Derrick Roland '10

The success continued through the coaching change, but the Aggies achieved their goals in much different ways.

“Turgeon was a guy who allowed you to make more mistakes and learn on the fly,” Roland said. “I think guys loved that about Mark.”

Through the wins, the postseason competition and overall success, there is still a very unfortunate side to Roland's tenure as an Aggie Basketball player. It came just three days before Christmas in 2009 during Roland's senior season.

In a highly touted matchup of two power programs, A&M was in Seattle facing the Washington Huskies. The anticipation for this tilt could be felt throughout the arena, but the scene could only be described as “horrific” early in the second half when Roland suffered a broken leg after landing on the floor awkwardly.

It was the kind of injury that television cameras would not show — so gruesome that much of the crowd turned to face away from Roland as he lay in agonizing pain on the court.

Even before the play was whistled to stop on the other end, Turgeon had already sprinted on to the court to provide whatever comfort was possible.

In times like these, most would focus on the physical pain Roland had to deal with. But that was only the beginning. The mental toll would extend far beyond a single winter's night in Seattle.

“It was definitely the toughest time of my life,” he said.

Roland would spend Christmas Day and beyond in a hospital in the Pacific Northwest. Far from home, far from Aggieland and far from his teammates.

“It was tough getting to a day-to-day routine mentally,” Roland said. “The mental side of it, I was not prepared for. There were a lot of long nights where I could not sleep just constantly thinking about what was next.”

Despite being confined to a hospital bed 1,500 miles away from Aggieland, Roland received tremendous support from fellow Aggies who offered words of encouragement.

“He received so many e-mails they had to shut down the system,” Turgeon said.

As Roland's broken tibia and fibula healed, the uncertainty of his future still provided almost unbearable agony. Through it all, he planned to come back to Texas A&M to play the next season. Yet a hurdle had to be cleared.

The basketball program had asked the NCAA to grant Roland a medical redshirt. The problem being at the time of the injury, he was playing in his 12th game of the season.

“I believe the rule was if you played 10 games, you did not qualify,” Roland said. “They denied me once and after that we appealed.”

To go through the physical and mental side of the injury and not be given another chance would be the real pain.

“The NCAA decision is something that played a role in my mental health, knowing that the organization had my career in its hands,” Roland said.

In the appeal, Texas A&M enlisted some conference foes to help give a full understanding of how much Roland had earned the right to be back on the floor with the Aggies for the 2010-11 season.

“We got signatures from all the Big 12 coaches stating that it would not be a competitive advantage if I returned for a fifth year,” Roland said. “All those coaches were on board with it, and the NCAA denied me once again.”

To fight through the pain, get back up after a horrific injury and yet still have the opportunity to return taken away from him, was far more painful than the broken leg.

“Being denied was really hard to take on,” Roland said. “They decided to not let me return, and it was a blow to my professional career.”

Roland would not play for Texas A&M again. To make matters worse, the timing of the NCAA's decision impacted where he could play beyond A&M.

“The NBA Draft had taken place,” Roland said. “Players worked out for European teams as well as NBA teams. The workouts and all those things were done, and I could not do anything because I was waiting on the decision from the NCAA.”

In what should have been either his final year at A&M or his rookie season as a professional, Roland had no team at all.

However, the process brought a new strength to Roland. He developed a mental toughness that carried him through the adversity. His determination to return to the court would not be denied.

Roland eventually earned opportunities with the Houston Rockets D-League team and the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the NBA G League before playing seven seasons of professional basketball on foreign soil in Argentina, England and Latvia.

He is still on the court today, although in a new capacity. Roland spent three years as an assistant coach at Grace Prep Academy in Fort Worth, helping guide the school to a 4A State Championship in 2022. In October 2023, he moved to the collegiate ranks, accepting a job as an assistant coach at Chadron State College in Nebraska.

Roland has learned some valuable lessons on and off the basketball court. Now, he gets to impart that wisdom to others.

“I am paying it forward,” he said. “As an athlete, adversity is always going to strike. It is going to strike in different forms, and it is going to be unfamiliar to you. Being able to adjust, reset your own internal clock and take on challenges the right way, is a huge thing. I think my story is a great example of that.”

Now a husband and father, Roland achieved a notable milestone in August 2023 by earning his degree in agricultural leadership and development from Texas A&M. This accomplishment is particularly significant considering the impact of his injury during his senior year at A&M.

“I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go back and finish things up,” he said of completing his degree more than a decade after leaving Aggieland to pursue his basketball dreams. “I went back and got it done.”

Roland's perseverance and determination to succeed on and off the court can all be traced back to that fateful night in Seattle.

“A lot of unexplainable things happened that night,” he said. “The things I am blessed with today are all because of that night.”