Son of NBA marvel Manute Bol helping invigorate Bergen County girls basketball team

Madut Bol got where he is thanks to his connections.

The former Division I basketball player has a close friend in North Jersey who happens to be married to Alisa Rios, an assistant coach with the Hasbrouck Heights girls program.

“When I first came up here visiting [in 2023], she was like, ‘Oh, you should come coach with me at the high school’,” Bol said. “I was just like, ‘Well, I’m going to be up here to help my mom. If it’s open, I’ll do it’.”

Next thing you know, the 6-foot-9 product of St. Anthony in Jersey City is in the Hasbrouck Heights gym as an assistant, giving girls pointers on defense and communication. That has been a huge factor in the Aviators' 11-3 start to the season after having to form a co-op with Bogota last season.

Yes, the 34-year-old is the son of the tallest player in NBA history, Manute Bol. He made his own way into coaching – though the topic of his famous 7-foot-6 father always seems to pop up.

“I went to the same college as his dad, we both went to the University of Bridgeport,” Hasbrouck Heights head coach Molly Tague said.

Rios may have been half-joking when she suggested that Tague bring Madut onto the Aviators’ staff. It ended up making a lot of sense.

“I told [Alisa], ‘We have a bunch of forwards. You and I are guards… this is perfect’,” Tague recalled. “Alisa also helped him get a paraprofessional job at the school.”

At home in Bergen County

Madut Bol made his first appearance on the North Jersey sports scene as a high school freshman, though he did not play basketball at the time. The Record published a feature in April 2005 about him joining the Hackensack boys volleyball team.

A few months later, he went to visit his father in Connecticut (his parents, Manute and Atongyak, had divorced several years earlier). A walk and a conversation spurred Madut to pursue hoops in earnest.

“He said he didn’t know me as a player,” Madut said, recalling that dad seemed skeptical about his competitive fire. “I just took that as my drive to do what I need to do.

“He wanted me to move up there. He wanted me to go to a certain school. He wanted to put me through all these things. But honestly, St. Anthony’s was just a better route to go through. So that’s what I did.”

The younger Bol spent his next three years learning the game under the tutelage of coach Bob Hurley, which helped him earn a scholarship to Southern University in Louisiana.

Manute Bol died in 2010 at age 47 – three years before Madut helped 16th-seeded Southern put a scare into No. 1 Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament (he drained a second-half 3-pointer off the bench).

“I assume my dad has never seen me play,” Madut said, “unless it was on TV.”

Learning lessons

After playing professionally in the United Kingdom and for the South Sudan national team, Bol got into coaching in the late 2010s when he was living in his native California (he was born in Oakland while dad played for the Golden State Warriors).

“Everything that I teach, regardless of where I am, it all falls under Hurley, because that’s where I learned a lot of my stuff,” he said. “Everything that was taught to me, I try to my best ability to pass it on.”

One of the biggest beneficiaries is Sam Russo. The Aviators’ senior center has rehabbed from a serious knee injury sustained at the end of her sophomore year, which limited her to just 14 games during the lone Bogota/Hasbrouck Heights co-op campaign.

“He’s taught me a good amount of moves in the post,” said Russo, who has averaged 10.4 points in her four-year career. “He also put a big emphasis on shooting, which has helped me a lot. And a bunch of our other girls from the beginning to now, it’s a huge difference with their shooting for him. It’s awesome.”

Flying solo

Hasbrouck Heights left last season’s co-op before Bol came on board, and Tague was concerned the Aviators might not be able to field a JV squad this winter.

Now, the program has gained numbers due in part to Bol’s coaching reputation, and in part thanks to his story as a “late bloomer”.

“He didn’t start playing basketball until he was in high school, so a lot of our girls are like, ‘If he could do it, I can do it’,” Tague said. “We’ve had girls who’ve never touched a ball that are now playing varsity.”

Bol has blended well into the coaching staff. Tague played for Shore Conference power St. Rose in Belmar (Class of 2009), and Rios played collegiately.

“We have cross-cultural ideas that also have commonalities, and that benefits the players in the program,” Tague said.

Hasbrouck Heights received the No. 30 seed for the Bergen Invitational Tournament, an event featuring numerous larger schools. Currently, the Aviators are ranked among the top four in power points for the North 1, Group 1 sectional tournament, which could guarantee at least two state-playoff home games for a team that wins its opener.

“Our whole dynamic, I feel, is just completely different this year,” Russo said. “And I’m pretty excited with how it is right now.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Madut Bol: Son of Manute Bol helps Hasbrouck Heights girls basketball