Varsity Basketball Coaches

Head Coach: Jason Coulombe, at KENT since 2008
Assistant: Nick Wilbur, at KENT since 2011

Message from the Coach:
Kent Basketball continues to reinforce its position as one of the premiere prep programs in the northeastern United States, and among the best blends of on-court excellence and academic preparation in the country.  It is our strong belief that, because of Kent School’s tremendously high standards of academic achievement and character—not in spite of them—our boys’ basketball program should set the bar for all other New England schools.  Our focus is to attract, challenge, and support young men of special character, superior physical talent, and intellectual acuity in helping them reach their potential in all facets of their lives.

The Kent boys’ basketball program is designed to prepare young men to succeed at the college level—athletically, academically, and socially.  The list of Kent Basketball alums who have gone on to play at top-flight college programs is long and decorated.  In just the past three years, Kent Basketball has produced 18 collegiate student-athletes, including 13 at the scholarship level.  And with 7 young men of Division I-level talent on our 2011-12 roster, college coaches from each of the high major conferences—including the Big East, the Big Ten, the Big XII, and the Pac-10, as well as the Ivy League and Patriot League—continue to vigorously recruit members of our program.

“For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.”
--Rudyard Kipling

We believe that the foundation of any successful group, from a family to a basketball team, is trust. Indeed, as members of a team spend more time during a season with each other than with anyone else, and as a team is regularly confronted with obstacles that they can only overcome together, a team is in fact a FAMILY.

We believe that the primary job of each coach and player is to help each team member understand that he is crucial to the success of the team—and reflexively, that the team both depends upon and believes in him.

We believe that teams can consistently make up for a gap in talent with greater effort, preparation, focus, will, and cohesion than their opponents, because most teams in fact do not work as hard, are not as committed, and are not as physically or mentally tough—individually or as a group—as they think.

We believe that players can be taught to be quicker through concentration and effort than they think they can be.

We believe that individual and collective toughness can only be developed through consistent communication and significant struggle.

We believe that pressure is an omnipresent force that substantially influences an individual’s and a team’s performance; those who react to and apply pressure most effectively are generally the most successful.

We believe that most individuals and teams do not react well to conditions they have not practiced.

We believe that the only perfection is the vigorous and relentless pursuit of it.

Finally, we believe that the most successful teams are those who enforce their will on their opponents.

“There comes a point in every game when your opponent looks you in the eye, and what he sees there will determine the outcome.”
--Mike Krzyzewski

Click here to contact Coach Jason Coulombe