Cary Herer of CATS Academy: Exposure & College Pathways

This week, host Cory Heitz sits down with Cary Herer, Head Coach at CATS Academy Boston and a driving force behind one of NEPSAC AA’s fastest-rising prep basketball programs. Cary brings a unique blend of experience, from playing under John Calipari at UMass to building powerhouse grassroots teams and now leading CATS Academy into the elite NEBL league. In this candid conversation, Cary breaks down what truly sets CATS apart: relentless player development, unmatched college exposure, and a no-nonsense approach to preparing athletes for the next level. He shares how his program guarantees improvement and visibility, but never promises playing time or scholarships-emphasizing competition, accountability, and fit. Families will hear straight talk about the realities of the transfer portal, NIL negotiations, and why the right prep environment matters more than ever. If you’re navigating the prep school basketball journey and want honest, actionable advice, this episode is a must-listen.

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💡 Key Topics:

📌 Elite player development at CATS Academy (prep school basketball, skill training, strength & conditioning)
📌 Maximizing college exposure through NEBL and open gyms (college basketball recruitment, college coaches, showcases)
📌 Honest prep school selection: Competition, team structure, and fit (prep school advice, player placement, development guarantees)
📌 Navigating the transfer portal and NIL for families (recruitment strategies, NIL deals, transfer portal impact)
📌 Balancing academics and athletics for prep/post-grad students (academic requirements, NCAA eligibility, post-grad prep)
📌 The evolving landscape of prep basketball leagues and future trends (NEBL, league competition, player pathways)

🏀 About Cary Herer:

Cary Herer is the Head Coach and Director of Basketball Operations at CATS Academy Boston, where he’s built the program from the ground up into a NEPSAC AA and NEBL contender. A former point guard at UMass under John Calipari, Cary brings decades of experience in grassroots basketball, elite player development, and high-level coaching. He’s known for his direct, practical approach and has helped numerous athletes reach the collegiate level.

🔗 Connect with Cary Herer:

Email | cherer@catsglobalschools.com
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/cary_herer/
Twitter | https://x.com/caryherer

🔗 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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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction: Meet Coach Cary Herer, CATS Academy Head Coach, NEPSAC AA & NEBL, and overview of his basketball journey
• 1:45 Basketball Roots: Growing up in Connecticut, family influence, and early exposure to high-level basketball programs
• 2:22 UMass Experience: College recruitment, playing for John Calipari, lessons in player development and competition
• 4:16 Corporate Sports Career: Transition from basketball to Starter, Reebok, and Adidas; impact on sports business and branding
• 6:13 Grassroots Coaching: Launching youth basketball teams, developing D1 talent, and building the Boston Bobcats
• 10:42 CATS Academy Overview: School pitch, academic strengths, international student body, and unique dorm features
• 14:29 Player Development Philosophy: 6am workouts, individualized skill training, strength & conditioning, and development guarantees
• 20:56 Team Structure & Competition: Multiple teams, playing time policies, college position preparation, and importance of competing
• 22:13 College Exposure: Open gyms, Power Five coach visits, exposure for all players, and maximizing recruitment opportunities
• 24:31 Recruitment Strategies: Placement planning, transfer portal challenges, NIL advising, and personalized college pathways
• 28:43 NEBL League & Class System: Impact of league/class on exposure, scheduling for maximum visibility, and national competition
• 33:31 Showcase Events & Scheduling: Importance of high-level showcases, NEBL streaming, and college coach evaluation
• 38:30 Academic Programs: Post-grad academic requirements, NCAA eligibility, and balancing athletics with coursework
• 40:01 D1 Guard Skills: Shooting, defense, positional size, physicality, and what college coaches look for in guards
• 42:41 Future of Prep School Basketball: Trends, league evolution, program differentiation, and building pros
• 45:28 Coaching Insights: Toughest opponents, best players coached against, and personal basketball stories
• 51:02 Family Advice & Contact: Who thrives at CATS Academy, honest guidance for families, and how to reach Cary Herer

Transcript

Cory Heitz (00:00)
Welcome to this week's episode of the Prep Athletics podcast. I'm proud to have joining us coach Cary Herer head coach at Katz Academy, which is NEPSAC AA and also in the NEBL league. And we talk about his roots growing up, watching his dad who has the AD and was around sports a lot in Southern Connecticut. And then he chose to play for UMass and ended up playing for Calipari there when he got hired and was teammates with Mike Burns, teammates and roommates, Mike Burns.

friend of the program who was head coach of the Tilton school. And then he talks about, you know, working for starter when the starter jacket was huge in early nineties and then Katz Academy and really breaks down what the school offers both academically on the court with development, with exposure, and really loved having this conversation with him. He was just fired up to be talking about it. one thing I do want to mention on this podcast, you can see now I am wearing a ball state sweatshirt. this is my cousin, Chris Hood sweatshirt that I bought through his NIL store.

So if you are a prep athletic family member or a former client or you're out there now and you've got an NIL store or deal going on, let me know. I'd love to promote it. I'd love to buy your stuff and share it. yeah, and also tune into the podcast by subscribing on all the major podcasting platforms, as well as YouTube where we have bonus content. So thanks for tuning in and enjoy our podcast with coach Cary Herer.

Cory Heitz (01:42)
Cary, welcome to the podcast.

Cary Herer (01:43)
Appreciate you having me.

Cory Heitz (01:46)
Yeah, it's good to see you again and give us a little background on yourself. Like, where did you grow up and what got you into basketball?

Cary Herer (01:53)
So I grew up in southern Connecticut and my dad was always in basketball. He was an athletic director in the Bridgeport school systems. So I just followed my dad around. He was athletic director at Harding High School who had some great teams back in the day. And so that kind of got me into the sport.

Cory Heitz (02:14)
Gotcha. And then you ended up choosing Massachusetts, pretty big time team back in the 8, 10 days. And why'd you choose UMass?

Cary Herer (02:22)
So I was not highly recruited out of high school. I had a couple of choices, it ends up being who wants you the most. so they recruited me the hardest. And so I ended up there, which for me, it was a great choice.

Cory Heitz (02:39)
What made it a great choice?

Cary Herer (02:40)
So it was just a great school and I didn't have it easy. So I was recruited by a coach you never heard of, Ron Grohlfson, Dennis Jackson, who was the recruiter. He was a big five-star guy. He was called the Sandman. He recruited me and we were really bad for two years and I didn't play. I didn't play for my first three years at all, but my last two years.

guy that you may have heard of, John Calipari came in and so I didn't play for even the first year with him and then I was fortunate enough to play as many minutes as I could possibly play my senior year which was a great experience.

Cory Heitz (03:23)
Awesome. Were you there with Mike Burns then?

Cary Herer (03:25)
Yeah, Mike Burns was my college roommate. So yeah, so I have a lot of stories about Mike Burns that we can't talk about on this podcast.

Cory Heitz (03:28)
Small world, right?

Yes, I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do. what did Calipari bring? You know, we know about him now being a Hall of Fame coach and, you know, bringing in all the big time players, but like, what did he add back then that made him special?

Cary Herer (03:44)
So it's funny because him and his coaching staff was not much older than us. And so he was a lot younger than he is today, obviously. But he brought an intensity to the program and just built it up. And so I like to say I helped him build his career. And I always go back to I was his first and worst point guard.

Cory Heitz (04:09)
That's something you can put in your gravestone right there. That's pretty awesome. All right, and then you graduate from UMass. What did you do after that?

Cary Herer (04:16)
So after that, I jumped into the corporate world and so I wasn't part of basketball. I worked for a company that probably people of our age have heard about called Starter. So everyone had their Starter jacket, right? And so I worked for that company for a couple of years and then Starter had some trouble.

I ended up coming to Boston, working for a company called Reebok. And Reebok was acquired by Adidas. And so I worked for Adidas for a couple of years and really my start in coaching, which was coaching my son. So I got into kind of grassroots, AAU basketball when my son was in third grade and worked for a

for a program called the Boston Bobcats, which is not around anymore, but really built up a program really through my son, coaching my son, but like, you know, a great program. Like we had Alex Caraban on that team. so I had, so with my son, I had Alex Caraban from fourth grade through eighth grade. So.

I had a little bit of part of his success that he's having, but like they were some great teams. think by the time those kids were in eighth grade, there was like 10 division one players that came through games through that program. And, what ended up happening was all of those kids grew out of that program and they, they started going to, sneaker teams. So, you know, it was like,

Do I want to stay in high level basketball? And so, you know, I kind of went with expressions, UIBL at that point. And so that kind of got me into my coaching career.

Cory Heitz (06:13)
Gotcha. I want go back real quick to the starter, because this was during my freshman year of high school. Starter jackets were huge. Like, what were you doing specifically for them? And was this at the peak of like the starter jacket era?

Cary Herer (06:16)
Yeah.

Yeah, it was the peak.

I was in the merchandising, so I was putting the lines together. so like, you know, all the jackets, everyone had their favorite jacket. But I was at the peak, like, were, stores were calling in and they didn't care about what team they got. It was like, just get me black and red. you know, the big one was the Chicago Bulls or the Oakland Raiders.

Cory Heitz (06:51)
Mm-hmm.

Cary Herer (06:51)
or at the

time the original Charlotte Hornets. So it was fun. It was crazy times in that office. couldn't get, you couldn't make enough. And so, yeah, it was pretty interesting for your first job to be in that peak of, you know, it really started the whole thing of taking athletics and putting like coaches and players in product to where it is today.

You where it does it. You wouldn't think of looking at a sideline and no one was in gear today, but that's really started it.

Cory Heitz (07:28)
Yeah, and then like what caused this downfall? Because it was hot there for a few years and kind of tapered off. I don't know if you're around or even know the story, but do you remember what happened? Okay.

Cary Herer (07:35)
Yeah, I was around when they shut the doors.

it's like anything else, know, wanting too much and going for too much and then over merchandising, putting it in stores that it lost its cache. And so ultimately, you know, that type of thing happens. know, in fact, it became a fashion brand.

Cory Heitz (07:51)
you

Cary Herer (07:58)
So, know, fashion goes up and down. And so, you know, they took advantage of it for years. So, but it was a good, it was a real good run and a lot of people made a lot of money. you know, it was good for certain people.

Cory Heitz (08:11)
Yeah, and I think they're in Walmart now, right?

Cary Herer (08:14)
Yeah,

no, no, I think they kind of brought it back, know, it was in Dick's Sporting Goods for a while. And so when it gets into those channels, certain people don't want it anymore. But yeah.

Cory Heitz (08:18)
Okay.

That's something at 30 for 30. You know, they had one and one and it just seems like one of those. It seems like one of those brands that would at least be a 45 minute ESPN 30 for 30 or.

Cary Herer (08:32)
Yeah. ⁓ definitely. Definitely.

So I was actually,

and I know this is off topic, but one of my big starter stories is, so they did, they created the locker room tee, you know? So team wins a championship, you put that t-shirt on and now it's the hat, right? And so starter created that whole thing. So I don't remember the year, and you might be able to help me, but the New York Rangers were in the Stanley Cup with Mark Messier.

They went up three nothing. So maybe edit this with the correct year. and the owner of starters decided that he was going to go ahead and print everything. So there was like, I don't know the exact number, but 500,000 t-shirts and hats. Okay. And he was like, I'm not waiting for the game for clincher. I'm going to print everything. So

He prints everything. They lose game four. They lose game five. They lose game six. So now it's three, three. He has.

millions and millions of dollars on the line and we all go to a we all get together a party and I The Rangers ended up winning I don't know if it was overtime or end the game and there was such relief But but it was a you know millions of dollars decision that he made so that was an interesting one Yeah, yeah well and and at that time sales reps

Cory Heitz (10:06)
gambling, pretty much, right?

Cary Herer (10:12)
were depend, like if they were in a territory with a team that had a, like, like a winning team, that would be a decision, like they would make millions of dollars just if their team in their area won, right? And so I know of sales reps that went to Vegas and hedged their bet and bet against themselves just to make sure that they made something.

Cory Heitz (10:39)
That's wild. That is wild. That is 30 for 30 material, by the way. That's great. Well, let's get back to prep school basketball and you're now the head coach at Katz Academy in Boston. So for those that don't know about this, give a pitch on the school, give a pitch on your program so we can learn more about it.

Cary Herer (10:42)
Yes. Yes.

Sure, so, and I don't want this to be the typical interview, so I'm gonna throw one back at you. So, you were at Katz Academy, you saw our prep school play a game, and I don't know, what did you expect coming to Katz Academy for the first time, and what was your feeling? I know you didn't see the whole school, but you saw where it was, so what was your reaction?

Cory Heitz (11:03)
Yeah.

Yeah, so I've been there twice now. A weeks ago, we reconnected again. And then the previous year and the couple of things stood out to me is one, I was impressed by the school itself, right? The academics, the arts you guys offer. It's a beautiful location and Braintree. And then two, the dorm rooms, right? Has their own bathroom in it. And you get single occupancy dorm rooms, which I think is the only one I know about in the prep school world, right? So if I'm a kid coming there, you got great dorms.

And then we got to the game where I saw you guys play South Kent and, in the developmental game and then, master school in the second game. And you guys had a lot of talent and I've heard about your talent for years, seeing all the big guys you had was just, it was just something to be seen because you don't see that many big guys in some of these sweet 16 games we've been watching over the weekend. So impressed with the school and press to the dorm rooms and press with the talent and size you've been bringing in. So.

That's my two cents on it. think you're doing something great there.

Cary Herer (12:18)
Right. I, you know,

I mean, I know you have a following and so I wanted to hear from you, but I think, you know, where we're located is, is interesting. So we're, 10 miles outside of the city of Boston. So easy access, an international airport. and we are an international boarding school. So 85 % of our kids are from all over the world.

And so we have that type of environment, not only on the basketball team, but also within the school. you know, we have, you know, you saw it, it's a real school, you know, with a real principal, with real academics, we send our, you know, our regular student body, we send kids to the Ivy league schools. we had two kids go to MIT last year, and kids all over the world. and so.

all over the country. it's a, you know, we're not a school that has a history of 150 years. Okay. We were established in 2012 in the U S. Um, so, um, my math's not very good, but around 15 years old, but we are, we're not a pop-up. Okay. Um, we're a real academic school, um, beautiful campus as, as you saw, and a

great gym, weight room, all that stuff. So we have all the elements for the school. And then we have this basketball program that this is my fourth year and this was my fourth year. And before that we didn't have a basketball program. So we've developed this from the ground up and we did it with young kids who now are going to be entering their senior year. And so we did it.

slowly, methodically, to build it into what I think is one of the premier programs in the country.

Cory Heitz (14:11)
Yeah, absolutely. the big thing you mentioned when I visited there the first time and chatted with you is your development and how you put your development up against anybody else out there. Talk to me about that. Families ask me all the time, Kerry, like, hey, what kind of development do we get at this school versus this school? So now's your chance to share how you develop your players.

Cary Herer (14:29)
Right. And so,

you know, I've done my research as well and I've watched some of your other guests talk about development. And I think that a lot of people are copying us of what we what we're doing. So, you know, we not only is it we're in the gym, but we're in the gym with training going on. OK, and it's not just OK, the gym is open at 6 a.m., which we have our daily schedule is.

6 a.m. workouts with a trainer in the gym Classes afternoon workouts two and a half hour sessions. Okay weight room four days a week After practice, okay Those are all monitored with a trainer. We have three rotating trainers on one of them and really working on

Cory Heitz (15:00)
you

Cary Herer (15:20)
individual skills now those training sessions change based on the time of year obviously the afternoon session becomes a practice session things change based on the time of year so you i'll put up my development our development against anyone and that's proven by the the the way the kids get better you we had a kid

this year from Iceland, Leo Curtis. He came in very skilled, typical European, really could shoot it very smart. And we were able to make him a lot more physical. He didn't want to score down low at the beginning of the year. He became a physical guy that he's now ready. He's going to Arizona State next year and he's going to be ready for college.

So, you know, I think it's important that, you know, our development, I put up against anybody and, you know, there's not many things that we guarantee. Okay, so we guarantee two things at Katz Academy. We guarantee development. You have no choice but to get better. Okay, we're in at 6 a.m., afternoon training. And then what I didn't mention is, you know, they...

kids go to dinner, then they could go back into the gym. That's the one time at night, even though if by request we have a trainer come in, they could get in on the shooting guns and all that. we don't have 24 hour access, but I've never had one complaint about a kid not being able to get into the gym and they have their key cards so they could get in at 5 a.m. if they wanted.

You know, we really pride ourselves on our development. So that's our one guarantee. Our second guarantee is exposure. Okay. We had 75 colleges in the gym before our first practice. Okay. And so those are our two guarantees, development and exposure. Okay. What we do not guarantee is playing time.

We do not guarantee scholarships and we do not guarantee what team you're on. Okay. So I see some of your other, your other guests and they, they say, Hey, we have one team and you know, I don't believe that's a good thing. Okay. So Katz is not a place for everybody. You're going to come here and you're going to compete. Okay. And you're going to have to compete for your position.

In real life, you'd have to compete for a job. When you go to college, you're going to have to compete to play. And these college coaches, you see what's going on. If you don't produce, they're getting fired and they're making millions of dollars. And now the players are making a lot of money. And so we're preparing kids for that. And like I said, it's not for everybody. Okay. And

We're preparing them for real life. And so, yeah, if you're not producing on the court, we're going to go with someone that is going to produce. And some people might not like that. Okay. And a school that has one team. Okay. And, and, and has, you know, 12 players that that's, that's what it is, but we're not pretending to be any, anybody else. You're going to compete and you're going to get better.

And in turn, what happens is we're preparing these kids for whatever level they're going to. So we have, you know, we have kids on our first team that are going high major. We have kids going, they're recruited mid major. Every kid on our national team has a college offer. Now we know an offer is not necessarily the be all end all, but they do. We have kids on our second team. Okay. That also have offers. And so.

We are going to, we're putting on the court two very high level teams. You saw our second team play and it's a super high level. And, and what we also do is we put our kids in their college position. Okay. We have, you mentioned it earlier. We have bigs. Okay. That's not the norm in, in, in, these schools. So a kid who is a six foot four, six foot five kid that

probably is playing on the low post at some places. You can't play in the low post at our place. And we develop you to be a wing or a guard or things like that, which in college at the higher levels, that's what you have to be. So like the biggest thing is you're going to compete. You're going to get better. You're going to get exposure and we'll get into this scheduling in a second. But it's not for everyone.

but the kids who come embrace it. And I heard you say in a podcast earlier, you're happy that, know, once a year a kid says, maybe this isn't for me and they go on to school and not as a basketball player and kids figure this out early here, like what they want. And it's a good thing. so, you know, we don't pretend, you know, we figure out

the level of a player pretty quickly after their development. So that's a long-winded answer to your question.

Cory Heitz (20:47)
That's a great thing. I need you to share that so people have a good context on this. Walk me through this, Kerry. How many players do you have in total per year in your program?

Cary Herer (20:56)
So we have four teams, one's a JV team, so I'm not going to include that. But what we try to do is we think it's important to play. And so we don't think it's as important what team you're on. So everyone obviously wants to be on the national team. But if you're not going to play, you know,

Cory Heitz (20:57)
Approximately.

Mm-hmm.

Cary Herer (21:23)
we may have you play on the prep team. And we've had cases this year where kids, you know, sat on the bench on the national team, got some minutes, but really played the entire game on the prep team. And so, you know, we'll have some of that happening, but we'll have, it changes every year, but we'll have 10 kids on the national team, eight to 10 kids on the prep team.

And then we have a varsity team, which is more of a traditional team. We'll have around eight to nine kids on that team. But it changes every year. the big deciding factor is where are you going to play?

Cory Heitz (22:03)
Yeah. And then the big question families have is, hey, are these 75 coaches going to see my kids? So walk me through the open gym period and like, who's actually out there competing in front of these coaches.

Cary Herer (22:13)
Right,

so the minute the kids step on campus in September, we start Open Gyms. And we've become a destination for the Open Gym. When a college coach comes to the Northeast, there's a handful of schools that they're coming to, and they're coming to our school. So we have every Power Five conference.

coaches are coming to our school. So if you're, I gotta turn the light on here. It's okay, you can still see me. Okay. If you're on the national or prep team, you get to be seen by these coaches. Okay. And so it's not determined right away, but it's kind of...

Cory Heitz (22:50)
Get that motion sensor going, yeah.

Cary Herer (23:08)
It's kind of determined that, you know, if you're come in recruited to play basketball, you will be seen by these coaches. Now, you know, we always talk about exposure or be exposed. so sometimes that's not a good thing, but you know, every, every school that was in to see, Jalen Harrell or Leo Curtis got to see every kid. And so, you know, whether it was.

Alabama or a D3, they were all in to see all the kids. So everyone gets to be seen and you know, we, that's the big, the big thing that we have to draw from where, you know, not many schools are getting these colleges to come in and see them, especially with what's going on right now with, you know, the portal and older kids and things like that. So half the battle is.

getting to be seen and you know if you can play though they'll see you here.

Cory Heitz (24:09)
Yeah, love it. And right now, this is being, I don't know when this will come out, but the lead H has happened yesterday, final four set for next weekend and the transfer portal is packed right now, right? Which is challenging for you now trying to place these kids into that collegiate level with all these older men swirling around. So what is your placement strategy from your high majors down to the end of the bench in the second team?

Cary Herer (24:31)
So it's, they're all different, but the minute you come here, we put together a plan and you you are what you are based on where you're being recruited. And then we kind of figure it out. know, summer is a huge, huge thing for these kids, whether it's with their AAU programs or with the summer showcases that we have.

And so we kind of put the plans together and we're constantly, you know, working with them, working with their parents. College coaches are, are constantly calling us, you know, at every level to figure, you know, even though they're recruiting the portal, they always keeping updated on, on these kids. So, you know, it's a personalized plan that, that we work with every kid that's within the program that has aspirations.

of playing in college.

Cory Heitz (25:30)
Yeah, and talk to me about timing now, because in the old days, offers are being thrown around during open gyms and kids would commit early and they were done. Now with waiting for the portal portal to settle down, lot of signings are happening after that. So talk me through like what advice you give stressed out parents of postgrads that are just kind of, you know, they got a lot in the line here and they're looking to you for guidance. Like, what do you say with this new time we got?

Cary Herer (25:54)
So again, every situation is different. you know, what we've been saying is if you like a school, you like a program, and that's where you want to go, don't wait. So like that's easy for the high major kids. So it's a trickle down effect. So you got the high majors, you got the mid majors looking at the high majors, the low majors looking at the

the mid-majors and then the D2s kind of waiting. So it's kind of a wait and see. So it's easier for the high major kids. It gets harder for the others. And, you know, we've just been saying, if you like something, don't wait. But for others, you have to be patient and wait and wait for your opportunity. So that's, it's different in every situation.

And we've seen every situation so far.

Cory Heitz (26:49)
Yeah, I know. And do you any advising on NIL, if a kid's looking at multiple options at the high major level or mid major?

Cary Herer (26:55)
So

it depends again. So yes, and there's a strategy with NIL that, you know, it's a business. And so our goal is to get a kid in the right situation. But then once they are also getting him and his family the most money possible. And so we work with the family.

to help them along and we've been able to get kids a lot more money than they were initially offered. But then also, you know, this world is changing and now you're dealing with agents as well. So in some cases when there's an agent involved, we kind of step back and let, you know, the agents deal with it. So each situation is different. Having international kids also

is different. Most of them do have agents. So, you know, we've been prepared to talk to, to deal in all different situations. And so we have experience in that, but, you're talking, when you're talking with NIL, you're really talking Power 5. And so beyond that, it's a lot less. And so, you know, not everything's about NIL. A lot of it is about getting, going to the right situation.

And that's all the way down to a D3 school, where putting a kid in a school that he's gonna be happy with, because hey, you're doing everything the same as a D1 school. You're putting the same work in, but you're paying for school. So there's a whole different set of circumstances there as well.

Cory Heitz (28:38)
Yeah, let's talk about class system, right? Does it matter what class system you play in in New England? Yeah, I'm gonna hear it.

Cary Herer (28:43)
I've been waiting for this one. Okay.

So there is absolutely a difference in classes. So, you know, when you're at a school like ours, okay, when college coaches are constantly coming through, okay, versus a different level where

Cory Heitz (28:50)
Done your homework, Harry.

Cary Herer (29:10)
They, you know, there may not be a division one kid on the roster or maybe a low major. You know, these coaches got so much to do with limited time that they're going to pick the spots that give them the most bang for their buck. And so they're coming to our school. Okay. So, you know, there's a choice between the classes and, know, if you're a lower class, you choose to be a lower class.

You can't say that, I'm a lower class, but I'm really a double A school. No, no, you're not a double A school. Okay. You are a, you made the, starts with the administration. Okay. You can't have a, you know, a good program without the, the, the, the head of school, the president of the school being supportive. And we, we unfortunately have, we fortunately have that. And so, you know, it doesn't, it doesn't just happen.

Okay. And so, you know, you first have to have the schedule. Okay. If you're a high level national program, you're playing a schedule that every single game is you could win or lose. I was scared to death about the schedule I put together this past year. I didn't know if I was going to win a game. Okay. We were fortunate enough to go 28 and seven. Okay. But my schedule was I.

I had league games, which were high level league games, okay, double A games. And then my 16 remaining games were above that class. And it was, okay, what can I do to give the kids the highest exposure, play the best teams possible, and then qualify for the national prep championship? And that was my only goal, okay? And every single game was against a team that could beat us.

Okay. In the low, in the lower classes, you may have two or three games a year that you can, you, you have that. And so we're playing against kids that, well, every kid on the court is going to play college and pretty much you could count five to 10 kids on the court will go D one different levels of D one. But, you know, so it's a competition.

A college coach comes, they can see or kind of look at how this kid will play against college level talent as well. absolutely matters. kids go to, well I'll ask you, why do kids go to prep school?

Cory Heitz (31:36)
Thank

Yeah, most of them want to bump up a level and ideally get a scholarship.

Cary Herer (31:56)
Okay.

So right. It's, it's, it's, they, they want a scholarship. Okay. They also want to get better. Right. Some, some do it for maturity reasons and they got to get stronger. Okay. But ultimately it's not, they don't aspire to win their league championship when they go to prep school. When, once they get there, that then, then that becomes a team goal, but really they're going to eventually.

Want to go to college for free. Okay. And, and that's what the bigger schools are doing. And you know, if, if it's, Hey, you, I want to go to a school that I'm going to, I'm going to score 30 points a game and I'm going to play, you know, depending on your level, you know, almost 40 minutes a game. If you play at the lower level, you're not playing college rules. So, you know, whatever, but that's what the big schools.

are doing and they're giving that opportunity to gain a scholarship and that's not even in the games, that's in workouts before the season even

Cary Herer (33:08)
Yeah, so I think coming to a school like ours gives kids that want the opportunity for a scholarship and to get better, to come to a place like Cats Academy or some of the other national programs.

Cory Heitz (33:23)
Absolutely. Thanks for sharing that. You got passionate about that and you were ready for it. What's the next question you want me to ask you, Kerry? See, you were ready for that one.

Cary Herer (33:31)
So, you know, I think when you come into exposure, there's all different levels of exposure. Okay. And so, you know, got the college coaches coming to the gym. Okay. You know, for practice. Okay. And if I go to a regular in-season game, college coaches are really not coming to like your one-off games unless they're recruiting somebody heavily.

Okay. They come to the showcases. Okay. So there's, you know, we're in every single showcase. Okay. We're in against, um, I tell, I tell the, the, the organizers of the showcase, match us up with the best possible team. Okay. We want to play the best in the country. Okay. Um, and so it comes down to scheduling, you know, scheduling is a huge thing. And so.

You know, the one thing I do want to talk about is the NEBL. And I don't know if you're, and if you're, you know, your listeners know what the NEBL is, but the NEBL is basically taking eight teams out of the eight, one of the eight best teams out in an app stack, you know, year to year, it would depend, but, and, and, and we compete in this, this showcase format.

Cory Heitz (34:32)
Yeah, go for it.

Cary Herer (34:53)
type of league. And what that affords us is it's on a weekend in Boston at a great facility, and New Balance and basically college coaches come and they see four high level games. They're able to evaluate there's high level players in the game and you know, and, and so it's a one-stop shop for these college coaches.

Also, it was unbelievable in its coverage. it was streaming. It's called Fast Network or basically Roku TV, Samsung TV, and it had almost two million hits, people watching. just, you know, I believe that we have to give our kids the most amount of exposure.

in order to help them in their recruitment, help them in their goals. And so the NEBL has been an unbelievable way of doing that. And the level of play has been great. so, you know, there's different types of ranking services and all that, but, you know, top five teams in the country were in the NEBL, not just locally, but...

one through five were in the NBA and any BL and that kind of says a lot of as far as the competition side. in college coaches notice that, you know, they know that they have to make a great decision on a kid and they could see, see that through the any BL. So we're, we're thrilled to be a part of the any BL and you know, we're not, you know, we try to win every game, but our ultimate goal.

is placing these kids. And so, yeah, it's tough when you have to play Putnam and Newhampton back to back Saturday, Sunday, right? But it's the best thing for these kids and it gets them ready. And so, you you don't see teams going undefeated in these type of leagues. so, know, Putnam, the...

Cory Heitz (36:42)
Yep.

Cary Herer (37:07)
team that won the national prep championship didn't even win the NEBL. And that's just a testament to how good that league is. And there's big plans for it going forward. can't disclose it here, but it's only going to get better.

Cory Heitz (37:21)
Yeah. And families and players got to think about this, Kerry, like college coaches have limited bandwidth, right? So that's why I always talk about the prep school world to where they can make their visits. Like if they come to Boston, they can see multiple schools to include yours in one trip, right? They're to go to AAU events to see multiple players through the course of a weekend. And they're going to do the NEBL because one, can come see it in person and see four games or sit in their office and see high levels. So it makes it easier for these coaches.

Right. And that's what you have to do today, especially with prepping prep school being fourth in the pecking order, know, transfers, Jukos, international prep school, then high school. Like you've got to find every advantage you can get. And to me, this is a great advantage.

Cary Herer (38:01)
Yeah, absolutely. So I would add going to an NEBL school as being a, you know, and not just my school, but any of the NEBLs is another advantage for a kid to gain that leg up. And every college coach, if they're not even there, is watching it streaming as well.

Cory Heitz (38:23)
Yeah, let me ask you an academic question. If I'm a post-grad coming to Katz for 10 months, what does that look like for me academically?

Cary Herer (38:30)
So,

you know, post grads will come to come to catch for different reasons, whether it's, know, they need to, you know, academically, they need some courses fulfilled. We have international kids that, you know, some classes don't translate from their school, so they need to catch up on that. So we do have relationships with local colleges. So some kids take actual college courses. Okay.

but you know, we, we, we kind of, it's all personalized based on what, what the student needs. So they still have to go, they have four classes, that they have to take per week. It just depends what they need. we'll determine what it is. So like Leo Curtis came last year from Iceland, he needed a couple of classes to make himself NCAA eligible. So he's gone through that and he's still.

Cory Heitz (38:57)
Great.

Cary Herer (39:23)
still here. He's still in the weight room every day. He's still working on everything. And so he's better now than he was when we finished up at the national prep championship. so that's kind of the, you know, we're in the development phase right now. You know, weight room, you know, working out. So, but the post grads, they're still part of the community and they have to

take classes, it just depends what they take.

Cory Heitz (39:52)
All right. I'm going ask you a question I ask every coach that comes in this podcast and I get a different answer each time. What does it take to be a guard at the D1 level?

Cary Herer (40:01)
So I may disagree with some of the people that have been on your podcast. So first and foremost in today's game, you have to be able to shoot. Okay. And if you can't shoot that limits you. Okay. So number one, you need to be able to shoot. Number two, you have to have some sort of superpower, you know, whether it's defensively. Now everyone needs to defend.

If you can't defend college coaches, they're not going to take you. But you know, it just depends, but you have to have something that's extra special to be there. The way the game is now, it's really hard for a small guard. It just is. At the higher you go up. So positional size, and I've heard that a lot, is big. and you have to be physically strong.

You watch these games in the NCAA tournament and some of these games are wars and they don't, they don't call a lot. Okay. And so that's the difference too, between, you know, the levels of basketball, you know, at the higher level of prep school basketball, you have college officials and they're reffing it like college games. And so you get ready because they're not calling a lot of these files that they call in regular public school basketball. And I always get frustrated when

Every once in a while we'll get a public school referee that just doesn't understand what's really going on. I mean, you've seen some of these sweet 16 and final eight games. The guys are just destroying each other and no files, but that's what the game is. So you need to be strong enough and physical enough to take the bumps. You need to be able to shoot. Everybody needs to defend and then.

Positional size now the smaller you are The the harder it's gonna be but then you just need to be I always tell my small guys Okay Hey, you weren't blessed with height. It's not your fault You need to play if the other guy on the other team wants to fight you you're doing your job Because that's how what it takes and some of these teams play so hard so guards You know unless you're a knockdown shooter

great shooter, could get away with some other things because everyone needs scoring. there, know, some of these you don't have to do as much, but being real physical, being able to shoot and really defending and you have to play hard and that's everybody.

Cory Heitz (42:34)
Yeah, that's a baseline now. All right, what do you see Kerry as the future of prep? Like what's prep school basketball look like in five years?

Cary Herer (42:41)
So, you know, there's a lot of speculation, but, you know, I think, you know, with everything that's going on, there's just going to be a larger gap between the high level, the high level programs. And then there's always going to be a place for the program, you know, with good players, you know, it's going to good academic schools. But I just think the other programs are going to...

just gonna get start getting the best kids. And it's just gonna be a larger gap. How long that takes, I'm not sure. But you're already starting to see it a little bit, you know, with with these leagues, whether it's, you know, EYBL scholastic, you know, you know, the prep, the prep, the higher level preps, you know, grind session has some great athletes there. But you're starting to see kids more and more

going that prep school route, think shows like this are helping, hopefully helping parents understand that there's not one, you know, everything is the same, because there isn't. And it's very, very different, you know, and it, you know, we're trying, realistically, what we're trying to do when we're not there is really bring a level that every Power Five school needs to come here.

and check out our kids. Now we're not there yet, but that's the goal. So you can't, you cannot not be at the Katz Academy gym if you're a power five school. And, that's the goal. and we have really good teams, you know, throughout New England and they're really good, but people don't understand that there's a difference between being a really good team and having high level talent like

Ultimately, we want to say that we have pros that came through Katz Academy. Okay. And that's ultimately the goal. And we're doing everything we can. We treat it like a college program. You know, we, we do things like college. and we, we want to create pros. Now we have a lot of international kids, so that could mean a kid playing in the Euro league, you know, kid playing in the NBA, you know, we, you know, and we have some kids.

And I know you saw it, you know, some kids walking in the gym where you just look at them and go, who is this? And, I know you laugh and you know what I'm talking about, but like, so that's what we're trying to do. so like, like I said earlier, we each, we try to win every game. Okay. But you know, we're ultimately trying to just help these kids get to be the best they can be.

Cory Heitz (45:09)
I do.

Cary Herer (45:25)
I mean, it's a little different than other places.

Cory Heitz (45:28)
Yeah, that's good. You want to be separate. You don't want to be cookie cutter like other places and that's what makes you special and unique. So, I love it. Okay, we're gonna finish up with some quick hitters here. Alright? Who's the best player you ever guarded?

Cary Herer (45:40)
So guarded. So I played at UMass, Atlantic 10 at the time. Well, they're still in Atlantic 10. So at the time, Temple was the team. John Chaney. And he had this guy called Mark Makin. And he was tough. he was good. I heard one of your other guests. So we made the NIT that year. And I had to cover Walt Williams.

6 foot 9 point guard me covering him. So those would be the two but I went against mark making a couple times so he'd probably be the Toughest player. I think he had he was in the NBA maybe a short time, but you know, he was tough

Cory Heitz (46:19)
Yeah. You know, I had to look this up. I looked up your years at UMass because you were in the A-10 at the same time West Virginia was. And you met my dad a couple of times. He played at West Virginia. And I was a ball boy at the A-10 tournaments in Morgantown. And it turns out it was like two years before you got there. So there was a chance if I was there in 88, I could have been wiping up your sweat off the floor and wouldn't even have known it.

Cary Herer (46:40)
Yeah, well, it... Yeah,

yeah, yeah. So it's funny, because you talked to Craig Carter, so we covered each other my senior year. But I have the same experience with, and I think I mentioned this to you before, at West Virginia with the rifle going off behind our ears and making us jump. you know, the same experience there. That was a tough place to play. But...

Cory Heitz (46:51)
cool.

Cary Herer (47:06)
My senior year, got them in the semi-finals at the Polestra.

Cory Heitz (47:11)
Okay, nice. All right, in the prep school world, who's the best player you've coached against?

Cary Herer (47:15)
So, I mean, I think I got everybody on this one. I got, there's no one that's going to top this. So it's all, it's best player and best team. So last year I was the sacrificial lamb up in Maine to go against Mount Verde. so could, could be the greatest team ever put together in high school basketball.

You know, there's projecting them to have five NBA first round draft picks. And so we, I've gone against Cooper flag a couple of times through EYBL and Mount Verde, but you know, they, they cleaned our clock pretty good. And, uh, but I thought it was important to play in that game just, just for the, just for the school, you know, there was no chance we had a chance to win in that game. Cooper flags.

Cory Heitz (48:05)
Yeah.

Cary Herer (48:11)
homecoming we played where the Celtics G League team played so it was a full house great experience until the game started and then then then it was tough but so I don't know if you're gonna find a guess that has gonna play against a better team and maybe better player we'll see

Cory Heitz (48:33)
Wow, that's pretty cool. All right, what's your favorite movie of all time?

Cary Herer (48:38)
So, you know, obviously Hoosier's big movie, but I'm going to go with a movie that most of your guests have never even heard of. called The Flamingo Kid. Look that one up.

Cory Heitz (48:50)
Matt Dillon. That is a first for the show. good one. All right. There are. And last one. What are your hobbies when you're not doing all the basketball stuff?

Cary Herer (48:52)
Yeah, I don't know his last name, but yeah.

Yeah, yeah, it's good one.

Yes. I hopefully there's a lot of firsts.

So unfortunately, I'm always doing the basketball stuff because it it rolls from cats right into EYBL. And so I have the opportunity, you know, to see the highest level amateur basketball there is in the summers. And I will, I will say this about EYBL. So I thought I knew everything about

Grassroots basketball and I thought I know about EYBL and I know the level and all this and when I first went to EYBL I think it was three years ago. I realized I didn't know anything and the level that those guys are everywhere from from the coaching the scouting the exposure and then just the sheer athletes is unbelievable like

There's not, there's a future of like the NBA is in these, in the, on these courts. And it's not necessarily the best teams, but they're really good teams, but the sheer talent is unbelievable. And so it made me be a better coach, you know, coaching in, in that, you know, I coached, I coached when I was the 15U coach, I had AJ.

Dibnasta on that team coaching against Cooper flag. Okay. And it was a 15 new game and we had 30 NBA skills at the game. So, you know, I don't, I don't know of any 15 new game that would have ever seen that before. So, you know, hobbies wise, I really, you know, spending time with my family and then basketball.

Cory Heitz (50:59)
All right, is there anything we didn't touch on that you want to mention before we go?

Cary Herer (51:02)
No, just, you know, I think Katz Academy is an unbelievable place to develop high level talent and to really challenge yourself. And you you need to be a certain type of kid, certain type of family to want to come here. And it's hard and it's not easy. And if you want something easy, it's not the place for you. But if you want a challenge and if you want to, you know,

get to your maximum potential. We would love to kind of talk to you and figure out a way to come here because it's a special place and it's only, we're really building it and we have a lot of announcements coming in the future that are gonna blow people away.

Cory Heitz (51:47)
Awesome, and where can people find you if they want to reach out?

Cary Herer (51:50)
So I'm on all social media under my name. It's C-A-R-Y-H-E-R-E-R on Instagram, on Twitter. You could look us up on the Cats Academy Boston website. I'm on there as well with my email. And we love to speak to as many people possible. And there's a lot of people that want to understand

you know, kind of the prep school world. And sometimes people just, you know, ask me questions and I'm always willing to help them out even if Kat's Academy is not the place for them.

Cory Heitz (52:24)
Yeah, that's so good you do that because a lot of families just have no clue. Like we just talked about this whole conversation about the differences in certain schools. And if you're coming at this world, not knowing much, you're going to, it's a big learning curve. So thank you for doing that for the families. So, but Carrie, Hey, this is a great podcast. Glad we finally got you on. I'm glad you got to share about your background about KatzKat. mean, some of your philosophies. Um, if you guys enjoyed this podcast, please be sure to subscribe on all the major podcasting platforms.

Be sure to go to prepathletics.com, sign up for the newsletter. And just like Kerry said, if you got any questions for me about the prep school world or want me to help you find the right fit, reach out to me. I get back to everyone. And we just want to help elevate the prep school game and help as many kids as possible. So Kerry, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. All right, we'll see you guys next time. Take care.

Cary Herer (53:08)
Thank you.