Remember when you knew it all?

Coming out of high school at 18 years of age, the average teenager thinks that he/she has it all figured out. I did. I knew what life was going to be like once I got to college. I knew how I wanted to live and who I wanted to be. Looking back, I didn’t have a clue. I like to think of myself as someone with a plan, an idea. I’d like to believe I knew how to make good decisions and was ready to be on my own. But I wasn’t, and I know I was better prepared for the rigors of collegiate life than others.

I see LeBron James at 18 years old, primed to become the first pick in this year’s NBA draft, and I wonder how he could be close to ready. How could James be ready for the travel, the media scrutiny and the distractions? I don’t believe he can be.

If you look at the difference between a college coach and a professional coach, the difference is like night and day. Professional coaches are paid to do one thing: win. College coaches have a dual purpose: win, of course, but also educate and mold their players into people ready for life in the real world.

All coaches have different ways of mentoring their players. In watching Billiken coach Brad Soderberg, I see a man who loves his players. He wants to win, but at the end of the day if he knows that he has taught his team something about life the day was a success.

Different coaches help their players grow up in different ways. Bob Knight has military ties and teaches in that mold. While it may be in-your-face and seem unfair, it works. In his time at West Point, Indiana and now Texas Tech, Knight has earned a reputation of producing individuals ready to enter the real world.

At Duke, Mike Krzyzewski produces players who are eloquent, highly astute and seem more like executives than basketball players. And as much as you might hate Duke because they continually beat your team, all you can do is tip your hat and acknowledge the fact that their players are developing much more than the 15-foot jump shot.

It has to be remembered that college coaches are paid to develop much more than talent; it’s their job. When a parent sends their teenager to play in a specific program, the parent is putting faith in the coach to teach the child how to be away from home, time management, accountability with grades and learning how to think and reason as an adult.

In the end, I find it hard to believe that any kid coming out of high school is ready to play basketball or any other sport on the professional level. I think that all athletes would be best served by spending four years in school. I understand that it is their right to leave school early, but I think many an athlete would be better served to stay in school. Case in point … do you remember JaRon Rush? My point exactly.

I am sure that LeBron James is going to forego his college eligibility to become a rich kid very quickly. But in reality, he’ll still have a long way to go before he becomes a man. Maybe he’ll be fine, but it certainly couldn’t hurt him to have a year or two under a man like Soderberg or Knight.

Last year, Amare Stoudemire made the same jump that James is about to make. When asked recently by ESPN if he had any advice for James, he said, “He’s got to become a man. Quick.”

When basketball is gone, they all have to become men quickly–and who is better prepared to do that: the college graduate or the 18-year-old phenom?