PREP Athletics Basketball Podcast
PREP Athletics Basketball Podcast
Milton Academy, Ivy League Basketball, & Recruiting without Post-Grads feat. Coach Lamar Reddicks of Milton Academy
In this episode of the PREP Athletics Podcast, we sit down with Coach Lamar Reddicks of Milton Academy to explore his unique journey from player to coach, and the incredible impact he's had on prep school basketball. We dive into Lamar's background, from growing up in Milton, Massachusetts, to playing at Bentley University, and eventually coaching at prestigious institutions like Harvard and Boston University. With 17 years at Milton Academy under his belt, Coach Reddicks shares his insights on what makes Milton special, the challenges and rewards of recruiting and developing players, and his approach to preparing athletes for the next level, especially in today’s ever-changing landscape with the transfer portal and NIL opportunities.
📌Key Topics:
✅ Milton Academy's Competitive Edge: What sets Milton apart in the world of prep school basketball.
✅ Recruitment & Development: How Coach Reddicks identifies and develops talent, focusing on long-term success.
✅ Navigating the College Process: Insight into helping players find the right college fit, from D1 prospects to those at the end of the bench.
✅ Impact of NIL & Transfer Portal: Discussing how these changes are influencing prep school basketball and college recruitment
✅.The Future of Prep School Basketball: Coach Reddicks' thoughts on the evolving landscape and what’s ahead.
📑 About Lamar:
Coach Lamar Reddicks is a seasoned basketball coach with an extensive background in both playing and coaching. A Milton, Massachusetts native, Lamar played collegiate basketball at Bentley University, where he earned honorable mention All-Northeast 10. Following his playing career, he transitioned into coaching with a 7-year tenure at Harvard University, where he helped to recruit and coach NBA player Jeremy Lin, followed by 1 year at Boston University. Since 2007, Coach Reddicks has been at the helm of Milton Academy's basketball program, where he also serves as the Athletic Director. Under his leadership, Milton Academy has consistently competed for Class A championships, winning the title in 2023.
🔗Connect with Lamar:
Email | Lamar_Reddicks@milton.edu
Twitter | https://twitter.com/ma_boys_hoops
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/maboyshoops/
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067673028161
🔗 Connect with Cory:
Website | https://www.prepathletics.com
Twitter | https://twitter.com/PREP_Athletics
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/prep.athletics/
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/PrepAthletics
Email | coryheitz@gmail.com
Phone | 859-317-1166
🔖 Subscribe to the PREP Athletics Podcast:
iTunes | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/prep-athletics-podcast/id1546265809?uo=4
Spotify | https://open.spotify.com/show/6CAKbXFiIOhoHinzsReYbJ
Amazon | https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3c37179d-3371-47f9-9d97-fd569e8802a7/prep-athletics-basketball-podcast #AmazonMusic
Cory (00:01)
Lamar, welcome to the podcast.
Lamar Reddicks (00:03)
Thank you for having me, Cory.
Cory (00:05)
Yeah, it's good to have you on. know we did a round table with a couple of other coaches a few months ago and with some of the great advice you shared, I wanted to make sure we got you on here just to delve in more about you and Milton Academy. But you grew up in Milton, Massachusetts. You were a very good high school basketball player there. And I think we're about the same age. And so you went to high school in the early to mid nineties. If you were such a stud at Milton high school, how come no prep school scooped you up or how come did you even look at prep schools as an option back then?
Lamar Reddicks (00:34)
I would have never even thought about prep school at that point in time. I had such a really great experience growing up with the high school teammates that I grew up with. We played together since we were like in fourth grade. when we got to the high school, I mean, we called plays, but we didn't have to. We just knew how to play with each other.
Cory (00:53)
Gotcha. But was prep school even a thing back then? did you hear?
Lamar Reddicks (00:56)
wasn't a thing. I Milton Academy was steps away from a mile down the road from where I went to high school. And, you know, I didn't even thought twice about coming here at that point in time.
Cory (01:09)
Okay. And you ended up choosing Bentley. Who else were you looking at and what led you to choose that school?
Lamar Reddicks (01:14)
Yeah, you my room was very different than most kids nowadays. So like I, I was actually a fairly good football player too. So I had had Division I football schools looking at me, but I had had no love or interest in playing football at the next level. All of my high school friends who I keep in contact with now are all football players. And so it's, it's pretty odd, but you know, I had like,
Cory (01:37)
Mm.
Lamar Reddicks (01:42)
Penn State and Rutgers and schools like that recruited me for football. And my basketball path came down to business schools. was Babson, Bentley and Bryant were the, you know, basically the big three at that point in time that were looking at me really hard. And Stonehill at the time before they were Division I. But it came down to like right even before this, I actually had breakfast with my college coach from Bentley.
this morning. a player right now, a former player from Bentley just worked out my son just, you know, 15 minutes ago. So my Bentley connections are very strong.
Cory (02:28)
Now tell me about, for people that don't live in New England, tell me a little bit about the NE-10 Conference and Bentley and kind of that style of basketball and that level of basketball. Because it's very familiar in the Northeast prep school world, but maybe outside that region, people don't know as much about it.
Lamar Reddicks (02:42)
Yeah, it's one, it's a hell of a league. mean, it has high caliber players. A lot of their players now are getting scooped up and signing big time NIL deals for Division I schools. I think what I always tell people there is like, they're usually kids who get overlooked at the Division I level. They go play at this high brand of basketball Division II. And you know what?
Probably my case, I was a 6 '2 power forward. That wasn't cutting it at BC. So Bentley became a really good option for a player like myself. I had a buddy of mine who was a Division I player at the time, and he always talked about like, he goes, I played with you for so many years and I played in Division I. I go, I didn't have anyone nearly as good of a basketball player as you were.
Just, you know, I think a lot of those kids get looked over. You know, I think when, when those kids end up becoming juniors and seniors, they're better than any Division I high school, know, freshmen coming in, you know, so they're just kids that take a little bit longer to develop or mature into their games. it's kind of what the prep school world is now, in terms of, you know, I think, you know, some kids who come to me are.
a year or so away from blossoming into who they really are going to be. And that's why coming to a place like Milton is a really good choice for a lot of kids because it has an opportunity for you to be able to develop into your body, tighten up some things in your game, and allow you to have an opportunity to be able to play basketball at a pretty good place.
Cory (04:30)
And you mentioned Milton. Why don't you tell us about Milton Academy and kind of fill us in on like the elevator pitch. Like tell us what makes the school special, why kids come there and play basketball. Give me the full pitch.
Lamar Reddicks (04:40)
Yeah, you know, I think we've been very competitive during my time here. You know, I would say we are usually in the conversation for competing for a Class A championship. You this will be my 16th year coaching in the league. And you take out COVID, you know, I think 11 out of those 16 years we've been in the conversation for a
you know, Class A championship. You know, we've had talented teams to compete at that pretty high level. Academically, the school speaks for itself. It's one of the better, you know, academic schools in the country. So you're going to, there's not many places where you're going to find the combination of athletics and academics that we provide. And I think that's what makes this place pretty unique. And I always tell people,
what happened and I'm the athletic director here as well. So I tell you all the time when you come to school here, you you're going to be around like -minded kids, kids who are going to be competitive in the classroom, but also competitive in the dorms and just kids who are going to be highly motivated guys who are all going in the same direction. So whether your roommate is a football player or ice hockey kid, you got guys who are
committed to their crafts and committed to getting better and working hard to become their best version of themselves.
Cory (06:14)
Yeah. Love that. Now you said your Class A, some Class A teams have post -grads and you guys don't. How does that balance out for you?
Lamar Reddicks (06:20)
We do know. So we need to identify kids earlier before they have probably blossomed into who they're going to become. And I think that's probably one of the things that I think I've, during my time here, is I've been able to see the kid that I think that could use an extra year and be able to use this place as a venue to be able to develop into the player that they want to become.
So for us, like I need to do the early work, you know, instead of getting a kid who is, everyone has identified them already as, hey, they just need another year and they're gonna be pretty good. Or we need to kind of get them that step before that and kind of really develop. You know, we just graduated a kid to go play at Boston College, a kid to go play at Purdue, a kid to go play at Harvard and a kid to go play at.
Princeton and all four of those kids when they came here, not a single person identified them as a top player. And during their time, another kid the year before that that's at Richmond. those five kids all came pretty much at the same time and none of them were nationally ranked or even in ranked in New England or anything like that. But I think we did a great job, my coaching staff will finding.
kids who really love basketball and want to get better and embrace coaching. And these kids developed here. And again, like I wish I could sit here and say, listen, it's all me and I did all this thing. No, these kids get into the gym and work on their crafts. you know, again, like just a while ago, you know, have one of my kids who plays at Yale and one of my kids who plays at Richmond in the gym with my son working out. you know, this gym is used all the time, 6 a to
10 o 'clock at night there's kids in here playing. Summertime, you know, during the school year, like we have kids who are here all the time who want to get some runs in and get some get up shots and get better. And that's, that's how you do it. There's no magic pill. There's no, you know, a formula that I can craft up for you. You know, you have to be able to want to do the work, do the lonely work that we talk.
Cory (08:41)
Alright, so you got these five kids that went to the D1 level. Are you actively looking for them? Are they coming to you? Are people recommending them to you? Tell me your process on finding underclassmen.
Lamar Reddicks (08:50)
Yeah, I would say it's a little combination of all of that. Like, you know, we have some kids that I identify, we have some kids that someone says, hey, you know, this will be a really good fit. You should take a look at this kid. And so, you know, I take it, you know, however it comes to me, you know, and I'm around the game enough that I'm going to, you know, see a lot of kids throughout my travels and meet a lot of families. And then there are families that are recommended to me as well. so.
I use every resource that I possibly can and I'll continue to keep looking under rocks and under pebbles and under stones to try to figure out who the next kid is for our program.
Cory (09:29)
And are most of your team, are they from the New England area, East coast area or are worldwide?
Lamar Reddicks (09:34)
Yeah, I would say worldwide. think during my time here, we've had kids from, you know, international kids. We've had kids who lived in the town of Milton. I mean, that's how bizarre it's been here. Like, you know, it's such a wide stretch that we try to cover in our program. And like, you know, one of the kids who just worked out who was at Yale, he lives two miles down the road from school. And, you know, he had started off at Northwestern and transferred to
Yale and he was the top, you know, 75 player in the country when he graduated. and then we have, you know, like Cormac Ryan, who was a kid who is from, you know, New York City, who's was looking for a place to play. And again, another kid who probably thought he was under recruited and like had a chip on his shoulders. So those are the types of kids that we have. They kind of got a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. I want to be known as good basketball players and they come here with that.
chip and I guess that's kind who I am. My personality is that way as well. And so I feel like there's always something to prove. And so we have a bunch of kids who are like minded in that and enjoy competition. And we, when I first got here at the program, we weren't very good at all. You know, I think the year before I got here, they didn't win any games. And maybe the year before that they won three games. And so we, this was a total rebuild when we got here and I enjoyed that challenge of
making this into a program that's respected. And I remember my first year, we only won like six games or something like that. And I think I went to my athletic director, I was the assistant athletic director at the time. And I went to my athletic director and said, can you take these games off the schedule? He's like, that accounts for more than half of your wins last year. I said, I know if we're beating them, we shouldn't be playing them. So, you know, so that's when I added the Andover, the Exeter's of the world and the Choates of the world to
Cory (11:25)
Yeah.
Lamar Reddicks (11:32)
to be on our schedule to play top caliber teams. Because if we're ever going to be a top caliber team, we got to start competing against them. So that's my mindset. We've never shied away from trying to play against good teams. We played Brewster two years ago in an incredible game here. And we're just not going to ever run away from people. We want to play against the best. That's only way for us to get better.
Cory (11:57)
Yeah, love that. Now go back to the, you and I have in prep post -grads to the person out there that doesn't understand reclassifying post -grads. How do you, how do you explain that to them that you will be playing other teams with post -grads on it?
Lamar Reddicks (12:08)
Yeah, well, know, you know, I, again, I always tell you, you use what you can. All of our schools are so unique and very different that you use whatever you can to sell your school, to elevate your program. And for us, we can't use post -grad, which is very rare in Class A. There's not many schools in Class A where I think when we won the Class A championship two years ago, we were the first school to do it that didn't have post -grads.
And that's unique and that's odd and that's different. But at the same time, I got kids to reclassify. So they came, they finished their sophomore year at their public high school and they redid their sophomore year here at Milton. Now a school like Milton, you we don't have just the traditional English class. We probably have like 15 different English courses that you can take more similar to a college where there's electives and there are, know, so you can keep.
progressing in that way and that you're not retaking any of your core classes that you've already taken, but you are still progressing as a student. And so a lot of our kids come here, they do that. And so we do have older kids on our team. So it's no different than some other schools that are allowed to take PGs. Now, the only thing I tell people that's different is that I have to identify this kid when they're.
14 years old and not 18 years old. That this kid has a chance to be pretty good if he has another year. It's pretty clear when you're 18 years old and you've developed and you've grown into this body that you're like, yeah, you're gonna be pretty good. In one more year, you might be really good. Trying to figure out that when they're 13, 14, 15 years old can be a little bit more of a challenge. But those, like I said, those are the challenges I love and I embrace and really do try to.
Cory (13:29)
Yeah.
Lamar Reddicks (13:58)
try to do a great job of trying to identify those kids who are also looking for that same challenge here as well.
Cory (14:05)
Yeah. And the benefit for you too, is you've got kids for multiple years, not just coming in and out for nine months at a time.
Lamar Reddicks (14:09)
And then, Cory, I think you bring up a really good point. think it's a really big benefit to us is that we get kids here for at least two years, if not three years. I think I found the sweet spot has been that sophomore year, the kid who reclassifies as a sophomore. This league is so, we compete in the independent school league, the ISL, and we are in Class A. And both the ISL and Class A are just literally with great coaches, great players, and it's just a
really really hard league like you know both of them are and that first year is challenging to most even if you're a really good basketball player it's a challenging year to to get used to the speed the high level of games and high level of everyday practice forget about the games that you're going against somebody good every single day in practice so it usually takes about a year for a kid to figure it out and then in year two they usually are a lot better
But if you get year three, you're a lot, lot better. You you've figured this out. You've been through battles and you have a really good grasp of what it takes to be excellent in this world. so, so it's, it is to me, it's an advantage for sure.
Cory (15:24)
Absolutely. Now some families will ask me, Hey, what about AAA, AA, single A, B? Like, does it matter what, what league I'm in? And my thought is always, yeah, just pick based on the coach you like the best and doesn't matter what level it is. But what do you say to people that ask you about comparisons and does it matter if a kid's playing A versus AA or AAA?
Lamar Reddicks (15:44)
So, you know, I could probably get into this for a longer. I speak at many camps throughout the course of the country and a lot of times I talk about, and I'm talking to high school kids usually at this point in time, you know, thinking about college and I always tell them don't fall in love with a Roman numeral. There are good basketball players no matter where you go. you know, we can go down the street to, you know, a litter of Division III schools in this New England area and it is great basketball that you will watch.
Division 3 level, especially in the Northeast, there's so many colleges and there's so many good coaches and teams. And then, we just talked about Division 2. I coached at Harvard and BU before coming here. And at both places, we scrimmaged Division 2 teams and would get our butt kicked by Division 2 teams. A lot of those times, was Bentley, oddly enough, and I know
I just talked a little bit about them, but they have good players and that's the reality of it. Especially when those Division II teams are older, they're really good. They're not just good, they're really good. so same thing with Class A, Double A and Triple A. I'm gonna tell you that there are a lot of Class A teams that can compete with some Triple A teams and vice versa. So I think trying to find the right fit.
overall for your kid in a place that you're going to get playing time is probably what I would consider to be the two most important things because you want to go to a place where you can play. And I also, I've, I've, I've turned away really good basketball players when I've had stronger teams because I can't play everybody, you know, you know, and that's not fair to that kid. If he wants to be recruited and be seen by college coaches, well, they're not coming to every practice that we have. And that's where that kid might get.
Cory (17:30)
Yes.
Lamar Reddicks (17:40)
be the most valuable for us that in particular year, they need to be seen. And so trying to find the right fit where you can go somewhere where you have an opportunity to be able to play is really important. And then finding the right coach in the right school that fits your child is super important.
Cory (17:58)
Yeah. Collegiate and prep school level. Same thing. All right. We're to play a little game here called name the famous alumni. All right. So some Wikipedia pages are thicker than others. Yours is pretty thick. So you should get all three of these. All right. Robert F. Kennedy. Yeah. Who is, who is he for those that don't know for the two people that don't know.
Lamar Reddicks (18:00)
Yes, both places.
public.
right here, yes. Yeah, no, we, we, again.
For the two people who don't know, he has a very established line of credit in terms of being a president and being a person in this area and going to school here at Milton Academy.
Cory (18:36)
Okay, perfect. Next up, T .S. Elliot.
Lamar Reddicks (18:40)
another graduate from Milton Academy. I don't know his background as well, but I you this place is just, I actually went to dinner last night with a couple of alums and they just, it's just amazing what people do when they graduate from this place.
Cory (18:54)
Yeah. Famous writer, poet. And then last one, James Taylor.
Lamar Reddicks (18:58)
gosh, his kids were just here. Well, I shouldn't say just here, maybe about five or six years ago. And so it was pretty incredible to have him on our campus. So a famous musician, know, sells out Fenway anytime that he comes into town. And as a, you know, a fan of him and his music and to see this guy walking on campus was, it was,
was kind of awesome in some ways, and he just blended in. So he was another alum, his kids went to school here. It was pretty cool to have him around for the few years that his kids went to school here.
Cory (19:34)
Any other cool alum that we should mention?
Lamar Reddicks (19:37)
Gosh, we have so many of them. If I name one, someone's gonna be mad I didn't name them. So I think if you have the opportunity to be able to go to a school like this, you're cool. Put it that way.
Cory (19:42)
Okay.
Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you for playing the alumni game for Milton Academy. We'll give you three for three. So good job. Let me ask you this. When you graduated from Bentley, you ended up at Harvard. How many years between Bentley and Harvard? Did you go right away or? None. You went straight out. OK.
Lamar Reddicks (19:52)
There you go.
None. Right away, 22 years old, Division I assistant coach, not knowing what I was doing. I'm still don't know what I'm doing, guess sometimes I guess I say that. no, that was, the two people I had lunch with, had lunch, I mean breakfast with this morning was my former coach at Bentley and then the coach that I worked under at Harvard, who are both very influential in who I am as a basketball coach to this day.
how I run my program, things that I do. They both really molded me into the adult that I am now and they're mentors of mine. And so I continue to keep, you know, keep in touch with those two folks today. And, you know, my journey to being to where I am today doesn't happen without either one of those two guys or those experiences.
And so working at Harvard, you want to talk about famous alums. I the same thing. I always compare Milton to this mini Harvard in some ways. And it's interesting that we're sending a kid there this year. But it's just an outstanding institution. my time there was I was there for seven years. It was an incredible seven years.
Cory (21:16)
Yeah. And during your time, you guys, you've recruited Jeremy Lin. So talk to me about that. Like, did you have the crystal ball that you knew Jeremy would be what he'd be? Yeah. Look at that. For those not watching this right now, he just pointed to a Jeremy Lin, a Jersey hanging in his office. So thanks for showing that. Talk to me about that.
Lamar Reddicks (21:20)
You it.
That's right. No, so Jeremy, Jeremy Lin, remember watching him play in the West Coast and I think it was Las Vegas, the event I was in. And at that point in time, like, you you, you know, you can watch a kid blow up like right in front of you. Like he just has an unbelievable game in front of the right coaches. And you're like, Holy cow. He just, we can't recruit him anymore. He just, he was having one of those games. I was like, sprain the ankle, go down, go, not, not, not get hurt, like hurt, hurt, but like,
Don't play the rest of the half. So I had this inclination that he was going to be very good. I'd be lying to if I told you I thought he'd be a pro, but he was one of the kids. I only coached him for one year. But during that year, he would leave practice, go to dinner, but he'd come back down and watch film or get up more shots or go to the weight room. He had a different drive and motivation. And it's no wonder that it worked out for him the way it did.
And I still think about all the time. The Linsanity is one of the most incredible basketball runs of any individual has ever had in their lives. And it was great to somewhat be a part of that. I kept in contact with him because whenever we had a new crop of freshmen, at that point in time, I was a young assistant. And so when they went over to the weight room and lift, I would always lift with the freshmen, kind of get them going. And at that point in time, I think I could curl more than he could bench.
Cory (22:37)
Yeah.
Lamar Reddicks (23:01)
I ended up taking him out his senior year for dinner. I wasn't at Harvard at the time, but I continued to take the kids out that I coached or recruited all the way up until that last crop. And we sat down and he goes, I'm now the strongest person on the team. So he was a kid that would take his weaknesses and make them into strengths of his, which was pretty cool and unique.
I don't think many people know the things that he does for, you know, whenever he would play here in Boston, he would, he'd have these games and he'd have, he'd have like thousands of Asian Americans stick around after the game is over and he would talk to them all. And he did that in multiple cities and just, you know, he knew that he was destined for more than just being a great basketball player, but he was a really a transformative
person in that culture and even that jersey that I have up here is when he was with the Warriors where that jersey at that point in time was like the number two or number three selling jersey. He wasn't even playing at that point in time. He wasn't even getting any burn. It's just amazing that his influence on basketball at that point in time was especially for Asian Americans, Asians in general, but he was a transformative person for real.
Cory (24:26)
Yeah. And ironically, PREP Athletics started kind of basically when I went to Taiwan for the first time and the day I showed up, you know, was there on vacation by myself and one of my buddies said, you should meet with the head of Nike basketball. So I got on the Nike headquarters in downtown Taipei to have lunch. And it was the day after Jeremy Lin left at the peak of Linsanity. Right. So he had Linsanity then came to Taiwan where his parents were born for like four days and it was 24 hour coverage. Like Princess Di was there and
Lamar Reddicks (24:31)
Really?
Yeah. Yep.
no, that was bad.
Cory (24:56)
This Nike guy was exhausted because he had, you know, Jeremy was a Nike athlete and, Taiwan had never seen anything like that in its history. Right. So was pretty neat that timing there. And now we've got PREP Athletics based on Taiwan. So it's all a small world, but let's go back to your days at Harvard because playing in the Ivy league is kind of the Holy grail for a lot of players and families. And my mind has changed on that in a few years. And I want you to kind of back me up or shoot me down on this, but you know,
Lamar Reddicks (25:04)
anything like it, anything like it.
Cory (25:25)
Putnam Science, which, you know, love those guys there. They're not known as an academic school. They've got a kid in the Ivy league now and Harvard on their roster has a kid from a basketball academy in Arizona on their roster. So the Ivy league now, it doesn't really matter what prep school you go to. Am I right to say if they want you and you qualify to get in, it doesn't matter where you're at. They're going to recruit you. Am I right or wrong on that?
Lamar Reddicks (25:45)
Right. No, you're right. You're right. And that's shifted, by the way. Because I would tell you that at one point in time, that was not the case. So I would tell you, I tell you all the time, I have very strong ties to the Ivy League, not just because I coached there. And I've sent a bunch of kids there. But when I was an assistant coach there, we'd go watch a kid play. And there would be.
Cory (25:51)
Mm -hmm.
Lamar Reddicks (26:12)
Literally seven of the eight Ivy League schools sitting there watching the same kid play. That's not the case anymore. There's a wider net that they're able to cast upon that you couldn't do years ago until.
Cory (26:24)
Why is that? Let me pause you. Why is it? What changed?
Lamar Reddicks (26:28)
I think it just has become so much more competitive and that guys have to look in different areas and different places. And I also think there are more opportunities for kids to be able to do great work at Putnam Science and do your work at a high level and have that be able to be transferred to one of the hardest schools to get into is in the Ivy League now.
which was different back in the day. So that paradigm has changed a little bit, but I think it's better for the game. I think the Ivy League, which I think not a lot of people know, but they're usually in the top 12, 15 conferences in the country. There's a lot of schools that don't wanna play them because they don't wanna lose to Yale. More schools probably say no to scheduling Yale on their...
you know, on their schedule because they're afraid to lose to these schools and look bad that they lost to an Ivy League school. So those schools are having, they have a hard time scheduling people. The coaches in that league are tremendous from top to bottom. It's just a really, really dynamic and tough league with a lot of really good coaches and a lot of really good players.
It's been kind of fun to watch the evolution of that league grow. But the popularity of that league, think, even just like the additions to the coaching in that league, it just makes it really, really a really fun league to watch and cover. And I have a close glimpse of it here with Harvard being less half an hour away and Brown being an hour away. can usually catch a game or two pretty easily for myself.
We have a player at Princeton, we have a player at Harvard, we have a player at Yale, and the Dartmouth coach's son will be a sophomore here at Milton this year. And the other four Ivy League schools, like the Brown coach was a player when I was coaching in the league and Steve Donahue at Penn, I've just known him and that staff forever when he was at BC. His first recruit was Dennis Clifford from here and so
My ties to that league are really, really super strong. And so I always tell kids if that's an end goal for you, this is a really good place to start.
Cory (29:05)
Yeah. And since you're so in tune with the league, want to ask you this too. NIL, I know it's been a challenge with the Ivy League due to the financial aid situation that they've got. is there any light at the end of the tunnel to make that work? Cause you've got so many smart people there. You think they'd come up with something creative and maybe they have in the past few months that I don't know about, but tell me about NIL in in the Ivy league.
Lamar Reddicks (29:18)
You
So I mean, I haven't done enough. This is just my thoughts, ready? I think that they're gonna have to do something, right? So what happened this year, five of the best players in the Ivy League left and went to other institutions. So if you leave Yale and you go to Georgetown, is Georgetown that big of a drop off in terms of an academic institution? And they're also gonna pay you 200K?
to go there, whatever they're paying their kids. No, and you might start making decisions based on, hey, listen, Georgetown's still a pretty good school, but they're also paying me this amount of money too. So for some families, that money is transformative for those families, right? And so it's hard to tell a kid, no, don't look at that. I know the biggest thing when I was at Harvard, we would always tell people, don't think about the next four years, think about the next 40 years.
right? know, whether it's hard not to think about the next four years, if they're going to pay you pretty good money as a 19, 20 year old, you know, student athlete. my guess is that at some point in time, the smart people in the Ivy League will have to figure out whether they start giving scholarships and they have to start, you know, creating collectives and having to pay kids, which would be a really hard thing for those institutions to want to do. But if they do do it,
Think about getting a Harvard education and somebody paying you. And these schools have the resources to go out and create a collective that no other school may ever be able to get. So it could be a game changer for them if they do it. It's also a game changer if they don't do it.
Cory (31:13)
Yeah, no kidding.
Lamar Reddicks (31:13)
because it could really hurt them as a league
Cory (31:16)
Yeah, I just think there's so many creative minds there. I don't know how they haven't figured that out yet, but I'm sure they're working on it behind the scenes.
Lamar Reddicks (31:19)
I do. these creative minds, you're correct. But there is just such old school traditions at institutions like the Ivy League. Those eight schools, the ancient eight, they are stuck in their tradition in their traditional ways. And so it's hard to break that. The last league to have in a postseason tournament was the Ivy League.
And you say, why is that possible with all these smart people around? But it took them a long time before there was an Ivy League tournament. So they'll figure it out. It may not be as quick as we think it should be, but they'll figure it out because they're going to look at the landscape and see that it'll make it really hard for them to compete if they don't do
Cory (31:57)
Yeah.
All Can you speak at all on the Dartmouth employee situation going on with the basketball team or not? Okay. We'll pass on that one then. Cause I don't know enough about it either, but I just didn't know you being nearby. Okay. Let me ask you this. You got these five guys in the past two years going D1. What's your process for placement? Not just your D1 guys, but guys even at the end of the bench. Is that a role you take? Is the AAU coach, is the family doing that? Walk me through how you at Milton do your placement.
Lamar Reddicks (32:15)
I know nothing about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So I tell people this and I will always coach as long as I love doing these three things. I love recruiting to Milton Academy. I have a great product to sell. like that's not fair. There's a lot of people because you if you come here on a day like today where the sun is out and the campus looks as beautiful as it does today, like you come here and it's really gonna be hard for you to say, I didn't like it. know, we're eight miles from Boston. We use Boston as part of our campus. So.
I enjoy the recruiting part of what I do. I really enjoy the coaching part of what I do. But I also love the college process part of what I do as well. And as long as I love all three of those things the way that I do, I'll continue to coach for as long as I can possibly do it. And I enjoy the college process part of this because I love seeing the end product and I love feeling like at some point in time, I've helped this young man be ready for the next.
stage of his life and trying to find the right fit. And luckily for us, 90 % of the kids that have left here had the opportunity to be able to play right away as freshmen. And we really do hope that like it's part of what we do here is that we provide an environment that is competitive and also prepares you for the next level, for the next stage of their lives. so,
But we also talk about the right fit quite a bit and what's the right place for our kids. And so we put a lot of work into that and a lot of conversations with the families, with the kids, with college coaches. One of the things I try to pride myself on is not being a person that's selling my kids to other programs and having to create a market for them in terms of like me.
outwardly just saying, you should come look at my kids. You they see our kids play and then, they like our kids and they want to get involved because they like what they see on the court, whether it's with my team or whether it's with their AAU program that they play for. And I'm usually work hand in hand with their AAU coach. I don't have a particular AAU program that we, you know, just get our kids from. We let our kids play for whoever they want to play for. But I, I
I tell this to people, I grew up in this area. I've coached college basketball in this area. I coached AAU basketball in this area. I've coached high school basketball in this area. So there's not many people I don't have really great contacts with. So all the AAU programs, I know all the guys there. And so we are able to work together. And we have a partnership in trying to find the best fit for our kids.
Cory (35:27)
Love it. Does it ever get weird with the Boston AAU team since they are so competitive when you've got a good player and they all won them?
Lamar Reddicks (35:32)
Yes, that's true. And that's just, I think that's going to exist for a long period of time. I don't think that will change for a long period of time. know, one of the things like I do, I don't get involved in telling kids that they should play for this AAU program or that AAU program. You know, if you come to me and you are part of a program, I hope that you stay in that program. I'm not trying to flip you to somebody else.
It's a unique blend sometimes. This year we'll have about four of the top five or six AAU programs, kids playing for me. And that's a tribute to the kids who are looking at a good school like this, but also knowing that these AAU coaches know that I'm not here to try to flip them to somebody else or anything like that too.
Cory (36:26)
Gotcha. What's the future of prep school basketball, Lamar?
Lamar Reddicks (36:30)
That's a phenomenal question. Every year it gets more more competitive. And I love that, by the way. I don't play anymore and I am a competitive person by nature. And so the coaching takes on that shape for me and it gets my competitive genes going and it fuels me. So just in the ISL, the league that we are in.
Cory (36:38)
Yes.
Lamar Reddicks (37:00)
I think I've been helpful in recruiting coaches, college coaches into coaching in our league. And so there's a lot of a lot of really good coaches in prep school across the board. And there's a lot of really good players in prep school across the board. from going into my 17th year here at Milton, I just see it get better and better every year. And then you start hearing of schools that -
you never heard of before becoming really good programs. So it's just always going to be competitive and nice.
I don't know, I just think it's just gonna continue to keep getting better. think people, think college coaches are looking at this and they're looking at it and they're thinking to themselves that this looks like a better work -life balance. And so you're getting a lot of college coaches who are creeping into this world, which makes the coaching better. And that's fun. I think that's a fun thing for.
for us, for me as a coach, and it's good for the kids that they're getting good coaching. Like we had the NEPSAC showcase about a month or two ago, and that was just phenomenal. Like, you know, to watch the talent, to watch the coaching, and we're pretty blessed and lucky. If you play in the New England Prep School League, you're gonna face good talent, you're gonna have good coaching, and I think that's really valuable. And for parents who are looking to make this decision is just trying to find the best
fit for your child, can be difficult too, because every school is so incredibly different. The podcast that we were on, we had a couple of other schools on there. The four schools that were on there couldn't have been any more different than each other, in terms of size, location, you name it. so there's just a lot of different options. you just try to explore them all and try to figure out.
Cory (38:37)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Lamar Reddicks (39:06)
what's the best fit.
Cory (39:08)
Yeah. And that's where my business got created. Obviously selfish plug is that, you know, I know those differences between these schools and I help families navigate this world, which I can't imagine coming from the outside just by Googling how you're going to know the difference between South Kent, Milton, Fork Union, unless you really do a deep dive, talk to people. Cause they're all prep schools, right?
Lamar Reddicks (39:11)
Yeah
Well, it is and not every prep school is the same. And so it's it's it's amazing as as I just said, like, you know, my son is on my team. Right. And so navigating this process, even with him or with, you know, talking to other guys who are in this business and know a lot about this business, we still have challenges trying to navigate this whole entire thing. So it's not an easy thing to do.
Cory (39:31)
That's right.
Lamar Reddicks (39:58)
But again, I think trying to do as much research as you possibly can using your organization, the platform that you have, I think is incredibly smart of someone because there are so many questions. I do this all the time for families where I just try to answer questions, especially when I've made relationships with families that I know that Milton may not be the right fit for them is trying to help them out one way or another.
It just can be very daunting. It's actually no different than trying to look for college right now. It's pretty much the same process now. And you need to know, do I want to be in the city, near the city, outside the city, day school, boarding school, all boys school? There's such a variety of different programs and every school is not the same. I don't think Milton is like any other school. I don't think that...
Andover and Exeter are like any other school. don't think Choate's like any other school. Like, know, they're all so incredibly different. I always say this as a ISL athletic director, that 16 schools in our league, and when we unanimously vote on something, I'm always shocked. I'm like, there's no way that in 16 schools that are incredibly different, with 16 different mission statements, we agreed on something altogether. Because, you know, we have...
day school, boarding school, big school, small school, like all types of different things. And everybody has their looking at this whole thing differently. So it's, it is incredibly difficult, but trying to get as much research talking to you because you know all the schools, you know, all the coaches, you know, you know, the things that most people can't just find on the, when they Google Milton Academy on the website, like that's just, that's just not going to be enough. And so trying to do a deeper dive, which I think your platform.
creates for people is really important.
Cory (41:57)
Absolutely. And that's why we have these podcasts too, with guys like yourself. So you might touch on some things with the family and your initial call with them, but this podcast, we're getting into your history, some of your philosophies, some of your extra nuggets, which I think families really find helpful while doing their due diligence. Lamar, what does it take to play Guard at the D1 level?
Lamar Reddicks (42:06)
Yeah.
Yes.
Gosh, it's so hard now. I think one thing that's super important at the guard level, you got to be able to shoot the ball down as you see like the spacing. Spacing has become so key in the sport of basketball. So if you can't shoot it, you almost can't play anymore. You know, if you are a guy that can't make shots and teams can really help off you, that makes it very difficult because teams are so dependent on spacing on the court now. And
The second thing is, depending on what type of guard you are, if you are a guy that has a ball in your hands a lot, you got to really be able to handle the ball and not turn the ball over. That's my biggest thing as a, think I tell people the point guard spot in the center spot for me are the two toughest positions to play for me because I expect so much from our point guard. At some point in time, me as the basketball coach here, I want to hand the keys over to my starting point guard and say, this is yours.
But to get to that point, we're gonna have to go through a lot to get you there. And you need to be able to see the game, feel the game, handle the basketball, take care of the basketball. There's so many things to be able to do. But I think shooting is such an important, whether you're a point guard or an off guard, you gotta be able to shoot the basketball.
Cory (43:41)
Love it. We're going to go through some quick hitters now. Okay. Best player you ever played against.
Lamar Reddicks (43:44)
still
played against Dominique Wilkins.
Cory (43:49)
Where'd you do that?
Lamar Reddicks (43:51)
There was a Pro -Am League in Boston when I was in high school and that's when Dominique became to the Celtics, which many people probably don't even remember that, but that was like the latter portion of his career. He finished up here and had to play against him. Him and Rick Fox, Rick Fox abused me in that league one day and that was the most demoralized I've ever felt as a basketball
Cory (44:19)
All right, best player I've ever coached against, both in the college level and at the prep school level.
Lamar Reddicks (44:24)
Gosh.
start at the prep school level? Well, he's probably going to be the number one draft pick. So AJ DePantis was at St. Sebastian's two years ago and we beat them in our, they're in our league. We beat them in our league game and we beat them in the championship game. And that kid's probably going to be the number one draft pick in another year. And so that's, that's not sure if it gets much better than that.
Cory (44:47)
Hmm.
Lamar Reddicks (44:58)
Best player that I played against in college. I want to say coach, I'm going to say possibly I would probably coach was Jeremy Lin because he was a pro himself. So and also I just love the kid himself. He's great family, great kid.
Cory (45:02)
DarkJokesAgainst.
Lamar Reddicks (45:17)
I'll go with that.
Cory (45:18)
Yeah, perfect. Perfect. What's your favorite movie?
Lamar Reddicks (45:22)
Remember the Titans well, I mean, there's probably no secret that I'm in love with the game of basketball. You know, I would say just I've been trying to pick up golf. I'm not very good at it. And if I could be good at that, I would name that as one of my favorite hobbies. I really just enjoy trying to spend time with friends. One like I did this morning was connecting with
Cory (45:24)
Okay, and what are your hobbies?
Lamar Reddicks (45:51)
You know, two people were very important to me, mentors to me. Throughout the course of the year, I try to connect with people who are important, you know, figures in my life, whether they're friends or they're mentors. Most of my players, I would tell you that in the course of a year, I probably connect with every single one of my players at some point in time, whether it's just a simple text message or reach and pick up the phone and call somebody. I find that to be incredibly important to me.
This year, we're trying to confirm, but we believe that this is 100 years of Milton basketball. And if that is the case, we're gonna have a big party around here.
Cory (46:33)
Great. Is there anything you want to talk about that we haven't mentioned so far?
Lamar Reddicks (46:38)
No, I will just give you a plug in and say thank you for doing this. think you providing this resource for families is incredibly important. I also like a big shout out to the coaches that you've had here and the coaches that you work with and help out with. I think what we do is incredibly important. And I'm just blessed that there are so many good coaches out there and so many good options for.
our kids to be able to go play for and become better basketball players. It's a really great fraternity that I feel like I'm a part of and I feel blessed to be able to say I've had a hand in helping out many kids reach some of their dreams and goals. So that's it.
Cory (47:23)
Love it. And if people want to reach out to you or follow you on the socials, that'll be in the show notes, but where can they do that?
Lamar Reddicks (47:29)
MA boys basketball and Instagram and and feel free to if there are questions you want to follow up with me You can email me here at Milton Academy lamar_reddicks@milton.edu Like I said, I'm always happy to talk to people
Cory (47:46)
Awesome. Well, we had coach Lamar Reddick's on from Milton Academy, sharing his story, his background, his philosophy, and more about his school. And we appreciate it so much. So Lamar, thank you for joining us. All right. We'll see you guys next time. Take care.
Lamar Reddicks (47:57)
Thank you, Cory.