Mark Prosser looks out the window of his Bucknell University office, which is buried in the back of the Kenneth Langone Athletic and Recreation Center, and sees ... a cemetery on a dreary, lifeless December day.

But, unprovoked, Prosser says, "I'm just glad I've got a window."

That is Prosser's style. The fifth-year Bucknell assistant coach rarely is seen without his wry smile and upbeat attitude.

It has gotten him through some of life's toughest lessons.

He remembers his family moving to Cincinnati when his dad, Skip, got a coaching job at Xavier. He also recalls moving back to West Virginia with his mother and brother about 18 months later because his parents were getting a divorce.

"At least I was going back to the same house, the same friends," Mark recalls of when he was 7 years old.

That positive outlook was tested again this summer when he got a cell phone call that his father had died of a heart attack.

Mark had spent the previous few days in late July with his dad while both were on the recruiting trails. Skip Prosser, 56, was the head coach at Wake Forest at the time of his passing.

Father and son also spent time together during the 2006-07 season when Bucknell and Wake Forest played the first game of a three-year contract at Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion on Nov. 14.

Coming up on five months since his dad's passing, Mark Prosser is having to revisit July 26, the day he'd just as soon forget. Bucknell visits Wake Forest on Sunday afternoon. He's not sure how he'll feel when he walks into Joel Coliseum.

"I know they have something special there for (my dad). They had a real nice ceremony for him before the first game this season," Mark says. "I've thought about it a lot lately. It's hard not to. I just don't know what it will be like."

Mark Prosser wasn't supposed to be a basketball coach. When his dad was making inroads as an assistant at Xavier, baseball was Mark's passion. But Mark quickly rose up the growth chart and basketball became the top priority.

His parents divorced, Mark recalls spending weeks in the summer with his father. Almost every waking hour was spent in a gym. The Prossers spent their quality father-son time working at Skip's basketball camps.

"I used to say that I was going to call it child cruelty," Mark jokes. "He used to really work me, keep me busy."

Skip also worked with his youngest of two sons, helping him develop into a Division I talent. Mark earned a scholarship to Marist, then made the transition to coaching shortly after a knee injury cut his playing career short. It was a career decision Skip Prosser did everything to dissuade his son from.