the basketball system. He worked to improve his body and his game. He and his father searched the Internet for a higher-level college program that needed help from a power forward.
That's how unheralded prospect Mark Coury came to be a walk-on for Kentucky this coming season.
Coury (pronounced Curry) is a 6-foot-9, 245-pound forward who graduated from Detroit Country Day in 2005. With Kentucky repeatedly missing out on power forward recruits the past two years and now down to 11 scholarship players, he appears to have a chance to contribute.
Kurt Keener, the coach at Detroit Country Day, said Coury averaged a double-double as a high school senior. Coury made the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Class B (second largest schools) Honorable Mention.
"He can be an effective player," Keener said. "But in an up-tempo game, usually the basketball is scored before he's much past half-court. If he gets in a more structured offense, he's capable of scoring 20 points."
Coury, who threw the discus and shot put in high school, drew basketball scholarship offers from such schools as Bowling Green, Central Michigan and Oakland University.
"His father decided he should take a year off," Keener said.
Jerry Coury, a psychologist in the Detroit area, knew basketball. He scored 642 points as a four-year guard/forward for Detroit-based Wayne State in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
"His father went on line and looked for programs that were a little thin at power forward," Keener said.
The Courys zeroed in on Marquette, Northwestern, Oklahoma and Kentucky.
In explaining how his son got to UK, Jerry Coury said, "I talked to one or two assistants and told them there was a recruit out here they may want to look at."
Mark Coury, who played on the same summer team as UK guard Joe Crawford, came for a visit. He played well enough in pickup games to rate an invitation to walk on. He accepted.
"Kentucky is, let's face facts, if not the best, certainly in the top three or four in terms of tradition," Jerry Coury said. "Even in the current situation, when there are a lot of other teams getting good, they're still a top program."
September 1, 2006
Online walk-on: Coury surfs net to find Cats: Father's Internet Search Yelds Invitation to UK
Not satisfied with his scholarship offers, a high school prospect took a year off from the basketball system. He worked to improve his body and his game. He and his father searched the Internet for a higher-level college program that needed help at power forward.
That's how unheralded prospect Mark Coury came to be a walk-on for Kentucky this coming season.
Coury (pronounced Curry) is a 6-foot-9, 245-pound forward who graduated from Detroit Country Day in 2005. With Kentucky repeatedly missing out on power forward recruits the past two years and now down to 11 scholarship players, he appears to have a chance to contribute.
Kurt Keener, the coach at Detroit Country Day, said Coury averaged a double-double as a high school senior. In his final high school season, Coury made the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Class B (second largest schools) Honorable Mention.
"He can be an effective player," Keener said. "But in an up-tempo game, usually the basketball is scored before he's much past half-court. If he gets in a more structured offense, he's capable of scoring 20 points."
Coury, who threw the discus and shot put in high school, drew basketball scholarship offers from such schools as Bowling Green, Central Michigan and Oakland University.
"His father decided he should take a year off," Keener said.
Jerry Coury, a psychologist in the Detroit area, knew basketball. He scored 642 points in a four-year guard/forward for Detroit-based Wayne State in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Mark Coury attended IMG Academies, the same Bradenton, Fla., school that produced Ramel Bradley, for "a short period of time," his father said. He worked with a personal trainer.
"His father went online and looked for programs that were a little thin at power forward," Keener said.
The Courys zeroed in on Marquette, Northwestern, Oklahoma and Kentucky.
In explaining how his son got to UK, Jerry Coury said, "I talked to one or two assistants and told them there was a recruit out here they may want to look at."
Mark Coury, who played on the same summer team as UK guard Joe Crawford, came for a visit. He played well enough in pickup games to rate an invitation to walk on. He accepted.
September 3, 2006
Louisville Courier JournalCoury favor
Whatever walk-on power forward Mark Coury (pronounced Curry) can contribute on the court, he figures to help in the classroom. His father said Coury scored a "28 or 29" on his ACT.
As for basketball, Coury figures to bring a physical presence in practice and perhaps games. He threw the discus (116 feet, seven inches) and put the shot (51 feet, 3 and one-quarter inches) as a senior for Detroit Country Day.
His basketball coach, Kurt Keener, said Coury averaged about 12 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks as a senior.
October 14, 2006
Lexington Herald LeaderLet the Big Blue spectacle begin
University of Kentucky men's basketball coach Tubby Smith was sporting new glasses last night at Big Blue Madness... The freshmen seemed to have as much fun as the fans. Perry Stevenson, Jodie Meeks and Jasper were impressive in the 20-minute scrimmage, and Michael Porter and Mark Coury looked sharp at times.
***
The Wildcats opened preseason practice with renewed promise in front of a record crowd of 23,312 in Rupp Arena. Smith said he was excited about the new season and also did a little bragging about his new peepers.
November 12, 2006
Mark Coury #42) 6-9, 239-pound freshman forward from West Bloomfield, Mich.
Freshman Mark Coury wants to go to law school someday. Toward that end, he served as an intern for a lawyer in his hometown Detroit area during his senior year of high school. His school, Detroit Country Day, has a program that places seniors as interns in professions that hold the career interest of students. Because his father's work as a psychologist put him in courthouses regularly, Coury got to observe lawyers.Lexington Herald Leader
"A lot of my father's friends were lawyers," he said. "I'd sometimes hang around them. It seemed like a nice profession.
"It definitely was nothing like a TV thing. I wasn't watching The Practice and all of a sudden said I wanted to be a lawyer."
Coury worked for a lawyer in a county bordering the northern side of Detroit. For three weeks, he helped arrange documents and observed courtroom proceedings.
"It kind of inspired me," he said. "It gave me an inside eye into the world of being a lawyer."
The cases Coury saw lacked made-for-TV dramatics. No tearful confessions. No surprise witnesses.
"Mostly drunk-driving cases," Coury said. "One battery. Nothing too high-profile."
Most were open-and-shut cases that involved how much the defense lawyer could reduce the charges or the sentence.
The biggest lesson, Coury figured, was how a lawyer should conduct himself or herself in a courtroom. He also noticed the art of networking and communicating.
"Do you know the rules?" Coury said. "How to plea with the judge. That's what I learned. How you should communicate in the courtroom. You have to be charismatic, and you have to know people. Obviously, a lawyer from out of town might not know the judge, and handling the case might not be as easy as it could be."
Coury is a business major. He figured that can give him options going into law school.
"Maybe I'll study business law," he said. "And if I decide not to go into law, I'd still have a business degree to fall back on."
Walk-on has experience in the courtroom, will look for experience on the court as practice player
Mark Coury
Expected role: Practice player, obedient worker.What Mark says about being a walk-on for Kentucky: "It's a little overwhelming at first. Now I'm here and putting in hard work. All I can hope for is the team does well this year, and if I can help them, I guess my hard work paid off."What Tubby says about Mark: "Mark is a bright young guy who will give us some depth inside."
November 29, 2006
UK lets defense make its case
The Wildcats earned high marks again last night, turning up the defensive pressure in a 77-61 win over College of Charleston in front of 22,477 fans at Rupp Arena...Freshman walk-on Mark Coury scored his first two baskets of the season...
January 28, 2007
Coury curries favor
Lexington Herald LeaderIf you did a double-take when[Tubby] Smith inserted freshman walk-on Mark Coury into UK's lineup in the first half of Wednesday's 78-69 overtime loss at Georgia, you weren't alone.
But Smith said it was no fluke that the 6-foot-8 forward from West Bloomfield, Mich., saw playing time outside of mop-up duty.
Coury has been playing well in practice, Smith said, and earned the additional playing time. At 239 pounds, Coury has been willing to get physical in practice, and that's a trait Smith says his scholarship players are lacking.
"He's a more physical player than some of (our guys)," Smith said. "I didn't think we were getting the physical play that we needed, and it showed later in the game, because (Georgia's) Takais Brown just took over inside, and we really didn't have much of an answer for him."
The substitution might have seemed surprising, but Coury held his own. UK built a 17-point lead in the first half before the Bulldogs rallied. Coury had a blocked shot and an assist in five minutes.
"Putting Mark in early on was just seeing how he did and what production (he provided), and he probably should have been back in there in the second half, the way he played," Smith said. "He played well."
February 11, 2007
Congratulations
Senior Bobby Perry and freshman Mark Coury led the way in UK basketball's successful fall in the classroom. Each had a 4.0 grade-point average.
... UK Coach Tubby Smith rewarded Coury's efforts in the fall semester (either for the 4.0 or for being a good soldier or both) by granting the walk-on a scholarship.
November 5, 2007
Associated PressBeware: Looks in exhibitions are deceiving
...the best thing that happened for UK's inside game in two exhibitions may have been the experience of Mark Coury. He played 20 minutes last season. He played 22 in the exhibition win over Seattle.
First-year UK c oach Billy Gillispie doesn't need the 6-foot-8 sophomore to be a force inside. He needs him to be a nuisance. He needs him to be a presence. He needs him to be, in Gillispie's words, " the meanest player in the SEC. "
If Coury can bang, rebound, pick up a few inside baskets and make some free throws, it'll make a world of difference to Meeks and others outside. He can't be just an exhibition phenomenon.
November 7, 2007
Lexington Herald LeaderGillispie era opens at Kentucky with win over Central Arkansas
...Sophomore forward Mark Coury cracked Gillispie's first starting lineup and needed less than 90 seconds to match his career high of four points as Kentucky got off to an 8-0 lead. Coury used a combination of jumpers and layups to account for 10 of Kentucky's first 12 points.
Coury finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
"I obviously like Coach Gillispie's style, the way he preaches hard work and hustle," Coury said.
November 7, 2007
Coury's Double-Double Tops Odd Opening Night
The person who one month ago thought Mark Coury would be the Most Valuable Player in Billy Gillispie's first official game as the new Kentucky basketball coach, please raise your hand.
***
The only thing predictable about Kentucky's 67-40 win over Central Arkansas last night at Rupp Arena was the outcome.
The rest was anybody's guess.
Coury, the 6-foot-8 sophomore walk-on who played a grand total of 20 minutes in all of 10 games last year, finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in a team-high 36 minutes.
And you thought Tubby Smith couldn't recruit power forwards.
"I probably wouldn't have believed it," Coury said afterward when asked if at any time last year he would have believed that he would not only start, but post a double-double in his first game this year. "I knew I was going to work hard."
That's the thing. The big thing. Billy G.'s thing. The thing he's trying to get his players to learn, by every means necessary.
***
"Our most dominant post player the first three games has been Mark Coury," Gillispie said. "If we hadn't had him at the first tonight, I don't know if we would have scored."
Coury scored 10 of UK's first 12 points. This is the same Mark Coury whose season high was just four points. It was also the number of points he scored all season.
"I obviously like Coach Gillispie's system and the way he preaches hard work and hustle," Coury said. "That's all I've been trying to follow, his preaching. And be as tough as I can. Every game."
Now what's so hard to figure out about that?
December 29, 2007
Lexington Herald LeaderMeeks, Jasper still uncertain for UK today
...Gillispie has used nine different starting lineups in 10 games, and forward Mark Coury is the only player to have started all 10.
January 14, 2008
Lexington Herald LeaderPatterson says Cats finally on same page
Kentucky's first-year coach, Billy Gillispie, disagreed with the suggestion that the 79-73 double-overtime victory over No. 13 Vanderbilt reflected how the players are coming to accept his direction. Or, in sports parlance, "buying in."
***
Among the unsung heroes were a career-high five steals by Perry Stevenson and Mark Coury's nine points (his most since scoring 13 against Central Arkansas) and five rebounds (his most since grabbing 10 against Central Arkansas).
February 8, 2008
Lexington Herald LeaderCoury is named First Team Academic All-District
Kentucky sophomore Mark Coury has been named First Team Academic All-District by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Coury, with a 4.00 grade-point average, is a business management major. From West Bloomfield, Mich., he is averaging 2.7 points and 2.5 rebounds this season. He has started 19 of UK's 20 games.
As a first-team selection, Coury is now eligible for Academic All-America voting with results being announced later in the season.
April 20, 2008
Lexington Herald LeaderOffseason Goals
During a news conference last week, UK Coach Billy Gillispie offered thoughts about each of the holdover players going into this off-season:
***
Mark Coury:"Mark's easy to forget because he's like a piece of woodwork. He just comes every day."
July 18, 2008
Louisville Courier JournalPatterson's rehabilitation is going well
...Forward Mark Coury, who started all but one game as a walk-on last season, has asked for his release and is looking at five or six schools where he could play on scholarship.
"He was an important part of our team last year. I want Mark back, and he hasn't decided if he's going to come back..." Gillispie said.
July18, 2008
Associated PressGillispie says assume new Cats are eligible
...Mark Coury, who started 29 games last season, is seeking a transfer, Billy Gillispie confirmed. The walk-on from West Bloomfield, Mich., is hoping to find a school that will offer him a scholarship.
Coury averaged two points and 1.7 rebounds as a sophomore last season.
"The list of schools that he gave me earlier in the summer was Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Stanford, Cal, UCLA and I believe (Southern California)," Gillispie said.
January 2, 2009
unlikely hero for Wildcats
...If there's anything the Wildcats have learned under second-year coach Billy Gillispie, it's that Gillispie really does mean it when he says those who practice the best are going to play.
It's a philosophy that led Gillispie to start walk-on forward Mark Coury over more talented players last year, a move that seemed to mystify fans but certainly got his team's attention.
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