Colin's interview is very long and detailed. Because of that I decided to break it down into three parts.
Today we will concentrate just on Prophet Kates and his background. Monday on his talking about Darnell Brodie. And Tuesday on Colin's interview with Brodie.
Prophet Kates, uncle of Darnell Brodie, Head of Skill Development/Trainer/Coach for New York Jayhawks AAU Program and Co-Founder of The T.E.A.C.H. Group (theteachgroupllc.com)
Playing career: Four-year letter winner at Newark Arts High School [all-time leading scorer with 1,308 points]. Went to Edison Prep, which was the 8th ranked prep team in the nation (2009-10), then played at Victory Valley College in 2010-2011 where he was the leading scorer on the team before transferring to Monroe College. He played one season (2011-12) at Monroe where he helped lead the team to the national tournament. Transferred to Division 2 Wilmington University (Delaware) and helped the team to the CACC Championship his senior year.
Question: I saw you played at Monroe College a year before Seton Hall alum Stephane Manga before transferring to Wilmington University – tell me a little more about your playing career.
Prophet: I was at Monroe for a year and a half, I transferred there halfway through my freshman year and sat out before playing a full year. I was captain of the team, which was a pretty good squad and actually ended up having four players that made the NBA or D-League......Orlando Sanchez, Maurice Ndour, Jalil Abdul-Bassit, who is related to Mario Chalmers, and Marco Bourgault . [Monroe finished fifth in the national tournament that year]
Maurice plays for the Knicks right now and was my roommate in college.
(http://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3063982/maurice-daly-ndour). Orlando played for the Knicks and Jalil plays for the Utah Jazz D-League affiliate [Idaho Stampede}.
Question: How did your time at Monroe and Wilmington help you or shape you to get into coaching and skill development?
Prophet: I was always a hard worker. I was always in the gym. I was the first one in and the last one out. Throughout college I had a leadership role. Like I said, I was captain at Monroe, but I was also a captain at Wilmington. When I was there the team went to the CACC [Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference] Championship and lost to Philly U. We were a team that no one expected to make it that far and it was because of all the hard work and skill work the team put in that season. That hard work that I put in college transitioned over into me now and has helped me to be where I am and to be able to give back to the kids.
Question: How did you go about starting The T.E.A.C.H. Group?
Prophet: It starts with my former mentors when I was younger, Tarik Brown and Rahmel Leake, who were coaches at Essex County College. When I was in high school I was a division one recruit and when I was a sophomore I would go down to the local county college and they would let me work out with the college players. They really helped me get to play at the next level.
Us, along with one of my childhood friends Dukpe Smith-Obasuyi, who played at the Division 2 level at Felician College, all played high level basketball, know the game well and wanted to be able to give some of that back to our community.
Question: What is it like being able to give back to your community?
Prophet: It’s bigger than basketball. I firmly believe that. Anytime a kid can go to college for free by playing a sport is a great thing. I have a kid right now, Jaleel Wheeler, who I have been training since I was in college. He was a JUCO All-American at Kilgore College in Texas, essentially taking the same route I took, and now he is at Tulsa University and is the team’s second leading scorer [0.6 points per game behind former Rutgers forward Junior Etou. Wheeler is a 6’4 guard averaging 11.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists on the season]. I have been training kids and helping kids get scholarships since I was in college.
I worked with another kid in high school, Dwayne Dixon. He played for the NJ Playaz and was a Division 1 recruit who no one wanted to take a chance on so I took him under my wing and had my coaches at Wilmington look at him and they offered him a full ride. He ended up starting his freshman year there and while he didn’t end up finishing there, it was great to help another guy go to college. I guess it’s something I just have a knack for doing.
I try and put kids in the best situation for them. I always tell kids it's okay to do what’s right for you. Don’t worry about your coaches or what other people think.
I told Darnell the same thing. If you want to take other visits, take other visits. If you don’t, then don’t – you have to do what is best for you. Nobody is going to college with you. I went to college. I have my master’s degree I didn’t pay anything and I don’t have loans and I told him I want that for you. You have to go to a school that is going to best fit you, where you are going to be happy four years and you enjoy your college experience. That’s his decision, he has to live with it and I personally think it’s a good spot for him. The coaches at Seton Hall have his best interest – they really wanted him and they got him. I think it was a good Christmas gift for them, committing on Christmas Eve.
Today we will concentrate just on Prophet Kates and his background. Monday on his talking about Darnell Brodie. And Tuesday on Colin's interview with Brodie.
Prophet Kates, uncle of Darnell Brodie, Head of Skill Development/Trainer/Coach for New York Jayhawks AAU Program and Co-Founder of The T.E.A.C.H. Group (theteachgroupllc.com)
Playing career: Four-year letter winner at Newark Arts High School [all-time leading scorer with 1,308 points]. Went to Edison Prep, which was the 8th ranked prep team in the nation (2009-10), then played at Victory Valley College in 2010-2011 where he was the leading scorer on the team before transferring to Monroe College. He played one season (2011-12) at Monroe where he helped lead the team to the national tournament. Transferred to Division 2 Wilmington University (Delaware) and helped the team to the CACC Championship his senior year.
Question: I saw you played at Monroe College a year before Seton Hall alum Stephane Manga before transferring to Wilmington University – tell me a little more about your playing career.
Prophet: I was at Monroe for a year and a half, I transferred there halfway through my freshman year and sat out before playing a full year. I was captain of the team, which was a pretty good squad and actually ended up having four players that made the NBA or D-League......Orlando Sanchez, Maurice Ndour, Jalil Abdul-Bassit, who is related to Mario Chalmers, and Marco Bourgault . [Monroe finished fifth in the national tournament that year]
Maurice plays for the Knicks right now and was my roommate in college.
(http://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3063982/maurice-daly-ndour). Orlando played for the Knicks and Jalil plays for the Utah Jazz D-League affiliate [Idaho Stampede}.
Question: How did your time at Monroe and Wilmington help you or shape you to get into coaching and skill development?
Prophet: I was always a hard worker. I was always in the gym. I was the first one in and the last one out. Throughout college I had a leadership role. Like I said, I was captain at Monroe, but I was also a captain at Wilmington. When I was there the team went to the CACC [Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference] Championship and lost to Philly U. We were a team that no one expected to make it that far and it was because of all the hard work and skill work the team put in that season. That hard work that I put in college transitioned over into me now and has helped me to be where I am and to be able to give back to the kids.
Question: How did you go about starting The T.E.A.C.H. Group?
Prophet: It starts with my former mentors when I was younger, Tarik Brown and Rahmel Leake, who were coaches at Essex County College. When I was in high school I was a division one recruit and when I was a sophomore I would go down to the local county college and they would let me work out with the college players. They really helped me get to play at the next level.
Us, along with one of my childhood friends Dukpe Smith-Obasuyi, who played at the Division 2 level at Felician College, all played high level basketball, know the game well and wanted to be able to give some of that back to our community.
Question: What is it like being able to give back to your community?
Prophet: It’s bigger than basketball. I firmly believe that. Anytime a kid can go to college for free by playing a sport is a great thing. I have a kid right now, Jaleel Wheeler, who I have been training since I was in college. He was a JUCO All-American at Kilgore College in Texas, essentially taking the same route I took, and now he is at Tulsa University and is the team’s second leading scorer [0.6 points per game behind former Rutgers forward Junior Etou. Wheeler is a 6’4 guard averaging 11.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists on the season]. I have been training kids and helping kids get scholarships since I was in college.
I worked with another kid in high school, Dwayne Dixon. He played for the NJ Playaz and was a Division 1 recruit who no one wanted to take a chance on so I took him under my wing and had my coaches at Wilmington look at him and they offered him a full ride. He ended up starting his freshman year there and while he didn’t end up finishing there, it was great to help another guy go to college. I guess it’s something I just have a knack for doing.
I try and put kids in the best situation for them. I always tell kids it's okay to do what’s right for you. Don’t worry about your coaches or what other people think.
I told Darnell the same thing. If you want to take other visits, take other visits. If you don’t, then don’t – you have to do what is best for you. Nobody is going to college with you. I went to college. I have my master’s degree I didn’t pay anything and I don’t have loans and I told him I want that for you. You have to go to a school that is going to best fit you, where you are going to be happy four years and you enjoy your college experience. That’s his decision, he has to live with it and I personally think it’s a good spot for him. The coaches at Seton Hall have his best interest – they really wanted him and they got him. I think it was a good Christmas gift for them, committing on Christmas Eve.
