Michael Lee makes comeback

Former player looks forward to advising Jayhawks

Dylan Roe

Published on Tue., August 21st, 2007

Home for Michael Lee is not Harlem.

Not Salina. Not Vancouver. Not France either. Yet for the past two years, Lee, a former Jayhawk basketball player, has made his living playing for teams such as the Harlem Globetrotters, the Kansas Cagerz, the Entente Orleans of France and the Vancouver Volcanoes.

But Lee said none of those places offered the excitement and tradition of KU basketball. In one game for the Cagerz, the referees didn’t even show up.

“I just got disinterested with the whole process,” Lee said. “When I start thinking like that, it’s time to go away.”

So Lee went away to a familiar place. After two stressful years of professional basketball, he’s back in Lawrence as a graduate student manager for the basketball team. Lee is ready to reignite his love for basketball, advise the current players and learn how to be a coach.

Believe it or not, the grind of playing for four teams in two years didn’t cause Lee to stop his playing career. It gave him doubts about what he was doing, but he kept playing. Then, earlier this year, Lee found out he had nerve damage in his shoulder. Doctors told him he’d be out for three to five months.

The injury, the lack of passion, the low pay — it all started to add up. He’d had enough. Lee told the Cagerz he was done and made the drive from Salina to Lawrence for summer basketball camp.

“Being around Coach Self and the guys,” he said, “it felt pretty good.”

That feeling got even better when Lee heard former graduate assistant Nate Mast was leaving to pursue other interests. A spot on the staff was open. Lee talked to Self about it and got the job.

It was something Self had expected for years. Before Lee left in 2005, Self told him he could come back to coach if his playing career didn’t pan out.

“I’m excited to have a player back in the program, not in a playing way, but as an ambassador for Kansas basketball,” Self said in a statement. “As a player, Mike was an extremely hard worker on the court and in the classroom.”

Recruiting experts never picked Lee to be a major contributor for Kansas. He came to Kansas in 2001, best known as former Jayhawk Aaron Miles’ high school teammate, and rarely played his freshmen season. Then the hard work showed.

The next year he became the top three-point shooter on a team that made the national championship game. His final two years were a mix of starts, injuries, a coaching change, unlikely victories and a few disappointing losses. Lee’s seen it all — and that, he said, gives him the necessary experience to teach the players.

“I could just be that piece of advice for when guys get frustrated with not playing enough, or feel like they should be doing this, or not getting along with other players,” Lee said. “If the guys can get that message they’ll be fine.”

Lee’s career may have been unpredictable, but he wasn’t. He prided himself on staying consistent. That meant working harder than talented teammates and opponents, a habit Lee also wants to teach to the current Jayhawks.

“I always felt I wasn’t the most gifted player on the floor,” he said, “not the most athletic, not going to score the most points, not going to play all the minutes. But I can show them the way to approach the game. I’m talking about going to class, being on time and working hard every day.”

If the work ethic Lee had as a player carries over to his coaching career, his dream of being a head coach could come relatively soon. He said he always knew he’d be a coach someday.

This doesn’t come as a surprise, because Lee has been around coaching all his life. His father coached, and he learned from two of college basketball’s best in Self and former Kansas coach Roy Williams.

The only question for Lee is where he wants to coach. He’s an assistant at the Division I level, but he said he’s not sure whether he wants to end up there. The high school ranks sound more appealing to him right now, he said.

But all that can wait. For now, Lee is back in Lawrence and enjoying his time as a coach and graduate student. His frustration with the sport is gone.

He’s back home.

“I love the game of basketball,” Lee said in a release. “It just feels really good to be back. I fell in love with Kansas from day one, and I will be a part of Kansas until I die.”

­­— Edited by Elizabeth Cattell

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