Mark Karcher's hiatus from local high school basketball is coming to an end.
Starting this fall, Karcher will lead the varsity boys program at Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy. The former St. Frances coach's first-year program is located on the old Walbrook campus in West Baltimore.
Karcher, who said in November that his departure from St. Frances was a "forced resignation," has some familiarity with the Bluford system. Karcher's son attends the school's East Baltimore campus, and one of his former Panthers assistants – Marcus Wise – is the boys JV coach. Former Walbrook coach Kelvin Bridgers, who Karcher is also close with, is the principal at the East Baltimore campus.
"The opportunity came when they told me around Christmas that they were going to have a high school program and they wanted to see if I was interested," he said.
Karcher, 33, graduated from St. Frances in 1997, finishing his four-year Panthers career as a two-time Baltimore Sun All-Metro Player of the Year. A member of three Baltimore Catholic League championship teams, Karcher later starred collegiately at Temple before becoming a second-round draft pick of the Philadelphia 76ers and playing professionally overseas.
At St. Frances, Karcher assisted legendary coach William Wells during the 2007-08 season and took over as head coach the following year. He guided the Panthers to the BCL title in 2009 and MIAA A Conference crowns in 2009 and 2010. Last season, St. Frances was the runner-up to John Carroll in both tournaments.
Karcher, who currently works as a scholar assistant at the east campus, said he hopes to model his Bluford program after SFA.
"I definitely want it to be a well-respected program," Karcher said. "Now it's not going to be easy trying to do what it was at St. Frances because of the history. I definitely will model it the way I'd like it to be. I want to breed kids the way I was brought up – well-respected, well-mannered kids, scholar-athletes. Those kids, when they finish at Bluford, I want them going off to college with that maturity."
While most of his basketball experience has taken place on the east side, Karcher said he looks forward to drawing players "from across the city" to Bluford. In addition to assembling his first-year varsity team, Karcher is staying busy in his role as president of the Under Armour Baltimore's Finest AAU program.
While it's "definitely been tough" for Karcher to be out of coaching and away from St. Frances, he's looking forward to his new challenge at Bluford.
"I definitely can't wait," he said. "I started out trying to keep myself humble and keep myself at ease. I was really excited when I got the opportunity. I'm trying to do everything I can the right way. I'll reach out to the people I need to reach out to and build a good program. I can't wait. Obviously, the rules are different for the Catholic League compared to the public league. [But] I'm eager to get out there, find some talent and win."