Boscawen’s Jason Smith, the coaching legend who steered the nationally ranked Brewster Academy boys’ basketball team for 26 years, is leaving the Bobcats for a new job.
Smith will coach at Masters Academy International, a new sports day and boarding school based in Stow, Mass. scheduled to open this September.
Even though Smith will work over the border, he plans to remain firmly planted in the Granite State, where his roots run deep.
“My career has only had the success that I’ve had based on the people that I grew up with in the Concord area and people that I grew up playing with,” Smith noted.
Smith got his start in the basketball world playing for Kevin O’Brien until he graduated from Merrimack Valley High in 1991. Soon after, he interned as an assistant for the boys’ team and went on to coach at Pittsfield, Bishop Brady and Proctor Academy.
He still keeps tabs on the local basketball scene because he doesn’t want to forget where it all started.
He follows Coach Tony Martinez’s Belmont team because he coached Martinez as a player at Pittsfield. He vividly remembers coaching alongside Frank Monahan at Bishop Brady on “those loaded Brady teams in the late 90’s” and still vividly remembers battling against Pembroke’s Ed Cloe.
He stayed in the state and coached the Brewster Bobcats after Proctor. Smith won everything with the Bobcats: Four national final four appearances since 2008, seven National Prep Championships, seven New England Class AAA Tournament Championships and 10 NEPSAC Class AAA Regular Season Titles.
Over the last 26 years, Smith amassed more than 700 wins and fewer than 160 losses. He’s won NEPSAC Coach of the Year six times. He not only won but also developed some of the best.
His alumni tree includes 25 current and former NBA players. Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell (formerly of the Utah Jazz), Chicago’s breakout star Matas Buzelis and over 100 professional players globally.
Smith’s name is batted around in conversation about the greatest high school coach in New Hampshire history. He was also inducted into the Merrimack Valley Hall of Fame in 2022.
In 2018, he told the Monitor he was perfectly content staying at Brewster. He had received attention from collegiate programs and other prep schools looking to lure him away, but he stuck with his team.
Now, eight years later, the vision of Masters Academy International resonated with him, he said.
MAI, founded by Chris and Peter Masters, aims to replicate the likes of Florida’s IMG Academy and broke ground on an 82-acre, $83 million campus last year.
“Jason Smith has built one of the most respected basketball programs in the country,”
Peter Masters said in the press release. “Seven national championships, more than 700 wins and the development of dozens of NBA players are a testament to the hard work and dedication he brings every day. More importantly, Jason has consistently prepared young men to succeed both on the court and beyond it, which makes him a perfect fit for what we are building at Masters Academy.”
In part, Smith wanted to stay at the high school level because he could help young athletes achieve their dreams.
Smith said the landscape of youth sports has changed since he first started at Brewster and MAI is keeping up with the times. He’ll be able to follow athletes year-round, train more, and ensure his players reach their full potential.
He highlighted Stanford freshman star Ebuka Okorie as a great example of why he wants to continue coaching high school players.
Nashua’s Okorie, the 2024-25 New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year, is one of the most highly touted prospects in his class and is poised to be a first-round NBA draft pick.
“It’s so rewarding having kids come to play for me that have these goals and these dreams and these aspirations,” Smith explained. “A lot of times, through hard work, you see their life changed.”
Okorie averaged 22.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game this season, was an All-ACC First Team player and an AP All-America honorable mention.
He almost didn’t end up playing in a Cardinal uniform. Initially, Okorie was headed to Harvard but felt like he was selling himself short. After lengthy conversations with his family and with Smith, he looked for options elsewhere.
Smith helped the kid who grew up playing at the Nashua YMCA and Boys and Girls Club find a spot out west. He hopes to continue doing the same at Masters Academy International.
“Masters Academy is creating something truly unique in the world of student-athlete development,” Smith said in a statement. “The commitment to building a culture that brings together academics, well-being, basketball development and elite competition is unlike anything seen in this country.”