Dwayne Pina St. George’s Coach on AA Prep Hoops

St. George’s head coach and admissions officer Dwayne Pina joins Cory to walk through one of the most complete prep school basketball journeys you will ever hear. 

Coach Pina shares exactly what he looks for in recruits, how he developed Tyler Kolek into an NBA guard, what changed when St. George’s moved from Class B to NEPSAC AA, and why physical tools now separate many Division I guards from the pack. If you are weighing AA vs single-A vs public school and care about both college placement and life after hoops, this conversation is a must-listen. 

💡Key Topics:

📌 Boston College walk-on to scholarship guard and how that shapes his advice to under-recruited players 
 📌 Coaching under Max Good, learning accountability, and five-second decision making
 📌 Ivy League basketball reality vs perception and aligning recruiting expectations with the market
 📌 St. George’s School identity: small ISL boarding school, ocean-side campus, elite signature programs, and wellness resources
 📌 Player development system: strength and conditioning, pool work, skill trainers, captain’s runs, and mandated shooting volume
 📌 Recruiting profile at St. George’s: high-character underclassmen, impact juniors like Tyler Kolek, and no post-grads
 📌 NEPSAC AA transition, schedule difficulty, and what it takes to be a Division I guard in today’s game
 📌 Admissions process, inquiry importance, and how families should approach prep applications

🏀 About Dwayne Pina:

Dwayne Pina is the Head Boys’ Basketball Coach and an Admissions Officer at St. George’s School in Rhode Island. A New Bedford native, he played at Boston College, starting as a walk-on before earning a scholarship, then coached at Rhode Island College, Bryant under Max Good, and Brown University. He now leads St. George’s in the NEPSAC AA ranks, developing high-academic, college-bound players and guiding families through the prep school and recruiting process. 

🔗 Connect with Dwayne Pina:

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwayne-pina-38a13147/
Website | https://www.stgeorges.edu/
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dpina5/
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/sgboyshoops/
Twitter | https://x.com/StGeorgeBball
Twitter | https://x.com/dpina5

🔗 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

• 3:17 Dwayne explains the pre-AAU era, Bay State Games, and early exposure
• 5:13 Dwayne shares why he believed he belonged at the Division I level
• 7:20 Dwayne talks about Max Good’s mentorship
• 7:55 Cory asks for a takeaway Dwayne still uses today
• 8:34 Cory asks about Bryant transitioning D2 → D1
• 9:24 Cory asks what families misunderstand about Ivy League basketball
• 9:39 Dwayne explains Ivy League skill level, talent, and misconceptions
• 12:25 Dwayne explains his recruiting philosophy and life at St. George’s
• 15:12 Cory asks about unique St. George’s programs
• 15:26 Dwayne lists signature programs & school culture
• 19:20 Cory asks about roster size and what type of player Dwayne recruits
• 19:47 Dwayne explains ISL rules, no PGs, few seniors, and recruiting profile
• 21:50 Cory asks about recruiting Tyler Kolek
• 21:59 Dwayne describes how Kolek arrived and why he was special
• 24:03 Cory asks if basketball IQ is something you're born with
• 24:17 Dwayne explains St. George’s shift away from required multi-sport participation
• 26:32 Dwayne explains college placement fundamentals
• 29:03 Dwayne describes placing five players last year
• 30:02 Dwayne explains spring recruiting and the transfer portal effect
• 30:36 Cory asks about class levels AA vs B vs A
• 32:45 Dwayne explains the biggest challenge of AA basketball
• 33:33 Cory asks about future of prep school basketball
• 35:09 Cory asks what it takes to be a Division I guard today
• 36:55 Cory transitions to prep school admissions
• 37:20 Dwayne explains deadlines, bed limits, and starting early

Transcript

Cory Heitz (00:00)
Welcome to this week's episode of the Prep Athletics Podcast. I'm proud to have joining us St. George's coach, Dwayne Pina. Now Dwayne comes from New Bedford, Mass and he did a walk-on spot at Boston College before earning a scholarship there. And then he coached at Bryant University when they were D2 under legendary prep school coach Max, Good. Now Max Good, we've talked about him on the podcast before. He's the guy that helped start or inspired Findlay Prep.

He's the one that helped my cousin get into prep school before he played at Purdue and played in the NBA. He coached my high school coach in college. My high school coach was an assistant for him. So Max Good has been a fixture and Dwayne played for him. In fact, Max is down in Dallas right now. I don't know when this will air, but he's from Maine, established in Maine, and he is with the Flag family, Cooper Flag's family down in Dallas for the first five games watching him and his progress. So fun talking about Max.

And then went to, ⁓ and then Dwayne went and coached at Brown University. So we talked about the Ivy League, their level, and then he's been to St. George's now for nine years. He's helped them make the transition from class B to AA, where they've been for the past two years. And he's coached NBA player Tyler Kolek And he talks about him transferring in and his work ethic. And St. George's is a beautiful school that's on the ocean in Rhode Island, and you can actually go surfing from there.

That's what kind of school it is. So anyways, got other cool programs that the school offers that were pretty neat. So I really enjoyed this podcast with coach Dwayne Pina from St. George's. And if you liked this, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don't miss out on this episode, future episodes, past episodes or bonus content we have. So thanks for joining us and enjoy the podcast.

Cory Heitz (02:03)
Wayne, welcome to the podcast.

Dwayne Pina (02:06)
Thanks for having me.

Cory Heitz (02:07)
Now, where did you grow up and what got you into basketball?

Dwayne Pina (02:12)
Oh, wow. I'm from a small city about 60 miles south of Boston. It's called New Bedford, Massachusetts. Population of about a hundred and, I don't know, twenty thousand. Urban area. Very, very, very diverse. And I mean, what got me into basketball, that was just part of sort of what we did growing up. You know, I grew up in an era where, you know, if it was baseball season, you played baseball. If it was basketball season.

You played basketball, football season, you played football. So that was just sort of my way of life, you know, whether it was, you know, various leagues around the city or at the Boys and Girls Club, but sports was just a part of who I am, part of my identity, part of the identity of everybody who I was around, you know, growing up.

Cory Heitz (03:04)
So you played all those sports,

but you gravitated towards basketball and were good enough to play at Boston College. So during your high school career, who else did you look at besides Boston College and why did you end up choosing the Eagles?

Dwayne Pina (03:17)
⁓ so, you know, around that time, so I graduated high school in 1996 and, you know, the AAU scene wasn't nearly what it is today. ⁓ you know, around that time it was the Bay State games, which were kind of like, ⁓ a local sort of mini Olympics for, for your area. And that's sort of where a lot of the exposure came from. ⁓ you know, my senior year.

⁓ I had ⁓ scholarship offers from a couple of Division II schools in the NE10. I had a lot of Division III interests, ⁓ but I personally felt like I was a Division I caliber player. ⁓ know, sometimes they say, you know, ignorance is bliss and didn't have too much guidance in the college process and just felt like ⁓ I could play at a higher level. ⁓ I would never advise anybody to go the route.

you know, that I went and kind of doing it sort of, ⁓ you know, going through that college process without much guidance. But I decided to go to Boston College just as a student with an opportunity to walk on and play. you know, I was fortunate enough to have that opportunity at the school through sort of like an open trial. ⁓ Ed Cooley, at the time, who was an assistant ⁓ a few years before he got to Boston College was actually at Stonehill. So I had a little bit of a relationship.

you know, at that point and some familiarity. ⁓ But, you know, I sort of tripped my way through, ⁓ you know, process, you know, from being a walk-on to, ⁓ you know, a scholarship, you know, athlete starter on the team.

Cory Heitz (05:02)
Nice, that's big time. what did you, mean, so you had in your mind, you could have played in that level and you just needed to believe in yourself or was there a coach that said you should do this or where was the seed planted?

Dwayne Pina (05:13)
Ha

I think it just always existed within myself. I had sort of, ⁓ people around me who were being recruited at that level that I was able to first get that firsthand gauge with, you know, some of the folks that I were playing against that I was playing against, ⁓ you know, from the Boston area, the Hartford area, ⁓

we're getting that level of recruitment. And I just, I didn't understand at the time, like, you know, like why that wasn't happening in New Bedford. ⁓ So that was sort of my benchmark. was kind of like, well, if, you know, this person can do it, why can't I? And I just kind of, you know, got locked in on tunnel vision and just went straight forward with my head and barreled down.

Cory Heitz (06:10)
Love it. And then after graduation, what'd you do before you got to Bryant in 2005?

Dwayne Pina (06:16)
so my first coaching job was at Rhode Island College, a division three school in the little East. ⁓ I was hired by Jack Perry, who's now the head coach at Southern New Hampshire. So that four, five year, ⁓ I was a part-time assistant at Rhode Island College while I was teaching at New Bedford high school. ⁓ and then I was again, fortunate enough the following year to get hired at Bryant. And that's kind of when I realized I wanted to do this, you know, full time. that.

2005-2006 season was my first sort of full-time coaching job.

Cory Heitz (06:52)
And you coach for legendary coach Max Good, which I don't know if I've told you the whole story. The reason I'm here today is because of Max Good because of how he helped my cousin, Brad Miller at MCI and how, you know, my high school coach played for him in college and coached with him. Max Good helped create Finley prep, which has helped create all the basketball academies out there. So Max Good is just a legend. We tried to get him on the podcast. He's the only guest ever that could not figure out zoom. So it's probably best.

Dwayne Pina (07:20)
Yeah, that sounds like Max, but

Cory Heitz (07:22)
Probably best for.

Dwayne Pina (07:22)
he would love to be on the podcast. I'd love to share his story. mean, he's, ⁓ you know, a treasure chest full of wisdom and incredible stories. ⁓ One of my best friends till this day, he's actually in Dallas now. He's very good friends with the Flag family. So he's there for the first five games in Dallas, but you're right. The man is a legend. And, you know, I owe a lot of my career.

and the things I've been able to accomplish with my professional career too, Coach Good.

Cory Heitz (07:55)
Yeah, what like give me one, what's your main takeaway that you still use today that you learned from Coach Good?

Dwayne Pina (08:00)
it's funny, I just actually said this the other day. ⁓ Prisons and cemeteries are full of people who make bad five second decisions.

Cory Heitz (08:10)
interesting.

I love that quote, that's great. That sounds like something would come out of his mouth. I imagine there'd be some cuss words in a weird combination in that if he was saying in the heat of the moment.

Dwayne Pina (08:15)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah. Those sets of words didn't have any cuss words. was just, you know, always an emphasis on making sure our guys are making the right decisions. And, you know, the quote doesn't have to be taken to that extent. you know, whether you're, you know, writing a paper and, you know, make sure you're using your words, you know, just so like there's a lot of different ⁓ meanings that you can take from that quote. But.

Cory Heitz (08:34)
Yeah.

Absolutely. And when

you were at Brian, you guys were starting to transition from D2 to D1, is that correct?

Dwayne Pina (08:52)
Correct. we, my first four years at Bryant ⁓ with Coach Good, actually, that had been my first three years we were in the NE10. The year before I got to Bryant, so that 04, 05 season, they were in the division two national championship. They got beat to Virginia union. And then,

There were talks after my first year being at Bryant about transitioning to Division I, but that didn't happen until three or four years after I got there.

Cory Heitz (09:24)
Gotcha, gotcha,

okay. And you went from there to Brown, right? And a lot of the kids you and I talked to, really their ultimate goal is to play in the Ivy Leagues. What do players and parents need to know about the Ivy Leagues? It's maybe not that obvious.

Dwayne Pina (09:39)
⁓ man, I guess the first thing is that the level of basketball, the level of talent ⁓ in the Ivy League probably supersedes what they think.

that it is, right? ⁓ You know, again, I'm a huge quote person and, you know, one of my favorite quotes is from Alan Stein, who's talking about, so I was on the Steph Curry video. He talks a lot about, your habits of today on par with your dreams of tomorrow? And I think kids just, you know, and family sometimes just tend to think, it's Brown, it's Harvard, it's Yale. Like, my son can play there, but like,

Those schools are playing basketball at a really really high level those schools are winning ⁓ You know ⁓ NCAA tournament games those schools are doing high majors those schools are you know very competitive with high major schools I mean if you look at the ⁓ team RPIs a lot of times the Ivy League is ⁓ You know somewhere between I don't know 9 and 13 depending on a given year, but I do think that families need to

⁓ You know make sure one of the things now as a high school coach I tell my guys is that You know if if we need to be aligned with what your college expectations are like if I think that you know You should be in the uaa or thinking uaa and you're thinking ACC. We're not aligned. That's a problem ⁓ And I think sometimes with families if if they're thinking, you know ivy and the ivy league has them pegged as ⁓ you know ⁓

Again, high level basketball at the UAA level, just using that for an example. ⁓ But they're pegged at that level than that sort of discrepancy, that delta that exists. It just makes for a long recruiting process. So I think the sooner you can get to what the market's dictating your level is, the better off the process and the smoother the process goes.

And with the, again, I always have this on the back of the mind because of my story. I'll never tell an athlete, like, don't go to school X, Y, Z. Like, that'll never come from me because of my background.

Cory Heitz (12:03)
Right.

Yeah, love it. Thanks for sharing that in the Ivies because that's a topic a lot of our kids want to get to. So, and now, yeah, they are getting better and better as each year goes on. now give us talk about your school, St. George's. Give us your pitch on St. George's as a school and then as a basketball program that you offer.

Dwayne Pina (12:25)
But one of the things with like pitches is, and this has always kind of been my style is I'm not a car salesman, right? Like I think every institution I've been at, I've sort of, think I personally have selected because of the value of the institution has and the value I think I can add. So as far as a pitch, don't have one. I just think I can present something that I truly believe in. ⁓ You know, when I left Brown,

I had a great job at Brown. I wasn't even looking for another job. Mike Martin was the head coach there. was our first season together. He was 29 years old. His career trajectory is skyrocketing upwards. So I had a good job at Brown. I was getting a little bit older. And a good friend of mine, who was also in the ISL, used to always tell me about the quality of life of these jobs.

So when I transitioned here, just, saw an opportunity. ⁓ I saw an institution that had, ⁓ whose values I was aligned of. saw an institution that, know, ⁓ recognized and appreciated, you know, having ⁓ a black man, ⁓ not only as the basketball coach, but as a faculty member in the community.

which again, that was a value that I held dear to me. I saw ⁓ an opportunity to continue to help serious basketball players that aspire to play in college who were also high academic students. So typically, St. George's, we are an all gender, nine through 12 independent boarding school. We're small, which is something that I liked.

I love the location. think our location is a huge part of our identity. ⁓ You who doesn't want to play basketball by the ocean? ⁓ So yeah, I mean, in terms of the school, I think the school sells itself. I think when I am recruiting families, know, the level of their level of interest is automatically peaked simply because of what the school is. You know, in the ⁓ independent New England, independent boarding school ethos where

you know, we probably ranked somewhere in the top third of, you know, all the schools here in New England. And then as far as a basketball program, you know, it's something that, you know, I'm proud of here that, you know, we've been able to build with institutional support. You know, my first year here, we won three games and here we are now, you know, nine, 10 years later, you know, I think we're one of the, you know, premier basketball destinations in New England.

Cory Heitz (15:12)
I love it. Thanks for sharing that. And then when you, tell people, you know, all these prep schools have different personalities, you know, and Millbrook's got a zoo, Taber's got a Marine biology lab, Berkshire's got a flight simulator. And I always mentioned St. George surfing at lunch, you know.

Dwayne Pina (15:26)
Yeah.

And we have a, we have a, we've got a lot amazing signature programs here too. So, um, yeah. And all the, I say this too, all the time, like all these schools are amazing institutions, right? Like they're all like these intentional 24 hour communities, you know, that are, were created to nurture adolescents to help them grow. Um, but like, I don't know, some of our

Cory Heitz (15:29)
Thank

Like what? What else?

Dwayne Pina (15:54)
Our school's signature program, the school owns a 70 foot marine biology vessel that it's called Geronimo that literally sails around the world with our students. We have a program, an endowed program called the Roger Scholars Program that takes, I don't know, 10 to 15 students down to Washington DC for a week where they learn all about how the government functions and they visit with high level officials.

in the White House, in the Pentagon, in Congress, et cetera. ⁓ We have another program called Dragons in Hollywood, ⁓ which connects ⁓ those of our students that wanna be involved in the entertainment industry, whether it's ⁓ theater or film, ⁓ they actually go to Hollywood and or New York City and just kind of get a feel for how that works. We have another program called Building Bridges that

I'm actually the director of that ⁓ connects aspiring educators from HBCUs to independent schools. And at the same time, it connects independent school students to HBCUs. So there's a lot going on here at the school, outside of the basketball program that we're proud of.

Cory Heitz (17:13)
I love it. Thanks for sharing those programs. That's great that that sets you apart, right? ⁓ Now one of the questions parents always ask me is what kind of development does this basketball program do with their players? So talk to me about how you get your players better.

Dwayne Pina (17:28)
Yeah, so this fall, what our fall preseason schedule looked like is ⁓ all of our, quote unquote, recruited basketball players here ⁓ all participate in strength and conditioning programs. So we have a brand new wellness center here. It was open, I think, three years ago, everything in there is brand new, beautiful facility. have three.

full-time strength and conditioning coaches. So that happens six days a week in the fall with one of the days being an active recovery day. ⁓ In addition to strength and conditioning, we're doing individual skill work with outside trainers that come in. ⁓ also doing, ⁓ we're playing pickup. We're doing, had guys have captain's practices. And then the last thing they were all responsible to do is we have a seven block schedule.

And most of our guys only take five classes, so they have two blocks off. And ⁓ we sort of have an agreement between myself and our team is that one of those blocks, ⁓ our students, our student athletes have to be in the gym just getting like volume shooting up. So collectively on a week, and we have a pool workout once a week. So collectively through the week, we have strength and conditioning. We have, ⁓ you know, they'll have an individual skill workout.

They'll have a pool workout. They'll have like an active recovery day. They'll play pickup. They'll have captain's practice. So there's a lot going on to keep our guys busy. you one of the benefits of coming to a board is who likes St. George's is the access to resources, like the court, the pool, the weight room, you know, your teachers are all a stone's throw away.

Cory Heitz (19:20)
Yeah, I love that. That's one of the big pitches on prep school is that, you know, it's right there. And you said volume, right? You have volumes of shots up. We use that all the time talking to families. That's just going to go up exponentially versus where they're at currently. So, and walk me through this, you've only got a varsity and a JV team, right? You don't have multiple teams, like two team system. Okay. So with that being said, you get, got to be more selective on who you take on and who you recruit. So what kind of player are you looking for, Dwayne?

Dwayne Pina (19:47)
⁓ So first, the way that our league and our school works, when I say league, I'm talking about the independent school league, is there's no post-graduates in our league. And then institutionally, we very, very rarely accept seniors, right? Our new enrolled seniors, no post-grads, no seniors. ⁓ As an institution, we take a handful of juniors, maybe four to eight, depending on the given year.

We'll take anywhere from like 18 to 24 sophomores and then we'll enroll about 70 freshmen. So ⁓ what I'm looking for typically is ⁓ impactful, sort of the highest level freshmen and sophomores in the country is sort of what I'm looking for because that is our main entry point. ⁓ And then sort of in addition to that, want...

High character kids, very rarely will I recruit a kid that I don't get to know sort of your parents or your guardian or an adult that's really close to you, right? Because unlike college, this is high school. I need to know what cloth you're cut from. I need to know where you come from. ⁓ So high character, the basketball component's always easy. ⁓ But finding the high character academic,

you know, student athlete who's young, you know, that's sort of our range. And then, you know, I usually get to sprinkle in a little recruit, one or two juniors. ⁓ However, that gets much more specific for me because those are like my immediate high level impact. know, Tyler Colick was that guy for me. ⁓ You know, a young man who's at Assumption right now, Taishan Pemberton ⁓ was that guy for me. So.

You know, the juniors I do recruit, like, I need all the stuff that I just described and I need impact and production right away.

Cory Heitz (21:50)
And you mentioned Tyler Kolic. Tell me his story. How did he come to St. George's and what made him special? Like what was his secret sauce that led him to the NBA?

Dwayne Pina (21:59)
Well, Tyler's recruitment story, a friend of mine actually had called me about Tyler Kolek and I didn't think too much of it at the time because his brother had just graduated, I think from St. Andrews and St. Andrews coach hard as my guy. He's done an amazing job for the past, I don't know, 30 years over there. They've been a juggernaut in New England prep school basketball. So I was under the assumption that Tyler was just going to St. Andrews. So I never really did much.

⁓ You know what the phone call that I got and then it wasn't till later in December Same friend of mine gave me a call back was like hey Tyler still open and that kind of got the ball rolling with with his recruitment ⁓ You know at the time, know, we joke about it now ⁓ Brooke school, I don't know if you know but ⁓ Coach McVeigh, I mean that Brooke school had won like 15 straight ISL championships Again, we're a juggernaut in New England prep school basketball

but it was us in Brooke's school at the time and ⁓ Tyler didn't get into Brooks, so we came to St. George's. So it was a little bit by default, ⁓ but you know, from ⁓ the time I started recruiting him, know, I just, I knew he was different. And I think what separates him is it's his mentality and it's his work ethic, right? Like, let me back it. It's his mentality in terms of like his toughness.

It's his work ethic and then it's his IQ and feel and understanding of the game, which that can't be taught. ⁓ You know, I tell people this all the time. I think sort of what like what LeBron James brings to the game of basketball, holistically speaking, Tyler Koehling brings that in the aspect of IQ and feel like his ability to see and feel the game is the highest level. You know.

but it's the 99th percentile of any basketball.

Cory Heitz (24:03)
So you think that you're born with that, you can't teach someone that.

Dwayne Pina (24:07)
What he has in terms of his field now.

Cory Heitz (24:10)
Interesting. Okay. At St. George's, you have to, do your basketball players have to play multiple sports?

Dwayne Pina (24:17)
No, they don't. And that's something that's changed since when I first arrived here in 2016, that was the philosophy. ⁓ We kind of shifted that mentality slowly and surely. ⁓ We wanted to become the school where students can pursue their passion, right? So we didn't want to somebody have to play softball if they didn't want to play. ⁓ And in doing that, we began to develop more opportunities in the afternoon.

outside of just sports. like we have a robotics program, we have a surfing and leadership program, we have a robust strength and conditioning program. like in some ways it has hurt some of our sports in terms of participation. Like, you know, we lost our softball team partly because of that. And at the same time, we also allow students to pursue their passion. So, you know, there's that balance with that.

Cory Heitz (25:13)
Gotcha. All right. Thanks for sharing that. I'm glad you guys have evolved throughout the years on that because that's what the kids coming there want to do, right? They want to play. There's pros and cons. You mentioned earlier, you play multiple sports obviously benefited you, but each situation is different. We're going to play a game now. There's no pressure. And I'm going to talk about some of the famous alumni from St. George's. I'm going see if you know them or not. All right. We got three of them and uh, there are some real famous ones, but I picked out some, I thought were interesting. So you ready to play? All right.

Dwayne Pina (25:19)
Yep.

I don't know if I

want to this game. I don't know if I want to play this game.

Cory Heitz (25:45)
Worst case, we'll both learn. Everyone will learn something, all right? Russell Train, does that name ring a bell? He founded the World Wildlife Fund. WWF, the panda that you see all over the place. ⁓ Yep, that was him. How about Clairborne Pell?

Dwayne Pina (25:47)
Awesome.

It does not.

Okay.

I do know that name very well. ⁓ Senator, ⁓ actually there's a family member still very involved here at St. George's.

Cory Heitz (26:16)
Yeah, and created the Pell Grant, which has helped kids from all over go to college. And then Howard Dean.

Dwayne Pina (26:18)
Yeah, Senator Powell,

I know him, presidential candidate. I don't remember the year, but I believe he's from New Hampshire maybe.

Cory Heitz (26:29)
He was a senator from Vermont who ran for president in 2004. you were two for three. That's a passing score. So nice work. If you guys want to know more St. George's alum, go to their Wikipedia page. It's very impressive. These were just three just to give you guys a taste of just people from different industries. So walk me through this, Dwayne. What is your college placement strategy?

Dwayne Pina (26:32)
Yes.

⁓ again, I think I touched upon it a little bit earlier. it starts with making sure that me as the coach, ⁓ whoever the student athlete is in their family, we're sort of aligned with what level, ⁓ that they're, they're seeking to play at. ⁓ the other thing that's really evolved here at St. George's is our college counseling office now has sort of, we, we've kind of, you know, tied the,

the knot between college counseling, athletics, and the family. Now, so like, it's this three pronged group that's working together to help the athlete and their family get to where they want to get. So that's first, just making sure that we're aligned. ⁓ And then, you know, I'm very familiar with a lot of the leagues in New England, you know, from, you know, the Any10 to the, you know, the UAA, Nezcak, Patriot, Ivy.

⁓ Big East, know, MAAC, CAA, ⁓ familiar with all the leagues up north. I am sort of expanding, you know, my knowledge of leagues outside of, you know, the New England and mid Atlantic area. So sort of my job is once we've kind of established a, you know, a level that we think, and then we'll also reach out to the AAU coach, right, and get them involved because a lot of

the exposure comes from the AAU scene where these guys can go play in a tournament in front of 50 coaches, whereas here at St. George's, there only may be two or three coaches in the gym. But it just starts with making phone calls, sending emails to people that I know in the leagues that I think my guys can play in. And then sort of the exposure starts to happen the spring of their junior year into the summer of their rising senior year.

And that's kind of where we really get the ball moving forward.

Cory Heitz (28:53)
Yeah, and you only having one team, you've only got a couple players to place every year, right? So your bandwidth is really focused on like what's the most you've had to place in one year, five?

Dwayne Pina (29:03)
Last year ⁓ Five of my guys got placed. Yep. Yep. So I had Three kids played Division one one kid went to URI Barrett lower Dylan Vallette went to Mary Mack young Carlos Puerto went to North Carolina A &T and then we had a kid go ⁓ Alan Wright went to Keene State and then Bryson Carter is playing football at Dayton ⁓ But I can I think the recruitment piece happens for me a lot of it happens on the front end when I'm recruiting

I'm recruiting them with like, all right, this kid high academics, you know, I'm thinking, you know, whether it's Vanderbilt, Stanford, you know, Brown, Yale, all the way down to Brandeis, you know, that's what I'm thinking on the front end. So if I do my job well on the front end, the back end, they're going to land somewhere, you know, within that.

Cory Heitz (29:55)
Right, right. And then are you seeing the timing more in the fall now? Are you placing kids in the spring? How are you doing it in your program? Or is it case by case?

Dwayne Pina (30:02)
It's, I think,

no, it's probably more so in the spring. And I think because of ⁓ what the transfer portal, what that's done to high school athletes, you know, it's kind of pushed everyone's timeline back a little bit. a handful of guys in the fall, I one kid commit to Marist in the summer in August. Last year I had one kid, like a kid who committed to, three kids commit early in the fall.

the three Division One kids, it's either the fall or the spring.

Cory Heitz (30:36)
Okay, okay. You guys playing class B in the ISL, what do you say to people who are also looking at AA, AAA, single A schools and they think that's a higher level? Like you must deal with that. So what is your, what do you say to families that are curious about classes and if it matters or not?

Dwayne Pina (30:54)
Well, first I got to correct you, we're double A. We've been double A for four years. ⁓ We made the transition, ⁓ I think it was the year after COVID. ⁓ And again, that was something that I wanted to do. I wanted to kind of create ⁓ a ⁓ more, don't want, challenge is not the right word because there's some class B and A schools that

Cory Heitz (30:58)
Sorry on that, my bad. My bad.

Dwayne Pina (31:24)
But I think the depth of the AA, probably a little greater than the depth of the class B pool. yeah, so being AA is, it's been a challenge. We've been in the playoffs each of our first four years, haven't been able to get out of the first round. Last year we were 25 and six, had a great year. Lost to Worcester Academy who ended up winning the whole thing.

But what I would say to families who ⁓ are questioning what level, think everybody wants to play at the highest level. ⁓ But the highest level, they can't take everybody. There's very good basketball at the class B level, which we were in before going AA. There's very good level of basketball at the single A level. We thought it was right for St. George's and I thought it was right for our program for us to make the move to AA.

I do think it does help the perception of the league and sort of what the league is. It does help with recruiting.

Cory Heitz (32:28)
Do you think, now this is good, so you corrected me there, but you going from B and jumping up to AA, I would assume every game now is more of a knife fight maybe than it would have been stereotypically at the B level. Would you agree to that? Or what would be the biggest change you've seen?

Dwayne Pina (32:45)
probably the the biggest challenge I would say is the size and double a in like playing against post grads more on a regular basis. ⁓ that's probably the biggest difference. ⁓ and then I would, I would agree with you that the, the double a night in and night out games, have to play 14 of them. ⁓

could be a little more of a battle than it would be if we were playing 14 class B games. Again, last year we were 25 and six, we finished 13 and two in AA. We were really, really good year. And it's sort of a tribute to our guys who just put the work in.

Cory Heitz (33:33)
Yeah, love that. Now, what do you see as the future of prep school basketball? Like in five years, if we're taught when we're talking again, like what's changing, what's been updated, what's maybe struggling.

Dwayne Pina (33:45)
Oh, well, another good question. think. So the one of the one of thing that's not changing is schools like Saint George's and other schools in the ISL, like just the tradition of these schools. We are founded in 1896. The history and the tradition like it's not going anywhere. It's just a matter of the Saint George's, you know, institutionally. What are the priorities? So I don't think that's going to change, but prep school basketball as a whole, there's.

you know, a brand new basketball academy. ⁓ I don't know if you've heard about this. I think it's being built in just outside of Boston or Worcester, ⁓ but it's going to have a sole focus. Their philosophy is going to be similar to IMG. So like, yeah, that's going to throw a little ripple and create a little ripple in the pond. But still like that school is only going to be able to take what? 10 athletes. So I mean, I don't think.

The landscape of prep school basketball in New England is gonna change much. I mean, I think it's gonna continue to excel as long as schools like St. George's are around. I that's again, similar to the Ivy League, Ivy League athletics, where are they gonna go? They're still the Ivy League. So I do think that we have a pretty solid foundation and I wouldn't see much change.

Cory Heitz (35:09)
Okay. ⁓ What does it take to be a guard at the D1 level today?

Dwayne Pina (35:22)
guard at the D1 level.

Cory Heitz (35:24)
It's a tough question, but we ask every coach, Dwayne.

Dwayne Pina (35:26)
Yeah,

it's, ⁓ you know, for, I mean, you got to have the talent, the skill level, the physical tools, I think really matter. I mean, you can have the talent skill level, but just not physically be what they need you to be. And that may prevent you from getting to that level. I think also think there's a huge difference in getting a division one scholarship offer and being able to play at the division one level.

There's a lot of kids that can play at the division one level that are at division two and at division one, right? That doesn't mean you're not a division one player. And a lot of times college coaches get it wrong. a lot of times college coaches may not do their due diligence and miss out on a kid. College coaches may go and watch a kid work out and spend 30 minutes on the phone instead of really being locked in. ⁓

Again, I think a big part of just getting to that Division I level probably has a little more to do with your physical tools, ⁓ your size, your athleticism. ⁓ Then it does with your skill set. Because there's a lot of really skilled players that can play Division I, but I think the offers come when you add that other element, that size, that athleticism, that speed, combined with those physical, with the skill set.

Cory Heitz (36:55)
Thanks for sharing your opinion on that, especially with you coaching so many D1 players throughout the years. I think that's a, and you play at the D1 level, I think you can speak as good as anyone on this. You work in the admission department, the admission department, excuse me. What do families need to know about applying to prep schools and specifically St. George? Like, is there anything, any patterns you're seeing that families just don't quite grasp or is there any suggestions you'd have for them?

Dwayne Pina (37:20)
Yeah, I mean, one, I think families need to realize and understand that it's long process, know, not as thorough as a college application process, ⁓ but it's probably more thorough than you may think. So one of the things I would recommend is to get started on the process early, you know, ⁓ engage coaches throughout the process so you can get on their radar. ⁓

you know, with schools like St. George's, you know, we don't have open enrollment, right? So we have pretty strict deadlines. Our applications are due on January 15th. Our decisions come out on March 10th. We're very healthy school. So typically, you know, by April 10th, we're full and then that's it. So like, we may not have any more beds. We may not have any more financial aid for families seeking that. So I would just say, get the process done early. I would also say,

If you are looking at prep schools and you're coming from a public school, be honest and upfront with your high school coach. The earlier you all can have that conversation, the much smoother that process will be. ⁓ And it just makes the process that much smoother.

Cory Heitz (38:35)
Interesting. Okay. And then for prep for like St. George, you know, a lot of coaches will talk to a kid and they say, just, just hit the inquire button on the admission page so we can get you in our system. Why is inquire? And this is not the application folks that takes a lot more work, but the inquiry is just putting in some basic information. Why is that important for families to do that for prep schools? They're talking to.

Dwayne Pina (38:56)
will the inquiry get you into the school's ⁓ system? And what that does, it allows the school to communicate with you. That's it. anything that's related to ⁓ academics at the school, awards, ⁓ the residential life community, ⁓ whether there's a speaking engagement at the event, ⁓ something going on with the basketball team, by inquiring that.

puts you into the school's database and then you are now, you know, enrolled sort of in their communication plan. It keeps you up to date with dates, you know, hey, you know, January 15th is coming around, you have two weeks to complete your application. So it's just the way that we can communicate with you all.

Cory Heitz (39:43)
We're gonna finish up here doing some quick hitters. Who's the best player you ever played against?

Dwayne Pina (39:51)
It's right about.

Cory Heitz (39:53)
Okay, who's the best player you ever coached against at St. George?

Dwayne Pina (40:00)
post against that St.

Cory Heitz (40:03)
Someone that just lets

you up.

Dwayne Pina (40:06)
I gotta think about that one for a second. ⁓

There's been a lot of them. Probably... ⁓

AJ DaBansta.

Cory Heitz (40:25)
Yeah, good answer. You're not the first one to say that name either. So what's your favorite movie?

Dwayne Pina (40:33)
Favorite movie of all time. Another great question. I either got to go with Training Day.

or Shawshank Redemption.

Cory Heitz (40:47)
Okay, two classics. And lastly, what are your hobbies when you're not doing the basketball or the school thing?

Dwayne Pina (40:55)
My hobbies, honestly, and it's funny because a lot of people, when you're asked that question, you feel like you have to say something. But my hobby is when I, I think there's so much going on here between work, work-life balance. When we're off, I like to do nothing. I like to just chill out, relax.

spend time downtown in Newport. ⁓ That's it. So that's what I like to do.

Cory Heitz (41:29)
I got you. I like it. Is there anything you want to touch on that we didn't talk about in this podcast?

Dwayne Pina (41:37)
No, I appreciate you having me on. ⁓ Thanks for the opportunity to talk a little bit about my story in St. George's ⁓ and prep school basketball.

Cory Heitz (41:48)
Perfect. Well, thanks for joining us today, Dwayne. And if you guys like this podcast, be sure to subscribe on all the major podcasting platforms. Subscribe to YouTube and go to our homepage, prepathletics.com and reach out to us. If you have any questions about the prep school world, we'd be happy to help you. If you're interested in St. George's, all of Dwayne's contact information will be in the show notes below. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time on the Prep Athletics podcast. Take care.