Which school has the best Varsity boys basketball coach/program in the region. I got a son who is in 6th grade and can play some. I want to see who the best coach/program so I can see how they play to prepare him over the next few years.

I think it would be more helpful if your son saw how they played. Are you going to watch a few games and then report back what you saw?

Don McCool

Although I am not a fan of his personality- Metress at Lake B is a very good in game coach. He will get you in a close game

Jim Smith at Chantilly
Travis Hess at Langley
Brian Metress at Lake Braddock
Kevin Roller at McLean
Chris Whelan at Herndon

All solid coaches.

I heard Chantilly coach isn't as good it's more the talent he gets and he doesn't develop them as well as they could be.You can't coach athleticism.

That's BS. The Chantilly coach has run one of the best programs for 20 years. If he wasn't a good coach, he would be there that long. he does a great job and contrary to popular belief, he doesn't always get loaded talent. They have had their down years with talent but he always gets them into the regional tournament and has them contending for the district.

The Annandale JV coach is awesome

I heard the Lake Braddock girls coach is AWESOME!!!

What about West Springfield?

Of course I bring my son with me to watch so he can learn. I'm asking around who's the best coach. Why are some people so retarded and can't just answer the question. Oh wait, this is Fairfax Underground were it's almost a requirement to have 95% of posts come from retards. My bad, my bad.

the man Wrote:
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> That's BS. The Chantilly coach has run one of the
> best programs for 20 years. If he wasn't a good
> coach, he would be there that long. he does a
> great job and contrary to popular belief, he
> doesn't always get loaded talent. They have had
> their down years with talent but he always gets
> them into the regional tournament and has them
> contending for the district.


Trust me, Coach Smith has done nothing phenominal at Chantilly. 1 region championship in 20+ years and the talent that comes up through the system, it's a breeze to make the regional tournament in a 6 team district. He had 3 D1 players in '09 and still didn't win the district championship.

Hess is the best by far. 4 straight district titles with far less talent. Whealen at Herndon hasn't proved himself yet, he had an all-state first team player, they're struggling this year with a young team.

Best current coach who gets the most out of his players is Brian Metress at LB. No one else is even close in terms of preparedness, adjusting an offense to match his player's abilities and in-game adjustments.

Also has the best staff even without the one and only Don McCool.

Red Jenkins, Woodson

To "the truth about who knows best"- Actually in 2009 Chantilly went undefeated in the District and beat Westfield in the District title game by 20+ points. In 2010 they lost the district title game in part because their leading scorer and best 3-point shooter missed the game with a sprained ankle.

Hess has had a great run but has never had a good district to contend with. The Liberty usually stinks. Chantilly has had to deal with Scotty Reynolds and Mo Hubbard, among others. Nobody in the Liberty has come close to that talent that Langley has had to deal with.

Most schools in the region would kill for the track record of Chantilly's and of Coach Smith.

And when the player returned for the region tournament, they won it all.

They never had 3 divison 1 players together at Chantilly. The year they won the region Jake Weigand missed the year with a torn ACL. Had Savage stayed his senior year, they would have but he transferred to Episcopal so he could play a fifth year.

And most schools would kill to have the talent Chantilly has coming in year in and year out. There's a reason their freshmen and jv demolish everyone every year and it's because the talent level is second to none for incoming students at Chantilly (and Westfield).

Chantilly is a great program and has been for over 20 years. They have some years where their talent is down but they are always well coached. When you look at schools like Centreville, Oakton and Robinson of similar size, why haven't they won regularly like Chantilly has? CYA can't be that much more superior than other local youth leagues. Somewhere along the way, you have to credit coaches for building programs and getting kids to play for them.

Brian Day is an assistant coach at Centreville and used to be at Westfield. All this moron ever talks about is becoming a head coach. So he interviews for the McLean job, goes back and meets with the principal for a final interview and then proceeds to turn the job down when offered. What a douche. If you don't want the job at McLean, fine, DON'T APPLY THEN! Dumb ass.

What he did was likely ensure he will never be a head coach in the region. Let's hope ADs and Principals avoid guys with shaky characters like this guy.

he missed out on a great opportunity that may never come again. McLean is a program on the rise in Division 5 and an average district. They are a playoff contender every year because of a weak D5 field. This guy blew it. Stay away if he comes looking for a head job.

Mclean is going to take a massive plummet after this year. They lose 3 of the best players ever to come through the program and will be a bottom Liberty District team next year.

I do actually credit CYA massively for Chantilly's success. THey field extra travel teams so kids come with a high level of experience into high school. What this does, is they usually win less in the county leagues but exposes the kids to higher level basketball. Unlike lets say SYA which will field one D1 team. Even the house league is second to none, you got the one spring league in the area which has talent from all over the county, and by far the most organization of any youth league. Outside of CYA, the only league that comes remotely close is SYA.

We talkin' current coaches right? Not oldies but goodies like Red and McCool.

Lake Braddock Boys has best coach. Despite lack of talent, he always gets the most out of his players, is the most prepared, the most knowledgeable, most experienced, will be competitive in every game, and if it's close, often will find a way to win.

Who cares, how many of those players will actually go on to play in college?

Answer: Very few


Basketball is certainly not the sport in the NR as it was in the past, most of the top athletes now play football in this area.

The reason why, it is because of the coaches, if you are not playing year around basketball, then most of the coaches attitude is, dont bother coming out for my team. It is too bad, they lose out on a number of great players.

McCool, Jenkins, Warren were great coaches, they had players that participated in various sports and they found a role for them.

Basketball turned into Girls travel soccer about 10-12 years ago, and it hasnt been the same since.

bb4sure Wrote:
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> Who cares, how many of those players will actually
> go on to play in college?
>
> Answer: Very few
>
>
> Basketball is certainly not the sport in the NR as
> it was in the past, most of the top athletes now
> play football in this area.
>
> The reason why, it is because of the coaches, if
> you are not playing year around basketball, then
> most of the coaches attitude is, dont bother
> coming out for my team. It is too bad, they lose
> out on a number of great players.
>
> McCool, Jenkins, Warren were great coaches, they
> had players that participated in various sports
> and they found a role for them.
>
> Basketball turned into Girls travel soccer about
> 10-12 years ago, and it hasnt been the same since.


Obviously the talent isn't the same level in this area due to private schools/academies, etc., but this forum appears to be for people who still enjoy local HS bball, not how many kids go play ball in college. You are correct that McCool, Jenkins, and Warren were superb coaches. While some coaches may take a team of guys that play only basketball, no coach in his right mind is not going to take a good athlete that can help their team. That's like saying coaches play the kids they like over kids they don't. Some of the better players are a-holes, but get playing time because coaches want to win and coach the talented players, no matter whether they play 1 sport or more or are a-holes or not.

I love Red but he never won a region title, which is amazing to think after all he did in the Northern Region and for NOVA hoops.

Doug Ewell is the best coach in NoVA!!

Ewell is ok, but there are a lot of region coaches who are better.

If your kid was that good, we wouldn't be talking about public schools.

I never said he was a super star. I'm realistic in my views and realize HS ball is likely the end of his career, if he works hard and plays to his potential. That's why I'm asking about public schools, not private. I realize the top players go play at private schools, but thanks for being a dick about it.

Basketball Wrote:
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> I never said he was a super star. I'm realistic
> in my views and realize HS ball is likely the end
> of his career, if he works hard and plays to his
> potential. That's why I'm asking about public
> schools, not private. I realize the top players
> go play at private schools, but thanks for being a
> dick about it.



If HS is the end of his career, you should be asking "which school has the best academic program in the area?" I think it is great you are interested in your son's extracurricular activities, but if you know he is done at the HS level, it really doesn't matter the coaching style of the basketball program.

Oakton boys coach is da man. He cusses out players in front of parents during the middle of games like nobody's biznass! Fantabulous to watch, especially as the parents sit there, do nothing about it, and watch their kid get humiliated. He's good at keeping talent in the program.

dabombsizzledizzlerizzlefoshizzle Wrote:
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> Oakton boys coach is da man. He cusses out
> players in front of parents during the middle of
> games like nobody's biznass! Fantabulous to
> watch, especially as the parents sit there, do
> nothing about it, and watch their kid get
> humiliated. He's good at keeping talent in the
> program.

He definitely has a mouth, but I don't think the kids really give a shit. He has fostered absolutely no passion in his players to play hard, (not that it would make much difference, given their overall lack of talent), and as someone mentioned earlier, he definitely has his favorites.

Oakton Boys BBall program is a joke. Not only compared to other schools, but even compared to their other sports in house. Brooks has gotta go. Alot of good players didn't even tryout due to the coach, I am not even sure there were cuts. JV Oakton coach seems solid though.

Bring back Mike Harris from Lee!

Herndon's coach is top right now, he just got a transfer (D1 Prospect Will Ferguson) to transfer in from O'Connell.

hoops junkie Wrote:
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> a) Herndon's coach is top right now,
> b) he just got a transfer (D1 Prospect Will Ferguson) to transfer in from O'Connell.


Considering the topic of this thread, how does (b) have anything to do with (a)?

hoops junkie Wrote:
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> Herndon's coach is top right now, he just got a
> transfer (D1 Prospect Will Ferguson) to transfer
> in from O'Connell.

LOL. He didn't persuade Ferguson to transfer. Ferguson's days were numbered at O'Connell and he ended up going to his public school. Herndon's coach had nothing to do with it.

NotGood Wrote:
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>
> He definitely has a mouth, but I don't think the
> kids really give a shit. He has fostered
> absolutely no passion in his players to play hard,
> (not that it would make much difference, given
> their overall lack of talent), and as someone
> mentioned earlier, he definitely has his
> favorites.

SSDD. Their game against Robinson tonight looked very familiar. No adjustments, no line-up changes when the starting 5 stunk it up, yada, yada, yada.

If you want your son to play in college then don't worry about high school worry about AAU. Anyone on the basketball scene today knows that recruiting happens year round when the high school teams are off. Make sure the coach doesn't have a kid on the team. And don't make decisions based on who coaches at a school now. Who knows who will be there in 3 years when he gets there.