What do Cade Cunningham, Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving share in common? They were all the No. 1 overall pick in their respective NBA Draft classes.
How about Scottie Barnes, Jalen Duren, Moses Moody, RJ Barrett, Joel Embiid, D’Angelo Russell and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist? That’s a mix of top-five selections and lottery talents.
Add Al Harrington, Andrew Nembhard, Precious Achiuwa and Jalen Hood-Schifino to the conversation among everybody mentioned above, and there’s a thread between all of them.
It’s a man named Kevin Boyle, a revered high school basketball coach and a figure who has impacted student athletes’ lives for decades — as players and as people.
From building a powerhouse program with an empty cupboard and leading Elizabeth St. Patrick’s to championship glory in New Jersey to elevating Montverde Academy into a perennial national contender in Florida, Boyle’s reputation precedes him.
“He'll go down as the best high school coach ever, and I think he'll be a Hall of Famer within the next five or so years,” Montverde assistant coach Matt Cohen told Babcock Hoops in an exclusive phone interview. “People are gonna look back and see throughout his career the talent he's produced and the sculpting of players he's done, and no one will ever come close to that.”
Boyle’s endorsements come from all angles — staff members, current and former players, old teammates, sideline rivals and even universally renowned figures such as Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski and Jay Wright.
“I think Kevin’s one of the outstanding coaches in the country; forget about high school, prep school, college or pro,” Krzyzewski said to NJ Advance Media’s Adam Zagoria in 2022. “Kevin knows what the heck he’s doing, and he’s found a home there at Montverde.”
“Kevin runs his high school program like an elite college program,” Wright added on Boyle’s biography page. “A year-round commitment, a commitment to academics in preparing kids for college academically like we prepare kids to graduate, his skill development for guys on and off the court is phenomenal. Over the years, Kevin has taken countless young men, turned their lives around and made them into good students, tough competitors and well-rounded people. That’s why he always has one of the top teams in the country.”
Responsible for some of the most gifted individuals and teams to ever step foot on the hardwood, Boyle has set a standard that has led to eight national championships over the last 12 years.
“We always tell guys who have talent that nobody can make you great but yourself,” Boyle told Babcock Hoops in an exclusive phone interview in early February. “But we think we have the knowledge and the work ethic to help them reach — and usually exceed — their personal expectations as players, both in what they're gonna earn and in how good they can be. So we've been able to help guys do that. We've pushed them really hard and coached them really honest about their strengths and their weaknesses.”
“I think the players all know that to get to their peak, they need all of him,” Cohen added.
“They're smart enough in the moment to know — even when there's tough practices, even when they're dreading it — he's gonna get me where I need to go. I think that's what builds that relationship and bond with him and the players. They trust him fully and they know that he's a savant, and they definitely need him to push them to where they want to go.”
In addition to their collective goal, top prospects at Montverde have their eyes set on professional careers, so Boyle institutes an environment that mirrors such a level.
That all starts with practice.
“Nuts,” Cohen exclaimed, describing the setting. “I remember when I first got here. 'Okay, I've played basketball. I've been in practices at other colleges. I've been around practices all the time.' We get here and it's like, ‘Oh, we're going three hours. Oh, we're going three-and-a-half hours. Oh, we're going four hours.’ It's just different.
“It's very regimented and organized and doing little things that people don't really think of to improve some of the skills and within the game. It's closed off. It's intense. It's hard coaching. It's guys getting physical, battling each other, just making each other better. I mean, the goal is to have practices be harder than the games. When you get top talent competing against each other every single day, that's how you make each other better.”
The little things pay off big when you execute them in a game setting, and every moment is meticulous by the minute.
“We do a lot of breakdown drills,” Boyle said. “In a two-and-a-half hour practice, we're playing full-court probably for less than 25 minutes of that. [We’re] breaking down parts of the game and parts of plays. We do a lot of conditioning. We try to go really hard and really detailed and really fundamental. I think a lot of times, you get a lot of these European clubs, you see a lot of those guys passing Americans because they're practicing a lot, and they're practicing the basic and the fundamental as well, not just playing full court.
“Can you make a read out of the short roll, kick it back to the corner left? Really breaking down the first-man pick and score. Whenever I get it, bounce around and score when I get a pick. And then when the guy leaves, he goes back with the roll, they go again to the basket, then we're gonna hopefully hit the big guy, hit the roll or a lob over the top for a dunk. Then the corner's gonna help 'cause the big guy's getting back; we're gonna throw a hook pass in the corner for a three-point shooter.”
Boyle’s approach has left an everlasting effect on everyone he’s worked with.
“Coach Boyle really helped me with the IQ of my game, seeing the game, seeing the floor, having college-ready practices every single day,” Georgia star Asa Newell told Babcock Hoops in October. “His thing was, shoot, the practices are harder than the game, so if you practice harder than you play, it's gonna make the game easier. When I had a game, I was like, 'Okay, we kinda get an off day,' almost thinking like it's not gonna be as draining as those practices were.”
“The best thing that our guys say to us, probably 90 percent of 'em come back and say practices are harder here than where they're currently at — whatever school, college or university,” Boyle said. “So we love hearing when they say that. We hear it a lot from our guys, so that's something that we take a lot of pride in that we want to be run like these guys do a great job running their college programs. We want to try and copy that and get them as ready as we can for the next step.”
Getting deeper into his methods, Boyle brought up a 30-question report where he lists the tendencies and skills of his high school players, evaluating them as if they were NBA players in their current developmental stages. To elaborate, he used Cunningham as an example.
“If Cade is a junior, well as an NBA player today, I'd give you a 2 on a 1-to-5 scale finishing going to your left,” Boyle said. “That doesn't mean you're not good at it in high school, but if it was seven years ago, you weren't ready, which is okay at that stage. But it's also important that you're able to recognize your strengths and where you need to get better 'cause you can't get better if you don't have an understanding of what you need to get better at and you agree that you need to get better at that.
Cohen admires that particular technique due to its transparency.
“That's almost the best thing to do because it allows them to come down to earth and realize, 'Oh, I'm being told I'm all this,'” Cohen said. “We do a good job of taking a lot of good kids, but a lot of people's circles, social media, this and that tell them they're the greatest thing since sliced bread.
“No, you got a 2. You're a 1 in this thing, and it's like, 'Oh okay, the guy who's sending all these guys to the pros is telling me I'm nowhere where I need to be, so I guess he's right.’”
Brutal honesty is the name of Boyle’s game. It’s what has worked for 25-30 years and what he believes will continue to get through to those future stars that he takes under his wing.
“Very blunt. I think you know that he's gonna tell you the truth,” Cohen said. “Some players may not want to hear it, but the ones that want to be great want to hear it. He's gonna tell you what you don't do well. He's gonna tell you what you do well. He's gonna tell you what you need to improve.
“He's not gonna settle for anything less for what he expects. He's not gonna cater to someone if he doesn't think they're doing something well. 'No, you need to do it better,' or 'You've got to keep doing it.' He's not gonna just say, 'If you don't do this well, it's okay. We'll just move on.' No, you need to perfect it.”
Those who have bought in have reaped the rewards. Just ask the eight title teams Boyle has led along the way, which include the 2019-20 and 2023-24 versions of the Eagles.
“Fortunately, we had both of them,” Boyle said. “There's a lot of similarities in both teams kinda blew through their schedules. It's amazing. You think of both of those teams, they had great size, great positions, great point guard play and so forth.”
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic cutting the season short five years ago, Montverde was crowned the best men’s team in the country due to its 39-point average winning margin and 25-0 record to that point with seven victories over top-25 competition.
Boyle emphasizes the fact that Cunningham and Barnes have already made an All-Star team, Moody and Day’Ron Sharpe became first-round picks and Dariq Whitehead and Caleb Houstan are NBA players.
“You had six pros on that team,” Boyle said. “And you had Langston Love, who averaged 11 at Baylor last year and you had Ryan Nembhard, one of, if not the best point guards in the country [at Gonzaga]. The best team ever in high school.”
Last season, the Eagles went a perfect 33-0 with a squad featuring a senior group that consisted of Newell, Cooper Flagg, Derik Queen, Liam McNeely, Robert Wright, Curtis Givens III and Lucas Lima.
“We had six top-100 seniors on one team and were arguably one of the top-three, top-two best high school teams of all time,” Newell said. “Just being a part of that was really special, and being able to go on to have an undefeated season and win a national championship under Coach Boyle and KBJ [Kevin Boyle Jr.] and all them boys.”
“That team is gonna have a No. 1 pick in Cooper, who will probably be a star-level NBA player, it looks like,” Boyle said. “And it's three other guys that are gonna be picked maybe in the top 20, maybe three in the lottery with Asa, Derik and Liam.”
Nearing the end of February, Montverde holds an 18-5 record as a top-five men’s team in the country. The Eagles are gearing up for tournament season, looking to go back-to-back for the first time since the 2021-22 run. But, despite returning players like Kayden Allen and Dhani Miller, this year has felt much different from previous campaigns.
“The other day, we were No. 3 in the country in ESPN, and I had a couple of guys in this pizzeria asking what's wrong with the team 'cause we had a couple losses,” Boyle said. “It's just been a credit to the past players that have been here. It’s kinda like, be No. 1 (or bust). That's the expectation.”
This past December, Montverde fell to Brewster Academy 59-47 in the Nike EYBL Scholastic Showcase at the NBA Cup in Las Vegas. It was the squad’s first loss since the 2023 GEICO High School Nationals Quarterfinal, snapping a 38-game winning streak.
One week after that, despite three straight wins, the Eagles came up short vs. Christopher Columbus 59-57 in the City of Palms Classic Final.
Montverde responded with five consecutive victories, then lost to AZ Compass 45-41.
Subsequently, on the heels of that defeat, the Eagles were trounced by Columbus in a nationally televised rematch on the road, 79-59, suffering back-to-back losses for the first time since Boyle’s inaugural season in 2011.
“In high school, you don't play real road games too much because most of these big events are neutral for everybody,” Boyle explained. “So I think if you're playing in an environment that's loud and kinda copy like the Duke-UNC thing, there's definitely experience the kids haven't had. It can get overwhelming a little bit for the kids that haven't dealt with it a lot.
“We lost both those, but we also said it was a good thing because now it's your team. It's no longer about other teams and winning streaks. Now, you guys get to have your own identity and hopefully make your own legacy."
Montverde bounced back to win the Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament and Metro Classic in New Jersey but wound up dropping a 40-39 affair with upset-minded Link Academy on NBA All-Star Weekend, participating in the Nike Future Game. The Eagles will have a chance to rebound from that on Friday, taking on La Lumiere.
Inquire Boyle about how he thinks the season is going so far, and he responds that he’s “not sure” yet. There has been progress in areas where Montverde wanted to get better. There’s also been “a step backward,” referring to the Columbus loss.
Learning through losses can be difficult in the moment, especially playing for a place with the prestige of Montverde. Boyle insists they don’t talk about the past much and carry a next-game mentality.
“It's been a little bit more of a challenge this year,” Boyle admitted. “There's a lot of teams as talented as us this year, so it's a good challenge for us as a program and me as a coach and the players. We haven't been in the underdog role a lot, so it's fun to be in the underdog role and see if we can win in that role this year.”
The Eagles have leaned heavily on CJ Ingram, Dante Allen, Hudson Greer, Trent Sisley, and Hakeem Weems. Miller and Kayden Allen are also part of the everyday rotation.
With that said, even with the skills they possess, only two of those guys, Sisley and Weems, stand over 6-foot-8.
“Maybe having a team with not quite the size or maybe not a lottery NBA pick or first-round pick and can we go and win the national championship? Can one of you guys play into that? Can you guys get better? Couple of guys that will be pros, but it's gonna take them a little bit more time, kinda like the Villanova guys in the old days when they got better each year in college."
“Can we get back to the top? It's not gonna be easy because there's about 10 or 12 teams that are very competitive and very close this year, and there's a lot of low-scoring games. So we're gonna have to win our share of close games. I think we have a chance, obviously, in Georgia [at Nike EYBL Scholastics] and the national tournament (Chipotle Nationals). But we've got to get better and improve our progress if we're gonna have a chance to win either one.”
From the jump, as a player, Boyle learned from the best. Recruited by Bill Raftery at Seton Hall before he entered television, the 5-foot-11 guard learned from Hoddy Mahon and future NBA head coach and commentator PJ Carlesimo. He transferred to St. Peter’s after the 1982-83 campaign to play for Bob “Whitey” Dukiet and his assistant Teddy Fiore, a soon-to-be three-time MAAC Coach of the Year, to finish his college career.
“So I got basically four coaches in five years,” Boyle said. “I got to learn a little bit of different stuff from all of them and take what you thought was good from all of them and what fit your personality and style. So that was really great for me to help learn the game and understand the game.”
Boyle is cognizant of the importance of coaching relationships between those who have taken him under their wing and those he’s met on the recruiting trail at various events.
“We've gotten to know almost all the major coaches in the conferences,” Boyle said, naming Krzyzewski, Wright, Mark Few and Bill Self as examples. “I have great respect for what those guys do and the talents they have. I think they have [that same respect] for our school and what we've been able to accomplish.
“Jay Wright was a great coach and did a great job with good talent but not great talent at times. Good players and he got them better and better over their careers and made some guys pros that probably wouldn't have been. So it's fabulous to be around those guys and learn from those guys, watching them coach.”
Those bonds go beyond just the coaching realm. Players, current and past, hold a special place in Boyle’s heart. When he gets the chance to see guys, he takes the opportunity.
He’s gotten to see Newell face off with Florida and Flagg take on Boston College. Following the Metro Classic, Boyle drove to Maryland to watch Queen as Montverde flew back from New Jersey. Unfortunately, when he planned to see McNeely, the UConn standout unfortunately had a sprained ankle.
“The hardest part probably is staying regularly in touch,” Boyle said. “I still want to see Rob Wright from Baylor and Curtis Givens at LSU and Liam at UConn. So I've got to try to figure that out. But our problem is we play almost every weekend, so it's hard. It's always good 'cause sometimes guys get on with their life.
“Al Harrington, one of the first guys that I had [at St. Pat’s], two years ago, I re-got in touch with him. He showed up and came to some games in Georgia that we played and he came into the locker room and talked to everybody. It's always great to see guys or past coaches that we've had that are doing good. It's exciting to see all those guys have success.”
Put Montverde’s number of NBA draftees against any blue-blood school in the NCAA or developmental program in the nation, and they’re right there. Recently, Duke, Kentucky and the now-defunct G League Ignite are the only programs that can say the same.
“We would probably have 17 over that five-year period, which would still be more in that period than any other college or school,” Boyle said. “So it's kind of an amazing run of having guys get drafted and a lot of guys have improved and gotten better by working hard and obviously being blessed with a lot of God-given talent.”
Now in his early 60s, directing at the Center of Basketball Development and leading the charge at Montverde, Boyle surprisingly doesn’t have a set goal.
“It's probably tunnel vision,” Boyle said. “I want to win the next game and the next tournament and the national tournament this year. Outside of recruiting, I don't think too far ahead of that. I love coaching the age group I'm coaching, the level. Would I go to college? If the right thing was there, would I consider it? Of course. But those are hard [questions to answer].
“I don't have a regular agent or anything like that. You really need, if you want one of those type of jobs, somebody working 24/7 for you because it's obviously very competitive between the agencies and all that. Most of these guys looking for those things are gonna be aggressive seeking it out. For me, right now, I'm happy where I'm at in high-school level coaching. Hopefully, we can continue to have success and be able to attract some of the better players and continue to do what we've been doing the last 25 to 30 years.”
Boyle will not allow himself to be distracted from the task at hand. He has a duty to fulfill as the head coach of the most dominant men’s high school prep program in the country, and that is what he has prioritized and will keep prioritizing in his position.
“He's intense to the point where you're like jeeze, but it's because he cares,” Cohen said.
“It's because he wants guys to get to their full potential. He wants the staff to get to their full potential. He feels responsible that he's getting guys better. He's not gonna let himself take a day off and say, 'Okay, well, I'll just half-ass it today.' No. He's always gonna go full throttle 'cause he thinks he owes it to them, he owes it to the team, he owes it to the coaches. He hates losing. That's just who he is.
“Building the culture of winning and doing it at St. Pat's when he had nothing — no dorms, no money, no funding — and coming to Montverde and building it pretty much from scratch here, his record against the all-time greats and versus the Hurleys in high school, he will go down as the greatest high school coach I think in any sport of all time. Just from the pure level he's set and attained and stayed at for this amount of years, plus the amount of players he's produced and their success over that time.”