Spa Catholic names Brett Simpson next Varsity Basketball coach

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Last night at Saratoga Central Catholic, the Saints JV team gathered together to celebrate their 20-0 season, the first of it’s kind for a Spa Catholic JV team. It was there that a proud coach, Brett Simpson was named the Varsity head coach for the 2019-2020 season.

Brett Simpson, a physical education and health teacher from Sharon Springs is in his fourth year at Spa Catholic. During his first three years with the Saints Simpson has coached both Boys Soccer and Softball at the Varsity level and Boys Basketball at the Modified level. This year he was brought up to coach Junior Varsity where he proved his skill and work ethic, coaching his team to a 20-0 season.

“Congrats to the kids. As much as I feel for my self coaching, I feel so much more for the players. They’re the ones that put the ball in the hoop, they are the ones that steal it and rebound it. I just sit there and yell random things,” said Brett Simpson.

Simpson will be replacing Coach John Catone who is in his second stint at the helm of the Saints. Catone replaced Section 2 champion Ken Mantia this summer. Catone currently sits at third all-time in wins with 155 for Spa Catholic.

Athletic Director Alphonse Lambert said, “Coach Catone graciously agreed to take on the Varsity as an interim for one year while Coach Simpson got a little experience at the high school level. We felt he has studied the game really well and is a faculty member so he deserves the first shot at it.”

With Simpson Spa Catholic is truly getting a coach for the modern age of basketball. “We scouted every game, we watched film every game, we broke down every stat and every number. We did everything that a Varsity does but we also did everything that a college team does. I coached this team like a college team and it worked out,” said Simpson

Simpson seems excited to go into next season with a very young core. Simpson said “The biggest improvement has to come in size. We are a very skinny and short group. I have hope that they’ll all grow a couple inches but the biggest thing we’re going to go to Peak Performance and do mandatory workouts. I’m going to tell these guys that they need to put 10-15 pounds on or else we won’t be successful.”

Needless to say Simpson’s spread offense is going to be very hard to stop once they add junior Jordan Catone and sophomore Ryan McCarroll who are already on Varsity. This season his offense resulted in four different players averaging over 10 shots a game.

Simpson said, “This freshman group has been playing together their entire lives. They went to St Clement’s together and played CYO all the way up. So if this group can stay together, I think we’re Sectional championship good in the future.