Stepping into the arena: How new Oklahoma prep school wants to make an immediate impact

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA - Carlos Adamson saw the signs years ago. 

Working as a high school basketball coach in Oklahoma at places like Norman North and Putnam City West, he saw the direction recruiting was going. But it wasn’t until Adamson went to Eastern Michigan University that he was hit with the inspiration that would eventually lead him down the path he is currently on.

This summer, Adamson founded Grind Prep Academy in Oklahoma City.

“Grind is a prep school that we started here in Oklahoma. The acronym stands for 'Greatness Resides in Determination,'” Adamson said. “Just a new endeavor that I wanted to get into.

"The recruiting process is changing a little bit at the college level, and prep schools are more geared towards getting kids to be academically and athletically ready when they get to that next level. So, I just want to kind of come back home and step into that arena.”

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In an exclusive interview with SBLive Oklahoma, Adamson said Grind Prep is the first prep school in the state’s history. And they will be sending a message every time they take the floor.

“The best part about it is that in Oklahoma, it hasn't been done before,” said Adamson, who is also the CEO. “There's so much talent in this state. I think if we play together, we stay together, we work together.

"I think Oklahoma no longer can be said it is a state that doesn't have enough talent, that it's not big enough, they're not good enough. I think we've proven that we are good enough in the last couple of years, but now it's time for our kids to play on that big stage.”

Even though they just opened their doors this summer, Grind Prep has already attracted talent from across the state to be part of the inaugural class. They include the likes of David Wilson, Sania Richardson and De’Andra Minor.

Richardson was heading into her junior season at Ada as one of the premier point guards in the 2025 class when Adamson approached her about Grind Prep.

It was an opportunity Richardson couldn’t pass up.

“When Coach Carlos came to me about this, it was so cool,” Richardson said. “I was just amazed. He's actually doing something for the community, the younger athletes and people that need this.

"I feel like I need this because I didn't feel myself getting better as a basketball player. I knew that Coach Carlos would definitely help me with that because he knows how to work and help kids.”

Grind Prep has 18 student-athletes enrolled in the high school program and 12 in the middle school. They currently attend online classes on the second floor of a loft that extends over a popular downtown Oklahoma City restaurant.

“It was a hard decision because I'm seeing the brighter side of things,” Wilson said. “But leaving the hometown (Bethany), leaving the school I was going to be at with all my friends, that was probably one of the hardest decisions.”

Basketball practices are held eight miles away at an athletic center known as The Lighthouse. The middle school players are on the practice courts in the morning and the high school teams take over in the afternoon.

“The plan is to build a new facility,” Adamson said. “We’re looking at being a year or two from that project.”

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Adamson has compiled a staff that has experience on a variety of levels. They include Marques Warrior (director of basketball operations), Latisha Porter (director of education), Allen Russell (player development), Joe Adkins (player development) and Ashley Clark (player development).

While some of the student-athletes at Grind Prep are on scholarship, others pay the full tuition of $15,000. However, with the help of the state’s new private- and home-school tax credit bill, which would give families making less than $75,000 a $7,500 refundable tax credit for each private school student, that cuts the tuition in half.

“Some of these kids and players and families, they are betting on themselves as well,” Adamson said. “So, they don't mind putting up the money and paying a tuition no different than a Heritage Hall or a Casady Hall or somebody like that.”

While schools nationwide such as IMG Academy, Burke Mountain Academy and OTE Academy have paved a path for athletically focused prep schools, others have not been so fruitful. Most notably, Bishop Sycamore High School, which recently had a documentary ("BS High") released about it that claimed it was a fake school among other issues.

Because of such incidents, Adamson knows the spotlight will be on him and Grind Prep to prove they are an above-the-board institution.

“The main issues you run into with schools that don't exist is the financial part of it, and then two, saying you're going to do something or making promises that you necessarily can't keep,” Adamson said. “So you come up with a roster of people that are good families and that believe in the vision. So at the first hiccup, they're not willing to bail on you; you don't create a budget that you can't fulfill.

"So, you work with a staff that understands the big goal. You work with scheduling and go to places that are not going to be out of my budget. So I just stay in the lane of financially making sure we're stable, making sure you have a good group of kids who understand the ultimate goal and they're ready to fulfill kind of the same dreams that you have. You work, you grind.”

Grind Prep’s season is set to start this weekend with a trip to Las Vegas for the Border League. Other notable events include The Prelude (Dallas), S.O.S. Showcase (OKC), OTR Exposure Tip-Off (Houston) and the Joe Lawson Invitational (Norman). In all, both the boys and girls teams are scheduled to play in more than 40 games across the country, which they say will help attract college recruiters.

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According to Adamson, schools like Arkansas, Oklahoma State, SMU, Mississippi State, Texas Tech, Wichita State, Tulsa, Auburn, West Virginia, Stephen F. Austin, Eastern Michigan and Illinois have already paid a visit to their Grind Prep’s practices.

Richardson says they have heard from the people who think Grind Prep will flop and how they are making mistakes. By the time she graduates, she will be keeping receipts on who said what.

“This is the first year and everybody's just really doubting it and I want to show people by the time I graduate, that we started this from the foundation, that we were the first generation to start this when we worked our way up to the top,” Richardson said. “I want to show progression, definitely hopefully get a national championship under our belt these next two years.

"I just don't want people doubting. Everybody is hating right now. We are going to show you all, though.”

-- Michael Kinney | @SBLiveOK