Tennessee basketball's Rod Clark and Michigan State's Malik Hall have entrenched bond

Julie Hall remembers the brownies.

She thinks her daughter, Bri, made them. Perhaps she bought them. Wherever they came from, she’s certain of the revelation brought about by the brownies.

Malik Hall, her son and a future Michigan State forward, sat at a table with Rod Clark, an assistant coach at Sunrise Christian and a future Tennessee basketball assistant. A stirring moment unfurled between the pair with the tray of brownies between them in a high school cafeteria during a basketball tournament in Quincy, Illinois.

The introverted and self-contained Hall strayed from his nature. The player and coach tumbled into roaring laughter, announcing a camaraderie that was impossible to miss — and imperative for Julie Hall to see.

“I was like, ‘This is somebody special,’ ” Julie Hall said. “Malik, he just does not do that. He is polite. He is respectful. But to get into that place that I saw, that raw, jovialness if you will, I just knew.”

Julie didn’t know Clark yet. But she knew.

Clark and Malik had forged a defining and necessary bond in the infancy of their relationship that was bound for more. Clark was and is an essential figure for Malik, a strong Black male role model helping stabilize critical years of his life. Malik is the player who taught Clark more than any prior and any since, setting him up for success in the coaching world.

Neither the Spartans forward or the Vols coach would be who they are without the other.

The adversity Malik Hall faced growing up

Malik wasn’t a teenager yet when he asked his mom an unfathomable question.

“Does everyone’s daddy live in the hospital?” Malik wondered.

Lorenzo Hall was diagnosed with early onset dementia in 2009. He was 45. He moved into a special-care facility within a year.

Malik was 9 when his father was diagnosed, leaving an irreplaceable void. He became the man of the house before he could claim to be a man. He has a dad, but he doesn't have the fullness of a father. He was a budding basketball talent; his dad was his first coach and his trainer until that connection was severed.

“One day, Lorenzo couldn’t,” Julie said.

Her words slipped into a soft sound.

"One day, he couldn’t do it,” Julie finished.

Lorenzo played junior college and Division II basketball at Cal State East Bay. He was a college coach for more than a decade, including at Washington State, before opening his own basketball training business in California called First Step Basketball.

Malik was born into that world, his father and basketball intrinsically welded. His recollections linking the two exist but halt before he blossomed into a 6-foot-8 forward, one of the nation’s top high school players, and a Michigan State Spartan. He still holds the memories. He remembers those years but spent his formative ones without the joy of more time.

Julie, who played basketball at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Cal State East Bay, was rising in athletics at the University of California Riverside when Lorenzo was diagnosed. They moved to Aurora, Illinois. She took on the task of caretaker, raising two kids, and being the sole provider. She forged a path, more hero than human as a mother marked by a resolve to keep going.

Likewise, Malik has that resolve. He had to. He has to. His relationship with his dad is filled with love, but it has hurdles. A two-minute conversation is an eternity for Lorenzo. He often asks Malik how basketball is going and how is doing. Such dialogue is more of an exchange of statements than a man-to-man conversation as it could be between a father and son.

“I think Malik knows how much his dad loves him,” said Julie, an associate athletics director at Chicago State.

Malik does. But Julie identified her teenage son's need for a support system. No one replaces a father. But good role models and sturdy men help. She sought to surround him with faith-centered men, which included Corey Wells as a mentor as Malik’s basketball talent heightened in two seasons at Matea Valley High School in Illinois.

For Malik to fully flourish, Julie wanted to find a new setting. Sunrise Christian provided that opportunity. She admired then-Sunrise coach Luke Barnwell.

Her voice catches when she talks about how much she has thanked God for putting stable and kind men around her son. She believes Wells, Barnwell and Clark were meant to be in Malik’s life.

“Those three men probably saved Malik,” Julie said.

Why Rod Clark is a better coach because of Malik Hall

Clark walked into the Tennessee locker room in October and asked the players a series of penetrating but loving questions: How are you feeling mentally, physically and emotionally?

“If I never coached Malik Hall, I don’t think I ever would have asked those questions,” said Clark, who is in his third season at UT.

Clark was hired at Sunrise Christian in 2017. Malik was entering his second season at the Kansas-based powerhouse. Julie had been on Barnwell as she sought to find what a new basketball environment could pull out of Malik. She got a bonus when Clark arrived.

“He is a light for Malik,” Julie said. "When he has struggled on the journey that maybe hasn’t unfolded the way he hoped it would unfold, Rod is constantly the beacon of light.”

Clark was a 24-year-old who made a mark in grassroots basketball in Dallas before he was hired at Sunrise, his top stop as a high school coach as he ascended in the industry into the college ranks.

Malik challenged Clark immediately. He had a sensitivity to coaching, requiring specific messaging and attention. He was a young person who had to grow up too fast and now was far from home, processing complex emotions and the life he had been given.

Clark learned to read Malik and how to cater to his days. Specifically, Malik doesn’t like to be talked to when he is mad. Clark deciphered his moods and studied how Malik would respond accordingly.

Clark learned patience, empathy and compassion through coaching Malik. He witnessed the hard nights and struggles Malik had. He leaned in with him, reaching beyond the athlete to learn the person.

“It is easy to see this full-grown man when in reality he is a kid and still has emotions like a kid,” Clark said.

Clark was perfect for Malik. He was young and not far removed from playing college basketball. He was relatable and understanding. He led with firmness and accountability blended with warmth and kindness. He demanded better with a level hand and reminded the players he loved them in word and deed. He told Malik what was inside him and that he had to pull it out, refusing to let stagnation creep in.

Malik describes the relationship as that of a big brother when your father is not around.

“He just understood a lot what I was going through," Malik said. “He always tried his best to help with anything that was going on. It was him showing that he cared was the biggest thing."

Importantly, Clark was a God-fearing Black man. He led Malik and the players well, teaching them to navigate the world as it opened up to them. He presented understanding of family dynamics and cultural identity, a man who was not Malik's father but could speak into those spaces.

“I think it is important for Malik to see himself, to see his dad, in such a positive role model position,” Julie said.

Clark and Malik clicked on long drives from Wichita to Kansas City for AAU practices with MoKan Elite, a six-hour round trip the perfect breeding ground for a positive attachment. They loved the same types of music, a mix of R&B and hip-hop. They shared their dreams of being in the spaces they now are in.

How Rod Clark, Malik Hall remain bonded

Hall stood on the court at Michigan State’s Breslin Center, his left arm behind his neck as he laughed. Clark stood next to him, staring at a piece of paper and chuckling.

Julie loves that picture she took on Oct. 29 after Tennessee beat Michigan State in an exhibition.

"That right there, that energy and laughter,” she said. “All we kept saying too each other was, ‘Man, I miss you. Man, I miss you.’ That is the positive impact that he has had on my son.

“While I love him, I love what he means to my son.”

That is the same laugher and dynamic she witnessed in Quincy five years ago. It’s still thriving despite distance and time as Sunrise launched both into high-level college basketball and into an ever-strong love.

The Halls grew close to Clark and went to see him when he coached at the University of Illinois-Chicago, his first college coaching opportunity. Julie says Clark is a like a nephew. He calls her Mama Hall. Malik and Clark talk at least once a month and have through his five seasons at MSU. They saw each other twice last season when the Vols and Spartans played a closed scrimmage in Knoxville and were in the same NCAA Tournament regional in New York City.

FIFTH YEAR: Josiah-Jordan James is a fifth-year five-star. The Tennessee basketball guard is fine with that.

This season’s meeting was special as the Halls and Clark reunited in East Lansing.

Malik texted Clark after MSU coach Tom Izzo finished talking in the locker room. They met on the court. Clark met Malik’s girlfriend, Ariana. They talked about family and life, Clark’s wife, Alexis, and his daughter, Zara.

“He is an actual grown man now,” Malik said. “I have seen him grow into exactly who he used to talk to us about and who he wanted to be.”

Malik is, too. He's a year younger than Clark was when they were at Sunrise Christian together. He's someone everyone is proud of, including his father, whom Julie reminds sometimes to not talk too much about his pride in his son.

There is another picture Julie took on the Breslin Center court. Lorenzo is in that one, standing on Clark's right and his son on Clark's left.

Lorenzo couldn’t tell you Clark’s name. In a way, it is like they have never met. But he knows — Julie is sure he knows. He lights up when he sees Clark. There’s a visible emotion that transcends disease. Maybe he can feel the love his son and Clark share. Maybe it’s his intangible way of thanking Clark for being there for his son.

Maybe it’s just beautiful and that is all it needs to be.

Because that is what the bond between Malik and Clark is. It’s beautiful and it doesn’t need to be anything else.

“Without him, shoot,” Malik said.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Tennessee basketball's Rod Clark developed bond with Malik Hall