Coach Carroll, Coast to Coast

After a blazingly successful season with boys varsity basketball, Head Coach John Carroll ’89 headed to Los Angeles this week. His mission? To coach a team of National All-Americans to victory as part of the second annual High School Academic All-American Classic (HSAAAC).

Held from April 29–May 2 at Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles, Calif., the HSAAAC features some of the finest basketball players in the country. Participants are selected based on their grade point average, SAT/ACT scores, college selection, and community service. Hector Harold '10 was among the players selected for the National All-Star team.

While the criterion for coaches is set just as high, the selection committee decided that Carroll was an obvious choice. In almost a decade with the Hoggers, Carroll has coached over 50 Division 1 basketball players, including Tony Gaffney ’04, who recently signed with the Boston Celtics.  The team’s successes under Carroll’s leadership have included winning the Boys' Club of New York Holiday Tournament championship (2007), Blair Academy Coaches vs. Cancer championship (2009), and the NMH Holiday Tournament (2009). In 2009, the team finished the National Prep Tip-Off Classic undefeated.

Carroll, who also works in the admission office as the senior assistant director, notes that the NMH program is considered the best combination of academics and basketball in the country and, as proof, points to the academic success of his players. Eight players from the team this year have committed Ivy League schools, including: Laurent Rivard and Matt Brown to Harvard University; Joe Sharkey ’11 to Brown University; and Hector Harold ’10 to Pepperdine University.

At the HSAAAC games, Carroll will coach the National All-Stars before a full slate of media outlets and talent scouts, as well as a crowd expected to number in the thousands. Before he flies home again, Carroll will also have the chance to attend an awards banquet, a Los Angeles tour, and professional development workshops, all courtesy of the HSAAAC.

"I am coaching the National team that has Hector Harold '10 on the roster," Carroll wrote on Saturday. "It has been an incredible weekend with these outstanding student-athletes. It should be a great game."

To watch the game and for more info, click here.

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