College basketball coach Roy McCormick (Martin Lawrence) has a gifted understanding of the game, but neglects his players in an effort to maximize his own financial gain. To make matters worse, he has a fiery temper, which explodes one day, earning him a ban from collegiate basketball until he can learn to better manage his anger. Losing many of his endorsements, the coach is forced to seek employment wherever he can get it, and eventually winds up in the unlikely role of coach at Mount Vernon Junior High. Tasked with transforming a band of misfits into competent players, Coach Roy initially shows little interest, hoping only to demonstrate good intentions and thus rejoin college athletics. However, as time goes by, the coach slowly comes to accept his fate and begins to actually teach the students. As he does so, he becomes emotionally attached, and realizes that it may have been his love of the game which had been missing, rather than his lucrative contracts.