PREP Athletics Basketball Podcast
PREP Athletics Basketball Podcast
Building a MAPL League Powerhouse feat. Coach Jon Stone of Hun School
Join us for an insightful conversation with Coach Jon Stone, who's been leading the Hun School basketball program for 25 years. We dive deep into the Maple League, one of prep basketball's most competitive conferences, and explore how Hun balances elite academics with high-level basketball. Coach Stone shares his journey from playing hockey in Rochester to professional basketball in Europe, before finding his home at Hun.
Learn why Hun only takes two post-graduates per year and how they maintain their stellar academic-athletic balance. We explore what makes a D1 guard in today's game, the unique aspects of Hun's academic curriculum including their innovative Next Term program, and how the school prepares student-athletes for both college academics and athletics.
đź“Ś Key Topics:
âś…Maple League competition and two post-graduate system
âś…College recruitment strategies
âś…Multi-sport athlete development
âś…Academic curriculum and Next Term program
âś…International student integration
🗒️About Coach Stone:
Coach Stone has transformed Hun School basketball into a powerhouse program while maintaining exceptional academic standards. His international playing experience in Germany, England, and Northern Ireland, combined with his master's degree and coaching experience at the University of Rochester, brings a comprehensive approach to player development
đź”— Connect with Coach Stone:
Website | jonstone@hunschool.org
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/hunboysbasketball/
Twitter | https://x.com/hunbasketball?lang=en
đź”— 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
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Cory Heitz (00:01)
Welcome to this week's episode of the prep athletics podcast. I'm proud to have on coach Jon Stone from the Hun School, which is in New Jersey and it's in the Maple League. And we talk about the Maple League. We talk about his background of growing up in Rochester, New York, and then choosing to play at Colgate. And then after that, he spent five years internationally playing pro basketball before he got to Hun. And he's been at Hun for 25 years. We talk about the conference, talk about him having only two post-grads a year because that's the deal.
In the Maple Conference, all those teams only get two post grads. What it takes to be a D1 guard, how he recruits his players, how the academics work at the school. So very informative and great conversation with Coach Jon Stone about the Hun School. And if you like this podcast, I'm doing a plug here. Please make sure you subscribe on any of the major podcasting platforms and to our YouTube channel. It really means a lot and make sure you don't miss an episode. So stick around and enjoy the podcast with Coach Jon Stone.
Cory Heitz (01:20)
Jon, welcome to the podcast.
Jonathan Stone (01:23)
Thanks for having me.
Cory Heitz (01:24)
Yeah, it's a pleasure to have you here after knowing you all these years and you grew up in New York and chose to play your college ball at Colgate. Why don't you walk me through, you know, how, you chose basketball as your favorite sport, how you got good and, what your life was like at Colgate.
Jonathan Stone (01:40)
Yeah, sure. So I was originally ready to be the next Bobby Orr. I might be dating myself a little there, but I grew up in Rochester, New York and loved the game ice hockey and thought that was going to be what I was going to play for a long, time. as I kept growing, I decided to try to give basketball a shot at I think I was about 12 years old and
Said I'll give it a try and wound up playing a couple years of both. And then in high school gave up the ice hockey and stuck with basketball. And you know, I just, it was a game that I fell in love with and wanted to get better at and spend all kinds of time playing and improving. And I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to go and play at Colgate. I will tell you that not a lot of
Division one schools were hounding me and asking me to come, but that was one of the ones that worked out and it up being a great experience for me. had a great four years there, great education, and great experience in the program as well.
Cory Heitz (02:42)
I you, Jon.
Jonathan Stone (02:43)
I'm 6'6".
Cory Heitz (02:45)
Are there many tall hockey players and is being tall in hockey a good thing or a bad thing?
Jonathan Stone (02:49)
Yeah, so back then there was nobody tall other than my older brother is the reason that I played he stands about six five and but that was he was Was the exception not the rule for sure these days. There's a lot of tall ones out there and It is helpful with the with the poke check in the long arms and being able to poke the puck away from guys, but
You know, it was a great sport and loved every minute of it, but certainly my size was of use in basketball as well.
Cory Heitz (03:18)
All right, so you did say you had other D1s recruiting you. What led you to Colgate as your final decision? Like, was it the campus? Was it what the coach said? Was it educational? Was it location? Walk me through that because you as a preps school coach, know, deal with families every single year on, you know, their process and what they're looking for. So take me back in time and what that was like for you.
Jonathan Stone (03:37)
Yeah, yeah, great question. So I think for me, I was being recruited by a lot of Division III schools, some Division II schools, and then some Division I schools. And so I kind of had it all out there and took a lot of visits. for me, Colgate was just kind of the overall best fit. It was academically strong and something that my family and I felt was important.
from just a overall location, it was good. It was about two to two and a half hour drive from my home where my parents and my brother got to see me play. it was, think in the end, it came down to the visit itself and just feeling comfortable on campus, feeling comfortable with the coaching staff, feeling comfortable with the players.
and feeling comfortable in general what the school had to offer and all those things. So I think that was a big piece to it. one of the fun parts about being there was going to other games and other sporting events and not just being a basketball player, but being involved in the whole life of the school. And that was important to me as well. So I think all those factors came into play.
Cory Heitz (04:39)
Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Stone (04:50)
You know, it really wound up being a great fit for me. It worked out really well.
Cory Heitz (04:54)
Great. And then from Colgate, what was your path to get into coaching?
Jonathan Stone (04:59)
Yeah, so after Colgate, I wound up going and playing overseas for five years. terrific experience. wouldn't trade it for anything. I really enjoyed getting to learn about other cultures at the same time, getting to play the game I loved and getting paid for it on top of that. And just terrific experience for me. And when I first got over there, I
I always knew that I would wanted to coach and so I started coaching right away and all five years I spent time coaching over there and then and in various ways and various fashions and then after that I came back and I was an assistant coach at the University of Rochester for two years and which is under Mike near who's one of the
Cory Heitz (05:42)
Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Stone (05:47)
One of the best division three coaches at the time for sure. And maybe in a long time. And so a great learning experience there, great program, great school. And I was fortunate enough to get my master's degree at the same time. And then I started exploring other options. And it was after that time that I came to Hunn and have been here ever since.
Cory Heitz (06:08)
Alright, real quick, to international. Where did you play internationally and what was the best part about it and what was the most challenging part?
Jonathan Stone (06:14)
Yeah, great questions. So I played in Munich, Germany. I played in Chester, England. And I played in Dunn-Gannon, Northern Ireland, which is part of Ireland, obviously. probably the most challenging part, I would say, was just staying connected with family and missing things about home and getting homesick.
I tell one of my other jobs here at HUN is I'm the director of Resident Life. And so every year when I talk to our boarding parents, the first thing I say to all of them is, you're gonna get homesick and that's okay. And it's part of moving away from home. And one of the things I always tell them about my time in Europe was I was so happy. You couldn't say that I was upset or I was frustrated or...
Cory Heitz (06:46)
and
Jonathan Stone (07:01)
did the wrong thing or depressed, I was happy, 100%. And yet I still got homesick. There are things you just miss about home. A family, one of them, but you know, foods and different things that you miss. And I would say that was one of them. And of course, back then, we didn't have technology like we have these days where you can call on WhatsApp and FaceTime and do all these other things so easily.
You know, I still remember my mom and I thought it was the greatest thing in the world when we could talk to each other for a dollar a minute and that was really cheap. so I think, you know, those were some of the hard challenges and even culturally being able to watch like American football games while I was over there was a real challenge. Whereas in this day and age with live streaming stuff and you can do that so easily. So I'd say those were some of the challenges and then...
Cory Heitz (07:33)
Right.
Jonathan Stone (07:52)
You know, I think some of the best part about it was, again, just making friends with people from other countries, learning about different cultures, spending time, you know, getting to know another language. I became conversant, I guess I would say, by no means fluent in German when I was over there. And I think that was really, really cool and neat experience for me. And so...
Again, it was something I would never trade or go back and change. Just great experiences.
Cory Heitz (08:24)
thanks for sharing that. Now you then got to hunt after your stint at Rochester. Tell us about your school, your program, kind of give us your pitch.
Jonathan Stone (08:32)
Yeah, so I've been at hon now. This is my 25th year, which is one of the I tell people all the time. One of the strange things about that is there some days I feel like this is my fifth year and other days. And then whenever I say 25, I kind of shake my head and say, it really been that long? Because it's been so fun. It's been great. I've loved every minute of it. And and that's why I'm still here.
So, you know, and part of the reasons are is I think, you know, we align the school and myself align very well and that we offer great academic opportunities, terrific curriculum for our students, a number of great programs in the classroom and then we...
take our athletics very seriously as well. And I tell all our student athletes that, you know, we're going to challenge you on the court every bit as much as we're going to challenge you in the classroom and get you to grow and learn and develop and become better human beings, better students and better basketball players. And I think some of those reasons are the reasons that I'm still here and reasons that we can offer a great product.
to any student athlete that's willing to come here.
Cory Heitz (09:49)
Love it. Love it. Now help me on this academically. So when I deal with some families, they want the big name prep schools with the great academics. Almost every prep school says they've got great academics, right? So how do you rank one prep school versus another? Like what makes HUNN specifically a great academic institution?
Jonathan Stone (10:07)
Yeah, no, great question. First of all, I guess I would say there are great other schools out there and great options academically. And I often talk even in our own league and I say you can't necessarily go wrong academically, picking any of them. Right. And so, and I mean that sincerely and yet, you know, some schools are just better fits than others for different people, for different reasons. but in terms of our academics, I will say
In the last 10 years, I think we've really expanded our curriculum. We offer just some terrific classes for our students to take. Our curriculum is as strong as it's ever been. And in that, we do still teach AP classes, and we offer just about every AP class there is to offer. And at the same time, we offer just a wide variety of
electives that kids can take and especially at schools like ours when you might do a post-grad year, you might reclassify. We talk all the time about the opportunity to take classes that you maybe didn't get a chance to take in your first four years because you're fulfilling all your requirements or you know when you come in as a reclass kid then then you get the opportunity to try some things that are a little bit different and that's where I think
some of the offerings that we have, and we've recently gone to trimesters. So we offer trimester classes as electives that you can kind of take a spattering of a little bit of everything. And, you know, we offer the traditional math, English science and history and foreign language, but we also offer electives in all of those.
that you may take an extra class, a third of it, you know, one trimester is a math class, one trimester is an English class, and one trimester is a history class. And so you can take things that you're really excited about and that you want to take as opposed to, I'm being forced to take this. And that in turn leads more to what you might want to major in in college and figure out what you're going to major in there.
You know, I could go through the list, but I do think just we have an unbelievable breadth of classes that our students can take and there's options for everybody, including in the arts and another interdisciplinarity. We offer what we call interdisciplinary classes as well that are cross disciplines that are also great. And then one of our unique offerings is something that we call Next Term. And it's a
experiential learning. So we end all of our normal curricular classes three weeks before the end of school and every class finishes then and all of our students sign up for this something called next term. So they sign up for one class for the last three weeks that's designed to be experiential learning and hands-on learning. So it's one class all day every day for three weeks but it's
designed to be not necessarily in a classroom. So you might be going outside, you might be taking field trips more often, you might be, it's oftentimes it's a trip itself. So we, one of our most popular ones that we've run for years is a trip out to national parks in the out west. And so they take this big trip and then they and then they come back. We also have offered trips over the years. I'll try and name a few. It's hard to name them all, but
to Spain, to Costa Rica, to Kenya, England, all these places all over the world, as well as other trips within the United States to New Orleans, to Atlanta, and different places, Maine, different places around here. And what it is, and then we also offer classes that are more locally based. And they might...
might do one overnight or no overnights, but again, they're still getting out and seeing more. And for example, I taught a class on nutrition a couple years ago. And so it was really neat and unique. And we kind of focused it on actually athletics and nutrition. And we went to some of the professional teams in our area and the colleges in our area and talked to them about how they feed their or how they recommend that their professional athletes and their
collegial athletes eat. So it was really cool and really unique. And then in the end, it all culminates with an end expo day where everybody presents what they've learned and what's happened. And so I think that's a really unique part of our curriculum that our students have grown to love, our faculty love it. It's a great way to end the year and something really unique that we do curricularly that is great.
Cory Heitz (14:42)
Yeah, love that. That's a great option you guys offer. Now going back on something you said, if you're a post-grad coming to Hun, what are your options like academically for them?
Jonathan Stone (14:52)
Yeah, so great question. So the only class that our post grads have no choice to take is English 5. So they all take English 5 and that's the one class that all of our post graduates will be in with only themselves. And that's designed to be more of a college level freshman writing class. And that's the one class they have to take. So then we require all our students to take five core courses.
So they'll take four others, other than that, or more. Some of our students take seven. then, so the other ones will typically come from math, English, science, and history. Most of the time, post-graduates are done with taking a foreign language by the time they get to us, but we have the options for them to take those foreign languages for sure. So we've had some kids over the years that
that will absolutely come here and continue their foreign language. And we've had others that have said, no, I'm good with the language. I've done through level four already and I'm not going to go anymore. And in some cases, when we have kids recruited by some of the really high level academic schools collegiately, maybe they've only taken two years of a language and many of the top end schools require three years. So they've sometimes come here in their postgraduate year
And despite having like a couple years off of taking that language, taking that third year so that they have that option to go to say an Ivy or a Nescahk or a school like that. So sometimes they do do that. So getting back to the rest of the classes, the four other classes they take again are some combination of those other areas. Oftentimes we'll get students that maybe say they are really interested in business. So.
You know, they might double up in math and take maybe a calculus class or a statistics class. We also offer economics classes and we offer an entrepreneurial studies class. So if that's kind of their interest, then, then we'll, they'll maybe double up in that. Others maybe come in and say, I really love history and I, want history and I've already taken, you know, these three APs. Then we may shift gears and say, well, we offer these four others and maybe they'll double up in English or, or again.
history is probably the one area that we offer so many elective classes and they'll get just an opportunity to take so many different courses there and really, you know, broaden their education by taking different classes. So every other class, there other four to five classes they take. They'll be mixed in with all of our other students. It won't be post-grads only. And we tell everybody, you know, they're
Cory Heitz (17:11)
Thank
Jonathan Stone (17:22)
They're getting a chance to continue to grow and stretch and learn academically in this year, that extra year, just like they're doing physically with their body and their maturation and then physically on the court with the basketball. So we look at it as a one win in both areas.
Cory Heitz (17:38)
All right, perfect. Now you've been there for 25 years. You've placed a lot of kids in collegiate basketball programs. And one of challenges I'm finding these days with families is that they want to find the prep school that's got the best history of placing kids at the Patriot, the Ivies, the Nescak.
So what is your thought on that? My opinion, Jon, is that if you're good and have the grades, it doesn't matter if you're in public school, private school, prep school, international basketball academy, even they're going to take you. But does the prep school matter as much as you've seen throughout the years now, or give me your thoughts on prep school versus getting to that level. And does a specific prep school matter?
Jonathan Stone (18:15)
specifically in regards to the the ivies and the Patriots or in regard in general.
Cory Heitz (18:20)
and high academic programs, right? Yeah.
Jonathan Stone (18:23)
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think there's some value to what you said in that, you know, if you're a good student and a good player, all those programs are going to look at you whether you're at a prep school or not. And yet I will say, think, I think being in a school like this can, can put you in a better overall situation for a lot of different reasons. One is again, the strength of your transcript and the quality of your transcript. A lot of those schools,
are familiar with us. they, know, when admissions, they see those transcripts and they say, you know, this is what they're doing at HUN, then we know that they can do the work at our place. And I think in some cases for maybe that the kid who's, I guess there's a lot of different ways you can be a good student at other schools, right? And maybe it's a kid who's
maybe not a 4.0 student, but maybe a 3.3 student and strong, obviously. And yet to come here and again show your work here and get that extra little boost of an extra year. And I always say an extra year of English or math or history is only gonna make us all better and more prepared for college. So you're enhancing your transcript when you're going to apply to those places for sure.
and that's, that's, think really, really going to help you. you know, at the same time, there are kids that have four O's at other, at certain schools, but they're not necessarily being challenged the way they've been challenged here. And, I think, I think sometimes I've had a number of students come in with close to four O's or really high GPAs and really good SAT scores. And they all call me after their freshman year in college and say,
Cory Heitz (19:53)
Right.
Jonathan Stone (20:07)
how thankful they were that they did the post-grad year because of how well prepared they are now. And mind you, they were going to pretty high level academic places collegiately. But again, that kind of answers your question in a nutshell to say, these were kids that were good students and did have good SAT scores and.
Cory Heitz (20:15)
Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Stone (20:30)
And they just felt so much more prepared after spending a year here and some of them obviously more than a year here because we don't just have post-graduates. I think there's so much growing that can still take place. And I do think more of that growing happens here when you consider living on campus and doing your own laundry and living away from home and doing all those other things that I think
are ways that you can really grow up. I know, speaking to a lot of college coaches, when they love that the kid has either done an extra year, so they're a little bit older, but also they love that they've lived away from home. So kids that are coming from from Hun are usually my guys hit the ground running in all aspects of life in college, right? So they're not really, their heads not swimming academically, they're
They're taking classes that they're doing fine in and prepared for. They're used to living away from home and used to being on their own and doing all those things. So they're not like as homesick, maybe as I mentioned before, that maybe they got that homesickness out early in prep school. then, and then lastly, they're they're prepared, you know, basketball wise. And I always say that they often play more earlier because
They're not worried about the academics. They're not worried about the social piece. They're not worried about living away from home and they can focus on basketball. And one of the other great things that we have that not all places have is a strength and conditioning coach and strength and conditioning coaches. And when our guys can go on to the next level, having done Olympic lifts before and all these different kinds of exercises, oftentimes my players will call me and say, well, coach, they moved me up to
Cory Heitz (21:52)
Yeah.
Jonathan Stone (22:10)
lift with the upperclassmen today because I know what I'm doing. I've done all these lifts before and it's not that I'm the strongest guy on the team, but they don't have to teach me all these things all over again. it's, I think you just get a little bit of an advantage in every capacity. And then I think last thing goes back to a little bit, my international background is the cultural advantage. You know, we do have kids from all over the world here and
Cory Heitz (22:21)
Yep.
Jonathan Stone (22:38)
When you come to a school like this and you can sit in a classroom and maybe your roommate is somebody from another country and you start to learn about them and maybe learn their language or learn their culture. It's just, you know, it helps students, you know, become more well-rounded. And I think it's just another way that by the time they get to college, their eyes are a little wider open and they're a little more prepared overall.
Cory Heitz (23:06)
Yeah, I love it. Thanks for sharing that. Now you're in the mid-Atlantic. You're south of the New England hub and you're in the Maple League. Tell us about the Maple League and what you think makes it special and an advantageous basketball conference.
Jonathan Stone (23:19)
Yeah, it's a great league. We absolutely love it. I think we're all pretty similar schools and really kind of have similar academics, similar athletics, similar locations. And I think one of the things that makes it a little different is we do as a league have a rule where we're only allowed two post-graduates a year. But I think
I think that one of the things that makes it special is the great combination of academics and athletics. And another thing that I guess makes it a little special is our location. There aren't a ton of other prep schools in our area, and all the ones that are are in that league. So we're kind of, not in New England, but we're not further down south either. And so it's a great, I will say as well, it's a great location.
from a collegiate perspective. The amount of colleges that are right in our area or in an eight hour radius from here is remarkable. So from a recruiting standpoint, it makes it easier for college coaches as well to come and see our guys. And every night, you know, we're competing at a really high level in every league game. And oftentimes it's a hard fought game right till the bitter end.
You know, I think that competition makes it makes it great and makes it more fun as well.
Cory Heitz (24:35)
All right. Explain to me about the two post-grads. So since you've got that limit, how do you go about recruiting those two guys? Cause I guarantee you and I have talked for years, like I'll send you a post-grad player and like you've got all these kids in your, in your kind of, in your, in your atmosphere. How do you know which ones to focus on knowing they might not commit or not needing the big guard walking through your process on.
Jonathan Stone (24:59)
Yeah, so I think one of the things we always try and look at is kind of what our needs are, right? So if we already have five point guards in the program, you know, our post grad isn't necessarily always going to be a point guard that we're looking for. And so and our admissions, we've been fortunate enough that our admissions always does work with us to a certain degree on that and in terms of our needs. And and I will say almost every basketball coach in America will tell you they're
one of their needs always every year is size. so typically our post grad, one of our two post grads is usually somebody with at least some size. But I think, you know, as important to that is the type of kid that we're looking at. Are they going to fit in here? Are they of high character academically? Are they fit? And I tell families a lot that some years we get
So many of our post grads that apply in that particular year that are those guys with like four GPAs and really high SATs and and so the competition just purely of those two spots Forget about basketball, but academically speaking gets really competitive and then other years It's strange. I don't you don't always have that high a level post grad that's looking at your place and in terms of the pure academic piece
So it can be a little more competitive or a little less competitive on the given year. And then, you know, again, I think overall, talent, you know, character is a certainly important thing that can they survive here academically and do the work academically? And then and then what talent are they and what can they bring to the to the court for us as a player as well as?
is a factor in terms of our wants and who to get. And sometimes we might take a guy in a position that we weren't necessarily looking for because we think they can really add that much to our program and fill in some gaps that we have. it's certainly, recruiting isn't a perfect science at any level. And that's part of the reason for the post-grad year in itself, I always say.
That's one of the things that keeps schools like us in business because I can tell a number of stories about some of my post grads that I've had that either nobody wanted coming out of high school or they had only division three offers and then they spend a year here and they wind up with multiple division one offers and go on and have great careers. So it's certainly something that we try to do in terms of finding the right fit and finding the right kid.
Cory Heitz (27:28)
Love it. Thanks for sharing that. do kids have to come to your school and play additional sports in the fall and spring or can they strictly play basketball?
Jonathan Stone (27:35)
Yeah, really good question. So we have something at our school called the Thrive Five Point Commitments. And what that means is they have to get five extracurricular points overall. And when they play basketball at any level, we have a ninth grade team, a JV team and a varsity team. When they play at those levels, they'll get two points of those five points. And so they can get two other points from anywhere they want. So, yes, they can play another sport.
But they can also do, say, a strength and conditioning program in a different season to get two more points there as well. So I guess the long and short of it is that they are not required to play two sports. I will say as a coach, I encourage my guys to play two sports. I'm one of the few, I think, basketball coaches that enjoys these guys playing football, which is a little bit different than most.
but, but, in this day and age, a lot, a lot of guys play one sport and, and you kind of can do that here. And then getting back to the thrive five, the fifth point is somewhat where else on campus outside of athletics that you need to pick up. So you could be, you know, a leader in a club or, any other leadership position we have on campus and, and, or involved in different things like a model UN or different things there. So we offer a variety of.
of things that they can pick up that fifth point, but, the, going back to the, the, the actual sports themselves, I do think kids playing multiple sports at a young age and, and as long as they can is a wonderful thing. and yet I do think our, my own players tend to wind up solely focusing on, on basketball at some point. And, you know, it's kind of the nature of the world at this point.
I could go on for a little bit about that.
Cory Heitz (29:23)
All right. If you're sharing that. All right. Next up college placement. So you've been doing this 25 years. The game has changed a lot, obviously in that time. What's your process? Do use AAU and the parents handle it? Are you taking on a big chunk of it? Walk me through how you get your players placed at the collegiate level.
Jonathan Stone (29:44)
Sure, I've always considered part of my job as the coach to help with the recruitment process. So it's never been a question of letting the guys figure it out on their own or letting their AAU coach do it. We do, as far as AAU is concerned, many of my players, most of my players play AAU and we do work together with the AAU coaches and programs for sure and try and put together game plans, but we work.
Cory Heitz (29:51)
Thank
Jonathan Stone (30:08)
We work together with the parents as well. And we sit down and have conversations of what makes the most sense. What are you looking for? And so many of our players desire to play Division I. And that's great. And yet one of my rules and goals is until you have multiple Division I offers, you should always have two to five Division III or Division II schools that you are comfortable attending.
and go into and in many cases if it's a borderline Division 1 player they're going to have many Division 3s that are interested in them and that's not much of a problem coming up with a short list of schools that they really like. And so the process itself I think is sitting down first and developing lists and trying to figure out what schools might be the best fit.
for this individual student athlete. And then once you've developed a list, it's about reaching out to the coaches, making sure they know, using platforms to help promote them in different ways. I think it's important for the student athlete to reach out to the coaches themselves, either via email or via phone calls. I certainly have developed a big network over the years of college coaches, and I will reach out to them on all my players' behalf.
Cory Heitz (31:12)
Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Stone (31:22)
and so, you know, I think to me, the recruiting piece is all about volume and it's all about trying to, have as big a list for the students as possible early. And, you can always whittle down the list later and getting as many students, as many schools interested in the students as, as you can. and then once you, develop that interest, then you can start to whittle it down and really decide, what is the best fit for them. And.
Cory Heitz (31:25)
Thanks
Thank
Jonathan Stone (31:48)
And again, my guidance always is I want them to find the combination of academics and athletics that they can find for them. And for every student, that's different, right? And so for many of my students over the years, that's been the Ivy Leagues and that's been a great fit for those guys. And they've gone on and had great careers and gone on and had great professional careers after that. But for many of my players, that's not the perfect fit and that's not the right place for them. And so
Cory Heitz (32:03)
Okay.
Jonathan Stone (32:16)
It's always about, you know, finding, finding the one that, that really is going to be, help them get the most out of themselves and both, academically and athletically. And, and I think, from a standpoint of, of each individual kid, each case is going to be a little bit different, but you know, once we develop the list, once we make the context to me, basketball is a sport where you have to get seen play live as much as possible. And,
Cory Heitz (32:43)
Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Stone (32:45)
So making sure that the college coaches know where our guys are going to be playing, when they're going to be playing. We play in the live recruiting events. We've been hosting a live recruiting event since the start of the scholastic events in June. So we've been hosting them right here and we play in both weekends. And those are terrific weekends for our players. They tend to get a ton of exposure in those weekends. We get 100 to 150 college coaches coming through each event.
And our, you know, we have guys that pick up scholarships right out of those events alone. And, and then many of them will play AAU in July. And it's important that the college coaches know who they're playing with and when they're going to be playing. Cause I always say, you know, for a college coach to randomly sit down at your AAU game or even our hun game and just pick you out of a crowd, you know, is not likely to happen.
But if they know your name going into the event, they've got your name on the list. They're going to go check you out on court three at two o'clock. Then they've at least seen you play and maybe they'll only watch it for five minutes and decide they don't like you. Or maybe they'll watch you the whole game and say they love you and offer you. Or maybe, you know, they'll watch half the game and say, I need to watch you more. And, but to me, it's as much as you can be seen and as often as you can be seen, it's really, really important. So we try to get guys and.
in the right areas and the right spaces where they can be seen as often as possible. And then that's where, you know, again, a big advantage to us compared to other other high schools is, you know, our our season. have a college coach in the stands every every game. And so once we get into our games, you're going to be you're going to be seen even more.
And then we also have our fall workouts where college coaches are allowed to come in and watch guys as well. So between all those venues and places to be seen, that's the part that I think is really important and helps our guys really end up in places where they're supposed to be. Our guys are not under recruited typically. They end up at the spot that they should be at and the place they should be. it's our
part of my job that to help all that process and my brother and I joke around all the time. More college coaches see my team play in one weekend than saw me play my whole four years of high school. So, you know, the exposure is a great thing.
Cory Heitz (35:05)
Right.
Awesome. What does it take to be a D1 guard these days? I asked this of every coach. So, curious to get your opinion.
Jonathan Stone (35:11)
my gosh, tough question.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I always say, mean, certainly one of the big separators between Division one and Division three is the size, right? And so, you know, when you can do all the things that a little guard can do at six, four or bigger, then that oftentimes makes you a D1 guard, right? And yet,
size obviously isn't the only thing we see a ton of D1 guards that are under six feet and really, really good. And, and I've had several of them. so, you know, I think, I think certainly size is, something, but, but, know, athletic ability is, is clearly something as well. And, and if you are a little bit on the smaller side, you, I think you've got to have a little bit of an X factor and maybe it's, you're an outstanding shooter. Maybe it's your unbelievable defender. but you gotta have.
have those pieces but in the end of the day, I think when you talk guard specifics, I think the ability to score is certainly important to any guard but I think the ability to have a high basketball IQ is also super important and I think you've got to, know, the best guards have the combinations of those things. The best guards can score in multiple ways. Maybe they're not just a shooter but they can get to the rim or they're
they're guys that again can load the stat sheet. Not only are they scoring, but they're also getting, you know, assists at a high rate and they're also rebounding. I think sometimes being a good rebounder as a guard is an underrated thing. And in this day and age, I think, you know, having the ability and having a nose for the ball and being able to rebound as a guard is a huge thing as well. So a little bit of a long winded answer, but I think
You got to have a combination of several of those things to be a Division I guard. And I think you might have deficiencies in some areas, but if you're really, really good in other areas, I think it can really help you and take you to that next level for sure.
Cory Heitz (37:17)
Great. And that's great. You've coached plenty of D1 guards over your 25 years. So I really respect that. And thanks for sharing that. All right. Last big question here. What do you see as the future of prep school basketball?
Jonathan Stone (37:29)
man, that's a tough question. I'm not sure I know what the future of college basketball is. what the current.
Cory Heitz (37:34)
College, no way, but prep school, mean, what are you seeing? Like it's changed in four years since COVID, right? So we don't have crystal balls, but just, you know, is it getting more demand? you seeing less demand, more international, more people in the U S reaching out than they had in the past, younger post-grads.
Jonathan Stone (37:39)
It has.
Yeah, no, I don't know if I've seen a whole lot of change. Certainly, obviously, the COVID and everything else has changed things. You know, I think the cost of prep schools is something that's never a fun thing to deal with. And it's not getting any cheaper for sure. But I think prep school basketball is still
a really high level of play and a really great brand of basketball. And I don't see that changing in the near future. I still think we're going to have great, kids and great players and all the prep schools and the ability to compete against each other, I think is a great situation for us and for college coaches, right? When a college coach can come and watch one of our games and
and see potentially four or five guys on the court that they're going to recruit or might recruit in the future. I think it's a great, one of our great benefits. So I don't think the future of prep school basketball is in jeopardy in any way, shape or form. I think it's doing really well and I think it's going to continue to do well in the future.
Cory Heitz (39:02)
Awesome. We're going to end on some quick hitters, all right? Who's the best player you ever played against?
Jonathan Stone (39:05)
Alright.
my gosh. I guess I'd have to say played against or coached against.
Cory Heitz (39:15)
Coach's next question, played against is this question. Yep, Colgate or overseas, high school even.
Jonathan Stone (39:17)
So as a player, wow. Yeah. Well, I played against and with Christian Leitner, he was pretty good player. Put against Byron Houston was really tough to physically to play against. He was strong as an ox.
Those are probably the first two that come to my mind anyways. I've certainly played against a ton of great ones for sure.
Cory Heitz (39:44)
All right, 25 years at Hunt, who's the best player you coached against?
Jonathan Stone (39:48)
Yeah, I would have to say either Kyrie Irving or Lu Aldang were probably the top two. Kyrie was, if I had to do it, I'd probably tip my hand to him. was really good. But Lu Aldang was tremendous as well.
Cory Heitz (40:05)
All right, favorite movie of all time.
Jonathan Stone (40:08)
Favorite movie of all time. So I'm not a huge movie guy. That's a tough one. Yeah, I'll go with usual suspects. Yeah, yeah.
Cory Heitz (40:14)
Book, play.
Kaiser says that. All right. Good one. All right. And what are your hobbies when you're not coaching, Jon?
Jonathan Stone (40:27)
Yeah, so I've had a lot of different hobbies over the years. Probably one of my favorite hobbies these days is paddle surf. So I have a paddle board and I have a place here on the ocean. So I've gotten better at it. I can't say that I'm wonderful at it, but I love to get out and...
Cory Heitz (40:37)
Mmm.
Jonathan Stone (40:49)
And the thrill of catching a good wave and riding it all the way in is pretty cool.
Cory Heitz (40:55)
Awesome. Is there anything you want to touch on that we didn't cover in this podcast?
Jonathan Stone (40:59)
No, I don't think so. the only other thing I guess would be as a plug for Hun, Hun's a wonderful place. As I said, I wouldn't still be here if I didn't believe in it. And my own children go here, my wife works here. so it's a great place to work and it's a great place to play basketball and coach basketball. And it's a great place to get a wonderful education.
Cory Heitz (41:22)
Yeah, and I concur. I've been there and visited probably nine or 10 years ago. Beautiful campus. I think I visited on a fall day and you we got to tour campus and chat and you've been a good friend and you got a great situation there. So best of luck this year and in the future as well, Jon.
Jonathan Stone (41:37)
Thank you. And I guess you didn't cause me to think of one last thing I'll throw out there is one is our location. I do think our location is one of the best locations anywhere in the country. We're an hour train ride from New York City or an hour from Philadelphia. We're a couple hours from Baltimore and D.C. And so it's a really wonderful, wonderful place to live. And we're right near the town of Princeton. We're a mile away. So also a great thing. But I certainly appreciate you having me on very much. And
appreciate our friendship over the years. It's been terrific and, love everything that you do with, with not only your podcast, but, all the, all your ways of helping student athletes in the end of the day. think we all do it for the, for the kids and for the, and helping them in any way, or form. So it's, it's been, it's been great knowing you and watching everything you do and all the, all the help you have for all these kids.
Cory Heitz (42:29)
Thanks so much for that, Jon. Jon Stone, head coach of the Hunts School. Thanks for joining us today. If you liked this podcast, be sure to subscribe and all the major podcasting platforms. Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don't miss any of the bonus features there. You can go to prepathletics.com if you want to reach out to me or join our newsletter, which every month comes out with great intel. Thanks so much for joining. We'll see you next time here on the Prep Athletics Podcast. Take care.