Assistant coach Bruce sees MSA as ‘something special’

By Dave Morrison Sports Editor For Arkell Bruce, returning to Beckley — his home away from home for four years while at The College of West Virginia/Mountain State University — wasn’t so much a return to familiar digs as it was an irony. The assistant basketball coaching position he took at Mountain State Academy could have been anywhere ... in the state. “It could have been anywhere in West Virginia and I would have taken it,” the Huntington native said. “It could have been on the border in Ohio or Kentucky back home and I would have taken it. Did I ever think I’d be back in Beckley after I left? No. But this is a wonderful opportunity.” Bruce is a former AAU coach who was also an assistant coach at Huntington High during O.J. Mayo’s senior year and last year was a graduate assistant at Marshall for coach Donnie Jones. “I... [read full story]