The Mission

Throughout the last four years of my coaching career, I have realized one thing over and over again. There are some really good players who slip through the cracks (obviously). Well, it's not necessarily that they slip through the cracks, but that they fly under the radar to the point where it's frustrating to see a kid with talent not be recruited, even if it wasn't one of my own. There is talent to be seen no matter what level they may play at. I've seen some really good division two and division three players torch a division one player in an open run or a workout. I've seen these same types of players go onto signing overseas contracts. They may actually be or may not be division one players but these kids still deserve coverage and a platform to help get them to the next level!!

There have been a lot of great basketball players in Chester and Delaware Counties in the last ten years. There have been high level pros like Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (Chester-Arizona, NBA), BJ Johnson (Lower Merion-Syracuse/La Salle, Orlando Magic), Mikal Bridges (Great Valley-Villanova, Phoenix Suns)and Aaron Brown (Penn Wood-West Virginia/St.Joe's, Overseas). In the last several years, John Harrar (Strath Haven-Penn State), Jhamir Brickus (Coatesville-La Salle), Andrew Carr (West Chester East-Delaware), Christian Ray (Octorara/Haverford School-La Salle), Dom London (Octorara-Harcum/Florida Gulf Coast) and Griffin Barrouk (Bayard Rustin-Hofstra) have all obtained division one scholarships at quality programs and led their high school programs on very successful campaigns. But for every Bridges,Hollis-Jefferson, and Brickus, there's others that may not be at the division one level but have been highly successful in their own right at a particular level. Players like; Tyler Norwood (Penncrest-Wilmington), Malcolm Richardson (Penn Wood-East Stroudsburg, Overseas), Michael "Man Man" Smith (Chester-Kutztown), Ethan Ridgeway (Bayard Rustin-Kutztown), , Conrad Chambers (Chester-Millersville), Jackson Hyland (Kennett-West Chester, Overseas), Malik Jackson (Penn Wood-West Chester), Brett Foster (Ridley-East Stroudsburg/Cabrini), Steve Payne (Lower Merion-Harcum/East Stroudsburg), Tarojae Brake (Octorara-Kutztown), Malik Slay (Downingtown East-West Chester University), Nick Giordano (Marple Newtown-East Stroudbsurg), DaQuan Granberry (Chichester-Kutztown/Lock Haven), Carl Schaller (Garnet Valley-Gettysburg) Jason Bady (West Chester Henderson-York), Vinny D'Angelo (Sun Valley-Swathmore), Bryce Barrouk (Bayard Rustin-PSU Brandywine), and Brandon McCullough (Avon Grove-Immaculata) are all GREAT PLAYERS!!

If you read the second list and just realized how long the second list is, YOU SEE MY POINT! There are a lot of talented ballplayers in both counties that are not recognized or talked about because they are not division one players. These kids are BALLPLAYERS! Division two and division three is really good basketball!! For it to continue to be really good basketball, coaches need to find kids and these kids need to be promoted in many of the same ways that division one prospects are. They need to be scouted, interviewed, and the phones worked for them as much if not more than a division one prospect.

There are some great coaches between the two counties that have been developing young men, helping them achieve scholarships, and winning while doing it. Gregg Downer (Lower Merion) has been one of the best coaches in the state for the last 20 plus years, fielding championship caliber teams year in and year out. Clyde Jones (Chichester) has built several programs, winning a state championship, three district championships at three different schools, and develops quality college talent wherever he goes. Mike Doyle (Penncrest) has won two district championships with very limited talent. Marc Turner (Coatesville) won six district championships in seven years at Church Farm, produced an abundance of scholarship players, and is now in charge of the most prominent programs in the state. Gene Lambert (Octorara) has won two district championships at Octorara and sent some very tough kids to programs at all three levels. Steve Maloney took Sun Valley on a district run in 2019 that many didn't see coming. Tom Durant (West Chester East) and Keith Cochran (Bayard Rustin) have teams that are always in the conversation. These guys deserve to be highlighted as well!!!

Our mission at the Amoroso File is to help promote the athletes, coaches, and programs in Chester and Delaware Counties gain exposure to coaches at the next level and receive the recognition they deserve. Through scouting, game write ups, and offseason league notebooks, we hope to help players be recruited and programs get recognized. As many smaller schools have a limited recruiting budget and the pandemic has made it harder to get out, we hope our platform can help expand the horizon for under recruited athletes and be used as a resource for college coaches to find and follow them. As we continue to build, we aim to connect with the basketball community on multiple platforms to accomplish this. Through storytelling and interviews, we will highlight many people that serve the youth in their own unique roles and entities. The Amoroso File desires to be a go to source for high school hoops and a platform to highlight and promote athletes.

Thanks for your support!