PREP Athletics Basketball Podcast
PREP Athletics Basketball Podcast
Shavar Bernier of Taft School: Finding Your College Fit
In this compelling episode of the PREP Athletics Podcast, Cory sits down with Shavar Bernier, head basketball coach at the prestigious Taft School. Bernier shares his unique journey from being a first-team all-state player in New Hampshire to taking a gap year, attending Bridgton Academy, and eventually finding his way to Connecticut College before becoming a successful prep school coach. With remarkable candor, Bernier discusses his coaching philosophy centered on hard work, grit, and love for the game, while offering invaluable insights into how Taft prepares student-athletes for college basketball. Parents and players will appreciate his honest perspective on the importance of morning workouts, player development strategies, and how the right prep school environment can transform a young athlete’s future. This episode delivers practical wisdom for families navigating the complex prep-to-college basketball pathway.
💡Key Topics:
📌 Shavar’s personal journey through gap year, prep school, and college basketball
📌 Taft School’s unique community and basketball program philosophy
📌 Morning workouts, player development, and college preparation strategies
📌 Navigating college recruitment and finding the right basketball fit
📌 The importance of genuine love for basketball in player development
📌 College placement strategies for post-graduate students
🏀 About Shavar Bernier:
Shavar Bernier serves as the head basketball coach at Taft School, bringing his experience as a former first-team all-state player in New Hampshire, Bridgton Academy post-graduate, and Connecticut College standout. After coaching at the collegiate level with St. Michael’s in Vermont, Bernier found his calling in prep school basketball, where he’s built a program centered on developing complete student-athletes.
🔗 Connect with Shavar Bernier:
Website | SBernier@taftschool.org
X | https://x.com/shavmoney24
X | https://x.com/TaftBasketball
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/taftbvbasketball/?hl=en
🔗 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:
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Cory Heitz (00:00)
Welcome to this week's episode of the prep athletics podcast. I'm proud to have joining us, Shavar Bernier from Taft school. Shavar was a first team all-stater in New Hampshire when he was a high school senior. Took a gap year, which is a pretty interesting story, which we talk about. And then ended up going to Bridgton Academy to play for Coach Whit Lesure And then he went from there to Kong College, kicked butt there, coached in college for a year, spent time at Frederick Gunn.
And now he's been at Taft for a while. So we talked about his coaching philosophy, how he places kids in college, which I think is very fascinating development and what he specifically does Taft as a school. And then we also talk about, you know, time in the gym doesn't matter what class you are. Do you have to play other sports at Taft? All stuff that parents are asking me on a daily basis. So if you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe on all the podcasting platforms, especially subscribe on YouTube and to our newsletter.
on prepathletics.com so you stay up to date on everything we've got to offer. And thanks for tuning in. So coach Shavar Bernier from Taft School here on the Prepathletics podcast. Enjoy.
Cory Heitz (01:30)
Shavar, welcome to the podcast.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (01:31)
Yeah, thanks for having me, Corey. Appreciate it.
Cory Heitz (01:34)
Yeah, good to see you again. And you grew up in New Hampshire and you're a pretty good baller. You know, first team all state, a multiple year team captain. And then you chose to do a post-grad year at Bridgerton Academy. Tell me where you first learned about post-grad and why you chose Bridgerton.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (01:48)
Yeah, no, it's an interesting story. I'm definitely a New Englander. I lived in Massachusetts for some time, Fitchburg, Lowell, Leamingster. I moved to New Hampshire sort of on and off. And then in high school, I went to Dover High. I played for a guy named Mike Romps, who was my first, I would say, real coach. And there was a gentleman who worked at the school.
named Andrew Corey actually who'd went to Bridgerton. He knew Witt and we sort of made a connection and after I was maybe a little bit of a knucklehead my senior year trying to figure out if I was gonna play football or basketball in college, Bridgerton kind of popped up. I actually went to Bridgerton after a year off. I graduated high school at 17. So I worked for a year at the YMCA. I did some construction.
to help sort of make my way to Bridgerton, pay my way at Bridgerton. So, Witt and those guys were great. I was actually supposed to play football there, but Witt being the amazing guy that he is and is honest is like, you're not good enough to miss all fall and play football and be part of the basketball team. So that's when my football career ended when I realized I wasn't good enough to play AAA hoops or.
you know, play at Bridgerton without being part of it in the fall.
Cory Heitz (03:07)
Yeah, walk me through that year you took off though because this is something you don't hear every day. Like what led you to do this? I know you graduated young but like why not just go to Bridgton right after graduation?
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (03:18)
Yeah, well, honestly, I've gotten some trouble. were, yeah, we got in some trouble. Yeah, that's, I was a little bit of a knucklehead and sort of didn't, I had some college basketball options and some football options and they kind of got pulled away. think I'm comfortable talking about it now. You you hear that you're talking to coaches that have been recruiting you and they're, we're going to go in a different direction, right? And you didn't change as a player.
Cory Heitz (03:21)
Okay.
Okay.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (03:42)
Right. And I don't think you change as a person. You maybe took a wrong step and you know, all that kind of went away. So in some sense, I was maybe forced to take the year off and I still had college options, but for whatever reason, I felt like they weren't right. They just weren't the right fit. And Bridgton was perfect for me, what I needed at the time.
slogan is the year that makes a difference. this is, while I'm certainly at Taft, will sing Bridgerton's praises for the rest of my life, the year that makes a difference. And it certainly was for me with the options, some of those high, high end academic schools that came out of it, people like Witt and Fletcher Carr was my college counselor. And there's a lot of special people in the Bridgerton circle that have sort of stayed connected.
Throughout throughout the years and they actually just came down and scrimmaged our lacrosse team because another gentleman at Taft is a Bridgerton alum, so They were on campus not not too long ago. So Special year for sure it I matured right I learned how to be a student You learn how to take yourself seriously And then you can see I think the postgraduate year Cory
Cory Heitz (04:39)
Mm-hmm.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (04:46)
You can see the end a little bit more clearly. I think there's still that euphoria when you're a junior or senior in high school. I'm going to average 30 points a game and maybe you did and I'm going to get an offer and go play at BC and you know, all those things kind of don't work out and you know, you go to Bridget and.
The captain is Keaton Grant, who's going to Purdue and playing with Robbie Hummel. And you're like, I'm not like those guys. You're playing against Jerome Dyson and Will Harris at Syracuse and all these guys. You're like, yeah, we're a little bit different. So it does allow you to, I think, see in the future a little bit more clearly and maybe take some of those academic options just in case you don't get to have a 10-year pro career.
Cory Heitz (05:29)
I get it. that year before Bridgton, I know you're sitting at the YMCA, you're working construction. What were you thinking? What's one big takeaway that you gained from that year? Because we always talk about the takeaways you get from a post-grad year that you and I both experienced. But during this unique year you had off to think, right? And get your act together. What's a big thing that kind of... Is there a realization that came to you or did the light go off?
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (05:50)
Yeah, right, like that gap year, right? I think people call it a gap year now. When I was when I was going through it, I don't think we call it a gap year per se.
No, mean, honestly, I'm from, would say, really, really sort of modest beginnings. Nobody in my family ever went to college. Single parent, my mom was incarcerated for much of my childhood, so that move around, you know, my grandmother lived in New Hampshire, so that was sort of the final move there. No, it's just honestly a lot of thinking. I'd always thought I was a really hard worker.
Cory Heitz (06:21)
Yes.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (06:23)
I'd always thought that I'd love sports and whether that's competitive as it gets. And then you think like, so what do you want those attributes, those qualities to lead to? And I think you're both humbled. I was both humbled and sort of shell shocked to think about what that looks like. You know, when sport is taken away or ripped away or, you know, we're going in a different direction.
So what does that mean? then again, for me, was, all right, let's bring into the picture of the 40 year plan, right? For the first time, maybe ever. That's probably the biggest realization. At 19, you're able to see, 18 going on 19, you're able to see again, sort of down the path of, you know, in the future that.
Cory Heitz (06:55)
All
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (07:09)
Again, senior year, you don't. You don't. You're all league, all stage, a thousand foot. You're feeling great. Coaches are calling you and talking to you. You're kind of in the moment, kind of eating that up. So yeah, just that perspective, I think, was the most important thing. And then the next thing I would say is that even after maybe a misstep, people still believed in you. And that was wit. That was Andrew, Corey, the guys who...
Cory Heitz (07:28)
that's great.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (07:32)
Yeah, you're a good dude. Like come here, work as hard as you can, and let's see what happens. Kind of put your head down and do that. then it leads on to being recruited by Bates and Con College and still being in contact with my college coaches and my college teammates and them being in my wedding party. All the things that it leads to, you kind of look back and as I said earlier, you're not ashamed of any of it because it sort of...
you know, lead you to a good story, right, in the end. Yeah.
Cory Heitz (08:00)
Yeah. And now
when you, when you around kids that might make a mistake, you now know what they're going through. Right. So that actually might've given you a great perspective to help you with the young men and ladies you're mentoring these days and kids at prep school, kids in life are going to make mistakes that they don't mean. Hell, their prefrontal cortex is not even fully formed yet. So they can't even help it half the time. So I think that puts you in a unique position now to have real good compassion and understanding to, to kids going through the same thing you might've gone through.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (08:20)
Yeah.
Yeah, right. I'm on the disciplinary committee. So, you know, that stuff happens, right? A kid had a beer in the dorm and you're like, oh, well, you know, maybe I've been there. Then, you know, you're trying to have some empathy with the situation with the students. And, yeah, you definitely have a different understanding. But though in the moment, and this is maybe what resonated most or resonates most now is it does feel like the end of the world. Like it really does. it.
Cory Heitz (08:30)
Yes.
Yeah.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (08:55)
You it really does. You know, gotta get asked to leave Taft for a period of time and you feel like you made the biggest mistake and you really have up to that point in your life. But it's nice to be on the back end and I can tell them after they leave the disciplinary meeting, like, it's gonna be okay, right? You've done so many positive things and it's gonna be okay.
Cory Heitz (09:14)
Yeah, I haven't shared this, but I almost got kicked out of my post-grad year and, uh, you know, I had to get to a military review committee and I was terrified and my head coach is actually in charge of it. So I was like, ah, well, this is going to be. Be okay. And then he laid into me harder than anybody else and I didn't know that was coming. And, uh, you know, I was in tears and you know, I got read the riot act and was allowed to stick around, but, uh, he tried to be cool with me at practice a couple hours later. I was like,
Oh no, no, it's going to take a few days for me to forgive you for that one because you didn't even give me a heads up of what was coming. So yeah, it does feel like the world's ending, but yeah, you get stronger and tougher out of that too. Now you chose Connecticut college, you know, and I knew you had other people reaching out to you. Why'd you pick Connecticut college? Like what was your reasoning for choosing that school?
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (09:45)
Yeah. Right.
Yeah, no, was, was a, I remember it like it was yesterday, right? There's Bates, Conn College, Shaw University, Division Two, one other Division Two. Coach LeJure walks in to my office. And again, I was fortunate, you know, I did okay in school at Bridgeton. I, you know, I did pretty well. I somehow won an academic award. You know, I did well enough up there. He puts the piece of paper on my desk. You're accepted to Connecticut College. You have to pay like $1,200.
He's like, this looks like a scholarship to me. And it's a fine institution. It's like, all right, what should we do? This is where you're going. And Fletcher Carr, who was my college counselor, he's now working at schools in Florida, was like, that's right. Given all that I know about you, that's what you should do. And I think...
Cory Heitz (10:33)
you
That was it.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (10:56)
you times might have changed, but I was raised like, you trust the adults who are in positions to do, who are trying to do well. Like I trust those guys, I still trust those guys. think sometimes as I'm going through this process, maybe recruiting or talking to young people, there's a little bit different sense of authority maybe. But I, you know,
They told me to go run through a wall. Yep, I got you coach. I got your college counselor. You know, it was, I believe you. And obviously I'm on the heels of making some mistakes. So maybe I didn't have a ton of options to go to, but yep, that was right. Mr. Carr, Coach LeJure, I'm going to con. And then they recruited me hard and you know, it was, I went on my visit in the spring. It was May.
Cory Heitz (11:42)
Mm-hmm.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (11:48)
And we went to the beach and I connected with the players. Yeah, it was a pretty nice, nice place. And not easy, but also really worth it. The academic piece was new to me for sure. The standard, all of it. just, was, you know, I sort of shed my sort of limited perspective that I had being a poor New England kid, right?
Cory Heitz (11:56)
No.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (12:11)
Yeah, it's awesome. Drive myself. had a Dodge Neon at the time. Drive my car to Connecticut College in New London. And then, you know, you show up in early August. It's sunny and there's families. you know, just and here I was just in sweats and like a tank top by myself. You know, you show up to this Nescahc school and it was awesome. It was awesome. I loved every bit of bit of it. And I my college coach is somebody that I, you know, I'm indebted to forever, like forever, you know.
My wife played tennis at con, you know, we have two little kiddos now, like she's a doc, like it's, you know, without those sort of steps, I'm not sort of near where I am today. So really thankful for those people along the way.
Cory Heitz (12:39)
Yeah.
Right. And then,
yeah, that's great. Thanks for sharing that. And then, so once you finished up at Conn College, you went to coach at St. Michael's in Vermont. And tell me what you took away from that coaching experience that you use now on your team.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (13:05)
Yeah,
yeah. I, you know, if if it wasn't for the the family part, the sort of connectivity, the cohesiveness of a family that that is sort of burning inside of me, I think I'd still be coaching college. Maybe I will try to go coach college. I loved how.
all in, all encompassing, how passionate, like everyone was all the time about basketball. And it's, I think that's the main thing that I use now. It's harder to do, know, given that, you know, we have interviews, I had an admissions meeting earlier, or, you know, there's a lot of other things that we're doing, and you see it in the tournament, you see it in, you know.
Division one, division two, division three, you know, and I like there's just the passion for the game that says I'm going to get to the office at six thirty or seven and I'm going to stay there and you know, we're going to go through every detail of my individual workout. We're going to go over the practice plan. We're going to have a post practice meeting, right? We're going to we're going to get in the weight room. We're going to make our West Coast recruiting calls at 11 at night. We're going to get up with this energy and do it again. And it's like you never, ever, ever, ever, ever.
got sick of basketball. I think what the game has meant for me in my life, I certainly don't ever, ever, ever, ever, ever get sick of basketball. And I think when you're coaching in college, you have to be that way. I'm not saying we don't have balance, we don't get to take breaks, but you're never like, I want to do something else or.
I don't really feel like finding that extra wrinkle against their ball screen. It's like you're always doing it every second. I'm recording my TV last weekend, just rewind a YouTube TV, like look at this, the St. John's baseline out of bounds set. And then 10 minutes later they run it again and there's a different wrinkle, record it. It was the best, it is the best. That's the way that I feel.
And that's the way that I felt on St. Mike's and Nick Leonardelli, Mike Harding, Josh Meyer. There was just the energy for basketball and the players, you it's, you you work your whole life, right? The kids do to get there and they're there. And so it was, yeah, I will not lose sight of that. I think when I do, I'll stop coaching. You know, I think we owe it to our players to to be as excited and as enthusiastic as possible every single day.
Cory Heitz (15:23)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, love it. From St. Michael's, you took a prep school job at The Gunnery, which has now been renamed or back to being named Frederick Gunn. And why did you want to go to the prep school world?
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (15:43)
Yeah, no, it's great question. Josh Meyer, who I'd known from Connecticut College, he was sort of connected there, coached there. We would talk about all of the things, life and basketball, and we spent a lot of time with the assistants as you're an assistant coach. And I'd mentioned coaching at a prep school would be awesome. And maybe it was, you know, seeing how cool I thought Witt's life was up there. I couldn't do it in Bridgeston, Maine, but.
Cory Heitz (16:06)
Yep.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (16:09)
I'd mentioned that and he knew the athletic director at Fred Gunn and he just floated it by me in conjunction with my wife having to do sort of part of her residency in Yale, New Haven. She had to work in the ICU there for a little bit. And it made sense and again,
know, growing up sort of just a disjointed family, thinking about wanting to be around and to be present as a dad, you know, maybe without losing the basketball piece and not saying all college coaches aren't present. We were on the road at St. Mike's for 40 days, right, in a row. Like, it's just really hard to be able to drive your kid to school every single morning and, you know, all winter.
He gets home from school at 3.30 and he comes running into the gym and we're practicing. Like you can't beat it, right? Like you can't, I can't beat it. So really it was just the being able to keep basketball close to my heart while being able to fulfill the role that I seen as a family man. I felt like that was really hard to do at the collegiate level. Some obviously get it right and can do it, but.
Cory Heitz (17:04)
you
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (17:18)
It would have taken a long time, I think, to maybe get to that place. And I think some might never get to that place where they're fully able to be present with their family and wife and kids.
Cory Heitz (17:29)
Right. And then from Gunnery slash Frederick Gunn, you moved over to Taft where you are now and you've been there for quite a while. Give us your pitch on Taft as a school and Taft as a basketball program.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (17:41)
Yeah, it's good question. I would say first, again, maybe this is just going back to Richard, these prep schools in New England are phenomenal. They're spectacular. Obviously, there's a ranking and we're part of the TSAO and sort of all of the things that will sell in two days to revisit day. But there are no bad schools, again, as a public school person and.
You know traveling around like it's not 30 kids in a class. It's not You know limited resources. It's in fact the opposite seven eight nine ten kids in a class Teachers who live on campus who care deeply they know your name. They know where you're from they Understand your weaknesses as a student your strengths as a student and beyond I think the the intimacy with which
can function, a school of 600. The main building is home to the actual dorms. So above my office is the second, third, and fourth floor. The main hall has all the admissions offices, the head of schools office, the dean of students office, and your classrooms, right, sort of branching off of it. The dining hall and our main auditorium. I will see my players.
multiple times a day, all year long, for better or worse, right? You know, we win a playoff game, it's fantastic. We lose a game at the buzzer. You know, here we are, walking to assembly together, know, walking to the dining hall together. And I do think that is unique for sure. There are no roads going through campus. There's not sort of multiple buildings of where you can be during the day.
It feels like we would say is we have large school resources, right? Obviously, we're sort of robust in the research resource department with a small school feel Like that's that's that's what what Taft is, you know And I we go visit some of these other schools and again, they feel like a college in some ways, right and that's awesome Taft does not feel like a college. It feels like a like a prep school
Cory Heitz (19:43)
Mm.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (19:43)
you know, it
feels like a place where you're gonna be forced to get to know everybody and you're gonna be forced to connect in ways that I think a school of 1200 or a thousand you might be able to hide or here's the music area of campus and the music building and then over here, you know, here's the senior hangout, right? Like that stuff doesn't even exist on campus. It's pretty neat. It's fascinating how it sort of works itself out.
I was drawn to it because of that, because of the community. I would also add because of our proximity to Waterbury, right? My wife works in hospitals, Taft has a long tradition of community service with Waterbury. You know, we have students, Shamir Johnson, you know, playing at Stone Hills, Waterbury guy, Connor Prince, Waterbury guy, Xavier Rucker, Waterbury guy, those guys are some of my favorite players.
know, captains and some of the best students at Taft and they're coming from the town over. It's nice to have that right in your backyard, you know, to kind of get off campus and outside of the bubble. For me, that was important. Post post gunnery or at the time gunnery, I was offered two positions, sort of poached from two schools. And for me, it was a no no brainer. I was coming to this school.
And it's funny that we get to play that school a couple times a year and every time we drive up there I'm like, yeah, this isn't me. Which is awesome. And I think that's the benefit about having so many options in a small area of New England. There's something that is right for each person, each student, each athlete.
Cory Heitz (21:12)
Yeah. And tell us about your program.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (21:13)
Taft is, you know, our basketball program is, I would say, first and foremost, one of sort of like hard work, grit, and love. You know, it's like, don't, we have, and it's fun. I'm glad we can sort of discuss this. Taft is a beautiful place. We have, again, some of the, cosmetically, some of the best views you can ask for. Our film room is in like the basement.
and they've asked for upgrades. like, want this furniture. looks like it's here from like the eighties and nineties. We're going to get up at six in the morning. We are we are not going to get the new basketballs until the season starts. We're going to use these old sort of the worn out basketballs. We will not wear our game uniforms until the first game. You won't look at them, right? This sort of idea of like self.
Created self sort of wanted grit. I think is necessary at these places because our athletes are competing with kids from all over the world, so I think sometimes at these schools It's easy to to get comfortable and it's like no the kid that is you're fighting with for that scholarship is you know
is a really tough, kid, gritty kid who doesn't have a five-star dining hall and, you know, doesn't have a gym in their backyard. They're going to, you know, take the bus or have to hop in with their friend and, you know, drive however long to get to a gym or they're taking the bus to school. And you hear all the stories, right, of kids who are on the train for however long. Like, we need to understand that our competition is not just the normal Taft student.
in basketball, right in basketball. that's where it's sort of that grit and that hard work mentality. If you don't want to get up early, you cannot come to Taft and be a basketball player. Like you just can't because we're going to have 638 workouts and you're going to have to get up and walk up the hill, you know, and that's just again, maybe that's the Bridgerton where we were doing that, you know, was and that's just part of it. And then kind of how we talked about earlier and you got to love it.
You gotta really love it. You gotta, and what I mean, Cory, is if you love it, you're gonna do your homework during study hall. You're gonna be focused during the academic day. You're not gonna go to your room and, you know, mess around for an hour and a half, because I love basketball and I wanna get to the gym early. I'm gonna go to the library during my free period and make sure that I can get to the gym early. Like to me, that is love. Like, what are you doing?
Cory Heitz (23:21)
Mm-hmm.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (23:47)
outside of basketball, right, in the way of sort of your order, your process with your academics to make sure that I get to do the thing that I love the most, right? And those, think, right, least TAFSA is hard. It's a hard, hard school academically. You're gonna have two hours of homework a night. So maybe you do a little bit of that during the day. And then after practice or, you know, in the fall.
You're going to go back to the gym. Our captain this year, Ford, okay, he's fantastic. He has a division two offer, has some Nescahk stuff. He's in the gym at 6.30 every day, whether we have something or not, you know, he'll practice. We'll practice in the afternoon. In the fall, we have a full-time strength and conditioning coach. It's amazing. Again, amazing resource. He'll do the lift. He'll do our skill workout. He'll go eat. And then three to five times a week, he'll come back up from 6.45 to 7.45.
And he's like, know, and I'm on dorm duty. So I see him in his dorm. I see him running down. It's, you know, 7.59. I'm doing check-in. Here comes Ford, you know, from the gym. Like, those are the kids we want. Like, take advantage of the resources. Do everything I can so that I can play basketball. I can push my skill and my body as much as I can, you know, because I am organized and understand sort of the opportunity that I have.
Cory Heitz (24:49)
Yeah.
Yeah. And you mentioned getting up early for practice. Every single college program in America does that. Right. So that's, that's the norm now. See what you're doing is, it's prepping them for what it's going to eventually be in college anyway. So if they have a problem doing that, might not want to look at playing college bowl. Right.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (25:21)
Yeah, yeah,
that's the best compliment that we can get that I can get right. Like, you know, Jordan Elliott is a freshman and he's playing, you know, getting in games at Bentley. Tyler Arbuckle is at St. A's getting in games as a freshman. gets guys who are prepared to play at the next level is inevitably our job as secondary school educators and coaches. Prepare them for the next step, just like a teacher does in a classroom. That like that is like whether, you know, winning is really, really close.
Cory Heitz (25:39)
Mm-hmm.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (25:51)
But making sure the kids that we put into the workforce or the college basketball workforce, right, they're prepared to take on whatever it is that their coach is going to ask. And you love those callbacks. I would love this kid, do you got any more for us? Right. That's like really the best, the best thing where you feel like, okay, we're doing a pretty decent job here. Our kids go off to college and coaches say they're practice ready, they're game ready. They like the weight room. They understand scouts, right. And they're okay.
Cory Heitz (26:04)
Right.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (26:18)
having to work their way up, right? They don't want things given to them, they're low maintenance, right? Like all those qualities, I think, embody what we're trying to do here as a basketball program.
Cory Heitz (26:29)
Yeah, Shavar, I've said that everything you said makes perfect sense. I've said before, like if I'm a D1 assistant now, all I do is just, all I do is have all the prep school coaches on speed dial and just say, Shavar, do you got a guy that can fit my program? And with your integrity and all the other prep school coaches integrity, you're not going to BS me. You're not going to send me a guy you don't think could succeed at my program. But if you do have a guy you think that could work at my level in my program, you're going to tell me.
Right. And why wouldn't I recruit that guy? So to me, like if I'm a college coach, I'm not messing with the transfer portal and not messing with Jugo's international. I am just personally trying to find good tough nose prep school kids. Yeah. That might not have all the stars next to their name, but they're going to do everything you just mentioned. That's going to make my job easier. Right. And more successful as a college coach. So thanks for sharing all that. Cause I think that's pretty obvious, but I don't know. You got to work harder these days to place kids with the portal. So.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (27:21)
Yeah, no, I got off. I we had a division one coach call today. We're taking four transfers and we're not recruiting high school kids. And again, that's fine. That's part of the game. You know, it's part of the game. But I would say to the high school kid then. All right, you need to think about competing against not just the other high school kid, the 21 year old transfer. You don't want to be a film guy. They're taking they're taking the transfer because of their body and their their preparedness for the game.
Cory Heitz (27:29)
Yeah, I get it.
Yeah.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (27:49)
So are we preparing? Do we have sort of the experience through hours spent watching film? Do you get to practice 45 minutes early to sort of make up for some of that stuff? It's really tough right now being a high school kid. You know, you feel for them. But also you're not gonna run from that, or I'm not anyway. I'm not gonna run from it. Who knows what the world's gonna look like in 15 years.
Cory Heitz (27:49)
Yeah.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (28:14)
You know, that's the task at hand. You know, you just kind of got to get a roll with it.
Cory Heitz (28:18)
Yeah, anything worthwhile in life is not easy. Heck, your wife being a doctor, mean, think of the amount of time she's spent in school and in residency and being up 72 hours, like good things that means something don't come easy. look, kids are going to find that at prep school with the grind they got to go through if they want to play college ball or not. And about every year I've got one or two kids that'll go to a prep school for post-grad year. They'll see the grind and they say, you know what? I think I like basketball. I don't think I love it. I think I'm going to choose a college.
And just be a student and play intramurals. And to me, that's a success story for prep school too. Cause now they're taking a college they want to go to for themselves versus maybe the only few options they might have that come via basketball. Right? So all the stuff you're mentioning, I think spot on.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (28:59)
Do you think you can tell
that? Do you think you can tell that the type of kid, maybe it's asking a question about recruiting for you in some sense. Can you tell, can you sniff that out, right? Because inevitably we have kids in our programs who aren't really recruited and they're kind of in or out or...
They're unsure, right? And they're going to get into school because they're fantastic students. And I always, you know, that's the conversation we have as my coach, my assistant coach and I every year, like, what is this kid really about it? And I'm curious if you can sort of sense that or found any trends with that kid every year.
Cory Heitz (29:35)
Yeah, usually you can get inklings from the parents, right? And the statement might be, he's just not sure what he wants right now, or she does not sure what she wants, right? So I say, cool, do a post-grad year, you're going to get all these other benefits on top of basketball, right? That you and I know about, we've talked about ad nauseam on this podcast and he'll know. And at the end of the day, he'll go through that year. And if he decides not to play college basketball, he won't be sitting there in his middle age wondering what if, but now
This is insurance against a midlife crisis because he'll say, okay, I did go to prep school. I realized basketball wasn't my dream. I went to this school and then my life went this direction. I do like right now I'm dealing with a situation where a kid has a Nepzack school that he likes, but he's waiting to hear from a college, right? And if he gets his dream school, let's just call it Notre Dame for this conversation. He's got to make a decision. Does he go to this Nepzack school?
to try to play college ball or does he go to his school Notre Dame, which he's loved his whole life and his family's grown up loving. If you're having that debate, that tells me you don't love the game of basketball as much as other kids, right? Cause to me, you would just be like, nah, I know Notre Dame's there, but my love is college basketball. I'm going to do that and go to prep school and see whatever level it is. I'm going to be happy and do it cause I love the game. So that's another telltale is did I get in this college or not?
Couple of years ago, I also had a kid that had USC as dream school and then a NEPSEC AA school. And they kept trying to defer USC and USC would not defer them. So once again, a kid's dream school his whole life where both his parents went, where they met or going to a NEPSEC AA school where you have no idea what the outcome is going to be. He chose USC, which is fine. know, kids got to make their own decisions. I care less what they do. It's their lives. They need to make it. I want them to be happy with their decision, but
Go to USC, play intramurals, heck, try to walk on and go to your dream school. So that to me, Shavar, is the telltale sign is if they've got a dream school and they're waiting to see if they get in or not, kind of tells me my answer right there.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (31:36)
Yeah, no, it's a thank you for the answer. It's I sometimes I think coaches like we have the blinders on sometimes. It's like you're trying to win a kid. They might be good enough. They might be able to help you come off the bench. All the things. So sometimes you miss that. But I'm I'm with you. And then personally, it was I I was playing pro basketball forever, like in my head. I got hurt in August and then it was like.
Cory Heitz (31:44)
Cough
Yeah.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (32:04)
I already tried to have an internship with Merrill Lynch when I was at Con. I wasn't, it just wasn't for me. I was playing basketball. I broke my foot and I was this, this, this poor 23 year old with a Desk Act degree. It's like, all right, so what am I going to do? And you just like, if I'm not playing basketball, I guess I'm coaching basketball because that's the only thing that is sort of light you up. Right. But no, I'm with you. You know, like, you know, I knew I spent two weeks with, it was a basketball alum.
Cory Heitz (32:19)
Right.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (32:33)
I spent two weeks in the office at Merrill. It's like, Dwayne, like I'm not doing it. It's just not, it's just for me, wasn't right. It just wasn't right. Like I'm just, I'm a basketball guy. And I think to be at Taft in our program, like you gotta be a basketball guy.
Cory Heitz (32:38)
Yeah.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (32:50)
Like you just got to be excited about all of the things. The conference tournaments, the March Madness, the random West Coast games on late, NBA playoffs, all the things. You just got to want to think about it and kind of be about it. It's good. It's okay, right? It's complex enough. And then you take care business in the classroom. But you got to love hoops. You got to love it.
Cory Heitz (33:09)
Yep.
Yeah, but Shavar, those are those kids too that show up on campus first day in August and they think, you know, I'm going come here and I'm going to get my D1 scholarship and use this as a stepping stone. In the first open gym, they realize, oh shoot, this D3 player is smoking me right now. Right. And I'm not even, you know, I haven't played against a D2 or D1 kid yet. So I think it really helps with that too. Right. And, and I tell families all the time, like, look, there's no crystal ball. Like, look, we're always talking about the right fit for prep school.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (33:35)
Mm-hmm.
Cory Heitz (33:42)
You help a lot of families with the right fit for college, right? Because you're doing a lot of placement on your end, but you are never going to have all the information you need, right? So if you think you like basketball or not sure, like what's this year going to do for you or what level are you going to play at the end of it? We don't know. There is no crystal ball for life, which is exciting. But if you knew what was going to be the outcome too, it kind of would take away the fun, right? But guess what? This is prepping you for
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (33:58)
Right.
For sure. For sure.
Cory Heitz (34:07)
business decisions, like you were at Merrill Lynch, right? For two weeks and you, you know, that was a fork in the road you make by deciding to leave after two weeks versus staying there. Right? This prep school choice, whether you do it or not and what prep school you pick is a different fork in the road that your life is going to take. Right. And, and you just, you'll never have all the information, whether it's life decisions, whether it's prep school decisions, whether it's relationships, 50 % of the U S gets divorced. Right? So half the country's shooting pretty bad free throw percentage.
So it's prepping you for life as well, not just basketball, right? So that's what I love about prep school. I talked to families, it's always starting on basketball, but you just mentioned the education, the time management, the friends you're going to make, the tough times you're to go through. Like to me, it's all that stuff as well to where if you don't play basketball after college, you still get all the benefits that a prep school can provide, right? Worst case scenario, you get all those benefits, right? Best case scenario, you get those benefits and you realize your basketball dreams.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (34:44)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, no, I think part of it when I sort of think about, again, me in the high school lens, just being around 600 driven, focused, motivated peers is a game changer. know, I'm biased about these institutions, but.
Cory Heitz (35:21)
Yeah.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (35:25)
But I've seen it over my 14 years in prep school. You can pluck a kid from almost anywhere and put them at one of these places for four years and the product after is so different. It's just so different. And then, you know, and the kids know it, right? The students, my goodness, like, know.
Cory Heitz (35:37)
yeah.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (35:43)
If I did homework for two hours a night for four years, because I love hoops, I'd probably still be talking to you right now. there'd be a lot of different options, I think, just by being around and in this type of environment where you see excellence that taffed around every corner, the essay winner, the violinist, the actor.
Cory Heitz (35:49)
Yeah.
Right.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (36:04)
the math team, it's just unbelievable to see you're inspired as a student, as a young person. And it honestly, I think makes you work harder in your craft. We actually had a conversation last week when I was on dorm duty. Who are the hardest workers at TAP?
Cory Heitz (36:20)
Interesting.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (36:20)
And it
wasn't athletes. They named people who weren't athletes as a couple of them. We have some sort of national team soccer players. it's like, yeah, they're in the gym. They're doing everything. And then this artist, you have this person going to Juilliard. That is awesome to be around as a young person. It's inspiring, I think. And I hope our players take, again, take a lot of that.
Cory Heitz (36:36)
Yes. Yes.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (36:44)
throughout their experience as well as some of the basketball piece. But you're right, I think the longevity is gonna be just what these schools offer maybe outside of your discipline.
Cory Heitz (36:53)
Yeah, love it. Let me ask you this question. Do you have to play multiple sports if you come to Taft?
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (36:58)
No, you have to have, great question. I hope this is like the sound bite, right? I think it's a differentiator. You have to have an afternoon activity at Taft. So our varsity basketball players come in in the fall. They are with Will Turner, who's a former Division I strength coach at Yale and BU. They're with him four times a week. That is their afternoon activity. And then we shape our fall workouts around that.
So that's where the morning come in, that's comes in, that's where we're playing on in the afternoons for college coaches. That's where we're doing sort of small group work like all fall and their afternoon activity of strength and conditioning. Obviously in the winter it is basketball. In the spring, excuse me, many of them do yoga. Some do like theater tech. Some do tour guiding.
There's you have to have an afternoon activity at no time. Can you finish class at Taft and then just go to your room and hang out? But definitely not a sport definitely not a sport
Cory Heitz (37:59)
All right, let's go through that. Thank you for sharing. Thank you.
Perfect. Thank you for sharing that. And because here's the question, I'm going to go through some quick questions. Almost every family askers is one, how many college coaches come in the gym per year on average?
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (38:06)
Yeah, let's do it.
50 probably per year. Like it's probably around 50, you know.
Cory Heitz (38:15)
Okay.
Alright, here's a question I've got. A family I'm talking to right now is between two schools and one school has about 200 college coaches come through per year and one has about 50. Does that matter at end of the day?
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (38:28)
Not for that individual kid. I don't think I I loved it again going back to Bridgerton like Amazing stories like amazing like Bruce Pearls eaten lunch in our dining hall. I get some amazing. get some amazing I was never going to Auburn or you know at the time Tennessee. I didn't matter ready. Did it did it matter for me? So and and here's the other thing I would say to that and this I've used this to maybe because I'm recruiting against some of those top top top schools
Cory Heitz (38:54)
Mm-hmm.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (38:55)
If you trade my roster with, I don't know, prolific prep, the coaches who come to the gym are going to change. It's really about the students, right? Like college coaches work so hard, they know who the players are. It's a different time. How many hidden gem four stars are there just floating around because college coaches missed them, right? It's so different now. there's, our league is...
sort of hyper recruited, I would say. If you're an ESCAC kid at a AAA school, you're gonna go to an ESCAC whether you go to AAA, AA or single A or BC or D. You're not getting buoyed because you went to a certain school. And the coaches get fired if they get it wrong. And it's funny being a college coach. You're not...
Cory Heitz (39:41)
Yeah.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (39:46)
Because Shavar Burnett tells you to take a kid, you're not taking a kid if he's not going to help you. I've never had that. Yeah, I don't think he's really good enough, Shavar. But we're to take him anyway because I like you. It doesn't happen. Are you good enough or are you not? Because that coach has to move his family. These are things you already know. They get fired. They displace their entire existence. They're not taking a kid because of Taft or Deerfield or Exeter or Bridgerton.
Cory Heitz (39:50)
Right.
Right. Right.
Yeah.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (40:14)
or Brewster, they're taking a kid because they're good enough. And that's like as real as I can be, and that's just true.
Cory Heitz (40:17)
And I.
And that's kind of my next question, as other families ask me. Does it matter if you play in AAA, AA, single A, independent, B, C? I know my answer. What's your answer on that? Especially being in single A school.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (40:30)
No, it's cool.
No stuff I think about all the time and it's cool. We're talking, maybe you're getting to know me a little bit more, but I don't think there's a black or white answer. Here's what I tell the families. You have to decide if, and again, this is for the kid who's maybe like scholarship D2, Bentley, like not, if you're gonna go to the ACC,
Like doesn't it just doesn't matter like it just it just doesn't matter but for the majority of the kids who might need to need a prep year and who are good enough to come off the bench at AAA Let's say maybe fight for a starting spot, right? So Do you think you will improve after nine months if you came to Taft Had plays drawn up for you were thrown in a leadership role had the ball in your hands late in games
Cory Heitz (40:57)
Mm-hmm.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (41:19)
When we were breaking down film, you were maybe highlighted, right? Instead of the kids going to Miami, because we really don't have kids going to Miami at tap. Or do you improve more after nine months by being in practice and like playing against higher competition, but in the game, you're not in those moments with that experience of that sort of game pressure.
Like, and I don't know the answer. I think it's different for every person, to be honest. But I think those two things are what people are really asking. Because if you're not the highest, level recruit and gonna be the guy at a AAA school, it's a different experience, right? Like I think who's Ryder Frost, awesome, amazing kid going to Notre Dame. Like if he were maybe like the fifth option at, you know, the highest level school.
after three years, is he the same as being able to take some of the pressure shots and the things that like, you don't know. Like that's the question you have to ask. Like, do you want to be put in those situations where I'm looking you in the eye? It's a heated moment. It's a one possession game against Williston and it's we're calling your number or it's like, Hey, rebound the basketball. If it comes off and you're the guy who like might have to get a rebound tip in. Like, I don't know, but I do think it's fun to consider.
Cory Heitz (42:12)
We don't know.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (42:32)
And that's, think that's really what families are trying to get at. Like, what does game experience mean versus playing against better players in practice and playing 15 or fewer minutes a game versus figuring out how many minutes I can play, 32, 34, whatever, and going through a season, I'm maybe a little bit dinged up because I'm playing so many minutes. Like, what prepares you better? I think it's really fun to think about and to walk through and talk through with families.
because it's not as simple as like higher level is better or you're a starter on class A and you're not on AAA.
Cory Heitz (43:07)
Yeah, it's the, it's, it's yeah. And mind you, I, I live that. So I backed up an all American for three years in high school, you know, every day trying to score on them and trying to stop them was a nightmare. And then I got to my post-grade year and actually got to play more. And we had a kid there from Idaho that scored like 40 a game, but never got challenged. And I really dominated him because he just had never been pushed, but I didn't have game experience too. So I was not as comfortable in the court. So there's pros and cons to each. And I just, once again, I leave it up to families and be like,
You know, my big thing is you got to pick on the, based on the coach, right? If you don't like the coach very much, but you're going to play more or you're going to, you really like a coach and want to get in the Fox hole with them you might pay, play less, but have better teammates. Like, you know, once again, there's no crystal ball. You have to make the decision with the limited information you have and don't look back. But you know, Hargrave, I think it was 10 years ago, I my first kid to Hargrave. He was the last guy on the bench and that was the year, uh, 12 of the 13 guys signed D1.
So their practices were knife bites, right? Knife bites. You've got seven guys on the bench. D1 that aren't starting. And my guy ended up going D2, starting for two years and bumped up to D1. So that was a team with 13 D1 guys on it. Right? So did they get better in practice? You're damn right they did. They also won a national championship that year, prep school. And they all went D1 and just contributed a lot of them right away. So, but my guy that was last on the bench,
Right? Would he have been better served playing more? You just, you don't know. It's, it's unknowable. So we'll, we'll, we'll skip that. let's move on to this development. That's another key thing parents talk about this place. This head coach is going to develop us. got this assistant coach that does this and that you can be in a gym five hours a day. What do you say when families ask you, you know, time in the gym and how you develop players.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (44:35)
Yeah.
Yeah, again, this goes back to what I said earlier. It is my, think, our first and foremost duty as secondary school educators and coaches to develop young people. I think it should turn you off if a coach doesn't lead with that or a teacher doesn't lead with that. Like, that is what you're doing from the ages 14 to 18.
Cory Heitz (44:58)
Right.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (45:17)
If I have some different agenda, I think it misses the boat. You have to develop your players and prepare them for the next level, first and foremost. I think about that every day. I think about it every day. Taft system allows for that to be pretty good. So the full-time strength coach, basketball players aren't playing football or JV soccer or whatever, they have a strength coach. Our team is together doing basketball-specific lifts and explosions.
Cory Heitz (45:33)
Okay.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (45:44)
Explosive lifts and working on things lateral movement things that are basketball specific to what we're doing on top of that We get to work out in the gym any other time that's not academic So in the fall it is in the morning and it's usually like 5 30 or 6 6 p.m. Post that workout and it is You know, we can I can talk about small forever. We can the development sure it depends on our roster meaning
If we're guard heavy, our play style will be a little bit different, right? Our fall workouts and individual sessions will be a little bit different. We're not gonna put a post player, you know, working on like throwing skip passes and they're bringing the ball up the court, right? In general, like we're gonna, it will be player specific, obviously. And that's all fall, right? But that depends on the personnel and that we have enough freedom.
to be able to do that, right? So if we're able to small group work, it might be the bigs, or we call them forwards, the wings and the guards, right? So they might have, you you four in the morning, you four in the afternoon, right? You four in the night, and then you're rotating and you're getting three or four individual skill sessions, individual small group skill sessions a week. We're playing pickup twice a week. Our pickup is, you know, we do play pickup in the general sense.
Cory Heitz (46:56)
All
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (47:02)
when the college coaches come. But generally our pickup is concept based. I find, I'm finding more and more that high school level players are less sort of developed with their concepts of the game, maybe more skilled. I think that's not a me thing, that's just where the game is. They are less sort of developed with the understanding of the game, but more skilled. So we're gonna put in maybe our
the framework, like it won't be in a classroom, put in the framework of what we're looking for with our motion reads, our secondary break, or how we're going to defend if it's sort of man, we're going to be high hip, no middle, or we're going to switch stuff. We'll put in those sort of concepts in the classroom, and we'll want players to think about and play through them when they're playing pickup.
And then when we do our sort of small games, they'll be designed through the concept. So it's not just random. And also, I better be careful to say, some of our schools are different. We're not bridged in, so we're not practicing in the fall. We're not practicing. Yeah, yeah. No, we're not practicing. Yeah, yeah. But we're doing everything we can to make sure that they're getting prepared.
Cory Heitz (47:59)
I know. I'm not the Nepstack Rules Committee here, so don't worry about that. But they might be listening. They might be listening, so...
All right,
last question here. Let's say I commit to Taft right now. I got my acceptance letter. I commit for a post-grad year. What's your placement strategy? Like, what do you do with your families? What do you do for outreach to coaches? Walk me through that because everyone's coming to do a post-grad year to get placed at the next level. So walk me through your strategy.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (48:27)
Yeah,
yeah, one, I'm lucky and fortunate to be doing it for a long time and again to been on the other side and most of the people you have in your phone, most of the college coaches, can text pretty much anybody on any staff or shoot an email and you're gonna get a reply, but it starts now. It is already, we had a post-grad commit earlier, like it's already started.
Here's what I see. I've already watched full game film. Obviously, you're breaking down who they are and sort of the level, and then you're communicating with the family what their needs are. So as soon as you commit to Taft, we're on Zoom and we're going through, all right, here's what I see. All right, and then there are three buckets that I'm gonna start with, right, are sort of safety type schools.
Cory Heitz (49:03)
Mm-hmm.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (49:11)
Right? Like fit, like level schools, and then your reach schools. And again, for us, that tends to be like, this kid's a no brainer in ESCAC. They're going to love you. I've already texted, know, Amherst Williams tough that you're coming and they're like, they're on you. Right? Boom. There's your safety. All right. Bentley's pretty good. Had a pretty good year. We've sent a bunch of players. That's sort of maybe the fit school. And then like, we all want to play in the Patriot League and Ivy League. Right? So that's your reach school. You know, I'm going to.
Tex Kings, King are over at Yale and we're gonna see what they think, but we gotta get better. We gotta follow these steps in order to be a true recruit for that level, right? And that's sort of where we will start and it starts now. Then you help them with AAU if they need it. If they don't, awesome. I don't have allegiance to any AAU program at all. And then they come back for the summer showcase. They're playing in front of...
200 college coaches. And by then, we will have already reached out to 20 schools or so that are sort of in those three buckets. Most of them sort of that fit level. And it's going. By the time they get to campus, I will have a good sense for a post-graduate what level and where their interest is. And then they will see, given our roster, they'll be seen by the...
Cory Heitz (50:08)
Hmm.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (50:25)
sort of reach schools because we never have like the Division I caliber dudes. So yeah, it's going, right? It's going. I coached JV golf in the spring. But you you want to tell the administration, like I'm also still coaching basketball. But no, I get paid to coach golf, which is fascinating and not complaining about it.
Cory Heitz (50:38)
Right.
Yeah.
Well, thanks for sharing that placement strategy. think that's valuable that, yeah, a lot of this happens before kids even step foot on campus. And I'll tell you this, not every school can say that, right? So I think that's a good advantage you got there. We're going to end with some quick hitters, right? Best player you ever played against.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (50:59)
Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it.
Jerome Dyson.
Cory Heitz (51:04)
Okay. Best player you've ever coached against at the prep school level.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (51:08)
Yeah, that's easy. Donovan Mitchell.
Cory Heitz (51:11)
Okay. your favorite movie of all time.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (51:14)
He got game.
Cory Heitz (51:16)
Yeah, Jesus Shuttleworth. was just thinking about that last night and, you know, could
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (51:19)
Yeah. Blue chips is another
good one. We can do... No.
Cory Heitz (51:21)
Can I tell you my blue chip story?
So I went to high school with Michael Patino, Rick's oldest son, not Richard the younger one, but the older one. And we went to see blue chips as a team and he's in it in the background behind his dad as an extra. And we just gave him so much heck, you know, even though he was on the screen, that meant he got it worse with his teammates.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (51:28)
Okay.
That's incredible.
That's incredible. Yeah, I'm like basketball movies. The basketball has to be good, right? Like the bet like their pros in he got game their pros and blue chips. I'm not a basketball movie guy. If the basketball is like a little off, right?
Cory Heitz (51:47)
Yeah.
Like above
the rim with the Eric, Eric Nice out there playing.
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (51:58)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like the guy like transports
from like one play to another play. It's another place. Yeah, the basketball has got to be good to be a good basketball movie.
Cory Heitz (52:07)
I actually watched 11 basketball. Gosh, it must've been a long time ago. And like that's when players had like number 91. And I wrote to IMDB as like, this is a goof because college players can't have a number 91. Like that's how, that's how dorky I was with the college basketball editing being so precise. So last question, what are your hobbies when you're not doing what you do?
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (52:18)
Right.
I love it. I love it.
Just being a dad, it's the best thing ever. Growing up without one, like for the first time, my son is three, my daughter is three months. It's the coolest, the best, that teaches you the most. And I'm excited for it every day. It's it. It's a kind of basketball family.
I'm lame. We play golf. I play golf. We have a golf course on campus. There's a taft sale. We have 18-hole golf course on campus the students get to use for free. Faculty are members for free. So I'm trying to learn how to play golf.
Cory Heitz (52:52)
There you go.
Awesome. Is there anything we didn't touch on today that you want to mention before we go?
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (53:05)
No, this is great. I really appreciate you having me. I sing the praises of all these schools, the range of them. I think it's an important product that we have. I hope we're, I know that a lot of us are doing a really good job. So just a shout out to all the other coaches and schools out there.
Cory Heitz (53:22)
Yeah, well, Shavar, thanks for coming on the podcast today. Representing the Taft School. If you guys like this podcast, be sure to subscribe on all the major podcasting platforms. And if you want to stay up to date on the latest in the prep school basketball world, subscribe to our YouTube channel and go to prepathletics.com and sign up for our newsletter, which comes out once a month. Pleasure having you on Shavar. Yeah. And thanks so much for tuning in. We'll see you all next time. Take
Taft School - Shavar Bernier (53:43)
Thanks Cory, appreciate it man.