Kenya Jones: Class B, Big Results—Brooks School’s Blueprint

Kenya Jones, Head Coach and Associate Director of Admissions at Brooks School (MA), joins Cory for a straight, practical talk about prep school basketball, player development, and college placement in today’s NIL/transfer-portal era. Jones explains why Brooks is “a school that happens to be good at basketball,” and how a culture of multi-sport participation, arts, and academics creates tougher, smarter, more coachable athletes. He details what he really recruits—character, independence, and fit—and how self-driven development (open runs, morning gym, weight room cadence) prepares players for NEPSAC competition and college standards.

You’ll hear an honest breakdown of Class B vs AA/AAA schedules, why relationships + summer showcases move the needle more than hype, and exactly what it takes to be a Division I guard (athleticism, vocal leadership, 94-feet defense, rebounding from your position, and credible shooting). If you’re a parent, player, or coach seeking the right pathway—not promises—this episode gives you a clear lens on admissions, placement timing, and building a life-ready student-athlete.

Families starting the prep journey: listen in, take notes, and focus on fit over flash.

💡 Key Topics

• 📌 Holistic development at Brooks (multi-sport, arts, academics → coachability & maturity)
• 📌 Recruiting priorities (character, independence, fit over mixtape hype)
• 📌 Placement in the portal era (relationships, summer showcases, demanding schedule)
• 📌 Class B vs AA/AAA (ISL competition, scheduling up for exposure)
• 📌 D1 guard checklist (athleticism, 94-ft defense, vocal leadership, rebounding, shooting)
• 📌 Admissions & school fit (well-rounded students, balanced academic pressure)

🏀 About Kenya Jones

Kenya Jones is the Head Basketball Coach and Associate Director of Admissions at Brooks School (MA). A Bronx native and longtime Brooks faculty member, he led the program to a NEPSAC Class B title and earned Coach of the Year honors. His philosophy centers on character, independence, and a balanced school experience that turns high school athletes into college-ready student-leaders.

🔗 Connect with Kenya Jones

Twitter | https://x.com/BrooksBasketbal
Twitter | https://x.com/CoachKJones52
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/brooksboysbasketball/

🔗 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
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Chapters

• 3:05 Starting at Brooks; early career path and program foundation
• 3:09 Coaching style explained: “I’m passionate, not a yeller”
• 3:29 Defining Brooks School: “A school that happens to be good at basketball”
• 5:47 Program identity and culture—multi-sport, multi-interest student-athletes
• 6:17 Arts and academics as equal pillars of Brooks’ community
• 6:33 The $20M arts facility transformation and why it matters
• 7:39 Student expectations: every Brooks student must join an activity each season
• 7:55 Balancing sports, theater, and service—what student life really looks like
• 9:25 Independent player development and morning gym culture (6 a.m.–10 p.m. access)
• 9:54 Example: how a motivated freshman developed into an Ivy League player
• 12:12 What Coach Jones looks for in players: character, independence, curiosity, and fit
• 13:59 Recruiting through relationships and word-of-mouth, not highlight reels
• 14:31 Honest approach to playing time: “Defend, rebound, and earn your minutes”
• 17:15 College placement strategy: social media, coach networking, scheduling tough games
• 18:56 Adapting to NIL and transfer portal changes in recruitment
• 19:03 Recruiting calendar timing: summer, fall showcases, and post-season shifts
• 20:33 Competing at the Class B level while scheduling A/AA programs for exposure
• 23:08 The future of prep basketball: impact of NIL, academies, and specialization
• 24:33 What it takes to be a D1 guard in 2025—skills and mindset
• 31:56 Final advice: visit campuses, “count the smiles,” and find the right fit

Transcript

Cory Heitz (00:00)
Welcome to this week's episode of the Prep Athletics podcast. I'm proud to have joining us, Kenya Jones, head coach of the Brooks School, which just won a class B title last year in New England. And he just won coach of the year. He's been there for 18 years and has a lot of knowledge where he explains that the Brooks School is a little bit different to where they encourage their players to do other sports, do the arts. They got a great arts program there. It's a beautiful campus on a lake north of Boston. And we talk about his philosophies of getting in the gym.

doing things on your own, class B versus single A, double A and triple A and much, much more. So stick around for this podcast. If you like it, be sure to subscribe on all the major podcasting platforms, subscribe on YouTube. And if you have any desire to look and seeing if prep school is the right option for you, go to our website, fill out the free assessment and we'll be happy to get back with you. So now our conversation with Coach Kenya Jones of the Brooks School here in the Prep Athletics Podcast. Enjoy.

Cory Heitz (01:18)
Kenya, welcome to the podcast.

Kenya Jones (01:21)
Cory thanks for having me. Appreciate you having me on.

Cory Heitz (01:23)
Yeah, we've been trying to get you on for a while. I'm glad we finally got you here. And tell me where you grew up and what got you into basketball.

Kenya Jones (01:30)
Yeah, I'm originally from the Bronx, New York City. So was born and raised there. And then I got an opportunity to go to boarding schools, a boarding school program in Massachusetts. So not like your typical boarding schools or where I work at at Brooks, but it was a boarding school program where like eight of us or 10 of us lived in the town. It was in Topsfield. And then we went to their sort of regional school, but I had sort of boarding school rules.

And so that's where I went to high school in terms of basketball. I just, I don't know, one day, I don't come from a big sports family, so I don't know how this happened, but I looked at a hoop one day and I was like, I like that thing. And this was probably fourth, fifth grade. And I just remember always wanting to shoot and play hoops. then, you know, went to high school and I actually, I, you know, it was interesting. I played football for the first time. I played basketball in junior high, but I played football for the first time. Loved my coach, loved my football coach.

He never yelled, never screamed, and I was always inspired by him. And I didn't feel that same way from my basketball coach in high school. So from that point on when I was 16, I said, I want to be a high school basketball coach. And so it sort of worked my way through that. I went to UMass Lowell in the early 2000s, sort of hung out with the boys basketball team. I practiced with the girls basketball team. The coach here let me practice with them. And so I was just always.

stuck around basketball and then got an opportunity to work at Brooks and then coach JV for a number of years and assist the coach varsity for a number of years. you know, this would be my fourth year as the head coach now.

Cory Heitz (03:05)
Awesome and then are you a non-yeller based on your football coach's experience in high school?

Kenya Jones (03:09)
Absolutely not. can't even, I won't even

lie to you right now. I try. You know what? I'm not, I'm passionate. That's what people have called me. That's what I've heard. Just a passionate coach.

Cory Heitz (03:19)
I love it. love it. Well, that's great. then Brooks, you've been there for a long time. Give us your pitch on Brooks, both as a school and as a program.

Kenya Jones (03:29)
Absolutely. So I started here. I started coaching in 2006 and then became a faculty member in 2007. And Brooks is a small school. It's a three hundred and fifty students, approximately grades nine through twelve. So we don't have a postgraduate program. You know, the oldest kids that we do accept here are repeat juniors. And it's a you know, when I talk about Brooks School or the program, the basketball program, I talk about the school first. You have to

want to be a part of the community. ⁓ You have to want to engage in the things. We, and I say this all the time, that we are, ⁓ we're a school that happens to be good at basketball and not a basketball school for whatever that's worth. And ⁓ it's important while we've had plenty of kids go on to do great things, you know, while playing basketball that hasn't sort of been their only focus. I give an example of my, ⁓ my captain, he was a junior captain last year, will be my captain again this year.

He's actually going to college to Lehigh to play football, but he was my basketball captain, plays football. And then he had never done the musical before. So in the spring, he was like one of the first people on the stage, had a major role in the musical and has never done that stuff before. ⁓ the kids that we have here are ingrained in the community and it's hard for folks just to specialize or single out in one specific aspect. You have to want to do academics. You have to want to be part of the arts.

and then athletics, and they all blend in and we give students ⁓ time and the ability to do that. ⁓ And that, you know, what I found is that that ⁓ increases just in engagement all around. And I think, you know, I always say like my best rebounders are always football players and my best on-ball defenders are soccer players. And my best leaders are the ones that have been in musicals or been in the plays because they know how to use their voice in front of a crowd. And so... ⁓

You know, that's us. So I always talk about the school first when I talk about the program. And then our kids, think the success of our program has been because, you know, we don't have, you know, post-graduates. I'm not knocking those programs, but our kids, you know, start from the ninth grade and sort of build up. And so it is a program and a system so that by the time they get into, you know, their upper class in years, they understand what we're trying to do and what we've been doing. And we lean on a lot of defense and being smart.

And then, you know, the offense, we typically cater to the players that we have on the basketball court. We've never been a place where we say, you know, we're going to do this or be in a system. Our offense takes a little bit longer to develop throughout the season so the kids can understand where they're comfortable with each other. Me trying to figure out where they're comfortable, you know, wanting the basketball and how they play. And so that takes a little bit. But yeah, that's us as program.

Cory Heitz (06:17)
Now, thank you for sharing all that. Now, Brooks is unique because you guys have like clean, newer architecture. It's a beautiful campus. You're on a lake. And you've got a great arts facilities there. Is art, take away from the basket, but the arts, are they kind of a major focus at Brooks? Am I right on that?

Kenya Jones (06:33)
They're a huge pillar to that, yeah. And again, yes, you know, before, when I started here, and it's hard to even imagine what it looked like ⁓ without the new art center, but in about, you know, there was a push in the campaign. had ⁓ what was used to be the barn. This was a big farmland and it was just a barn and they turned that barn into an auditorium. That's where our plays were. And we figured out that, you know, in order to attract, and that's a major part of who we are.

Cory Heitz (06:55)
Hmm.

Kenya Jones (07:01)
to attract those students, needed to build a new arts facility. So I think it was about, you know, upwards of $20 million that they built that new arts facility and it houses, you know, all of our music and visual arts and theatrical arts. it's, it's phenomenal. I tell, you know, my basketball players all the time to be in a production, like our productions here, they have pit orchestras and they create their own, you know, they make their own sets and they're making their own costumes.

That's a really, really neat part. And I've been in three productions myself during the winter. So when I was an assistant coach, I would do my lines and then run back to practice and then go back and forth. So I appreciate that aspect of who we are. So we're not an art school. We just really celebrate the arts equally.

Cory Heitz (07:39)
Okay.

So if I'm a player looking to come there, do I get to just play basketball or do you have, the kids required to play other activities throughout the year? And are they required to do the arts program or walk me through what the requirements are for your basketball players?

Kenya Jones (07:55)
Absolutely. every student here is required to do an afternoon activity. It doesn't have to be a sport, but you do have requirements. We're a small school, so if you're coming here just to single out one thing, it's going to be very, very hard to do that. You can't have a focus on basketball, folks have done that within their respective sports. ⁓ team sports, you can have your football or...

You know, some folks will do cross country. Community service would be considered like as a team activity. Theater is considered a team activity. Theater tech is considered a team activity. So those type of things. But you do have to do ⁓ an afternoon activity every season. Once you become an upperclassman, you can start focusing more. We have strength and conditioning that's built in to that. We do have, you know, yoga. ⁓ Some kids will do, you know, in the wintertime, I don't know what they call it in the spring, but in the wintertime, it's just like outdoor sports.

They have sort of a section of that in the springtime as well. So we try to cater to that, but you do have to do an afternoon activity. And then the arts are built into sort of your curriculum, your academic curriculum. So every student has to do two years of an arts while they're here at a minimum. The first year is just what we call arts exploratory. You are going through all of the arts, whether that's visual, theatrical, music. And then the second year, you can pick and choose.

But that's built into your schedule. And ⁓ you know, we, and then if you want to take four years of an artist, you can absolutely do that as well.

Cory Heitz (09:25)
Love it. When families reach out to you and they ask about development, right? Like, what do you say to them as far as like how much time kids get in the weight room, how much time they get on the court, coaches come in open gyms. Like it's kind of an arms race out there now. what do you, and obviously just to tell people, you you guys won the Class B championship last year. You were coach of the year last year. So basketball is very serious at Brooks. You got a long history there. But walk me through like the timing and amount of time in the gym, weight room, et cetera.

Kenya Jones (09:54)
Yes. So I don't push the kids. never have to say, Hey, you need to wake up at six o'clock in the morning or you need to go to the weight room. If you want it, it's there. Right. The ability to do that is there. The gym is open from six a.m. to 10 p.m. And that's every day. But I don't tell the kids you've got to wake up. They built a culture where they get up and do that themselves. ⁓ And so they will get up and work out. And we have a strength and conditioning coach here. So they will find time and create a program themselves. But a lot of it is I'm not I'm not pushing any of it at all. And that's because

⁓ I want them to be more than just basketball players. My students here, I want them to be more than just that. And so, if they're playing football, that's what you're focused on, right? If you're playing soccer, that's what you're focused on. Like you don't need to focus in on basketball. Now, if you want to, absolutely. So we do have open runs on Mondays and Thursdays. The kids will get together. I tell them ⁓ it's not mandatory, right? You come as you are and I actually say like if your grades are enough.

or if you're missing classes or you're late to classes, but you're at Open Gym, your priorities are not set. So you need to actually, you know, and so I'll hold them accountable for that. But then that development really lies. It's really, it's sort of independent. And if the kids come and say, hey, you know, this is what I want to do, then yes, I work with them even more because if that's what their focus is. We had a young man, ⁓ Tomonan Cho, Tee Cho, who now plays ⁓ overseas or at least did last year.

And he came to me when he was a freshman and he was, you know, at 6'1", 6'2". And he was like, I want to play basketball at Duke. And I said, okay, sir, this is what you're going to need to do to play basketball at Duke. You got to be one of the top 12 best players in the country if that's what you're looking for. Now didn't make it, but he got to Brown and he became a three time all-Ivy at Brown. And he worked sort of as a ninth grader here and continued to work and got up in the morning. And so you have those opportunities to do that, but it has to be very, very independent. And then...

You know, you could always push me as a coach and say, you I want you to work with me on this and I'm able to do that. But I don't push the kids to tell them that they need to do that now. They also know just through our culture, in order to make the team, you're to have to do that. In order to compete in this league, you're going to have to do that. And to compete in the NEPSAC, you're going to have to get up and do that extra work. So it's really sort of student and player driven.

Cory Heitz (12:12)
love it. You're really creating independence there, which I don't think is the norm at a lot of prep schools. So I like hearing that, Kenya. What are you looking for in a player? When you're out there, you know, looking at film, going to events, what kind of player ideally do you want at Brooks?

Kenya Jones (12:27)
It's

really, really interesting. Hey, honestly, character is the first thing that I look at when I'm looking at player, right? Character really, really, really is. What is your body language like? What kind of teammate are you when no one is looking? Like, I'm looking at that first. Yeah, it's great if you can, you know, be a high flyer and run, jump and dunk and do all that. But again, ⁓ if you're coming to the school and you just want to be a basketball player, you don't have a great attitude about it, it's not going to be a great fit. It's not going to be a great place. So character.

is the first thing I look for. And then the second part is that what I just spoke about, that level of independence, that level of wanting to work here and get better. There's a lot of kids, a good number of kids on my basketball team now and in the past that I've never really seen play live. I just know that they're great kids and they will get, ⁓ know, folks will by word of mouth will say, I think this kid will be a great fit for you at Brooks. And it's just through that word of mouth and those connections is where I really take those kids. So

⁓ yeah, I, you know, I've never rarely ever gone out to, you know, an event and said, Hey, you know, I want you because no, it's a lot of people coming in and saying this kid will be great for Brooks. And so we look for great character kids, again, kids that are going to, ⁓ be open to trying new things, to doing a bunch of new things. And I think that's important because, ⁓ you know, someone once told me that, you know, all, all roads to basketball leads to some sort of wreck league at some point. And so, ⁓

You have to, right? Listen, one of the top lawyers of the NBA was a kid that went to Brooks, and he graduated in probably 2012, and his boss is Adam Silver, and that's a cool thing, but he played basketball here. went to, gosh, don't kill me, Shayna, he went to a Nescah school ⁓ and graduated, and now works in the NBA, one of the top, or the top trainer for the... ⁓

for the Charlotte Hornets, right? Went to Brooks School, played at Merrimack, and then now works in the NBA. And so, like, you can use basketball as a tool, but we want you to be able to network and ⁓ do other things here as well.

Cory Heitz (14:31)
Yeah, and you know, the first kid we connected on last year, Pacholo, high character kid, right? So that makes perfect sense. You saying that. What do you say to families when they ask about playing time?

Kenya Jones (14:36)
Absolutely, absolutely.

It's relative. Playing time is relative depending on ⁓ the needs of the team and then the players that are on the team as well. And so I don't guarantee playing time. say, ⁓ listen, if you work for it, ⁓ then make my job difficult, right? Make my job difficult to not put you in the game. And ⁓ if you want to play on this level, you have to be able to defend your position and then rebound out of your position. Those are really two key things for me.

We have a lot of kids or we've had kids in the past that have been able to defend their position but still not be able to rebound and you know that doesn't help. So you'll get on the court much quicker if you can defend your position and rebound out of your position. And then again if you're willing to work but playing time is not guaranteed. I try to get a bunch of folks in but again it really depends on who's on the basketball court, who's on the team at any given one time or year.

Cory Heitz (15:38)
Thank you. All right. Appreciate that. We're going to play a game now. It's called Name That Alumni. So for prep schools, I go through Wikipedia, I look at notable alumni, and then I quiz the coach on whether you know them or not. There's no prize. There's no all-star board. It's just showing people who came from your school. right. First up, you heard, you know, Anthony Perkins is.

Kenya Jones (15:48)
Sure.

Sounds like an actor, but I could be wrong.

Cory Heitz (16:03)
He's an actor, the actor from the movie Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Kenya Jones (16:06)
That's what I was gonna say, yes. Why I was

thinking of, ⁓ gosh, the dude from Silence of the Lambs. I know that's not him, but that's what I was thinking. I was thinking of Hopkins, not Perkins, okay. Sure.

Cory Heitz (16:16)
Anthony Hopkins, yes. Another famous horror movie, so not

too far off. All right, Steve Forbes.

Kenya Jones (16:25)
Absolutely, yeah, Forbes 500.

Cory Heitz (16:27)
Forbes 500 and he ran for president twice. Yep, this is Steve Forbes.

Kenya Jones (16:29)
That's right,

2006 and 2000, something like that.

Cory Heitz (16:33)
I think

so, I think so, yep. And then lastly, Jake Burton Carpenter.

Kenya Jones (16:38)
Yeah, that's Burton's snowboards, I want to say. I those are snowboards. Yeah. I'll take it.

Cory Heitz (16:41)
Creator of Burton snowboards. So I'll give you two and a half out of three on this edition of

Famous Alumni. Yeah, there's a whole slew of them, but these are the ones I thought were the most fun and recognizable. College placement. Since COVID, it's gotten harder and harder. You having one team and only a couple ⁓ seniors every year means there's less bandwidth you have to spend on placement. But what's your strategy, Kenya? mean, you letting, you do the work? Are you working with family? Let's step back. When a family commits to Brooks,

Walk me through your process on how you get your kids placed in college.

Kenya Jones (17:15)
Yeah, I'm still learning that. I got the job four years ago and it used to be just, know, AAU helps a lot and then you play in showcases and the coach is coming and you sort of figure that out. And now it's really interesting with the transfer portal and IL has also made it a little bit interesting. And so I try to come at it from a bunch of different points, right? We talked.

a little bit before this podcast about using social media. So social media is one, know, ⁓ two trying to network with coaches as well and create those relationships with coaches. ⁓ Going to showcases, so the NEPSAC showcase in June is really huge for folks to see. And then through scheduling as well, I try to create a really demanding schedule. I try to schedule against other teams where I know they have ⁓ sort of high profile players so that my players can play in that.

Alex Wilkins is a good example ⁓ of that. Who's at Furman now, who was ⁓ first seen, were at, it might've been the holiday showcase at Rivers. And one of the Holy Cross coaches saw him, was looking at someone else and was like, hey, who's this player over here? And so, through that, just trying to, who we play against. So scheduling, social media, ⁓ you know.

networking through coaches. try to go at all of it. And I'm still learning on that aspect and still trying to create those relationships. Because I guess that to me is going to be the biggest one. Those relationships that I have created, those coaches have come back and said, hey, you had this player. Who do you have for next year? so I'm doing that. So it's a multi-pronged approach.

Cory Heitz (18:56)
And what's the timing on that? you seeing more action in the fall now or after the season?

Kenya Jones (19:03)
⁓ Typically during, I would say typically during the fall, the summer and the fall before kids are going into their senior years. I do see that after the season. I've had my players that have gone on to play in college right now ⁓ have done their work pretty early before the season has gotten that out of the way. So, Marcus Montiel who's at Colby, you know, did that.

⁓ pretty much figured his out before the season started. Timmy Mulvey at Babson did that before the season started. Alex Wilkins, another one did that before the season started. ⁓ Emerson Davis from last year did that after the season. So, it's a balance, but I think a lot of them were trying to do that before and I would encourage them, especially again, with the landscape of just not knowing and ⁓ me learning that a lot of these programs are either waiting for the portal or...

getting from ⁓ lower divisions to come up. So I just try to tell my kids, just get in where you fit in and then you can figure it out and find the school, honestly, that you want to be at. And I think that's really important for our college placement is we try to get our kids there to match it up with a place that they're gonna stay for, hopefully for four years. ⁓ And I know that's not always the way in basketball. Some kids just need to get in and...

You don't maybe want to do that. And I don't knock that either way, but again for us it's a lot about just ⁓ the whole piece of the pie.

Cory Heitz (20:33)
Yeah, thanks for sharing that. Now, you guys are in Class B. You won the Class B Championship last year. You must have kids that look at you and also look at schools in single A, double A, and triple A. What do you say when people are concerned about you guys being in Class B? Because I'm sure that comes up. What do you say about competition, exposure, who you're playing against? What are your thoughts on that?

Kenya Jones (20:52)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah,

and as I just mentioned, like we play in class B, but our schedule is incredibly tough. And I've learned that way from Coach John McVeigh, my predecessor, ⁓ who always created a tough, tough schedule. ⁓ And so last year we played Brewster Academy, I want to say it was their prep team. I'm hoping to try to play them for our first game ⁓ in the Zero Gravity Tournament. But...

Through our league I say it's tough anyway, so we play in the 16 team league in the ISL That's made up of a mixture of class double a through B So we get that exposure and that competition then and then outside of that. I'm always trying to You know get games against teams that are in a or double a and so So that's important right, but even if you you're if you talk about class B. This is incredibly competitive, right? This is no there's no

There's no days off, right? And it's not to say just because you're in a class A that you mean you're going to be better than, you know, any class B team. You take a look at Rivers and what Rivers has done, you know, the last three or four years, even though they were in class B, they were knocking off AA teams and AAA teams. And so the classes really don't matter. I think for us, class size just talks about size of the school. ⁓ And, but you will get that level of competition, at least at Brooks for sure.

Cory Heitz (22:17)
Is there talk on you guys moving up a level or are you guys going to stay at B?

Kenya Jones (22:21)
We'll

stay at B. I don't think there's ever been a talk. I think it just, I think, well, you have to move up two levels. So if we're going to move up it, you have to go to AA. And I think if we go to AA, then it becomes, I think, Brooke School needs to focus more on basketball, which means that that trickles down into admissions. What kind of players are we going to get, you know, for that? And I think just by the nature of our school, you know, we're not going to focus on that. We're going to focus on everything, on all our sports and all of our activities. And so

I think B is a good place for us. It's a great place for us. And again, we're always going to compete no matter what. So even though it is class B, ⁓ we're competing. We've competed and beaten and ⁓ played against AAA through A. And they've been fine.

Cory Heitz (23:08)
Alright, what do you see as the future of prep school basketball?

Gotta get that crystal ball out.

Kenya Jones (23:16)
What do I see as the future? That's hard. I don't know. just, you and I'm gonna keep coming back to the whole school. I know for Brooks, ⁓ you're gonna have to want the whole thing. I do know, you take a look at someone like AJ DeBonsta, right? And how you have all these, you know, great schools around here, but yet he didn't stay and then wound up, you know, going out West. ⁓

I don't know, and I think it's going to maybe trickle, I think collegiate sports are gonna try to set a blueprint for that. Will that impact ⁓ the NEPSAC? It could. I think it's starting to a little bit. ⁓ You have that new academy that's being built out in Stowe, Vermont, or Stowe, Vermont, Stowe Maths. ⁓

you know that that can focus a little bit more on athletics and maybe that tries to keep the Cooper flags. I'm in the AJ DeMonsters here, but ⁓ I think that's going to for for Napsack basketball. I think that's going to be really be dictated by ⁓ you know college sports and what that might look like down the road and I don't know.

Cory Heitz (24:33)
Yeah, no one does. It's just a fun question to ponder. What does it take to play Guard at the Division 1 level?

Kenya Jones (24:41)
I think the first thing is the athleticism again. So I talked about, you know, playing at Brooks, you've got to be able to defend and rebound out of your position. ⁓ You know, I think folks think it's about, ⁓ you know, how tall you are. No, we've had, you know, especially in this league and ⁓ five, nine, five, 10 guards that have been able to play. It's the athleticism, right? You've got to be able to hold your ground and be athletic in that. The second thing is you've got to be able to ⁓ handle the basketball.

defend 94 feet. I think if you are a small guard, right, you've got to be able to be pesky. Guards are a dime a dozen. They're you get it. You get a lot. I get a lot of ⁓ inquiries about guards all the time, but ⁓ you know, can you defend your position ⁓ at the division one level? Can he be a leader? Right. Are you going to be an extension of your coach on the court and know exactly where we're running and how to get your best player? If that's not you.

or your second best player, the shot where they need it and to be able to control tempo. ⁓ But you have to have a voice. You have to be a leader for that. ⁓ I don't know very many successful point guards who are quiet. That just doesn't really make any sense. ⁓ And then if you do have some size and, you know, okay, are you able to shoot it at ⁓ a least a respectable clip? You know, you don't have to be a lights out shooter, but, ⁓ you know, can you shoot it and keep defenses ⁓ honest? I think that's...

Again, rebounding, defending out of your position, being able to shoot a little bit, but being very vocal and controlling the aspect of what's going on on the court is important.

Cory Heitz (26:18)
Thank you for sharing that. ask every coach that and every answer is a little bit different, which shows you how it's just an unexact science, right? Trying to those guards to next level. ⁓ Tell us about your work in the admission department. Like what's your role and what do families need to know if they're applying to Brooks?

Kenya Jones (26:25)
Sir, depend.

Yeah, so associate director of admissions, this might be my 10th year ⁓ in that role. And, ⁓ you know, again, what we're looking for are kids that are just going to be, you know, flexible and well-rounded. ⁓ For Brooks, you don't have to be the greatest at everything that you do, but you have to have a want and an ability to do a bunch of things. think, ⁓ you know, academically, we are, we're looking for kids that can just do our work. We're not a pressure cooker of a school.

You can certainly make it that way if you want to right if you want to take five AP classes I was an advisor of a young lady who is now a soccer goalie at USC and she had gotten You know during her junior the summer of her junior year. She had gotten the scholarship to USC and you she came back in the in the fall and was like Jones I'm taking five AP classes and I was like you don't have to you already in college She was like nope. That's what I want to do and so you know that's what she was able to do and capable of doing we are a school that ⁓

You know, it's very collaborative. So if you can take five EBE classes, great, you don't have to. If you can only take one, great, right? But we try to sort of ⁓ challenge kids academically and we want kids to, again, try new things. have ⁓ two former players, one who's at Cornell now who came here, Nomar Tahata, to really, like, basketball was his thing. I don't know if he had played football, but probably not a lot of experience playing football, but.

⁓ Because he had to do another activity, he played football, tried it, now he's playing football at Cornell, giving himself a free scholarship there. Another young man years back, he probably graduated in 2011, Jordan Johnson, same thing, came here from Springfield to play basketball. He was a basketball stud, tried football. I'm sure he played in junior high school, but basketball was his thing. played and got himself a scholarship to BYU. And so we want students to...

again to know that you're going to be a part of a community here ⁓ and gonna be celebrated for doing a bunch of things but you can also be yourself in that process.

Cory Heitz (28:38)
I love it. We're going to finish up here with some quick hitters. All right. Best player you've coached against. What since you've been at Brooks?

Kenya Jones (28:45)
as an assistant coach or a head coach?

Cory Heitz (28:49)
Let's do both.

Kenya Jones (28:51)
Sheesh. ⁓ Man, we played against a lot. the, man. The, sheesh. There's three that come to mind, but like one that was scary. mean, so Caleb Tarzewski, who wound up going to ⁓ Arizona, he was a seven foot monster. Like he was really, really, really good. Shabazz Napier was another one, but I, like Nick Stoskis trying to play against him. ⁓

that St. Mark's team back in the day like had four or five division one kids and we had to lay off one and it was when we were like, all right, let's keep Nick Stoss and he absolutely killed us and had a thunderous dunk. Like I would say probably Nick Stoss' kids would probably be our, and that's no disrespect to all the other ones that we've definitely, ⁓ you know, coached against ⁓ as a head coach.

Yeah, man, he's just torn to my side. Who's gotten better and better is Ryan Altman. Like Altman was ⁓ just such a nice kid doing it too. Ryan Altman was ⁓ just a Swiss army knife. ⁓ And I think he's gonna have a great career at Penn. was just one of those kids that no matter what you try to do, he's gonna find a way to contribute and put in that boss score. Absolutely, absolutely tough kid.

Cory Heitz (30:11)
Where did Ryan play at prep school? Okay, nice. What's your favorite movie of all time?

Kenya Jones (30:13)
Rivers, he was at Rivers. ⁓

Silence of the Lambs, that's probably why I Anthony Hawkins. Silence of the Lambs. And then Coming to America is a close second.

Cory Heitz (30:23)
⁓

geez, classics. Nice. And what are your hobbies when you're not at Brooks?

Kenya Jones (30:28)
Thank

Yeah, I like ⁓ comedy shows. I've done some open mics, stand-up comedy by myself. So I like going to comedy shows. I always go to that. ⁓ Concerts, I just like going out and seeing. And to be honest, this really hit me during the pandemic when I couldn't go out, couldn't do these things. And I was like, you know what? When I have those opportunities. So I typically just buy tickets to a bunch of concerts or shows, comedy shows.

Cory Heitz (30:38)
nice.

Kenya Jones (30:58)
If I don't go to them, I'll sell them, but I'll do that trivia. I do go out and play trivia whenever I can, travel. I love going to Europe. love going to places. Typically in March, I'll pick a place that I've never been to and I'll just pop ⁓ over and go. ⁓ But yeah, my life is just, and then hanging out with family. Family is my family.

Cory Heitz (31:23)
Who are you? Who's on your Mount Rushmore, comedians?

Kenya Jones (31:27)
Yeah, so Chappelle definitely won. Eddie Murphy too. ⁓ Richard Pryor is going to be three.

And man, sheesh, sheesh, what Bernie Mac is probably for.

Cory Heitz (31:46)
Okay, good ones. ⁓ Is there anything we didn't touch on that you want to mention while we're finishing up here?

Kenya Jones (31:56)
No, mean, you know, whatever folk write like so. I think if folks are looking for schools, every school is going to be different. A lot of schools are going to have great facilities and, you know, great buildings and things like that and look aesthetically great. But for folks that are looking for schools, you should go and visit. You should go and put feet on the ground ⁓ at those schools so you can get a sense of.

the community. know, last year I was interviewing a family or some parents and I think I asked them like, you what are you looking for out of school? And they said, when we walk around, ⁓ we're counting the smiles of the students, we're counting the smiles. And I was like, that's pretty neat. And he was like, your kids are just smiling and they don't even know that they're smiling. And so, you know, that's neat taking a look at people's faces and how people are greeting you on these campuses.

I think that's important because, ⁓ you know, like, Brooke School might not be for everyone, right? And I totally understand that. if, you know, I don't, again, I don't knock this. ⁓ If you're coming here just to play basketball, you're going to have a difficult time because we're gonna ask you to do a bunch of things. You're not gonna have a great experience. There are other schools out there where you can just do that, play that year round. But you can also do that at Brooke School, but also be ⁓ entrenched in a whole bunch of other things and be, and come out of there well-rounded. Kids say,

that when they leave Brooks, college is much easier. ⁓ Or at least their first year is much easier. And even the young lady, my young advisee who's at USC right now, again, who's playing high level soccer, she's like, college is easier than Brooks, which is pretty neat because we hold kids to a high standard here, but just to be engaged and make sure that you're balanced in everything you

Cory Heitz (33:42)
That's a great answer. Counting smiles. I'm going to use that from now on. I'll give you credit for it. Well, Kenya, thanks so much for coming on the podcast today. Appreciate you telling us about your background and about Brooks School and your philosophy. So thanks so much for coming on.

Kenya Jones (33:44)
and smiles. Absolutely. Appreciate you.

My pleasure, Cory, anytime.

Cory Heitz (33:55)
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