Led by the legendary Jere Quinn, St. Thomas More ready to compete for national title
It’s Saturday in February and you're sitting on your living room couch watching college basketball. You’re flipping the channels with your remote control because there are a multitude of games being broadcast. You take this weekly basketball TV smorgasbord for granted because if this were the late ‘60s you’d be lucky to catch your favorite players on ABC’s Game of the Week.
It’s 2024. And if you stay on your couch long enough there is a good chance you're going to see a player who has been coached by Jere Quinn. Make that a better than good chance.
Quinn arrived on the St. Thomas More campus in 1978 and he’s still there. Has any coach placed more student-athletes on college basketball teams than Quinn? He’d be hard to find. A fair estimate has Quinn helping over 450 athletes receive scholarships to attend college.
The old basketball barn on Cottage Road in Oakdale was rockin’ last Saturday. It was Senior Day, as well as their last regular season game, and the Chancellors needed some late heroics in overtime to edge New Hampton, 92-91.
“It was probably our best win of the season,” Quinn said. “New Hampton’s got some very talented players and great role players. They’ve actually had our number. I’m just happy for our kids.”
Quinn, now in his 46th year, has never had a losing season. He’s still as passionate as ever. Hagler and Hearns went at each other for eight minutes. St. Thomas More and New Hampton went 45.
“It’s like the old Big East with people beating each other up,” Quinn said. “The officials let a lot go. College is different. There would have been more whistles. But I thought the refs did a heckuva job. It was a tough game.”
Quinn is thrilled with the support the Chancellors are getting from the community this season.
“It was a nice crowd, last night too,” Quinn said. “It’s a whole family affair with my family and the extended community because we really get close with everybody.”
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Quinn’s team has been terrific this winter. The Chancellors host New Hampton again on Saturday (March 2) in the NEPSAC tournament semifinals. The winner plays for the league championship on Sunday at Western New England University in Springfield.
“This is a good league and a well-coached league,” Quinn said.
After the league tourney, St. Thomas More heads to the National Prep Championship Tournament March 5-7 at Clark University’s Kneller Athletic Center in Worcester.
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The national tournament will give folks one more chance to see Chancellors’ 6-8 forward Tyler Betsey before he heads to the Big 12 as a Cincinnati Bearcat next season. Betsey, who is from Windsor, was Connecticut’s Gatorade Player of the Year last season.
He’ll be one of the guys you see on TV.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Jere Quinn, St. Thomas More ready to compete for national title
