If you happen to catch Bill Bakamus on a rare grumpy day, Anthony Baruksopulo might know the reason behind the ruffled feathers.

“Every Tuesday and Thursday morning we play, how should I say it, old-man basketball at Mark Morris,” said Baruksopulo. “Bill is one of the most fierce competitors down here. If he loses, he is grumpy the rest of the day.”

Bakamus doesn’t lose often, noted Baruksopulo, 23, a native of Brisbane, Australia, whose family is friends with the Bakamus clan. He is assisting the Mark Morris basketball program this season as a component of his Masters degree in Sports Coaching.

“He can still play. He still lights it up,” Baruksopulo said of Bakamus. “Not when I’m guarding him though.”

At that, Baruksopulo laughed.

“I’m going to hear about that one,” he said.

A quick study, this guy.

One of the family

Baruksopulo lives at the Bakamus home with Coach Bakamus, his wife Cathy and their youngest child, Rem, a ninth-grader and member of the Monarchs’ C-squad team that Baruksopulo helps coach. And Baruksopulo spends as much time as any Bakamus kin with the 16-year head coach.

“I’m the runabout,” Baruksopulo said. “Whatever Bill needs me to do, I do. Scouting, making DVDs, anything that Bill can’t, I do. I’m assistant to the whole program.”

Baruksopulo arrived in Longview on Nov. 14, before the first practice of the season, and will stay through its conclusion. He hopes to use what he learns from his crash-course immersion in Monarch basketball as a blueprint for the 26-team program he runs at St. Joseph’s College, a private high school in Brisbane — and beyond.

“I love working with kids. The reason I coach is that I really enjoy watching kids grow,” Baruksopulo said. “This experience is a case study for me. I’m in awe of the program.”

Baruksopulo’s dream is to coach college basketball in America — if his first love doesn’t pan out.

“I refer to my surfboard as my girlfriend, as I don’t have one,” Baruksopulo joked. “I guess if the whole pro surfing thing doesn’t work out, I’d like to coach at a college.”

Before he goes home, Baruksopulo will head to California

for a month of surfing.

Kelso kudos

Baruksopulo has a rich basketball background, both as a player having represented the University of Queensland at the Australian Games, and as a coach/coordinator overseeing 250 players at St. Joseph’s, an all-boys school with an enrollment of 1,500.

Baruksopulo was 10 years old when the Bakamus’ visited Australia, and Coach Bakamus worked with Baruksopulo’s older brother, Aleks, at a clinic.

That early meeting made an impression on Baruksopulo. When he had finished his B.A. in Human Movements (kinesiology), Baruksopulo visited Spokane and had a conversation with Kelso graduate and Gonzaga assistant coach Tommy Lloyd.

“He mentioned the basketball program at Mark Morris and said that Bill was one of the best coaches around,” said Baruksopulo. “A beeper went off in my head. Who better to gain experience from and work under than someone who is so respected by a guy who went to Kelso, a (rival) school? I thought, ‘He must be good’.”

Living with the Bakamus family is “good fun,” Baruksopulo said. He feels and acts like an older brother to Rem, and said that Cathy is “forever enthusiastic and positive.”

Baruksopulo has three siblings and comes from a family committed to the medical arts. His older brother is a podiatrist, his older sister and younger brother are studying pre-medicine, his father is a doctor and his mother is a psychologist.

“And then there’s me, the P.E. teacher,” said Baruksopulo.

The protégé

Baruksopulo knows that before he can move up in the coaching world, he must “pay his dues.”

His Mark Morris experience is simply part of the process.

With the Monarchs, Baruksopulo fulfills a variety of roles. With the C squad, he is the “sargeant-at-arms, the Bill Bakamus of the C squad,” he said. “I take pride in laying down the law.”

With the varsity, Baruksopulo specializes in individual skills.

A typical day begins around 7:30 a.m., when Baruksopulo receives a phone call from Bakamus providing him with a morning agenda. Around noon, he works out, eats lunch and works on his Master’s.

Then it’s time for practice.

“I’m here to gain experience, but I try to assist the program however I can,” Baruksopulo said.

Bakamus keeps him busy, but Baruksopulo has made it a point of emphasis to study the MM coaching staff in the interest of honing his own sideline chops.

“Bill is a phenomenal coach. His interaction and relationship with his players is second to none,” he said. “He treats every player the same. He will still chew you out, even if you are a star.”

Assistants Steve Kloke and Steve McCallum are the “main knowledge” staffers, Baruksopulo added, whereas Bakamus is the “enforcer and the executor.”

“But he is also the ultimate people person,” he said. “The kids at school love him. Whether he is interacting with a football player or academic (standouts), he gets along with everyone and can joke around with everyone. He creates a good atmosphere at the school.”

And the basketball program?

“It speaks for itself,” said Baruksopulo. “I think what stood out to me is not so much the winning percentage (it is .850, he noted), but something I saw over Christmas break. There were 10 former players who came to the gym and played with some of the guys. This program goes beyond the uniform. I think the guys who come through here know they are better for having been associated with the program.

“The program is altogether unreal, in the true sense of the word,” he added. “It is rare to find a program that is set up like this and run like this. It is more of a small community than a basketball team.

“Bakamus is a coach I aspire to be like. He’s a mentor to me, as a person and as a coach. Everyone has a mentor.”

Ben Zimmerman is a sportswriter for The Daily News. He can be reached at 577-2528.