Latest / Committee 215 / Holy Ghost Prep Coach Tom Heston

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Holy Ghost Prep Coach Tom Heston · Committee 215

• Sinni: Hello, my name is Tom Heston, coach of Holy Ghost Prep. Welcome to Committee 215. All right, today we have Tom Heston. he actually played pickup with me a long time ago. Much younger guy. Over at Liberty Bell. A long time ago. we're here to talk about Holy Ghost Prep, his program. It's his first year in the Catholic League, so it's a you know a big, big get for me to have him here. I'm so happy he's here. I know a lot of your kids too, which is great. so let's kind of like get right in, Tom. why don't you start off and just tell me about your kids. Sure. we'll talk about some of the returners from last year. we have Turning starter, senior Max Malici, and then two who are like our sixth, seventh man. Jack Pollock was our backup big who started a couple games for us, and then junior guard KJ Rhodes, who was like our sixth man, first guard off the bench last year. And then we should have about seven seniors this year. Wow. So it's a deep, deep senior class and ready, ready to compete. Okay. Sounds good. I know there's a lot of kids from Tarsdale. There are a couple of kids from Tarsdale. Uh-huh. We got a couple. Out of that group, who do you think if you can describe who's your glue guy, who's your leader? Max has the most experience, of course, but is anyone gonna take that jump who may have not played major varsity minutes last year? I think probably the biggest one is gonna be senior Hunter Schmidt. Okay. He's probably grown a foot since his sophomore year. he's about six four, six five now, and he's just playing phenomenal for us over the summer. Once he starts to figure out that he's six five now and not what he was two years ago or last year, I think he's gonna be really good for us. And then we have who one of the best shooters, if not the best shooters, in the Catholic League, Colton Karan, who's another senior. Okay. Who was just lights out if he gets an open look, he's gonna let it fly and we want him shooting it every time. No, I know Hunter. I don't know Ker is it Karen? Colton. Colton, sorry. Don't know the shooter that well. where do you see Hunter more of Three four dcause again he's that big now. penetration, drive, Yeah, a little bit of a of a do it all guy. offensively he can score at three three levels. He can he can put on the floor, get to the rim. he's still getting used to using his length and size, so the more he does, the more he'll get better at it, more comfortable with it. And I think he'll he'll Just keep getting better as the year goes on. Yeah, sounds like a good prospect. And good kid. Yep. I'm sure he's an excellent. Academic kid at four O GPA, so that's what we want. Can't get a higher that, Hunter. so Yeah, talk about your team. What kind of what's your identity? Who do you think w you guys are gonna be? I know it's a journey, right? You say you have a lot of guys coming in, they're gonna have to figure out what varsity basketball's all about, the speed, the length, the physicality. and like what what kind of group do you think you're gonna have? I think that will probably be the toughest part for us, the the speed, the athleticism, night in, night out. probably the biggest adjustment for us. we played a couple of Catholic League teams in the past. Yeah, you have non league games. Yeah. So we played we played LaSalle, we played O'Hara last year. It'll be a little bit different this year being a league opponent, which I think is gonna be really good for us. just to have those in season rivalries that maybe the games are a little bit more intense, you have some more fans in the student section. we want to make sure we have those because I think we're gonna have a really good team this year and we're gonna be able to compete with them. from t a team perspective. Like I said, we have seven seniors. K J is a junior and then we're excited about some of the sophomores and some of the freshmen that we have too. Okay, wonderful. what do you think your biggest strengths are? you g I know you gotta figure out your identity it sounds like. And you want to compete, but what do you think besides that this pace of the game I assue I'm assuming, what are your strengths as a as a team? I would just say the togetherness. I mean they've they've played together for four years now. Which is great and it's rare. It is. So I I guess as as our seniors were sophomores, KJ was on the J V team. They played together since then. and they're they're really all in on Holy Ghost basketball. They're worried about the name on the front of the jersey and they just they don't care who gets the credit. They just want And and would you say most of your kids are four year seniors? Okay, yeah. I know I think that's the uniqueness. When I spoke with Joey Z, he was He he was quick to point that out that this team this year, he has a bunch of kids that are, been in the program four years, just like you. Played played some mi some major contributors, played J V last year, it it's their turn this year, and very similar description of what he wants them to be. and then tell me about your staff. Sorry. Sure. this is my fourth year as the head coach. Yeah, which kinda helps with some of the seniors. It's their fourth year in the program. They know what I expect, what I expect out of them. And I think our coaching staff who's been in place since Pretty much since I've gotten there. we have assistants, Anthony Mags, who does some of the announcing for Ryan too, that pretty well, who was also in that men's league too. and then our assistant coach and J V coach, Kevin Fenstermaker. He's a wood guy. And then we have some alums, Greg Sylvester, Tyler Mish, some of the younger guys who are gonna come back and coach this year. And then That's awesome. I'd love to see that. It w they want to come back, they wanna help the program. Tyler's been doing workouts for us this fall, and he's been great. So I think he's gonna be a really big contributor for us from the coaching staff. And then we have Tom Irwin who's a Northeast guy. yeah. they're at Calvary, right? For Calvary guy, yep. Mm-hmm. So staff's been together for pretty much my entire time and really, really. Yeah, you started 23, right? Yes. Okay. Yeah, we're gonna get into that in a little bit. So we taught yeah, the thing that I want to point out to our listeners is the Tark Dog connection. I I love the fact when I have any connection to a coach or a player or a team, there's a you know that that's been a good feeder for the local programs. and I'm so happy to see that. So let's talk about the big transition. you know get tell the tell the audience if you don't mind Tommy like what it was like pre PCL. what you because you weren't in a in a league per se, right? You competed in states. Right. But why don't you just so they know like what it was like before this year. So we we applied for the Catholic League in twenty twenty eighteen, I think it was. did not get accepted back then. We were in the Bicentennial Athletic League forever. Yeah, I do remember that. I played in I played in that and I think it was twenty eighteen that we we applied again to the Catholic League. We were not accepted and then after that we just thought we'd be better to leave the BAL. We went independent which just means we schedule our own regular season. We didn't have any league opponents. we had to schedule 22 regular season games and then after that we had our districts. We still competed in district. We were district one last year and then we could if we qualified still play in the state tournament too. Yeah. And it wasn't you didn't like you have a lack of games. No. and and I for I was up there for at least one or two games in the last two seasons and the the kids you have great fans. The student section's really good. They're they are unbelievable. it's really cool. And it's it's The gym's great. Our guys, the student section, they know all the guys on the court. Like we talked about earlier. They've been together for four years. They know people. They see them in the hallways. I mean, we're a small school. We have about 115 per grade. So you kind of know guys who are above below you. So it's not it's not a very big school. We have about 450 in the entire school. So you you see those guys in the hallway. You might have classes with some of the guys on the basketball team. So it's a really tight, tight-knit community. Brotherhood at Holy Ghost, and you see that going to all the different athletic events, the plays we just had ours this weekend for clue. and they they go support everybody. Yeah, it's it's a nice atmosphere and it's a beautiful campus. It is. I always tell people if you get on campus, it's you're not gonna walk away unimpressed. So it's a beautiful campus, it's on fifty acres. We have an open open campus, so you can go between buildings, check it out. it's right off 95. Yeah, and you have the new facility across to like a field house type of facility, right? The whole Center, it's like our auxiliary gym, the theaters in there. It's a multi-purpose use. Okay. so this is a big transition. I I I was thinking more of from the you know the school, Tom, the athletic department making the transition, the jump, 'cause you're in now, right? but if you could if you have any insight on that, and and or if you could tell the the listeners how it put your this year will different d even just logistically from your previous three years. Yeah, so like we talked about we had a schedule twenty two out of conference games. It it worked out well for us that we got to travel a little bit. We hosted tip off tournament. We got to go travel for our Christmas tournament. We went to Phoenix, Arizona last year. Before that we were in the governor's challenge. And then we had an opportunity to go see maybe teams from different districts that we wouldn't have had the opportunity to do. We played Octorera, we played Bishop McDevitt from Harrisburg, so we got to travel a little bit. and just different teams that you wouldn't normally see, along with the ones like in the area, our local public schools, Pansbury, right? Yeah, yeah. I think I went One of those games and it was very competitive. I think you did really well. and I I love your offense. Hopefully, we can get a little bit into that. you're it's so funny, like the AI AI bio that I share with you. huh, it spits out like you're what kind of offense you run. It's probably not right. It was new, but I liked it. Maybe we'll we'll use some of that. Yeah, it's probably it's probably full of shit. okay, so yeah, so th th your first year, I I know you gotta be so excited to be in the PCL. it's I think it's gonna be great for your program, it's gonna be great for your athletic department and great for your school. What would you consider this year, like what would you define as a successful year this year? I guess for this year too and we we've learned this from my first three years. maybe maybe staying away from concrete goals of we wanna win this many games, we wanna yeah win a district championship. we just we just wanna come come out and compete and show that we belong. I know we're the we're the the new guys in the league, but I feel like we have a very good opportunity to compete to compete, to win some games. And just be a part of the Catholic League and we're excited about it. Yeah, I th I think in the long run it's gonna be it's gonna be nice. I think you're a nice addition. I think you're rounded out and I think it's good for the PCL as a whole. and then you know, I I wanna dive into now that you're in Coach Aston, how are you gonna attract kids? and and we talked about it before we were on today. You know, there's this myth, and and I I was did some research. I actually did this, and just talk about tuition. You think Holy Ghost prep, it you get that sticker shot. However, I was thrilled to realize that Father Judge is under ten grand. Th and this could be last year's tuition. but the majority of the PCL Catholic schools are around eleven to twelve grand. And then there's that upper tier. And you're not alone. So you have you have LaSalle, you have Devon Prep, you have St. Joe's that are in the upper, you know, twenty eight to thirty range. so can you just talk about that? Like I I I asked Tom before, you know, how are you gonna compete and w what it does he have the support from his administration? How are you gonna get these kids in to be competitive? If you could you could kind of dig into that and that'd be great. So like you said, Joe, where you mentioned those four all-boy schools that aren't a part of the Arch Archdiocese. we come in at twenty eight thousand about twenty eight thousand dollars, which is a little bit cheaper than some of the than the three other all-boy schools. Yep. and like you said, the sticker shock might be a little bit different. We do have financial it's financial aid need based Like that at every school. Yeah, really, right? Exactly. it's almost like I always tell people it's like a college FAFSA if you've ever gone through that process. I just did it, dude. Like Penn State. So I mean, you know the paperwork that goes into it. Yeah, also we do a really good job of of working with families. we're creating an endowment at Holy Ghost to be able to kind of get more students from different areas. in South Jersey, in the Trent area, even in more Philly and South Philly areas. So we're diversifying a little bit in those areas. And I think with us even applying in 2018, I think the goal was always to get into the Catholic League. And they weren't administration wasn't naive to be like, we're gonna be able to come in here. And I know with soccer they're doing a really good job. Yeah, yeah. Soccer, baseball are gonna be So they were taking steps since then to kind of prepare for the I think that was always the end goal. Okay. it it didn't really make sense anywhere else for some of the leagues. Like we wouldn't have joined Suburban One, couldn't go back to the BAL. interact is a little bit different. Yeah, they have a kind of wanky playoff system. It really just more like Ivy League type of it was it was just the right fit for us. And I think we've always belonged in the Catholic League, just from an academic standpoint. We're really close to tradition, too. Yeah, Holy Ghost. Absolutely. So I think we're in the right spot now. an administration always wanted to be in there and they understand the challenges that are ahead of us and they're excited and we are too. So that's looking forward. so th and that that answers one of my questions. for to compete athletically. And and as you know, especially with a school as small as yours, those athletes are part of the culture and they can help enrollment. Yep. Right? It's worth the investment. Absolutely. So just like facilities, it's no different. you you get that money back. so the other part I wanna kinda hope we would like to talk about would be the the advantages of Holy Ghost, like what you can sell a kid. we talked about the financial, there's a pathway. And Holy Ghost is considering for thinking, how can we get more athletes to come to our school, even though they might be they might not be they might be outside that ten mile radius. I mean we I talked to Sean Tate recently and he's got he got a gift from Canada, you know? Yep. Which is sounds crazy. But what is like if you could tell the advantage of Holy Ghost, like what it has to offer as a school. Yeah, and and we've talked a little bit about it. Like I said, it's an all boys college prep school we put academics we have a very high standard for our academics we have we don't offer remedial classes all of our basketball players I would say have obviously have to meet the PI double A rules for eligibility, but I think our team GPA like a three point three last year. our highest, I think Colton, who's also a vice president of student government, he had like a four point eight GPA. We have probably And he can shoot. Yeah, and he can shoot. So he he's multi-talented. But I think our senior class, I think all of them have I'd probably say four or five of them have above like a four point two GPA. So they're very academic oriented students that is AP classes. Honors, all APs. so they they take advantage of the opportunities that school has. They're in clubs, they're in different activities. Awesome. Tommy Ashenbrenner, who's our another senior, is is our starting a new business club, the future business leaders of America. his dad's the CFO at school. So it's it's really a family environment. some of the advantages that we have, like I said, is the academics. I think our campus is probably the best campus in the Catholic League. Easy to get to too. E super easy to get to. It's right off ninety five. You can see it from ninety five. it's ten, fifteen minutes from the turnpike. Woodhaven exit, tree road exit. in between those two, it's fifteen minutes from the turnpike. You can get to South Philly in thirty minutes, you can get to Trent in twenty minutes. Turnpike in easy. Fi fifteen no, ten. So you're gonna yeah, right down Woodhaven to the bull right. I do it every day for G A. you can yeah, it is accessible, it is a good spot. And I think people say it's like, I've never never seen this place, I've never been here before and they're all it's a hidden gem. It is it really is. Because we're from the area. In the area. So I just think that being in the Catholic League is gonna is gonna open some eyes for people who never really considered it. And I think I'll tell anybody who's interested to come check it out because it is it's a wonderful place to be. I'm an alum of the school I graduated in 2012. I teach there I'm the science department chair basketball coach there for the past three years. I was an assistant coach before that. So I just think it's very like I said before you're a Holy Holy Ghost guy. Okay. That I think that is what out of out of everything we talked about, that's what I want to get out. I wanted people to understand what what Holy Ghost was all about. Tom and I think you did an excellent job. Thank you. and then long term goals, if you don't mind. Like, you know, if you could, you know, five, ten, like where where do you s where do you see the the basketball program now being you know, now that this this has happened, you're in it man. You're you're in it. Yeah, we talked about like a a one year, five year and a ten year goal. Awesome. Yeah, that'd be great. One year goal has just been to kind of to compete. And see where we are. like I said earlier, we're not looking to to win a certain amount of games or do any of that. we just want to be a good example of Holy Ghost and what that means to compete, to play tough, to play for each other. we want to make sure we're doing that in year one. year five, we have a better idea of what what is required and what's necessary to to compete to win a Catholic League title, and then just get the right guys in the school, guys who want to be there who feel Holy Ghost is the best place for them and they just wanna be there to be able to to be there with their brothers and to compete and to play basketball for four years at Holy Ghost. Yeah, I mean a lot of the folks who've never been to Holy Ghost, you're gonna be impressed. you're really gonna like the facilities, if you've never been there and it's gonna feel like you're, you know, driving into a horror movie 'cause you it's done it's it's you know, it's not in Philly per se, but it's half a mile. Half a mile from it. Right in Mid Salem. Yeah, right over like you could throw a football and be in Philly and hit Holy Ghost prep. So okay, so and then also really quick before we get into I'm gonna get into his bio. And I know we're changing the order up, but I really wanted Tom to talk about his kids and the program and then we'll get into who he is. He d he actually did a good job of kind of diving into a tiny bit. How are the kids? Are they excited? are they f phone to mouth? they'd be going crazy, right? They're in the Catholic league now. It was announced last year. our seniors last year were like, I would have loved to have the opportunity to be able to compete for my senior year. but I think they gotta be d devastated. They had to be devastated. Missed out just a little bit. But they're still part of the culture. And they'll come back like I said we we want guys who are gonna be there for four years and then are going to be a part of Holy Ghost for forty years. So they'll be back at games, we'll have our alumni games, they'll come back for weekends. They'll work out at the gym, especially for those who are still playing college basketball, as a place to be able to come back, be able to shoot, see some of their old teammates, just to to stay involved as much as possible and they want to stay involved. Yeah, that's awesome. But we're gonna be following you and I'm hoping that Tom is kind enough to come back every year, tell me about us his kids, and the progress the progress, sorry. maybe even if I can steal them for a mid year check-in, we'll see. I'll I will be greedy, but I I'm trying to get everybody in here and he's been gracious with his time. so I'm gonna do the bio now. again, keep me honest, Tom. let's see. class of tw twenty twelve. Yep, 2012. Sorry, just give me a thumbs up because that makes me feel super old, by the way. And I and I'm now I'm like, I feel proud that I was able to play ball with you. What was your team name in Liberty Bell? The old Fockers with an O. The old Fockers with an O. even though we can't curse on this, you shouldn't. You got a Holy Ghost gear on. so former player. So Ta proud Holy Ghost all on nice. You can tell. I I did they did say that you taught, so that's great that you're still there. What else? You spent some time in Egan and Wood? Yeah, so after I went to get pissed out. Yeah. Yeah, I went to King's College, played basketball up there, graduated in twenty sixteen. My first year out of college. I was a long term sub at Camel Egan for the first semester. And then because I was there for the first semester, I hopped on the coaching staff for that year. Okay. And then second semester I was at Archbishop Wood doing chemistry, honors chem and then EP chem too for as a long term subto. All right, gotcha. And then did did you coach at Wood at all? I did not. Okay. All right. So you played it looks like you led the Firebirds too. It says a district championship and state quarterfinal during eleven and twelve. And that's why Kings picked them up. I got eleven and a half points, eight rebounds. You probably had more than that. That's bad statistics. I don't see assist in here, Tom. Why is no not too many. We don't wanna take too long, I guess. But you had a you had a mantra senior year, it looks like. and then and then fast forward to twenty twenty three, you take over for coach Chapman. and I have nine hundred and twenty-eight wins. Forty five seasons? That's not right. Forty five seasons. Forty five seasons as head coach. Yep. so you played for him, of course, and then you then you moved to his on his staff and then most recently got the job. I well I'm not gonna go through the his up top down offensive style from chat GPT. but last year you had a good year and you got to the state playoffs and I got lost at a first round to Crestwood. Yep. By two. Lost by two in the first round, yeah. Okay. All right. so let's let's talk about Chapman a little bit. You have to, right? Growing up goes baseball. Yeah, t just just give a little bit of a feel for this l listen, forty five seasons. So there's no way I could have coached there. because I'm too old. But and then you were an assistant, so you learned from a very successful coach, local legend. Why don't you talk about him a little bit? and then I would love to switch over, like how do you put your own imprint on something that's someone that's been there for so long. But talk about Coach Chapman, please. Like you said, forty five years. I mean, he he is Holy Ghost. Nine hundred twenty-eight wins, countless BAL championships, district championships, all of that. just I mean, growing up for him, when I was in high school, he was a legend then. You walked into the gym, it was a little intimidating, a little scary. When I was in school he was also the disciplinarian. So if you if you knew him before that, it was probably not a good combo. Not a good reason. So I mean Is that how he call he tell he he coached? big firm firm hand. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. So I mean just he was a disciplinarian old school in the classroom and on the court too. but he was there He was also a history teacher. He taught two or three classes when I was there. Okay. lucky for him, I guess I never had him in class. you dodged it. I did. I did. So that was lucky. Well, you're smart. Yeah. but then I said, he I mean, he was phenomenal. He was disciplined, he was Getting the guys to be their best when their best was necessary. that's not even talking about the X's and O's, which you go on and on and talk about that. But just just some of the life lessons that he taught and then still instilled in me as a player, as a as an assistant coach with him and then working with him. So it's just It had to be hundreds of kids, right? Forty five C's. absolutely. Right. Hundreds and hundreds of kids. so I mean we still he just got inducted into the Markwood. Okay. last week. So we went to the the banquet then. I mean I still call him Mr. He probably should have been inducted twenty years ago. Agreed. A little a little late to the party, but but it I mean he's he still comes to some of the games. He's coming to the practices. He stays involved. yeah, we talk we talk weekly, just out of season, in season, talking about different things. He'll come to a bunch of games. He I mean when he retired he was excited to go be able to see other leagues. He's like, I haven't been to a Catholic league game in thirty, forty years. So I'm gonna go he check that out. him and his other assistant coach, Bruce Simon, who was a longtime assistant, coached in a Shamney. They went to they went to Interact Games, Catholic League games, they they stayed involved. Yeah just wanna they just want to see good high school basketball. So they stay involved and they're still back at school. he comes and visits and like I said we talk every week. That's great. And and so you can then you absolutely consider him an active mentor today. absolutely I mean some like some of the things that he taught, like I said, the X and O's might be different, but just some of the the skills and the life lessons you still have social the toughness we had a hard hat award last year for hard work, attitude and toughness and those are all the things that our our coach Shaman. So it's not like not like the program is is any different. we're just trying to do things that he would that he would be proud of. Now do you if he's at a game, will you get a text or a call the next day? We'll get a I I get a I pretty much get a call I think like a at a boy or you should a depends now he's always positive. He's always no matter what winner's hard not to Winner lose. He wants he just wants to make sure that I'm just doing my best. and we'll talk after every game. If it's a if it's if he comes to the games, he'll give me a call. We'll talk for an hour, two hours. And we used to do when I was an assistant coach. He would call me after practices and do That's what basketball does, right? Exactly. You could just I when I do the games at Ryan, just a sidebar, give you a second to catch your breath. coach Heimendiger, a l legendary coach at Coach Doherty, And we could talk for hours. And he has a tremendous recall and awesome stories. Awesome stories. So that's unbelievable. And I I get it. I understand exactly what you're talking about. If you're sitting in a gym and you still are watching a game, you're talking basketball the whole entire game, right? What you're seeing, what you're not seeing, so on and so forth. So that's great. You saw that relationship. I'm sure he has that with he's probably a tree, right? A coaching tree. He's probably got tons of acolytes out there, right? Yep, absolutely. okay, so then now this is your program. and could you give me a couple examples that you changed or you did differently, or modified any any kind of pivot time at all that you thought was necessary and just a little difference between what he has done and the way you run your program. Yeah, like I said, I think the the lessons and the the life skills that he instilled, the hard work, the attitude and toughness we still talk about every day in practice. X's and O's might be a little different. I wanted to be a little bit different just I mean like How could I replicate what he did? so we kind of and why should you? Yeah, yeah. I mean we we adapted, we adapted, we didn't adopt some of the stuff that he did. So we wanted to be play as fast as possible to try to get up and down, score as many points as possible. Defensively, we were very similar still, man to man. he had he had a matchup zone that he loved to run and that we ran my senior year. we weren't able to put that in as as successful as he was, so we were mostly a man-to-man team, but I I think it took us a little bit to get to that Yeah, but it's it's help like you I you guys don't trap, you're not running a jump. Yeah. You're just fundamental Exactly. d back to the wall, second guy helping, right? Mm-hmm. routine help the helper, all that all that good stuff. the yeah, the fundamentals that you see nowadays. and I think you guys do a good job. so that that's it interesting. So I'm sure you'll continue to evolve. I think w also I you're not there yet. You have the same kids in the program for four years. but the the other coaches I talk to and will talk to, it's kinda like etch and sketch Tom. They get it they get new guys every year, right? and it's interesting to see them go from pinch post to weave because they got great guards. just high pick and roll because they have two dominant players. It's just every just changed a little bit. But I love your system. I like the I love the movement without the ball. It's like a lost art, man. it is fun to watch. So when you watch one of Tom's games, or Holy Ghost Press games, you'll see kids flying around. It's really cool on the offensive end. and different to be honest. okay. So when you were at Kings, like did you take any of that? You talk about Chapman's influence. You're at Kings. Who was your coach? You know, drop some players' names and how did that influence you as a coach today? Yeah so I went up to King's College, which is in Wolk's Bear PA by the Scranton area. played there, was a four year starter up there. It was a little bit different than Holy Ghost basketball. it was obviously the college game, but I felt like I was pretty well prepared for that. I think the biggest thing for me was maybe l a little bit different style from Holy Ghost where you make the right play every time. College was a little bit more, you want to make sure you get the right guys the right shot and you want the best players to get the right shot. Predictability. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So that was a little bit of an adjustment. But like I said, I was a four year st starter for there. I think we were about five hundred my entire four years there. So it was pretty consistently okay. made to the playoffs two years and then some of those guys I still talk to today where some of my classmates Connor Hughes coached up at Allen in Allentow area. Dutch L, he's a coach out in California High School, also a chemistry teacher. And then Alex Cardozo, some of my my teammates that I still talk to every single day. And then some of the younger guys who are coaching or even just in the area. Dan Ratecki went to Springfield Delca. We played them last year in the district playoffs and then he came to the game, his dad, his mom. So it was a little bit of everybody. So we still Yeah, exactly. We stay in touch. Yeah, it's the best. So mean high school friends you I still see pretty much I hang out with them all the time. And then the college ones are a little bit further apart, but we still I always love that. I mean it's it it sounds to folks who are not close to it that I gotta pay play my one of my best friends. It's the best. Yeah, it really is. And you drive each other nuts during the game, right? You compete, you're fiery competitors, but then you're hugging their mom and dad every year, right? Exactly. It's the best. Okay. we're doing pretty good time wise. all right, now you're going from Just talk the competition in the PCL. So from you know, the first three years you're playing, like you said, hodgepodge ki teams from all over, some suburban one teams, a little bit of interact Catholic League sprinkled in as you said, but now you're full time PCL. just talk about like what you think competitively what that that jump really is for you guys. Yeah, and I think like I said, we played some of the Suburban One teams in our area, Ben Salem, Pennsbury and Shamley are gonna be are gonna be competitive in suburban Insurber one for the league championship this year and years past. these really good programs that are ready to compete. in the district playoffs we played some really good teams. Upper Dublin has been phenomenal the past couple of years. Penguin's glad that program. Great coach. Derek Derek does a phenomenal job. Derek, I would love to have you on. I'm a PCL guy and I'm only doing PC but I would you are you you're a good coach. It's a great program. And they get some they get some studs. Yep. Yeah. And it a long time they they weren't very good. So he does a great job building that program and they've been really good and we've had some good battles with them. They've gotten the best of us but really good team and we play them. Probably about over the last five or six years. Yeah. I lo I love when Joey Z goes up and plays them or they come down. It's always gonna be a good game, right? Really well coach, run their stuff, just really good basketball. Yeah. And then some of the other teams, Pencrest, we had a good rivalry with. I was gonna ask that, like is that your like who like I only know Ryan Judge. So like so in your world, is that is that so this is probably what that's this is probably the closest to it. We get to pick our schedule of who we want to play. the the tough part was maybe not having a actual rival, I guess. the teams that we play, like the Catholic League teams, were their 10th, 11th, 12th biggest rival. Yeah. And then like Ben Salem, Pensbury, Nishamney, the local public schools, it's not a league game. They're not playing against us. So I I think that was one of the drawbacks, if not the biggest drawback, was that in the regular season we never really got those intense battles where where tensions were high, we were we were competing and there was something on the line. being an independent, I think you don't have those natural rivalries just because. so I think being in the Catholic League will give us a little bit of that back. Like I said, with those all boys schools and then just geographically where we're twenty minutes from from Ryan, Judge, Wood, Egan, a bunch of schools. So geographically it makes sense. And then with all boys schools, and even the Catholic background too, it just it just it fits. Well, and Roman Catholic 'cause they play Hector games. yeah. who so who do you think it's gonna be? I guess if you had to if you had a guess, it's gonna be one of the prep schools or you think it's gonna be I don't know. I mean I guess it it depends. We wanna be competitive with everybody, but I guess we'll see we'll see what happens. I see it being Ryan. Ryan Judge 'cause a lot of the feeder schools, old school, they're going to Ryan Judge, or Holy Ghost Prep. Yeah. Right. And you will have kids on your team today where when they hang out at home or in their neighborhood their best friend is going to Ryan and their other friend is going to Judge. And all of these kids talk today with social media. Yep. But yeah, I think it'd be Ryan Judge. It'd be interesting to it's how that plays out. They're probably the two closest. it's gonna be a good day when you knock one or both of those off, for sure. you'll get a text from me. I'll tell you that right now. Okay. yeah, this and one more question and do my presso that rapid fire question and answer. Tom does not have the questions beforehand. so what kind of kid do you want? what kind of kid do you look at? what what are the you know of course you want everyone who's skilled and you know, but like what kind of kid family do you kind of are attracted to and you think That will fit into the Holy Ghost baseball program? I talked a little bit about before, but we're we're an academic, we're high academic school. I think our academics are probably the best in the Catholic League. We want to make sure that we have academic oriented students who who can succeed and and strive at the school. if if it doesn't work out academically, we don't get to the basketball aspect of it. So we want to make sure that it's a good fit. We want kids to come on campus. we have a shadow program where a student in seventh, eighth grade can come get matched up with a current. student and they follow them around for the entire day to go to their classes to see what a daily day is actually feel for to see a day in the life. We want to make sure that as a student they they enjoy the campus, they enjoy their classmates and and the environment before we even get to the basketball part. And I said this earlier, we want four-year guys who are going to be a part of Holy Ghost for 40 years that are going come back year after year to to see games, to talk to their classmates. And just be a part of that brotherhood that we talk about. So we want to make sure that they're they're involved in things outside of basketball, outside of their academics. We have a million clubs on campus. go go join those. We have we have an overnight gaming club that does a twelve hour marathon. We have a model UN team that's national ranked. I think Holy Family has a gaming like An esport team? Yeah, Ne sport. I did not know that. Yeah. It's getting big now. Yeah. So we have we have an esport team, we have a forensics team. Our theater department is is phenomenal. So like why don't you run through your sports? Because I don't think everyone knows that. with the fall, we have soccer right now who is is second in the Catholic League. They're playing in their yeah, they're having a great year. They're having a great year first year. they're playing in the the PCL quarterfinals tomorrow against LaSalle. seven o'clock at Holy Ghost. And then we have cross country a home game. Two seed. Yeah. Okay. Two seed overall. So we had one loss. We we tied Judge who was the one seed. So soccer team's doing really well. Cross country just came in fourth in the Catholic League playoffs. And then our golf team had a really good season. And then we have our own program too that does fall and spring. And then we have some non PIWA sports. We have rugby, we have ultimate frisbee, and then the winter we have basketball obviously, swimming, indoor, track and field, and then bowling as well. And then in the spring we have baseball across. They're they're big for you too, right? Baseball. Baseball is really good. They won the state title a couple years ago. we're in it last year. And then lacrosse is is really I don't mean to cut you off. Did we miss any volleyball? No. Volleyball is in the spring as well. I feel like I'm missing one too. Yeah. The two big ones we don't have, we don't have football and we don't have wrestling. That's probably better to call out, actually. Yeah. So th those are the two main ones we don't have. We we don't have football, but we have three football players. we just Pennsylvania just passed a law that said you could play for your home public school team. So we have we We three kids who are playing. I remember they did it for hockey before. Yeah. They would lay it for hockey. Okay. So now we have three football players without a football team. One's playing for up lower Moreland and then two are playing for Ben Salon. But it's great for the kids. Okay. well done. And I think again, I don't I don't think most people they don't know you that they probably don't know your school that well. They probably heard of Holy Ghost, but I think this is helpful to kinda sell the school. Yeah. And and know what you know what what is available there, Tom. okay. Press O. Okay. All right, you ready? I'm ready. So so I'm gonna just ask you a question. You have to answer it too. Okay. You can't pass. No passing. No passing. and then s w don't think about it, I'm gonna move on to the next. There's only about twelve ten, twelve questions. Okay. All right, you got it? Ready. One word to describe your team this year. Together. One word to describe the Catholic League. Ultra talented. Who is the toughest player you ever coached against? Head coach or can be an assistant to? toughest player no, yeah, and doesn't matter. Any role. Anywhere. Toughest player you're ever coached against. I'll say Rasul Dickens when he was at Wood. Okay. So many people get pissed off of that because you didn't name them, just so you know. Okay. what P C L GM do you look forward to playing in? I'm I would say all of yeah. Give me one. Give me one. just one. I'll say this year where We're at judge. So I'll say that. Small. It's small. It is. We've we scrimmage them the past couple years. So we've played. Four is great. It is a couple of times, but like we said. Tell your parents, just just mom and dad. That's it. No brothers and sisters, no aunts and uncles. Okay. post game routine for you, right? One word. Is it home? Is it film? Is it food? Is it a bourbon? One word. Like what it how do you decompress? first thing you do. Review, I guess. Film. Review? Yeah. Just play it in my head on the drive home. Yeah. Yeah. I think about some of the different things. It's hard not to. And then probably watch the game once or twice and then next team. What's one thing a player can do that drives you absolutely crazy? Just think about this. probably act too cool. love it. Love it. Happens all the time. body language, right? do you know who the flying Tates are? I I don't think I do. Awesome. Okay. Best bar for committee two on five, that's the the foursome, to hit before or after a Holy Ghost game. Jimmy's time out. Jimmy's time out. Pretty close to you. I thought you were gonna say Karen's. All right. pick your favorite. All right, listen and then pick your favorite. this is a little soft, so it's the Sopranos, Peaky Blinders, Breaking Bad, The Wire, Game of Thrones, Band of Brothers, Simpsons, Cheers, or Snowfall. Pick one. Yes. If it's tough, I'm I'm proud of you. I was I was between two. I was gonna say Game of Thrones, but I'll go with Breaking Bad just because of the the chemistry aspect. He was a chemistry teacher too. Would have never thought of that. It's fitting. who should be the guy for the Sixers? Like who takes the final shot? Exactly. That was my that was my one B. Is everyone playing? And B's not playing? Everyone healthy. Everyone's healthy. I'll say Maxie. Okay. Alright, I thought you'd be a brown guy. best coach in the PCL. Gotta answer. in your mind. I I mean, I guess just from going against people, I'll say Ryan Ansel from LaSalle. Okay. We've played them last couple of years and we've had some really good battles. Okay. just that could be it. That could be the rivalry. best team in the PCL this season. I mean, can I say all of Nope. You gotta pick one, bro. I'll say I'll say Bonner because we open up with them. Yeah, that's not that's not a good place to open up. I'll say Bonner. They're at our place. We play we play. We know he's coming in next. Cassie's coming in next. I have him coming in t t Tuesday. Yeah, so we open up with them. First game of the Catholic League. baby. Wear your helmet and shoulder pads. And top honor? At ho at at Holy Ghost. okay, great. That helps. Yeah. That helps. okay, that's it, man. That's all I had. Yeah. So you did great. and I just wanna well we'll kinda we kind of can wrap up now. I thought you did a great job. I again appreciate coming in. Thanks for having me. One more like general question and then we can do our thank yous and wrap up. what what should fans expect from Holy Ghost this season? I I talked about it too, the kind of kid we're looking for is this tough, scrappy kids who are willing to do do the right things all the time. They'll make the extra pass, they'll they'll box somebody out so their teammate can get the rebound. we'll just be a really tough, competitive, fundamental team. that we are gonna wanna try to try to be as competitive as possible and just put some scares into some teams and then hopefully Do enough to win some games. Yeah, that's great. yeah, just hang in there, keep it close, and surprise some people, right? Absolutely. So, all right, I'm gonna go off a little bit and talk about all the feedback that I get. so you can take a break, have a drink, and then we'll do our thank yous. so first, thank you all for your feedback. It does crack me up because I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just having fun. but I've gotten feedback on the lighting, the audio, my positioning, the frame. Sta hate people hate when we when I stay. so that's why we we're we're adjusting, we're sitting. I think it's pretty comfortable. please like this, put some comments in, subscribe if on the podcast or YouTube. Would love to, you know, get notified when I drop these. I have a a bunch of coaches lined up. And if you enjoyed this, just share it. If you think someone else is gonna enjoy it, just share it. Send it to that's great. And then just remember these interviews are extra, believe it or not. I've been Very fortunate and lucky that coaches like Tom will sit down with me and give me an hour of their time. Come to my house. and Thanks for having us. My slab my slabberry doll gets Fridays all over him. But we're gonna do a weekly recap. me, Tommy Salman, Chris McNesby, and Jim Hanrady. And we're gonna talk about the games that happened that week. heavy on opinion, like I said. hopefully that we annoy you and you can comment and tell us what idiots we are. and then we're gonna look forward to the week ahead and and tell you who what lines we have for the games, who we think is gonna win and how teams are trending. It'll be fun. It'll be twenty, thirty minute max, and last but not least, before we do our thank yous, people are asking me about gear, which is crazy. so I'm trying to do something with t-shirts. If you're interested, let me know. I'm not gonna buy a whole bunch of teachers and hope that people buy them. But if you guys want them, just let me know. If you know me, just send me a text or whatever and I'll get a bunch made. We have our logo up there. I do have a t-shirt, but I'll pull this up in a second. But why don't you do your thank yous and then I'll officially wrap up. Yeah, I'll start with you. Joe, thank you for doing this for the Catholic League. Give give some of the high school guys an opportunity. to talk about their teams. The coaches talk about their teams and then some other things too. I'll thank my staff, talked about them for all the things that they do, all the things that they do behind the scenes, all the extra hours that they do. And then of course my wife, I'll s I'll say thank you to her. we just had our second kid about a week ago. So I'm here tonight, a week later. So thank you to Megan, my wonderful wife, who lets me coach and go go missing for a couple months from November to to March. So thank you very much for everything that you do. Couldn't do it without you. Yeah. Megan? Megan. Thank you, Megan. for giving us him for that period of time. Every coach I get in here, I ask him that question. They just they're gone. you guys are gone. it's tough. it's it's Especially teaching too. We're going from 7 to 7 a.m. to get to school and then practice ends at five. You're you're never out of there actually. I want everyone to kind of understand, pull the curtain back of how much work these guys do. I sit here for half an hour and talk to them and ask them questions. They are working all the time, all year round now. There's no real I think someone said they they I think Sean said Coach of Eagle and Sean Tata they have off like August as the latest. Yeah, that's it. Like for AU they have July and first week or two of August where they're wrapping up their AU seasons, but other than that it's pretty much all year round. All right, awesome. So thank you very much. This is committee two and five. We're signing up signing off.