Coach Kurt Steiner: The MacDuffie School AA Player Development

Coach Kurt Steiner is the head coach at The MacDuffie School, where he is building a legitimate NEPSAC AA program the right way. In this episode, Kurt breaks down how The MacDuffie School develops players day to day, why the 5:30 AM gym slot reveals everything about work habits, and how measurable testing drives accountability. He explains how The MacDuffie School’s open gyms, structure, and culture help college coaches evaluate players honestly, and why placement today is about fit, timing, and trust rather than labels.

 💡Key Topics:
 📌 NEPSAC AA basketball development model and daily gym culture
 📌 5:30 AM skill work, strength training, and measurable progress testing
 📌 Open gyms for college coach evaluation plus film that carries weight
 📌 College placement strategy in the transfer portal era and spring recruiting
 📌 D1 vs D2 vs D3 fit, where you are wanted, and long term outcomes
 📌 What coaches look for: work habits, defense communication, academics, character 

🏀 About Coach Kurt Steiner

Coach Kurt Steiner is the head basketball coach at The MacDuffie School, where he has built a NEPSAC AA program centered on daily habits, measurable development, and honest college placement. His background in grassroots and AAU basketball shapes The MacDuffie School’s player-first approach.

🔗 Connect with Coach Kurt Steiner

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/_coachkurt_/
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/macduffiehoops/
Twitter | https://x.com/MacduffieHoops
Website | https://macduffie.org/
LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurt-steiner-a777b1b2/

🔗 Connect with Cory:

Website | https://www.prepathletics.com
Twitter | https://twitter.com/PREP_Athletics
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/prep.athletics/
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/PrepAthletics
Email | coryheitz@gmail.com
Phone | 859-317-1166

🔖 Subscribe to the PREP Athletics Podcast:

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Chapters

• 2:12 Attending four colleges in five years and adaptability
• 3:11 Building AAU programs and recruiting relationships
• 3:47 How Kurt landed the job at The MacDuffie School during COVID
• 4:34 What attracted him to The MacDuffie School’s long-term vision
• 5:17 The MacDuffie School pitch to families
• 5:45 On-campus culture and expectations
• 7:53 The 5:30 AM gym slot and daily accountability
• 8:35 The MacDuffie School’s development plan: testing, lifting, skill work
• 10:42 Post-grad years and recruiting in the portal era
• 13:16 What Kurt recruits: habits, discipline, defense communication
• 16:15 The MacDuffie School’s college placement strategy
• 21:16 Why patience matters in spring recruiting
• 25:32 NEPSAC AA advantages for The MacDuffie School players
• 30:03 Future of prep basketball

Transcript

Cory Heitz (00:00)
Welcome to this week's episode of the Prep Athletics Podcast. I'm proud to have on Coach Kurt Steiner from MacDuffie Now, Kurt grew up in the Worcester area, his parents were coaches and he grew up around the game, grew up playing AAU for Worcester Academy coach, Jamie Sullivan. And then after college, he helped create some AAU programs before taking over MacDuffie. And he's been there for about five years now. He plays in the Nepsac AA, which is a grind. He talks about the development of his players.

what you have to do as far as do you have to play other sports, what academics do post-grads do, how he develops his players, his philosophy on placing kids in college in this day and age. And we get into it. So I'm excited to have Kurt on the podcast. If you like this, please share our podcast with someone who might not be listening to it right now so you can learn more about the prep school world and these amazing coaches that are out there. So enjoy our podcast with Coach Kurt Steiner here in the Prep Athletics Podcast. Thanks for tuning in.

Cory Heitz (01:19)
Kurt, welcome to the podcast.

Kurt Steiner (01:21)
Cory how we doing? Happy to be here.

Cory Heitz (01:23)
Doing good.

Yeah, good to have you here. And real quick, want to just do some background on you. Where did you grow up and what got you into basketball?

Kurt Steiner (01:30)
Love it. No, was born and raised in Worcester. ⁓ I lived in Rutland for quite a bit. Both my parents were college basketball coaches, built a rec program, ⁓ got into a lot of inner city basketball under Jamie Sullivan. ⁓ And I've had a lot of friends in this business and, you know, a good friend of mine, Pat Ackerman, was one of the kids I grew up with who was assistant coach with Arkansas and Nevada.

And we were just kids that would jump around from gym to gym working on our game. And some days we would go to New York City to play at West 4th, Rucker Park to play against good competition. And that kinda stirred my passion and love for the game.

Cory Heitz (02:12)
And after high school, where'd you end up going to college?

Kurt Steiner (02:15)
So I was one of those players that experienced the Portal world before the Portal was a thing. I went to four different colleges in five years and I graduated at University of New England, played under Ed Silva. And yeah, I had a great experience there.

Cory Heitz (02:33)
Did when you transferred, did you have to sit out of here at these places or there are different rules that allowed you to do four schools in five years?

Kurt Steiner (02:39)
Yeah, I

didn't have to sit out. ⁓ The only time I had to sit out was the year, my third year when I transferred from Fitchburg State to UNE. Because I had some credits that I had to roll over that didn't match what UNE had to offer. So I was lucky. I tried to actually get another year back because I didn't play. Technically, I sat out a year because I had an injury. So I played under

The 8 game rule.

Cory Heitz (03:11)
Gotcha, gotcha. And then when you graduated college, you did some work with the swarm AU program in Maine and in the Midwest. And what were your big takeaways from from from helping set that up?

Kurt Steiner (03:22)
Yeah, no, it really taught me a lot of patience, ⁓ working with kids and families with all ages. And it helped me build my network, It built a network all over areas that I didn't have a network, right? And that's helped me here at McDuffie with recruitment.

Cory Heitz (03:42)
Nice, nice. Now, you mentioned McDuffie. When did you get the job and how did you get it?

Kurt Steiner (03:47)
Yeah, so I got the job actually it was during a period when I wasn't in grassroots basketball. It's when COVID was ⁓ in 2019 going into 2020 and nothing was happening right in grassroots basketball and wasn't a good time to be an AU coach. I got the job. Coach Boswell took a risk on me. He worked under Dan Hurley at URI and I knew I had to stand out, you know, because I wasn't coming from.

you know, a college program. ⁓ I was coming from AAU world, right? So I messaged him a thousand times and had a lot of my references, you know, all my referrals reach out to vouch for me and he gave me the job and I'm grateful ⁓ forever, you know, for that opportunity.

Cory Heitz (04:34)
What was your why?

Why did you go after me that hard? What was it about McDuffie that you wanted so bad?

Kurt Steiner (04:40)
Yeah,

I'd say the Nepstack AA, right? The Nepstack League. mean, it's coaches. Coaches come here from Division I programs. I mean, you got coaches that have been here for 20 to 30 years. you know, especially one of my mentors, Jamie Sullivan, right? You know, seeing that firsthand when I was playing for his AAU team, right? At Worcester Academy. I was just hungry to develop and coach, you know.

better talent, right? I wanted to train and coach, to get scholarship like guys, right?

Cory Heitz (05:17)
Have you beaten Jamie yet in your competitions?

Kurt Steiner (05:19)
Jamie, we have it. We have it because, ⁓ you know, had Trey Norman, Kavon Mulready, the powers. We've been close. This year, against when they had Amir, I mean, we're at halftime. I think we're down by five or six. It's been tight battles, you know, so we definitely got a chip on our shoulder over here. We're hungry for some comeback wins, so.

Cory Heitz (05:45)
Okay, and now McDuffie, tell us about McDuffie as a school and then tell us about your program. Give us your pitch. Like what do people need to know about each?

Kurt Steiner (05:53)
Yeah, absolutely. No, McDuffie's a great, you know, we're an academic school, ⁓ liberal arts driven, right? So when you come here and to graduate, you need your 15 cores, but also two performing arts credits, ⁓ which we love because, you our guys are taking public speaking and, you know, they might have to do a little, ⁓ do a little theater where they have to perform in front of 30, 40 people, but ⁓ that builds confidence, right? Especially with, you know, college interviews and.

I always say like, if you're gonna be an engineer and you're gonna start a company, right, you're gonna need to pitch this to investors, right, to get your series funding, series A, series B, right? So start getting that experience now, breaking that ice and building that confidence in those courses. Definitely help mold our student athletes. And then our basketball program, right? We're guys, you know, have full-time coaching staff here now. In the past, we didn't, we changed that, so.

My assistant coach Jared Exler, he's a scouting monster. He's a guy that's really experienced in that field. And ⁓ he picked up a couple roles here where he's full time. And same with, we have an independent team, Coach Kravchuk. ⁓ He played at UNE as well. And he's ⁓ full time here. So you get a full time coaching staff ⁓ that actually lives.

campus as well, right? So all our coaches and all the boys that are boarding here, we all live on one floor. we, you know, we're focused on the process and, you know, we're focused on getting better each day, right? So I'd say self-development and being obsessed with self-development, getting better each day is our focus, our sell here, right? Because we ⁓

We can get in the gym from 5.30 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day and there's nothing better than that.

Cory Heitz (07:53)
But is there no girls teams or volleyball teams you got to compete with or or how do you.

Kurt Steiner (07:57)
We have volleyball,

we have some girls teams and we work around that. So I love the 5.30 a.m. slot, right? To see which guys are hungry, which guys want to get better. And what's great about living on campus is that you get to see everyone's habits, right? On a daily basis. So, I mean, we're a process-oriented team and we have a mindset of being the hardest working team in the country each day. Focus on each rep, each drill.

Cory Heitz (08:14)
Right.

Kurt Steiner (08:27)
right? And control what we control in that day, right? And just being the best version than we were yesterday. So.

Cory Heitz (08:35)
So get more specific on that, Kurt. Families want to know what each school does in terms of development. So what do you say to families when they ask you that?

Kurt Steiner (08:41)
Right.

Yeah, absolutely. So when you first come in, we like to evaluate, you know, we do kind of like an NBA draft combine, right? So we do all the tests, right? To see where your verts at, right? Your height, your weight, we do before and afters, right? Because we want to show coaches your progress here. So we lift, we have a cap that we have all our boys sign up for. It's extracurricular ⁓ activity after school.

which is a strength and conditioning cap, right? So we lift Monday, Wednesday, Friday is after school. We get in the gym Monday through Thursday at 5.30 a.m. for skill work. And, you know, with our class schedule, we have free blocks, right? It's a rotating block schedule. And in those free blocks, right, you can go and get extra help with academic support. You can go to the gym, right, to get, them rhythm reps, right? Get a lot of shots on the shooting gun.

We try to aim for 3000 makes a week game like all right, and that's everyone has a different load of that Obviously, we don't want our our big shooting threes We want to work on their hook shots, right? And then we have open gyms where college coaches come out and see our players and we have those about three to four times a week and that's where our captains run those open gyms and they're playing live 5e5 and what's great about that you see

You get to put these boys in front of coaches, right? And they get to market their talent and you get to see the intangibles, right? And we always preach that the quiet gyms are losing gyms, right? So when you come to our open gyms, they're loud, right? You'll come in with a roster sheet with their wingspan, their height, right? All the guys are wearing jerseys with numbers on them. So ⁓ you see a lot of open gyms around here and we wanted to add a little spice to ours.

Make sure it's clean and mean and coaches come here and get a fair evaluation.

Cory Heitz (10:42)
Yeah, love it. Thanks for explaining that. Now for your post grads, what do they do academically at Mcduffy?

Kurt Steiner (10:49)
Yeah, so we offer AP courses. ⁓ We take domestic post-grads. We can't take on internationals. We like to call it reclass seniors. ⁓ But in this, in the college portal world, we've kind of changed our recruiting landscape and we're going after post-grads now, right? Because a lot of kids are looking into prep schools for that extra year, right? Because college basketball, it's turning into a pro sport. I mean, you got...

It's an older league and I mean you see you got G League guys going back to college and we're still on the fence about this this fifth year eligibility thing so we're just We're just trying to adapt, you know ⁓ with this with this new world and trying to offer a great experience ⁓ for the high school kids, so Yeah

Cory Heitz (11:44)
Love it. If a basketball player comes to MacDuffie, do they have to play multiple sports or can they just focus on basketball?

Kurt Steiner (11:51)
They can just focus on basketball, right? So our two top teams, our AA team and our independent team, our school realizes, right, it's like juggling two full-time jobs at this level, right? So they understand that playing another sport can just add on to their load, especially, you know, for our top guys that are playing, you know, in AAU, right? When they're playing, when they have to travel, when it comes circuit season in the spring, so.

We ⁓ built another piece in our model that you can play AAU in the spring and it works, right? ⁓ Me and our coaches, right? We'll drive you to the airport, we'll carpool, right? We'll get you to point A to point B during AAU season. And the faculty here and our head of school, Steve Griffin, has been a huge support ⁓ for our guys, you know, because they understand they're juggling a lot, you know? ⁓

I wish there was less basketball, honestly. wish, you know, our motto in August is shut everything down, right? August, rest the body, right? Spend time with family, disconnect a little bit, right? You know, still have a ball in your hands, right? Maybe get some rhythm shots, but have fun, relax, be a kid, right? And then when you step on campus in September, we're back to work.

Cory Heitz (13:16)
Love it. Now when you're recruiting for McDuffie and for your team, what do you ideally want in a player?

Kurt Steiner (13:23)
Say that again, sorry.

Cory Heitz (13:25)
When you are recruiting players for your team, what do want to play? Is there a certain skill set, certain personality set, character? What's ideal for you, Kurt?

Kurt Steiner (13:33)
Absolutely. Well, I'm a blue collar guy. You know, I grew up working on an alpaca farm in the early mornings before high school and I want workers, right? I want guys that are disciplined I want guys that don't need a trainer all the time, right? Guys that get in the gym by themselves that are obsessed with Figuring it out on by themselves. Obviously we're there to guide them right show them drills and show them things that they need to work on But I want guys that talk

Cory Heitz (13:39)
Thank

Kurt Steiner (14:03)
on defense, we don't want any mutes, right? We want guys that are loud, guys that bring a lot of energy, and then guys that just got great character, right? ⁓ They're great in the community, guys that are an extended version of us and what we believe in, right, on and off the court. Because if you're a liability in the classroom, you're be a liability on the court. So grades are huge, right? Those teacher comments, those effort grades, we look into that, right? We dive deeper.

than ⁓ some other programs maybe, you know, just because it's really important that we have good character kids and guys that just want to work hard and develop. ⁓ We love the guys that have a little chip on their shoulder and that want to prove themselves on this stage.

Cory Heitz (14:47)
Yeah, that's a good success for ⁓ a good formula for success there Kurt. I love that. The gritty player. Yep. What do you say to families to ask you about playing time before they commit to you?

Kurt Steiner (14:52)
Absolutely.

Yeah, no, playing time's not guaranteed, right? If you produce, you play, right? And like I said, being on campus here 24-7 ⁓ with our staff, you get to see everyone's habits, right? And we do weekly meetings, checking in with our guys to, you know, to go over those habits. What can we do better, right, than last week? Or what do we need to get rid of, right? Maybe we need to put down the fruit loops, right? I see you eating a lot of desserts in the cafeteria, right?

Are you hydrating during the day? ⁓ Little things like academic support. We get emails from our teachers, from our faculty. If you dip below a 75 % or if you're tardy to class, I get an email right away so we can sit down and talk and support the student in any way we can. And that's been a huge success for us. Because qualifying at the next level,

For your core classes to be above a 2.3 GPA, right? It can get scary sometimes for a couple guys if you you get a D, right? So we have those those those communication lines in place to make sure You know our guys can be successful through the process

Cory Heitz (16:15)
Yeah, perfect. ⁓ What about when I say hypothetically, Kurt, I commit to play with you, right? And I'm gonna come to McDuffie. ⁓ Walk me through the conversation you have with players and their families about placement in college. Like, what do you do as a staff to get me, Cory, ⁓ I want to say I want to play on an East Coast school, ideally try D1, try to get a scholarship, you know, I the best fit, but walk me through your strategy for placing kids in college.

Kurt Steiner (16:43)
Yeah, I mean, it's a case by case situation. Obviously, talent level matters, ⁓ Grades, right? How do your transcripts look? Because that can shut some doors, right, for certain schools. ⁓ You know, with, you know, if you have Ivy League grades, right? know, Ivy League schools don't offer full scholarships. And I think some parents think, right, ⁓ D1 and D2s, they offer full rides, right? And there's a lot of D2s out there.

that are state funded, right? And they rely on in-state financial aid, right? And some D2s only have a couple scholarship spots, right? And same with, you know, in division one world, right? They're not recruiting a lot of freshmen. I mean, not recruiting a lot of seniors out of high school, right? They might have one or two spots, but, you know, for us, it's, you know, which school shows you the most love? Which head coaches are coming to the gym?

Right? Which guys are showing you the attention, which guys are inviting you on campus for a visit. Right? ⁓ We do cold calling, we send emails out, and our biggest thing is like, hey, you need film. Right? You come here and you develop good film. That's reputable film in our league because you're going against scholarship like guys every single night. We play 30 games and every game we play there's a scholarship kid. Right?

on that roster. that film that we have, we have a travel camera everywhere we go. We have huddle in our gym. And I think that's the biggest thing right now ⁓ is developing good film, right? And it's not all about stats, it's playing the right way, right? Do you get it done on both ends of the floor, defensively and in offensively? Can you execute on the fly, right? And with colleges, right? It's...

Do you have the major that you want to take? Right? Because sooner or later the ball is going to stop bouncing. Right? And sometimes that Division I fit, yeah, it's Division I and this is your dream. But maybe that Division I program has a losing record and maybe the coach is on the way out. Maybe it's better to go to Division II where it's a winning program. The coach has been there for 20 plus years. And hey, that could be a...

great fit for you to develop, produce for a couple years and then maybe move up to a Division I program. So there's different ways. ⁓ It's a case by case, right? Depending on the player. And you know, we're seeing a lot right now is just finding the right fit. Go where you're loved, right? Where you're wanted. if you, know, for me it was the area, right? I loved UNE because I had the beach right there. I had the mountains. I loved the outdoors and

I could work at a restaurant down the road. ⁓ So it really depends on the kid and the family and what they're looking for. And some of our international guys fit well in the NAI league just because they offer more financial aid than some of the D3s. ⁓ And we get those guys, those in-betweeners, some could fall D1, D2, or D2, D3. They're right on that line.

Cory Heitz (19:54)
Right.

Kurt Steiner (20:07)
⁓ Just making sure the overall fit works for them.

Cory Heitz (20:12)
I love it. And I love what you said about the D1, right? Like you look at the bottom 50 schools and the RPI every year, know, some are slipping, some are there consistently and yeah, it might be D1, but does anyone care on campus about the team? Is the coach in the hot seat? What's their tradition there? Are they ever going to even sniff their conference tournament? Like these are things.

Kurt Steiner (20:25)
Right. Right.

Right.

Cory Heitz (20:32)
that it sounds like you educate your families on versus a D2 that has fan support, winning coach, might have a chance to to the tournament. Things I'm glad you mentioned these families because that D1 or Bust mentality, there's some not great D1 programs out there.

Kurt Steiner (20:47)
Absolutely. And even on the D3 side of things, a lot of people don't know about the Calvin and Hope rivalry in Michigan. And those stadiums fit thousands and thousands of people. ⁓ And even in New England, there's so many staples. And there's great coaches in this area. And for me, Division III basketball in New England was just a great experience. ⁓

Cory Heitz (20:59)
Yeah.

Kurt Steiner (21:16)
You know, we try not to fall in love with the numbers, right? You know, but you know, it's a huge stress for kids these days, right? Because our biggest thing is teaching them patience, right? Because now a lot of our guys, I would love for all my guys to be committed before November, right? But we're seeing, you know, 95 % of our guys are gonna be placed in the spring.

Cory Heitz (21:30)
Yeah.

Kurt Steiner (21:42)
And that's just the feedback we received from college coaches. Like, we don't know how our roster is gonna shape up with the transfer portal. We don't know who's leaving, who's staying. ⁓ So patience is huge. And I don't know, I think it's a blessing in disguise for us because it gives us more fuel, more motivation in the season to win games, to produce good film. So as a coach, it's...

Yeah, it can be a little stressful, but at the same time, I think we have a really good purpose. We got some drive, we got some fire in us to market ourselves on those showcase stage like ZG Prep Classic or Scholar Round Ball or the MPSI's, the basketballs, right? ⁓ Hopefully next year we can get into the national prep showcase at Alberta's Magnus. And ⁓ I plan on being here.

till I die, right? So we want to build something, know, build a stage for, for, you know, kids to, to showcase themselves, right? And, you know, building those relationships with the guys that run those showcases and building relationships with coaches and, know, just the other day we called over 80 schools in the division two world, cold Colin, right? And it was funny to see, ⁓ just because, you know, for me, if, know, the bigger my network grows, you know, the more opportunities

more opportunities these guys are going to get and me and my assistant were cold calling. It was funny. All the guys that have been there for 20 plus years, all the old timers, right? I got a lot of respect for them. They're answering their landline phone, right? Their desk phone. And some of the guys aren't answering, right? And so we tried different ways, over the email and cold calling, right? Going to different events, reaching out to coaches just to see where they're at and what they're looking for.

Cory Heitz (23:37)
Kurt, when you talk to those AD coaches or you call them, what was the general sense you got from the D2 coaches? Were they interested? Were they looking for transfers?

Kurt Steiner (23:45)
Yeah,

honestly, they respected it, right? They respect the hustle, right? They respect the, you know, in this day and age, it's tough to get recruited, right? And no, I got a lot of great feedback. know, every 50 calls, I'd maybe get five answers, but it was better than nothing, right? And I think that was the sales background in me. literally were just sitting around like, you know what? Let's just call these guys. Let's see, like.

We don't care if they're in Kentucky or Iowa, Dakotas, wherever, you know, we're gonna find an opportunity for these guys. ⁓ you know, the landscape has definitely changed quite a bit, but if there's a will, there's a way.

Cory Heitz (24:31)
You know, when I was, uh, started coaching in Kentucky in 2008, we had a pretty good couple of pretty good players on our team and I didn't know anything. And I called everybody Duke, Oklahoma States, uh, Florida. knew Kentucky cause they were just around the corner. Um, and I didn't know any better, but you know what? There are still some contacts I made in 2008 that I'm still friends with that have now worked their way up the coaching tree. One of them is Jamie and Christian, right? It was now the head coach at Bryant.

Kurt Steiner (24:59)
Wow.

Cory Heitz (25:00)
He was an assistant

Kurt Steiner (25:00)
Yeah.

Cory Heitz (25:01)
at, I think William and Mary back then, and he drove nine hours to see the player I called him about. And I didn't waste his time. That player ended up going to Virginia and starting first game as a freshman. ⁓ and now Jamie and you know, we've been buddies, ⁓ you know, our families have hung out and, ⁓ he's now head coach working his way back up the ranks. So I don't ever forget those guys, right? I emailed all the Ivy assistant coaches. One called me back.

Kurt Steiner (25:24)
Right. Right.

Cory Heitz (25:27)
Right. And now I got a relationship

Kurt Steiner (25:27)
Right. Right.

Cory Heitz (25:28)
to him to where if I got an Ivy type player, guess who's getting called first. Right. So this game's all about relationships. I love that you're cold calling. I think it's important and it's simple, right? It's basic communication. Obviously these coaches are getting inundated from all angles. So there, I don't envy them one bit, but ⁓ I'm glad you're doing that. That shows a lot of moxie right there. ⁓ Yeah. Tell me about the Nepstek AA and the advantages of that.

Kurt Steiner (25:32)
Exactly.

I appreciate it.

Yeah.

Nepstack AA is competitive, right? I think my first year I witnessed Cal Flappowski doing up and under, throw the ball off the backboard and dunk on one of our bigs, right? ⁓ It makes me a great coach, honestly. I mean, it puts us in the film room constantly because we're going against high IQ coaches, right? Coaches that...

have coached at the Division I level and coaches that ⁓ have great systems, right? ⁓ You I remember going up against Coach Mannix at Wilberham Munson. He pulled out the extended 2-3 zone that, you know, Joe Gallo at Merrimack runs. You know, the next day I'm running, I'm watching Merrimack versus anybody on, you know, how those teams beat Merrimack in that zone, right? You know, little things like that.

challenges us as a coach, but it makes us better and it makes us us hungrier to prepare our teams for that and it's been a great experience. I mean, it's it's like a brotherhood, you know, these coaches are close knit. We're on a group chat. We're all we all have the same goal like to get these kids to help them get to college, right? Prepare them for college and we all share the same passion and love for it. And, you know, it takes it takes a special person to work in this prep school world, right? Because

You gotta wear different hats and on top of that coach high level basketball, right? And then drive three hours and three hours back and in two days you got a game against a four star. So and a lot of that too is preparing on the fly. It's hard to get film on some teams too earlier on the season. So a lot of it's not overthinking and just playing, bringing effort and energy and make sure we execute and not beat ourselves, right? So. ⁓

It's been fun. I love it. I don't see myself leaving this world. ⁓ It's hard. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. I just love it. I love the challenge and I love New England basketball. If you're a basketball guru, this is the place to be.

Cory Heitz (28:12)
Mm-hmm is if you could change one rule in the NEPPSEC, what would it be?

Kurt Steiner (28:17)
⁓ I think Nepsack double-A should go 20 minutes instead of 18 ⁓ One rule I'm pretty happy. I mean I haven't I Think you know, I'd love to see more showcases, you know more events around here to bring some college coaches out, right? I don't think NPSI is running anymore Much. Yeah, I'm not sure I haven't heard

Cory Heitz (28:22)
Mm-hmm.

no kid. We're done?

Kurt Steiner (28:47)
But, no, I think there's more opportunities like that. Yeah, I think it's really cool what they're doing with the basketball league, with the New England basketball league, with Cushing, Bremer, and Katz, right? You see a lot of these sneaker companies getting involved too, so I think this...

this world's gonna change a little bit, but I think we're right there. I see us, I would love to eventually move up, but we got some things to do here in the AA and we're building that model right now where we have four teams here and ⁓ our second team now just joined the ⁓ New England Independent Prep League, so that was a huge jump for us. ⁓

We're getting a lot more kids applying to our school that want to come here for basketball and want an extra year. That just stems from the culture that we're building here and the love that we have for the game and the love we have for the process, right? We're obsessed with just trying to guide these student athletes to their dream, right? And it's, yeah, like I said, I'm having fun with it.

Cory Heitz (30:03)
Alright, what about the future of prep school basketball? What do you see changing in 5 to 10 years, if anything?

Kurt Steiner (30:10)
Yeah, I definitely see these, you know, the Nike, you know, Scholastic, Adidas, maybe some of these sneaker companies getting involved, building these leagues out, right? ⁓ I try not to focus too much on that, right? ⁓ You know, I try not to live in the past, live in the future. I try to stay present, but we try to keep adapting and, you know, I think a lot of these...

This is going to be bigger schools, right? You got the master school being built, right? You see some big prep schools moving up. they're going to definitely take some of the top talent. So I think these prep schools got to get a little creative on how they can keep the talent and ⁓ how can they adapt and improve as well. ⁓ I'm curious to see where the league goes. And that's where...

We're huge advocates of the NEPSAC. We want it to stay around. We want to keep it alive. As the younger generation coaches, we thrive on social media and try to keep out pumping out content to keep educating the young future kids about this league and the history behind it. I hope we don't...

get pushed out by some of these sneaker companies. But ⁓ I feel like the Nepstek's been around forever where it'll never be pushed out.

Cory Heitz (31:43)
What does it take to be a D1 guard?

Kurt Steiner (31:46)
Oh, do you want guard? You got to do everything, right? You got to be great passer with your left and right hand out of the pocket. You got to be able to shoot deep, right? You got to be able to make reads off the pick and roll, right? You got to be a pesky defender. You got to be a guy that can defend 94 feet. And I think the intangibles, right, you see with Division I scholarship guards is their work ethic day in, day out, right? Those are the guys that are.

or at the 5.30 a.m. early mornings, late nights. And someone that's a pass first guard, someone that sets up the table for their teammates to eat before they get theirs. And a guy that's obsessed with watching film, dissecting film, because I always say the point guard is an extended version of the head coach. We have to be on the same page.

our two point guard here is Keyshawn Joyner and Patrick Sagna and the two hardest workers on our team, right? And I would say I'll put Elijah A. Returner there too. He's a combo guard for us. ⁓ He actually recently got an offer from Air Force. You might see him in Colorado Springs. But no, those are the two hardest working guys, like high IQ, right? They know how to...

Cory Heitz (32:55)
⁓ great.

Thank

Kurt Steiner (33:07)
Defend ball they know how to ice screens. They know how to hedge blitz right they understand drop coverage Right ⁓ and offensively they got to learn how to use the screens right how to snake it reject it right make those pocket passes make those lobs ⁓ Yeah, be an elite shooter right develop don't develop a floater game right be able to finish with the trees playoff two feet right we're big on we love ⁓

We love Jalen Brunson's game, right? Playing off two. ⁓ Yeah, especially, you know, being skilled with both hands, right? Pass, shoot, right? And finish with both hands, right? You gotta be in the best in shape, right? That's an elite. You gotta be obsessed with the iron, the weight room, right? And all those pieces come together, right? You're go Division I.

Cory Heitz (34:03)
Okay, we're going to finish up with some quick hitters now. Okay, this is the best player I ever played against.

Kurt Steiner (34:06)
Yeah, let's do it.

Best player I ever played against, Andre Drummond.

Cory Heitz (34:13)
⁓ good answer. Best player you've coached against at the prep school level. Okay. Favorite movie?

Kurt Steiner (34:16)
Ciao, Fulkowski.

Favorite movie. Miracle on Ice. Love that movie.

Cory Heitz (34:24)
Okay, and then what are your hobbies?

Kurt Steiner (34:28)
What are ⁓ your ⁓

Cory Heitz (34:31)
I'd be simp size hoop. Yeah, that's obvious. That's your hobby, but like outside of that

Okay, and is there anything you want to touch on we didn't mention in this podcast?

Kurt Steiner (35:00)
I keep an eye on McDuffie this year. We've got a great group, a bunch of seniors that are motivated ⁓ and we're trying to win this year. We haven't made playoffs. ⁓ I don't think McDuffie's made playoffs since the Book Night era and the Mari Spellman era. So that's been our motivation. It's championship or bust for us.

Cory Heitz (35:24)
Alright, perfect. if people are interested in learning more about McDuffie, we're going to have everything, all your contact information in the show notes. But if they want to reach out to you and learn more about potentially joining your team, what's the best way to do that?

Kurt Steiner (35:31)
Love it.

Yeah, definitely. At McDuffie Hoops on Twitter and Instagram, right? My cell email. ⁓ Our phones are attached on our hip, right? In this business, you got to always answer calls, right? So it's we take pride in that. So.

Cory Heitz (35:54)
Well, Kurt, thanks so much for coming on the podcast. It's a pleasure. I'll be a couple of weeks. I don't know when this airs, but we'll be seeing each other in person a couple of weeks on your campus. I'm looking forward to that and good luck this season in the AA.

Kurt Steiner (35:57)
Appreciate the cord.

Yeah, thank you, Cory. I look forward to seeing you too.

Cory Heitz (36:09)
Alright, if you guys like this podcast, what I'm going ask you to do today is share it with someone you know that might find this interesting and helpful. And if you have any questions on the prep school world, reach out to us, go to prepathletics.com. My email is on there, my phone number. And if you're curious to see if this is a good fit for you, click the free assessment and we'll get back in touch with you to see if MacDuffie or other schools up there might make sense. So thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time here on the Prep Athletics podcast. Take care.

Kurt Steiner (36:37)
Thank you.