Mark Hughes was a naturally-gifted basketball player, a giant who could shoot and handle the ball like a guard. But he was always much more than that. Hughes has been a winner and a leader at every level of his basketball playing and coaching career.
Hughes first started making headlines at Reeths-Puffer High School, where the 6-foot-8 center led the Rockets to the 1986 Class B state semifinals and was named first team all-state. He chose Michigan for college, where he became a captain and helped the Wolverines to the 1989 national championship. At Michigan, he endured arthroscopic surgery on his right knee as a freshman, but came back to start 31 of 32 games as a sophomore. The power forward then led the Wolverines to the Sweet 16 his junior year and a 24-7 record and national title his senior year.
On the roster of the Detroit Pistons for a 1990-91 season, Hughes’ played professionally for four seasons in France and Italy in the early 1990s and then for the Grand Rapids Hoops (and Mackers) in the Continental Basketball Association during the mid-1990s. Hughes became the team’s player/coach in 1997, then retired from playing in 1998 to concentrate on coaching the game he loved.
Hughes led Grand Rapids for five seasons, before making the leap to the National Basketball Association as an assistant coach of the Orlando Magic (2002-04). After a two-year stint as an assistant at San Diego State University, where he served under his former University of Michigan coach, Steve Fisher, Hughes returned to the NBA. He has worked as an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic and Sacramento Kings, director of pro personnel with the New York Knicks, and most recently, as Assistant General Manager of the Los Angeles Clippers.