PREP Athletics Basketball Podcast
PREP Athletics Basketball Podcast
Alex Gallagher: Why D1-or-Bust Hurts Players and Families
In this episode, Cory welcomes Alex Gallagher, head girls basketball coach and longtime faculty member at Nobles and Greenough School, a top-tier prep school in Boston. With 25 years of coaching and mentoring under his belt, Coach Gallagher shares real-world insights for parents, players, and coaches navigating the prep school basketball journey.
You’ll hear his direct take on how youth sports culture has shifted, why love and accountability are cornerstones of his program, and what families need to prioritize when selecting a prep school. He also reveals the hard truths about college placement—including the “D1 or bust” mindset—and explains why culture trumps hype in building lasting success.
Plus, you’ll learn about Shooting Touch, an inspiring nonprofit transforming lives through basketball in both Rwanda and Boston.
This is a must-listen for anyone serious about basketball development, education, and making the right long-term choices.
🎧 Subscribe and hear what really matters in the prep-to-college basketball pipeline.
💡 KEY TOPICS
📌 Coaching with purpose and building a culture of love, care, and service
📌 How prep schools like Nobles handle D1-or-bust mentalities
📌 The impact of the transfer portal and NIL on high school recruitment
📌 Why fit and happiness matter more than basketball hype
📌 A closer look at the 5-day boarding model at Nobles
📌 How Shooting Touch transforms lives through global basketball outreach
🏀 ABOUT COACH ALEX GALLAGHER
Alex Gallagher is the head girls basketball coach at Nobles and Greenough School in Boston, where he’s served for over 25 years as a teacher, coach, and mentor. Known for his integrity, culture-driven leadership, and success on and off the court, Gallagher has developed multiple Gatorade Players of the Year and helped countless athletes find the right collegiate fit. He also serves as a board member for Shooting Touch, a global nonprofit using basketball to impact lives in Rwanda and Boston.
🔗 CONNECT WITH ALEX GALLAGHER
X | https://x.com/NoblesVGBball
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/noblesgvb
X | https://x.com/ShootingTouch
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/noblesrwanda_24/
🔗 Connect with Cory:
Website | https://www.prepathletics.com
Twitter | https://twitter.com/PREP_Athletics
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/prep.athletics/
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/PrepAthletics
Email | coryheitz@gmail.com
Phone | 859-317-1166
🔖 Subscribe to the PREP Athletics Podcast:
iTunes | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/prep-athletics-podcast/id1546265809?uo=4
Spotify | https://open.spotify.com/show/6CAKbXFiIOhoHinzsReYbJ
Amazon | https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3c37179d-3371-47f9-9d97-fd569e8802a7/prep-athletics-basketball-podcast #AmazonMusic
Cory Heitz (00:00)
Welcome to this week's episode of the prep athletics podcast. I'm proud to have joining us coach Alex Gallagher of Nobles and Grenough And that is a five day boarding school in Boston. So they've got a lot of day kids that go there. Got about 50 kids that board five to six nights a week. He gets into that and explains that detail, which I didn't know much about. So I learned something today. ⁓ we talk about culture. We talk about his background and he went to Nobles as a high school player and student. And now he's been there.
⁓ coming up on 25 years and had a lot of success. he's got players this year that he got Massachusetts Gatorade player of the year on his team. ⁓ and he's just doing a really, really good job. Talks a lot about culture. ⁓ what kids have to do at his school, as far as other sports go and specialization. ⁓ he talks about mentoring and creating a culture and really got into that. And then we talk about placement in this day and age to include transfers, and him advising former players as well. So.
Really love this conversation. Last thing we touched on was shooting touch, which is an organization I've been working with out of Rwanda. he's on the board, his
the head of the board and he's been to Rwanda nine times going back again in June. And, we talk about the great benefits that the shooting touch program is doing both in Rwanda and in Boston. And that's where I was a couple of weeks ago at their gala where they honored NBA player Al Horford and just a lot of good stuff going on there. So really good, ⁓ information is podcast.
Only our second girls coach ever. We're going to change that and get more on, but, really enjoyed our conversation and I hope you do too. So enjoy the podcast with coach Alex Gallagher of Nobles and Grenough
Cory Heitz (02:02)
Alex, welcome to the podcast.
Alex Gallagher (02:03)
Thanks, Cory Really appreciate you having me on.
Cory Heitz (02:06)
Yeah, it's good. We met in person a few weeks ago at an event in Boston and was just really wanting to get you on and talk about yourself and your program. But first of all, tell me where you grew up and how'd you get into basketball?
Alex Gallagher (02:18)
Yeah, so ⁓ I grew up playing basketball. I'm the oldest of six kids, six kids in nine years. Our house was constant chaos and I had this tremendous mom who passed away a long time ago and a really fantastic ⁓ dad, Roman Catholic dad, Jewish mom, wild house, lots of debate, lots of, lots of arguing, but, ⁓ lots and lots of love. ⁓ And so I was raised in a really special family, very close to my siblings.
We grew up about 15 minutes outside of Boston. I was really lucky of the six of us. My sister who's number two in line and I both got the opportunity to go to Nobles, which is where I currently work. I had a really good high school experience there. Not a great one, but a good one. Nobles at the time was like a lot of other prep schools. It was ⁓ really waspy, not a lot of diversity, but good academics and a lot of great adults who really cared about the kids that they worked with.
⁓ when I left Nobles, initially went to Lafayette college in Pennsylvania and was forced to take some time off after, ⁓ my first semester there. Cause my, my dad had lost his job and my mom got sick for the first time. And so I ended up out of school for about four years before I went back to college. And in that window, I was working really hard to help, ⁓ help my dad and help my family. But about halfway through my high school basketball coach, a guy named Doug guy, he was a big mentor for me growing up.
reached out to me and said, you know, we need a, we need a coach for our summer league team. Do you have any interest? I had never really thought about coaching before. And, you know, Cory , there's a, I think about this all the time now at the ripe old age of 53 years old, but I remember one of my favorite speeches I've ever seen was the famous speech that Steve Jobs gave at a Stanford graduation. And he talked about how the beauty of getting older is that you can look back and connect the dots of your life. And
know, Doug Guy asking me if I wanted to step in and volunteer to help coach this summer league basketball team at the time felt like a really insignificant dot. But professionally for me, career wise, passion wise, in terms of seeking out my why in life, which I know is really cliche, but I really believe in that moment is a massive dot because I had not thought about myself as a coach. I had never really thought about myself as a leader in that way.
And about five minutes into coaching this summer league basketball game, I was like, my God, this feels really different. ⁓ I loved coaching those kids. Doug, in my last couple of years before I went back to college, gave me the opportunity to first be his assistant. And then I had this awesome experience when I was 21 years old. My old head of school, Doug Guy, left to go be an assistant coach at Boston University. ⁓
And he asked me if I would lead the team. And so was 21 years old leading this high school basketball team and felt so lucky to have the opportunity and poured my heart and soul into it. At the end of that season, an opportunity at Weston High School, which is where my family grew up, opened up both for the basketball job, boys basketball and the baseball job, both of which I had coached at this point. I seized the opportunity to apply for it. I thought I had no shot.
This amazing athletic director named Pete Foley, who was a big mentor of mine at Weston for some inexplicable reason, gave me both jobs. And again, it sort of changed my life. I inherited this unbelievable basketball roster that in my second year with them, we made it to the Eastern mass finals, lost in double overtime following year we go and we face off against this three time defending champ, Pioneer Valley where a guy named Adam
Harrington went who now is big in the NBA training world and was and is one of the unrivaled coaches on the three on three side. We played him for the state championship in 1998 and beat them and it was just you know I just felt like everything in my life was like how is this coming to be and I just felt so after a period of my life where I didn't feel very lucky because of being a little bit knocked off the rails.
All of a sudden I felt like, cow, I was really leading me to my path, not knocking me off of my path. So I was at Weston for four years, went to Stonehill College where I went back to college after a long break. I got the opportunity to work with a guy named Dave DeShantis there, worked with him for two years. And then Dave moved on. And in one of those great stories, Cory , where sometimes the best things that ever happened to you are the jobs that you don't get.
I applied for the Stonehill College men's basketball job. was one of the finalists. I didn't get it at the time. I was devastated. ⁓ but within about three months of not getting it through real happens, chance, I ended up back at Nobles as a history teacher, a class Dean, coaching some basketball, coaching some baseball, running the boarding program. ⁓ and after my first year at Nobles, which felt like home to me, the moment I came back, ⁓ the girls basketball job opened.
Our boys basketball coach, awesome guy named Mike Herring, who what at the time wasn't going anyplace. I, I will acknowledge I'm a much better head coach than I am an assistant coach. And you probably have met a bunch of folks over the years who recognize that about themselves. And I learned a lot working with Mike, but wanted to run my own program. ⁓ and so 24 years ago, took over the girls basketball program. ⁓ it was a program that had been a storied program through the eighties into the mid to late nineties.
It had struggled in the late nineties into the early two thousands. I felt really honored and humbled to get the chance to lead it. and you know, I'm somebody Cory , who I've been so lucky to serve as an athletic director, a classroom teacher, ⁓ all of those different things, but there's no doubt that at my core, the thing that matters to me, Moch is being coach. ⁓ and that is the defining part of my work. It is the thing that I love more than anything. ⁓
It drives me every day. When our basketball season ends, we play a long 32 game schedule. ⁓ It's arduous in the course of four months. And when the season ends every year, I'll have colleagues who say, man, how much you love having your afternoons and evenings back. And aside from the fact that I get more time with my family, which I do appreciate, ⁓ the best months of the year are the months where I'm coaching basketball and being with the kids that I get to coach and work with.
And when basketball season ends, those hours just get filled with stuff I don't want to do as much as I like to coach. you know, so that's my tale. you know, as I'm at Nobles now, this is my 25th year at Nobles. You know, I joke with people a lot that as I look back over the 25 years, it's just unbelievable how much stuff has happened in my life in those 25 years, all on this campus and working at this place. I remember my my mother
Way back in the day, insisted that I apply to Nobles. I didn't really want to. When I asked her years later why she made me apply and why she pushed me to go, she said, I just have a feeling there are people there that are going to help take care of you for the rest of your life. And that is exactly what Nobles has been to me. And now I'm at that age with a lot of people who continue to take great care of me, but I'm trying to give it back to as many young teachers, faculty, staff, kids.
as I possibly can to honor the people that gave it to me. So I work at a school that's highly relational. ⁓ The teacher coach, multifaceted educator model, we're holding onto it for dear life because it's a dying breed, but we really believe in it. ⁓ And I'm somebody who my day to day every year is every day is working with student government, being in the history classroom, being a coach, taking kids to Rwanda, ⁓ advising kids, working with kids on campus. ⁓
Cory Heitz (09:59)
Thank
Alex Gallagher (10:24)
That's the way, that's the cloth I'm cut from. And it's why at 53 and 25 years in, I'm not even close to being done because I still jump out of bed every day. aside from having an unbelievable wife and four tremendous kids that are a huge part of my life, the 17 nieces and nephews that I have who are a huge part of my life, the 40 person family dinner we have on a weekly basis at my house on campus.
Yeah, I'm a very, very blessed guy and lucky to work at a special place.
Cory Heitz (11:00)
thanks for sharing all that. There's a lot I I could delve into on that. But one thing that made me think here for a second, you've been there that long in Nobles. How have kids changed between when you started and now in 2025?
Alex Gallagher (11:01)
Yeah, I
So Cory, I'll tell you this story, which I know, having gotten to know you a little bit, you really appreciate is that Nobles has a sabbatical program. And so for me, in year like 16 or 17, I had these back-to-back years where I got to take the spring seasons off from work. And I did this project where I went around and I interviewed about 75 business leaders, ⁓ well-known coaches, ⁓ some retired, some active. And it was about building culture.
creating a legacy and using core principles to accomplish both were sort of the focus. And I did these two hour interviews with everybody and those 150 hours of interviews sort of became a presentation that I have done with a lot of schools, a lot of businesses, things like that. And so on the sports side, here's to me the biggest way that I can talk about it as an athletic director who is lucky enough to work with 120 amazing coaches at Nobles across our 28 programs.
When I first got into coaching, and Cory, it might have been the same for you, because I think we're maybe in the same generation, but it may have been the same for you. When I first got into coaching, when a kid got to me at the varsity level in high school, there were a certain number of lessons, life lessons, team lessons, that you sort of felt some great certainty that they had been taught. They had been taught something about sportsmanship, about humility, about togetherness, about putting others before yourself, all of that.
What I say to our coaches nowadays is that when we get kids at Nobles or get kids at the high school level, honestly, and not to be grim or to be ⁓ over the top, you actually have to now assume the exact opposite is true. ⁓ Most of our, most of the kids we work with here, most of the kids at schools that we compete with, everything for them ⁓ as they've grown up has been about their own path. And
That is a huge difference from when I first got into coaching and certainly from the time when I was a kid. And I understand it. Like I get that the stakes are high. I joke all the time, Cory, that when I went to Nobles in the late 80s, the only crazy parents were hockey parents. And they were crazy because, and I'm putting that in quotes, and I don't mean to use it insensitively, but the reason that they were that way is because they had spent all of this time, all of this energy, all of these resources.
on their kid's career and all of a sudden when the varsity high school coach is saying to the family, it looks like this isn't going to pay off in the way that you wanted it to either with time on a varsity team or an opportunity at the college level. I'll say this as a parent, the ability to stay rational is really hard. Now across 28 programs that we have at Nobles and phenomenal programs with great coaches and leaders, hockey parents are easy.
Cory Heitz (14:01)
you
Alex Gallagher (14:04)
We've got other parents in so many other sports who have now across the board, time, energy, resources, add to that the massive influx of applications to elite colleges and universities, how unbelievably hard it is to get into these places. And a challenge at schools like Nobles and others like ours is that we do have a lot of families for whom there's only a certain set of colleges that are acceptable outcomes.
Cory Heitz (14:05)
you
Alex Gallagher (14:32)
And when that's your mindset and there are so few spots in those sports, it presents some real challenges. And so I would say if you ask me what has shifted the most, that is definitely the piece that shifted the most is that I would say for our coaches now, we use the language that I think when I first got into coaching, was about getting every DVD I could about Rick or cassette tape about Rick Pitino teaching about the 1211 or the 221 press, black and white.
What are the drills we're going to use to do it? How are we going to implement it on a day-to-day basis? Different things like that. I think now for our coaches, 90 % of their job is about culture building and 10 % of their jobs are about the X and O's. And I think ⁓ we have prided ourselves on Nobles that one of the reasons that I think we've been so successful is because the love is truly there in our program. We talk about love a lot. We talk about that commitment a lot.
We don't always like each other, but we always love each other. And that sisterhood, that connection really matters. I loved, and I'm gonna butcher the language, but Paige Becker on the Today Show after they won the national championship said essentially that the love they had for each other drove them to that championship. And she said that was the best compliment that she could have gotten in the wake of that title. And so I think that right now,
I've got great coaches who help a lot with the X and O's. I still do the best I can to keep up on the X and O's so I can teach it well and implement it well along with my assistant coaching staff. But I spend so much time on our Tuesday, Friday culture sessions, planning backwards from the end of the season about what we're trying to accomplish as a team. The lesson planning that goes into that and the backwards planning that it requires, I think is the most important thing that most of our coaches do now.
And that's because of the shift in what our kids are experiencing outside of this place and outside of us in the youth sports world and the for-profit sports world. I'm not decrying it. There are a lot of great outcomes for a lot of families and a lot of kids, a lot of great opportunities. ⁓ But I have a young son who's an AAU basketball player, my youngest, and I go to these tournaments and I watch, I watch parents behave in a way and I watch kids behave in a way.
that if I'm being honest makes me sad and really makes me wish I could coach them because the lessons that are there from sports are so important and we've got too many areas where the right lessons aren't being taught. That's my humble opinion. I'm proud of how we hold our coaches and our kids accountable here at Nobles. There is a standard that we set about the way we carry ourselves and the way we represent the school.
We come up short, we have hard conversations about it because it's important. But this is a place where that standard for us really matters and we make it very clear and we do the best we can to hold our kids and our parents to that standard.
Cory Heitz (17:34)
Yeah. part of that is, do you set the expectations before a kid even enrolls there? Like, you having these conversations with the families to make sure both you and them are on the same page as far as culture, expectations, results?
Alex Gallagher (17:49)
Yeah, mean, Cory , this won't surprise you. And you you hear lots of college coaches say it in press conferences and high school coaches say it too. I interview the family as much as I'm interviewing a kid when I'm thinking about the folks that I want to have in our program. The family really matters. And if it's a family that does not line up, you know, my program is an example. The three defining principles are love, serve, care. Right. And we say to our kids and our families all the time.
If you love yourself and love those around you, care for yourself, care for those around you, serve yourself and serve those around you, we're gonna be a championship level program. And I can pretty quickly with all the years of experience I have now sit down with a family and know pretty quickly that they might not line up with those principles. And if they don't, I've got to ask some pretty hard questions of that family. I'm really lucky that I'm somewhat insulated now from tough stuff with families in our program because
We've been so lucky to be established and successful and have a good track record of what we produce for kids at the next level. But I watch it with a lot of our coaches who I support in a big way, side by side with them, shoulder by shoulder, where one family that's not in line with the things that you're trying to accomplish in this day and age can be really disruptive if not dealt with quickly. I'm a big Brene Brown, clear as kind, unclear as unkind person.
try to go at issues early and often to do everything I can to make our principles clear and our standard clear. ⁓ And I think for the most part, people are respectful and responsive when you do it in that way. ⁓ It's when you let something go and creep and get bigger and bigger, and then all of a sudden it's way down the road and trying to rein it back in is really hard. I watch a lot of my colleagues in the athletic director world really struggle with families that really go rogue.
And we do the best we can here to keep it from happening. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen. But we try and set those standards very early and very often. And I also think it's one of the reasons, Cory , we here believe so much in the teacher coach model because most of our coaches are math teachers and history teachers and bio teachers and chem teachers. you know, they believe in their educators first. They're not coaches first. And I think having that model really leads itself to the right lessons being taught.
But as you can imagine in professionalization and specialization in coaching, ⁓ know, that person can still lead our program. But I'll say this from, I need to have a basketball skill specialist working by my side because ⁓ parents need to see that, you know, and we've had to do that in a lot of our programs, but the leadership is still intact with the educator coach sort of leading the way.
Cory Heitz (20:25)
Yeah.
God, love it. Now, if I'm a kid in the Boston area, female basketball player, and I'm looking at the amazing private and prep schools that are in the area, give me a pitch on Nobles both as a school and then your girls basketball program. Why should I pick them?
Alex Gallagher (20:51)
Yeah. So Cory , what I would say is, I am, and I say this all the time. I am the most humble coach in the world. I know so many great basketball coaches who have not been blessed to coach the talent that I've been able to coach. And when I, we walk into our gym upstairs and we're so lucky to have a whole bunch of Gatorade Player of the Year winners.
So many coaches never get to coach a single kid who's even in the running to be a Gatorade Player of the Year. I have been so lucky over my 24 years to just coach unbelievable talent that bought into the culture that we were trying to build. And I'm so grateful to them for the opportunities that I've had. And so what I'm about to say to you is a brag about our school and our program, but that is a thousand percent because of the kids and the families that we have in our program.
What I say all the time to a lot of folks who look at our school and it's not our program is not for everybody. This is not if you are determined to score 30 points a game, Nobles is not the right program. We play 10 kids. If not more, we've got lots of great athletes. We want lots of bodies on the floor. When you bust your butt in practice, we're to reward you with playing time. If you need to be someplace you're going to play 30 minutes a game and get 80 % of the shots. We're just we're not those folks and we've had kids like that who have looked at our school.
and it just hasn't been the right place for them. But what we say all the time that we use as our selling point is that obviously going to an independent school is a significant investment for your family, both in terms of time and money and a lot of situations. ⁓ And what we're really proud of here is that we believe there are a lot of great academic programs out there that have pretty good basketball programs. There are some tremendous basketball programs that have pretty good academic programs.
What we pride ourselves on at Nobles in the basketball program is that we're the only school in the region that's a top 20 academic institution in the country and a top 50 high school basketball program in the country. And so if you're a really serious scholar athlete who wants to come to Nobles to be challenged in the classroom, to be challenged experientially with incredible opportunities outside the classroom, and to be part of a championship basketball culture and program every year.
and you're looking to leverage all of that into the best academic outcome you can possibly get at the college level, we are really proud to say that we think we're the best option for that type of kid. ⁓ So you've got to be a really strong student to get into Nobles. We do not stretch the boundaries for really good basketball players. We need to find kids who can do the work and who are willing to do the work and work hard. We look for kids who are looking to be mentored, looking to connect with adults, not just
in the basketball program, but throughout the school. And looking for kids who want to have a richness of experience. I we've got, I'll just use the three seniors who are graduating this year. We've got some unbelievable kids, Christina Pham, who's been with us since she was in seventh grade. You know, she's been a leader of affinity group. She's outstanding in the classroom. She is a role model in the city of Boston, where she comes from. She traveled to Rwanda with me. She's up on stage in assembly all the time.
Like those are the types of full, well-rounded people that we want. You saw us, think Cory, at the event last week talk about Christina. She's incredible. Jasmine Cooper and Ashley Dingus, two kids who were global scholastic high school players, decided they wanted more out of themselves. They could have just dominated at the public school level for their junior and senior year, but came to us, reclassed, won championships, became better players, leaders within the school.
⁓ you know, Excel trips that we run domestically and internationally, they took advantage of the full program. Didn't just come here to be a basketball player. ⁓ and we want kids here to be part of the full program and to have the full experience. And so when there are kids looking into making this investment and making this choice, if you want to be a serious student, if you want to be a serious athlete, and if you want to make the very, very most of a huge life decision in the independent school world.
We think we're a great outcome for folks. And that's sort of the sales pitch we use on a regular basis.
Cory Heitz (25:02)
Yeah, thanks for sharing that. That's big time. That's big time. ⁓ Walk me through this. I was kind of learning more about this the other weekend and I don't think a lot of our listeners know how it works, but you've got five day boarding there. Explain how that works and kind of who that's for and if I'm coming from out of state or out of the region, what happens on the weekends?
Alex Gallagher (25:15)
Yep.
Yeah. So I'll say this to any boarding faculty or staff who are watching this podcast, they will feel very envious of what five day boarding looks like, which is that essentially we call it five day boarding, but most of our kids stay for six nights. The only night they can't stay is Saturday night. So they can come Sunday night to avoid traffic on Monday morning. They can stay through Saturday afternoon if they have sports or they have practice or a workout on Saturday morning.
And we maximize that time for them in those situations. It's a small community at Nobles. It's only about 50 kids. We do have some kids who are from out of state. Oftentimes they're from close enough that on that weekend, the trip by the parents is not that big of a deal to be able to make. We have had kids who come from further away that end up with a host family on the weekends. And we have some of those situations, you know, really tough, tougher for international students in the five day boarding program.
But I would say throughout New England, we've certainly had, ⁓ we've had people from as far down south as Atlanta. We have had a kid who was from London, from early in my tenure here, who actually lived with my family on the weekends. ⁓ So we get some of that, but the five day boarding is about 10 % of our upper school. And during the academic day, because it's only 10%, there's no schism between boarding and day that you get at some of these schools. The 10 % just splinter into the school community.
And then in the afternoon, they come back together to be part of this really special family that exists on campus. And it does two things for us. Number one, Nobles for a long time has been described as a day school with a boarding heart because the place feels like a boarding community. We have 50 kids who live on campus, 26 faculty members who live on campus with families and so on. ⁓ But then also for the kids who do live on campus, almost across the board,
they will tell you that the most special part of their time here was boarding. And it's because they are with that small family that gets really close, really cares about each other, and lifts each other up on a day-to-day basis throughout their experience at Noble. So that's what our five-day boarding piece looks like.
Cory Heitz (27:32)
Love it. Thanks for sharing that. Now also, you you guys are such a big time girls basketball program there. Do your athletes have to play multiple sports or can they specialize throughout the school year?
Alex Gallagher (27:43)
So there's definitely specialization throughout the school year, but what we do is we do have a co-curricular program. So in the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth grade, you have to do three seasons of afternoon program. Two of those seasons need to be physical. One can be non-physical. Most everything that we offer at Nobles, it falls into the physical realm. We've had a lot of kids in the basketball program who have been volleyball players, soccer players, lacrosse players.
softball players, really successful in those sports, really some great cross country runners. But we want kids to have as many different experiences as they can. That said, we do offer accommodations that allow kids, let's say in the spring of their freshman and sophomore year who are serious basketball players, you can take a one day exemption every week ⁓ from our program. So if it's on a night that you have a you basketball practice, you can go home right at the end of the school day.
get your work done, get some food in your stomach, head off to practice and come home without much else to do. We certainly accommodate when we can with weekend tournaments the kids have to get to during live period stuff. We've got a big one coming up this weekend where some kids need those accommodations. What we understand is, know, Nobles, I will say in most schools are this way, we bemoan specialization, ⁓ but also our teams that are really competitive also want specialists. ⁓ You know, and so it's
It's doing the best you can to support kids in the reality of the culture right now, which is focused on being a specialist. And we do what we can to support them with a bend, but not break mentality. want to stick to our guns in terms of what we believe in principles wise and curriculum wise. But we also understand that we've got to do what we can to really support kids through it. And I would say at our school, one of the biggest things we've done in the last few years is that our daily schedule changed where it used to be that you would almost have every academic class every day of the week.
We moved to this model where your classes now meet four out of every seven days in a rotating schedule. And ⁓ it really released the pressure valve. The work is just as rigorous, but it's not as overwhelming. ⁓ And it gives kids the opportunity to stay on top of their stuff without missing a day and feeling like they're drowning underneath a really huge workload. Because normally you only have half your classes every day and it allows you to keep up a little bit easier.
Cory Heitz (30:00)
Yeah. All right. Thanks for sharing all that. Now with this new environment, as far as placement goes in college, with the transfer portal, with the game getting older, what's your college placement strategy for your players?
Alex Gallagher (30:12)
Yeah. So first, in terms of college placement strategy, I am so lucky and Cory , you probably work with a lot of independent schools who are like this. About 30 to 30 to 35 percent of every senior class at Nobles goes on to play college sports. And so our college counseling office is just phenomenal. I mean, their level of expertise working with the recruiting process for student athletes is just second to none in my mind because of how many of our kids end up going on to play college sports.
And they do a really fantastic job of digging in on the big picture questions that college is not a four year decision. It's a 40 year decision, but all of that's changing sort of right, right under our feet. ⁓ And, and I will say, I don't know, I don't want to speak for you, Cory . I am having more and more moments because of the changing landscape of NCAA sports where I'm
feeling really old because when I'm reading things and having conversations with coaches that I just cannot believe were actually happening. There's a lot that's great about it. ⁓ think compensating kids is long overdue given how much money schools were making off of them. But this has been like zero to a hundred in a flash and everything is changing underneath our feet. It feels like almost every day. So
It's a backwards way of saying our college office continues to do a great job of working with kids to find the right fit for them, not just the schools that want you, but of the schools that want you. What is the right fit and placement for you in those places? ⁓ And that's what I want. I tell our kids all the time. I mean, if they play college basketball, great. I am not driven by the college list of where our players have gone. That does not drive me.
All I want, and this is for the rest of their lives, all I want is to be a factor in their life that helps them to be as happy as possible. And so, you know, I find myself having a lot of hard conversations with kids about college placement. I'll give you the one that happens the most often. ⁓ I will say that one of the things I have the hardest times with are the kids who are just hell bent on division one or bust. And I say that because
You know, there are kids, the kids who are borderline D1, D3, which is mostly where Nobles kids look. There are some kids who look at the D2 level, but mostly it's D1 or D3. ⁓ you know, and they look at it and the schools at the D1 level that because they're borderline are interested in the programs that might not be that strong. ⁓ and so you're going, you know, I work with Nobles kids who are lucky enough to win 28 to 32 games a year to be playing for championships every season.
And you see kids make a decision because they're so determined to be a division one player that they end up someplace where they're going to go five and 25 every year or 10 and 20 every year, not be playing for championships, not be playing for those types of opportunities. And I look at some of the D three places where they could go. They could be an all conference player as a freshman. could compete for league and national championships on a, on a yearly basis, get an incredible education and have a little sliver of time to have a life outside of basketball.
And I think those are the conversations that I try really hard with our players as they're navigating that process to ask, which is, I'm going to ask the hard questions to make sure that you feel good about your answers. You know, I'm going to do everything I can to press on those pressure points and make sure that kids are seeing themselves and seeing the place that they're looking at as clearly and transparently as possible.
⁓ and I've got kids, we have one right now who ended up at a program that is still building and trying to rebuild a culture there, but she absolutely loves the school. ⁓ you know, it is not jumping into the transfer portal like so many other kids on an annual basis and is just having a phenomenal academic experience and really likes the team she's on and believes they're moving in the right direction to an outsider. could look like a really long road ahead, but to her, she found the right fit and she found the place that she wants to be.
and that's what matters, right? And that's not for everybody. But for those kids who find the right fit in the right place, it definitely is. And so that's what I care about is where can they be happy? If they're gonna play, I really care about them playing for somebody who's gonna take good care of them. And it's because I love them a lot and I want them to be happy and healthy and safe. And so there have been some situations where it doesn't end up playing out that way and...
I'm old enough now to have some hard conversations with coaches because I really do. I really, I really believe that I'm going to be in the players lives for the rest of their lives. and I'm willing to advocate for them because to me, their family wants they leave here. ⁓ but on the front end, it's let's find where you'll be happy. I do still believe in the broken leg rule. You know, if you have an injury that really ends your career, are you at a school that you're going to be happy at for the rest of your time there? And.
And I think asking kids to think that through, even though sometimes it feels impossible to imagine that, I think is really important.
Cory Heitz (35:20)
Yeah, no, it's good. Good advice there. And I'm a D, I was a D one or bus kid and there's plenty of podcasts and blogs I've done on what that decision meant for me. And I was picking a place way too high and it turned out interesting. I wouldn't change a thing, but probably, you know, I'm very qualified now to talk to kids about going to a level too high. And then I call it herpes. know, whenever a D one assistant calls a kid, even if it's a one call ever, you can't get rid of it. That kid and parent.
Alex Gallagher (35:39)
COVID.
Cory Heitz (35:48)
thinks that kid's D1 and it's like herpes. It's just always there. And if they don't go D1, there's that tinge of disappointment all because of that one texture call. And, ⁓ look, these D1 guys are doing their due diligence. They don't know who's going to turn out good, but I've seen it time and time again.
Alex Gallagher (36:02)
Right.
Yeah. And I would say in the couple of years that I coach college basketball at Stonehill, you know, the mentality was throw the wide net to 200 kids, you know, and then of course, ultimately, I know we're only going to offer five kids scholarships, but it's exactly what you talked about. It's trying to give a little bit of love and then slowly, you know, what happens at that level. I tried not to do this, but all of a sudden you're ghosting.
larger and larger percentage of the kids as you get closer and narrow in on the kids that you really want. ⁓ And I agree with you. I've got kids who, as sophomores, get a piece of mail from somebody that I know unless things really develop, it's not going to be anything. ⁓ And so I understand and really have a lot of empathy for the work that's being done at that level. At the college level, I get how hard it is. ⁓
But you know, I'm also one thing I cannot predict right now is I certainly I think what's going on at the college level is going to have a massive impact on high school recruiting. And you know, when the Rick Petinos of the world come out and say he's only recruiting kids in the portal, he's not recruiting high school kids, even though I just read an article about him actively recruiting a high school kid. ⁓ You know, I think I understand why those coaches are looking to the portal.
What I don't understand is what the trickle down effect is for the high school basketball players. ⁓ You know, both on the boys and the girls side in those situations. Yeah.
Cory Heitz (37:33)
it's not great. Right. And that's why,
that's why I've been on my soapbox saying you've got to go to look at a prep school option if you qualify for it, because you need an advocate in this day and age. And to me, guys like you are advocates that have integrity. You're never going to steer a coach wrong, right? Because you got to talk to that coach year after year. And that's part of your job. That's what people are paying for is that placement into college. Right. And me and the coaches were always beating the families over the head. Like we have no crystal ball to know.
Alex Gallagher (37:40)
Yep. Over.
Yep, totally.
Cory Heitz (38:00)
When you make this investment in time and money, what you're gonna end up at, it'll be the right fit at the right time, right? In this day and age, with all the moving pieces, you gotta have someone that knows how to do that. it's you guys, right? High school coaches can't keep up. Hey, you guys are hype men, right? You can't always trust them. So it's just, it's advocacy, right?
Alex Gallagher (38:06)
Totally.
Yeah.
And I will say, Cory, I have a lot of friends who coach at the next level on both the men's and the women's side. ⁓ That's a really hard job right now. ⁓ You know, it's I have a lot of respect for it, but, know, it's even I've talked to a couple of people who talk about how every day after a hard practice, they get into their car. And, know, your first thought is, who did I lose today? You know, and.
Cory Heitz (38:34)
Yeah.
rights.
Alex Gallagher (38:47)
The thought of having to internally recruit your own program while also recruiting outside of your program feels just really complicated to me. And I will say of all the things that are developing culturally around college sports, especially in basketball and football, the piece that I wish is, I wish there were a limit on how many times you could transfer without penalty. The idea of three schools in four years or four schools in four years.
You know, the piece that I told you about where ⁓ the youth kids who are coming to us in high school now, you almost have to assume that they've only been taught about their own path and not about how they can grow and evolve and be healthy and powerful and loving people with the relationships they have in their lives. ⁓ You know, now in college, you know, for it to extend to that level now where it's all about your path on a year to year basis, all about your NIL money.
I fully understand and support the kids getting compensated. I just really worry about the long-term impact around loyalty, around what it means to be a great teammate and a great person. I think it's really hard to build cultures that produce really great kids when you're starting over again every year. I mean, I just read the article, which I didn't know about, to be honest, that somebody sent me about Baylor basketball where they don't have a single kid on their roster right now. Every single kid left.
And they're starting over again from scratch and they're a national championship program with a really established coach. I, it's just got to be really hard. So I, I feel for them in a bad way. And it's why I said the best thing that maybe ever happened to me is I didn't get that college basketball job 24 years ago because, or 25 years ago that I might still be doing it. And that would be a pretty hard job right now. For, for somebody like me who really believes in the relational side of the sport.
I think it must be really hard.
Cory Heitz (40:40)
Well, I think now one of the stats that college coaches should brag about if they can is how few transfers they have. And I remember, I don't know what the update is now, but I know a few years ago, Yale was like the only team in the country from the men's side that didn't have a transfer out. And to me, I'd be putting that in big neon signs everywhere to let families know you come here, there's a certain culture like you just mentioned. And I don't know if anyone's keeping that stat anymore, but here's the thing that I don't get. I don't know how the girls side works as much, but of all the players that go in the portal,
Alex Gallagher (40:47)
Mm-hmm.
Cory Heitz (41:09)
Like half of them don't get picked up and their careers just over. And the question I've got Alex is who are the people advising these kids? Right? Like you and I still have a lot to learn. Right. And we've been at this for a long time and there's people giving these kids advice. And I'm just like, what are your qualifications for telling this specific kid to go in the portal from the situation he's in? And I've got former players that have gone in the portal from D1 and now like one of them got married and was a school teacher. Cause like, he just didn't get picked up and like that was it game over.
Alex Gallagher (41:17)
Yeah. Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Well,
yeah. And the other thing is on the girls side and Cory , you and I have talked about this a little bit, even with the business you're continuing to build in the prep school side is that on the girls side, ⁓ on the men's side has a lot more agents and a lot more businesses out there that are really targeting men's college basketball players as they enter the portal and get, think, certain percentages of their NIL money. That is not as evolved yet on the, on the women's side. And, you know, I had the personal remain nameless, but I
We had a graduate this year who was in the portal. Of course, the coaching staff from the school she's coming from is not going to advocate for her in the process. And so this kid, this young woman in this family are forced to all of a sudden get inundated and navigate it sort of on their own. Right. And luckily for me, I tried to give any counsel I could, but like when I said, with these, these new conversations that we're having make me feel pretty antiquated.
I was reaching out to all sorts of folks saying like, I have no idea what I'm doing here. Like, how do I best advise this person? How do I help this person? I know in our college counseling office, we're having an active discussion about how we need to better prepare our coaches here at Nobles because in the portal for a lot of our athletes, the high school coach does all of a sudden, once again, step into an advisory role for the kid and the family. And there's a lot of stuff on the table for NILs that unless you study it,
Cory Heitz (42:40)
Yeah.
Alex Gallagher (43:03)
you do not know what the options are. So as you're talking to a kid about how to negotiate, which I just, how to negotiate a deal, we need to be as educated as we can. And I think a lot of us are not, but you know, the thing that I also think is going to start happening, Cory , is I'm really struck right now when I read articles about the transfer portal and they're saying things like, so-and-so signed a two-year, $4 million contract with whatever college or university.
Cory Heitz (43:06)
Yeah.
Alex Gallagher (43:31)
I'm like, I can't believe that's the language that's free agency now in college sports, obviously very different. They're not signing with somebody, they're signing a contract, which I think is going to lead. If I'm, you know, my, my magic ball, ⁓ I think is going to lead to schools starting to say, well, if you transfer the school you're going to has to buy you out of your contract, which I assume is where we're going. And I think a lot of the wealthier schools. Won't mind doing that, ⁓ to some extent, but
I think there's a lot of misguided decision making that's going on, as you just pointed out. ⁓ I think there is a temptation, throw yourself in the portal and see what's out there for you. ⁓ I think there are a lot of kids in the portal who are getting decent NIL offers from their current school, but start hearing about deals that other people are getting. And so they're like, what money might I be leaving on the table? So they jump into the portal. I think there's some real risk to it.
⁓ And yeah, and the other thing, Cory , which you may know more about than I do that I'm just starting to learn is that there are a lot of schools that decide we're going to take our NIL money. Seniors in general, no matter how big a role you are on the team are going to get X. Juniors are going to get Y. Sophomores are going to get Z all the way down. And that's how you rise up through the program. There's some other programs. I can't imagine the dynamics when.
one kid on a team is making $4 million a year and some other kid on the team is making 40, know, whatever the number is. Again, it's, it's pro sports. It's not, it's no longer college sports. Um, you know, and I would imagine at that age level dealing with some of those dynamics must be very challenging. I would imagine.
Cory Heitz (45:13)
Yeah.
You talk about building a culture. Imagine trying to build a culture with that because think about this. The old days you'd have the walk-on kid that would beat out the point guard, starting point guard in practice, but didn't matter just because that walk-on is being in practice. He's not playing. And just like now, right? That $40,000 kid could be out playing the $4 million kid, but you got to pay the $4 million kid because you're investing in that. But I think, you know, the person I take my...
Alex Gallagher (45:21)
Totally.
Cory Heitz (45:38)
or I listened to when it comes to all this is Jay Billis, right? And like you mentioned the employment buyouts, ⁓ I think there'll be something in your future where you have incentives, right? Like we take so many charges or so many rebounds or your team wins. You know, you get different tiers and, know, I mentioned this, ⁓ there's a buddy of mine that was going to start his own college coaching search firm, right? He was going to place a coach at a school for free. Right. But.
Alex Gallagher (46:03)
Mm-hmm.
Cory Heitz (46:04)
He would get paid in the backend depending on the coach's success. So you win 20 games, you pay the search firm like $30,000. He wins 30, he gets more. Win the tournament, X amount, final four lead eight, blah, blah, blah. Which means the school now instead of spending millions on these firms upfront for getting no results, now it's incentive based. So to me, you got to take scoring out of that so you don't have ball hogs out there, but there's a lot of creativity. And I think agents come in handy, Alex. mean,
Alex Gallagher (46:22)
Right. Yep.
Yeah.
Cory Heitz (46:32)
You need someone to be the bad guy. You need someone that knows the market. And I've got a relative who's an O-lineman and his coach left, you know, this kid's at a D1 school and we called the number one O-lineman agent in America, had him look at the film, had him talk to my relative. And the consensus was you need to stay at this school for one more year before you go in the portal. And that's a trusted guy who wasn't out to make money, but had, you know, had good integrity. And there's guys are out there that you can talk to, right?
Alex Gallagher (47:00)
Yeah, totally.
Cory Heitz (47:01)
But here's
the cool thing I'm dealing with now in the post-grad world is, you know, I've got a kid, one of the top players from a state in the West coast who's already got low major offers, right? He now committed to a prep school out East. If he has the right performances in June and open gyms or some showcases, he could bump up to mid to high major and put six figures in his pockets. So think about that now. Post-grad now is almost could be a launching pad for you to get more money. Now.
Alex Gallagher (47:10)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Totally. Yep. 100%.
Cory Heitz (47:30)
That's for a minority of kids, obviously, but just it's a new angle I've got for the caliber of talent out there.
Alex Gallagher (47:36)
Totally,
totally, without a doubt.
Cory Heitz (47:38)
You gotta move with this stuff. You cannot sit back and let it pass you. And you got guys like Tony Bennett, Jay Wright, Warwick Williams, Nick Saban. I think they're tired of all this stuff. They just wanted to do culture and X's and O's, but there will be coaches like the guy at Florida, right? Like Kelvin Sampson, guys that are keeping up, you know, doing well with this stuff, Rick Pitino. And we're going to see those teams in the final four, think every
Alex Gallagher (47:53)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Yeah. And you know, the thing that I will say, if we're being open and honest on this conversation is. Do I wish I mean, listen, I've gotten to meet ⁓ at a couple of events, I've gotten to meet former Governor Baker, Charlie Baker, who's running the NCAA, a huge respect for what he did in the state of Massachusetts. I think it's amazing that he had the courage to take on the job with the NCAA, because I think it's one of the most ⁓ complicated organizations to work with in the country.
But you know, the fact is, do I wish that there had been something where they had decided across college basketball, there was one set of rules that everybody was going to work with when it came to NIL. And this is how it was going to play out, get paid out. Of course, instead, what they did is they sort of created this sort of wild, wild west mentality. It seems like they are now trying to rein it in and to create some construct that's even across the board. I know everybody will continue to look for an edge, but my thing is
especially in a sport like basketball, there are a lot of young people who come from very difficult backgrounds who selling to them that they get a free education and meal money, which is great, while a college is making tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands dollars off their name, to me is just unjust. And so I think we've we've moved in the right direction. Do I wish there were more parameters around it? Sure. But do I have kids who play at Nobles?
Cory Heitz (49:21)
Yeah.
Alex Gallagher (49:29)
whose families are gonna really benefit when they make this jump to the college level because of life-changing money that can support themselves and their families? Absolutely. And it's definitely time. And I agree with you, Jay Billis. I wish he was the commissioner of college basketball. I think I really appreciate so much of what he has to say. And it really is like every time things seem confusing.
He seems to come out with a podcast or a video or a statement on college game day that you're like, yeah, that makes sense. You know, every time. I will say he has been as outspoken as anybody about the opportunities that coaches are given in college basketball ⁓ and how unfair it is that they get those freedoms and that the players do not. And I could not agree with him more ⁓ on that.
Cory Heitz (50:20)
Yeah, what do you see the future of prep school basketball in five to ten years?
Alex Gallagher (50:25)
Five
to 10 years. You know, I think to be honest, in much the way you described ⁓ Cory , and this is something that actually pulls at me a little bit as somebody who started coaching public school basketball, high school basketball. ⁓ There are some amazing high school programs and public high school coaches out there. ⁓
You know, the thing that I think is going to happen is that the bar is going to be set so high because of the transfer portal that I think more and more kids who are serious basketball players are going to be forced to seek the greatest competition they can possibly face on a day-to-day basis. And that's not just Cory. You know, like the example that I give is I'll talk to high school basketball players who are by far the best player on their team.
They don't have somebody on their public school roster who can really compete with them. They're playing in a league where maybe there's a kid on the other team that can compete with them, but in all likelihood, they're not if they're a major division one player. And so it's the combination, both of the in-game competition that you face and the challenges that you face, but it's also about just the day-to-day competition that you face. And so if a kid comes to Nobles in this area, if they go to Tabor Academy, if they go to Tilton up in New Hampshire,
you know, to New Hampton up in New Hampshire, whatever, you're on a roster of 10, 11, 12, 13 kids, many of whom are going to play college basketball. The others are, you know, we have this fantastic kid on our team named Ava Newman, who's going to Notre Dame to play lacrosse, and she's the most athletic defender in the gym. And so no matter who you're going against at practice every day, you are being challenged. talk, we have a mantra in our program all the time that
One teammate success is not another team's failure, teammates failure. It's their success and it needs to be celebrated. And we want to recruit kids to Nobles who are on the day they get their ass kicked, they're walking out of the gym saying, appreciate you and coming back the next day, ready to try and kick somebody else's ass. ⁓ because that's, that's the competitive feel and Jasmine Cooper who's going to Syracuse has had plenty of days where Ashley Dingus who's going to province made her look real bad.
And the next day Coop needed to come back and raise the level of competition and push yourself to be able to deal with that competition right back. So there was an article written in the Boston Globe a few years ago about the Exodus from public high school girls basketball into private schools. And it really does. It makes me sad to some extent because I know how hard those coaches work. I know how hard they work to create great culture and to create great competitive situations, but
We get to coach, we're coaching, essentially we're coaching all-star teams, ⁓ you know, and the opportunity to grow in that sort of competitive cauldron that a lot of coaches talk about throughout the years. ⁓ That's every day in the weight room. That's every day in the off season when you're playing pickup. And certainly when you get into the season, it's that grind of every day over four months and 32 games of really being surrounded by people who are bringing out your best. ⁓ Not to mention the opportunities
You know, in our program at Nobles, we have a skills specialist on the team. We have multiple assistants who can work with kids one-on-one in season and with the team. We work with our director of sports medicine closely. We work with our strength and conditioning coaches every day. You know, so we've got a collegiate-like experience that high schools just unfortunately do not have the resources to be able to give in the same way.
So when I think about the kids for whom college basketball is something that they want to be have as a reality, I think a lot of people now look at Nepzak basketball, the prep schools in the Northeast is one of the best conferences in the country. And it's because kids have the opportunity to do a reclass year. So in general, the age group is a little bit higher. The level of competition every day is tough.
When we played Tilton School in the championship game this year between the two teams, there are 20 kids who are going to play college basketball between those two rosters at various levels. That level of play and that level of competition is special. And I think with the bar getting raised higher and higher at the next level, I think it will push schools like ours and others around us to continue to stay really serious about this sport. And I think there'll be a lot of interest for it.
Cory Heitz (54:49)
Yeah, I concur. I concur. Last thing, ⁓ shooting touch is how we got connected. When I went to Rwanda in January, I researched organizations, found shooting touch, connected with them, connected to you through it. Give me a brief overview of what it is, both in Boston and Rwanda, and your involvement in it.
Alex Gallagher (55:07)
I think the simplest way to put it is, you in the old field of dreams cliche, it's one of those, if you build it, they will come type of things. We had some visionary people in Lindsay and Justin Kittredge, who were the founders of the organization, who Justin was a big basketball guy, worked at Reebok in the NBA division before he started his new business called I-slide that he's been working with for many years now. ⁓
And he believed in the power of the sport and the power of the basketball court and the magnet that they're going to be to kids. They looked in third world countries and organizations that really believed in the sport of basketball and Rwanda popped really early. President Kagame, who leads Rwanda and brought them out of the genocide, really loves the game of basketball and has been a big proponent of it over the years. so first in Rwanda.
We started, and I've been lucky enough to be with Shooting Touch in one form or another for over 16 years now, we started to build basketball courts in Rwanda that would be magnets to kids and communities, ⁓ including older women, younger women, girls, boys across the board. And these become community centers essentially where they bring together large groups of people who all want to learn the game of basketball because they love the opportunity to be on a team, to be with people, enjoying an experience together.
and in turn offer really important life-saving ⁓ health lessons and opportunities and medical coverage for the people who are a part of it. I think, and I might get the wrong numbers wrong, but I think we work on a day-to-day basis with about 3,000 people on the ground in Rwanda, but we give health insurance to somewhere between 15 to 20,000 because if you're in the program, Shooting Touch does health insurance for your entire family, does medical screenings for your entire family.
The opportunities that it's had to help people avoid malaria and STDs and other things and cancers that wouldn't have been caught earlier and other diseases and challenges has just been amazing. And what it's evolved into over the 16 years, I've been lucky enough, I just went in March for my ninth time to Rwanda. What it has evolved into over the course of these 16 years is just ridiculous.
And then what we did was we really thought to ourselves, how do we build a model in Boston that mirrors what we're doing in Rwanda? ⁓ And so we put together some great basketball people who have built a program, what we call sort of AAU the right way. It's a program that teaches kids the game, but similar to Rwanda is also doing a lot of programming, health programming, educational programming, giving enrichment programs to kids who are part of it. It is a free program, which I think
You know, I think a lot of what messes up AU basketball is the for-profit piece of it. ⁓ It gives families sort of a say and leverage in those relationships that I think are really complicated. ⁓ Shooting Touch takes that out of the mix because it's a free program for inner city kids of color who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in most cases. And they're using the game ⁓ to change people's lives. And for me,
Um, I have felt so honored and humbled to be a part of it for all of these years. And Cory , I'm sure you feel this way too. The game of basketball has given me opportunities in the last 29 to 30 years. I never would have imagined when I was growing up, relationship wise, opportunity wise, success wise, experience wise. I, I, I know I speak for many when I say, the game so much. And the work with shooting touch has been an opportunity initially.
to give back to the game, but I get way more out of Shooting Touch than I think Shooting Touch gets out of me, whether I'm working with kids in Rwanda, working with kids in Boston. And so it's a really special organization that every day is changing lives in a really positive way, saving lives in a really positive way, both overseas and here in Boston. I'm lucky enough that my wife now for the last two and a half years has been the executive director. So my board role has shifted quite a bit to give her space.
to run it as well as she is, but I'm going back to Rwanda again in June. I can't wait to be on the court with Shooting Touch Kids. It's a country that's changed my life, a program that's changed my life. ⁓ And I know in this, folks will get my contact information. If anybody wants to know more about how to either support Shooting Touch or how to get involved with Shooting Touch, ⁓ please do not hesitate to reach out because I'll spread the word. I love spreading the word to nobles.
but I love spreading the word of shooting touch just as much. I feel really grateful to have it in my life and anybody who I think gets touched by shooting touch feels similarly to me. if anybody is interested in it, I'd love to tell them more and introduce them to some other folks.
Cory Heitz (59:58)
Yeah, thanks for sharing that. Yeah, it's a great organization and ⁓ man, seeing it firsthand, just, just, just, you know, getting healthcare to a family of a kid in a program is like unheard of. just, it's, it's huge. All right, we're going to finish up some quick hitters here. All right. Best player you've ever coached against.
Alex Gallagher (1:00:09)
Yeah, it's incredible.
No doubt, Aliyah Boston. Worcester Academy now plays obviously for the Indiana Fever, won a national championship at South Carolina. And what I hated most about her is what an awesome kid she was because I wanted every reason to not like her. ⁓ And there were no reasons to not like her. So on the girl side, certainly her on the boy side, Adam Harrington, who was a stud and now runs a great program out of New Jersey, works with Unrivaled. He was on the boy side, the best guy I ever coached against.
Cory Heitz (1:00:45)
What's your favorite movie?
Alex Gallagher (1:00:47)
geez. Favorite movie. Favorite sports movie. I hate to say this is a basketball guy. It's definitely Miracle. I could watch that movie every day and watch the best scenes in it. In general, I'd say I'm a Godfather guy. I love one, two and three. And the fact that I love three shows you how much I love Godfather movies. Totally, totally.
Cory Heitz (1:01:03)
Ooh. Yeah, you're a fan if you like three. Yeah, that's not normal.
You're a busy man, but when you get some free time, what are your hobbies?
Alex Gallagher (1:01:14)
I'm definitely a workout every day guy. I have to do it for my mental health. And I feel so lucky to be an athletic director who can sneak in there at lunchtime and get a workout in. There's that definitely spending time with my wife and my kids and my extended family. And then my, my guilty pleasure is I'm a big TV guy. It's the one time that if I lock in on a show, my mind doesn't race for the 45 minutes to an hour that I'm watching.
So I love that. And the only other thing that I'll say is a hobby, but I mostly do professionally is I'm a pretty avid reader. Read a lot of books that connect to coaching, connect to building culture, connect to leadership, and do the best I can to share those lessons and share the names of those books with the folks that I work with here at Nobles. Yep.
Cory Heitz (1:01:44)
Okay.
Awesome. Is there anything
you want to touch on that we did not discuss?
Alex Gallagher (1:01:59)
No, I mean, would just say, Cory , what I'll say to you is, mean, this is a time that you're nice enough to give us an arena to sort of share our story. I just want you to know how much I appreciate the support you're doing for prep school basketball, the work you're doing with people internationally. I feel really lucky that you happened to stumble upon the Shooting Touch program in Rwanda and that led to us being connected. I really believe in the work that prep schools do with kids.
There can be times where they get sort of a bad rap that I don't think is fair because I think there are a lot of great coaches out there who are doing this job for all the right reasons. ⁓ And I appreciate the work you're doing to help families, to help kids. And even in a conversation we had the other day at the Shooting Touch Gala about some of the kids you're working with, I just have a lot of respect for people who care about kids. ⁓ And you clearly do. And the work you're doing is really advancing the lives of those kids that you work with. And so.
I really appreciate being on, I also appreciate you and feel really lucky that one of those dots I'll look back on is the opportunity I got to be introduced to you. And I like any time I get great new people in my life and you're certainly that. So I've loved this hour and I've loved the time that we've gotten to spend together a little bit over the course of last few months. And just really do appreciate you and the work that you're doing.
Cory Heitz (1:03:14)
⁓ thank you very much for those kind words. And I appreciate our, you know, fork in the road where we met through shooting touch and through the gallon, everything. I look forward to continuing to grow this relationship. All right. Thanks so much, coach Alex Gallagher from global nobles and green now in Boston, ⁓ great prep school there, big time academics, big time, girls, boys programs. And, if you'd like this podcast, please be sure to subscribe and all the major podcasting platforms.
Alex Gallagher (1:03:24)
Great, great Cory . Thank you so much. We appreciate you.
Cory Heitz (1:03:43)
Go to YouTube and subscribe to our channel where you can get bonus content. And please sign up for the newsletter at prepathletics.com where you will get a monthly newsletter of all the latest signings and happenings in the prep school world. And feel free to reach out to me if you need to. I get back to every single person that reaches out. It's a great option. And we'll see you guys next time on the Prep Athletics podcast. Take