Eumarkjah Tywan "Mark" Sanford (born February 7, 1976), is a retired American professional basketball player.

Mark told his father that he would play in the NFL, but in his heart - even back then - he felt he would never leave the impoverished neighborhood of South Oak Cliff, in Dallas, Texas.

Sanford attended Dallas Carter High School and did not start playing basketball until he was in the tenth grade.

Halfway through his junior year, he transferred to Carter's cross town rival Kimball High School.

The summer after Sanford's junior year his mother moved him to San Diego California, where he enrolled into Lincoln High School.

Sanford was voted the MVP of the San Diego City All-Star Challenge after managing a record 10 3pts on 13 attempts and amassing 48pts.

Originally, Sanford had intended to declare for the 1996 NBA draft, but he withdrew his name from consideration.

It did not take Sanford long to get into the Husky record books by scoring 15 points as a true Freshman in the 1st game/start of his career.

At the trials amongst other notable player such as Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Kerry Kittles, Vince Carter, Stephon Marbury, Tim Duncan, and Marcus Camby, Sanford finished in the top 3 in 5 statistical categories (1st-scoring, 1st-steals, 2nd blocks, 2nd-FGP, 3rd-rebounds) becoming the first player to rank as high since Charles Barkley who finished number 1 in the same five categories.

He was the Huskies' Shawn Kemp - a crowd-pleasing, high-flying dunker capable of bringing fans out of their homes on a rainy December evening and into Edmundson Pavilion.

He's scored 1,000 points faster than any other Washington player, but his place in UW history is largely unknown.

Former Sacramento Kings Head Coach Eddie Jordan said that he thought that Sanford was the best defender in college basketball and compared him offensively to Billy Owens.

Bird also declared that, had Sanford stayed in school for his senior season, he would have been projected as a top-3 draft pick.

Sanford would later watched his stock plummet in the days prior to the draft after being involved in a confrontation with his then agent.

As a result of the confrontation, questions about his character arose and he was eventually selected with the second pick in the second round (30th overall) by the Miami Heat.

Most everyone that watched him play knows that he had the talent but believes that his attitude and his decision making off the court kept him from being a star in the NBA.

That year Coach Massimino put Sanford in charge of strength & conditioning and player development.

In 2011 Sanford was named the Head Women's Basketball Coach at Northwood University (Florida Campus).

His up-tempo fast breaking and full-court pressing and trapping system saw 4 different players at 4 different positions be named to the Sun Conference All-Conference team, with 2 of the 4 players also being named Sun Conference Newcomer of the year in consecutive seasons.

One of the 2 newcomers was also named Sun Conference Defensive Player of the Year after ranking in the top 5 nationally in steals.

He accepted the position of Lead Player Development Coach and Assistant Video Coordinator.