Podcast: Cory Heitz on evolving prep school landscape, tough decisions facing families

Cory Heitz is the founder of PREP Athletics, which places student-athletes into prep schools around the country. (Cory Heitz)

Cory Heitz first helped place a student-athlete into a prep school back in 2008. Much has changed since.

The spotlight has grown brighter on prep school basketball, with social media acting as a driving force. The competition has gotten stronger, with more and more elite prospects – even from overseas – taking the prep school route in their pursuit of a college scholarship. There are even more factors to consider when making the decision to go to a prep school, from financial investments to coaching fit and now, the impact of the college transfer portal and NIL era.

To put it bluntly, the prep school decision has never been more complicated, and it’s arguably never been more important for those who want to play high-level college basketball.

Heitz, the founder of PREP Athletics – which places recruits into prep schools around the country – joined the latest HoopWise Podcast to help break it all down. The discussion dives into all the factors that face families trying to find the right prep school fit, the rise of NEPSAC and much more. Heitz also shares a few of his favorite success stories.

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Highlights

What do you think has changed the most about the landscape and competitive nature of prep school basketball?

Heitz: “I think more people know about them now. I didn’t grow up in New England, so I didn’t know about prep schools until 1994 when my cousin decided to go to MCI. … Fast forward to the times we’re in now, and you’ve got social media, you’ve got the teams playing on ESPN, you’ve got all these players in the NBA now who have gone to prep school, so it’s global now. Half my clients this year, it’s gone up more than the past, are international because they want to play in college and they want to get to the NBA. And they know, sure they could go the route some international players went, but they also want the chance to potentially get an NIL deal or play in March Madness. They know to do that, the best chance is to go to an American prep school and get seen by college coaches and get placed by a prep school coach. I know even in the 17 years I’ve been doing this, the coaching has just gotten so much better. You’ve got pros coming out of smaller divisions now. Not just the AAA, you’ve got them coming from prep schools outside of New England, so if you’re good enough and you want to get good competition, good coaching, good exposure and ready for the collegiate level, to me, prep school is the best way to do it.”

What are the most common questions you get from families about going to prep schools?

Heitz: “The money piece is a pretty big question. That usually kind of ends the conversation when they find out what the investment’s going to cost. In the basketball world, I’m not sure how baseball and football are, but everybody’s trying to get a scholarship, which is free. Everyone’s trying to get on an AAU team for free or get shoes for free. There’s a big mindset about getting things for free. … We lose a lot there with the money talk, and that’s fine. This world is not for everybody. Two is always hey, what’s development going to be like? How much time are we going to have in the gym, what are the coaches going to do to get me better, what’s their expertise on that? That’s a big one right there. Another one is college placement. Hey, how do they place me at the end of the day? But the big one, which is the hardest to kind of define, is every family asks about playing time. What’s their playing time going to be if we’re going to invest this time and money sending our son or daughter to prep school? It depends, right? I can never present the crystal ball and say how much they’re going to get. Like if they’re a better player, they should get more, but I’ve seen plenty of big-time players get benched because they weren’t doing the work they needed to do. But the cool thing is that everyone has to play a little bit, worst-case scenario. Because coaches need to get film on these kids in games to show to college coaches.”

Listen

The HoopWise podcast can be streamed here and on major platforms, such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.