by James Quinn MDVarsity.com Magazine Staff St. Mary’s High School of Annapolis did not have to look too far for a new head coach when they selected Josh Pratt from Coach Mike Glick’s staff at Archbishop Spalding in Severn, Maryland. Based on working eleven years for Coach Glick at Pallotti HS and at Spalding, the 32 year old Pratt, originally from Beltsville, Md., and a graduate of High Point HS and Bowie State, knows more than a little bit about coaching in the MIAA and Baltimore-area hoops and also about building a prep basketball program at a Catholic High School. The Saints went 7-18 last year. They had a 5-11 record in MIAA “B” Conference. “I am really excited about this opportunity,” Pratt told MdVarsity.com. “St. Mary’s is a great school. The academics and the facilities are excellent. I have really enjoyed and been encouraged by the support of the school’s Administration and the alumni and the school community. The basketball program has not been real strong here lately, but I have no doubt we can build a real good program here.” St. Mary’s is best known, athletically, for its outstanding lacrosse program. “The lacrosse program is outstanding, one of the best. This is always going to be kind of a ‘lacrosse school’, I understand that, I think that it’s great that we are so good in lacrosse. But I also think we can build a good basketball program.” “St. Mary’s has a kindergarten through eighth grade elementary and middle school. It is absolutely an unbelievable school, parents are trying like heck to get their kids into this school. It is a great academic middle school, excellent academically. Part of what I’m trying to do is build the relationships to keep the best middle school basketball players at St. Mary’s High School. We recognize that the DeMathas and the Spaldings and other Catholic schools are going to recruit Annapolis and Anne Arundel, so we want to keep the best players here.” Pratt is a middle school math teacher. The High School at St. Mary’s is co-ed and there are 580 students from grades 9-12. Pratt has excellent AAU, CYO, and Recreation League ties to Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County, and Prince George’s County. “I’ve already been reaching out and talking to a lot of these people (on behalf of St. Mary’s HS),” said Pratt, “but there are still a few coaches I need to call to let them know where I’m going.” Pratt attended High Point HS in Beltsville, though he told us he never got to play for the legendary Eagle Coach Ernie Welch. Pratt played at Montgomery College-Germantown where a young Mike Glick was just getting started out as an assistant coach. “I had a good career at MC-Germantown,” said Pratt, “I got some All-District and All-American mention. I went down and played at Newberry College (in South Carolina). When my scholarship ran out, I came back and got my college degree and my teaching certification at Bowie State. I spent six years with Mike (Glick) at Pallotti and the last five years with Mike at Spalding.” Pratt learned a lot about what it takes to build a winner at Catholic High Schools. The collective records of the Pallotti and Spalding teams that he helped to recruit and coach was 247-107 (.698%). The 2003-2004 Spalding edition was 29-8, ranked No. 2 in the Baltimore Sun, No. 12 in the Washington Post. In addition to having been an assistant coach at Pallotti and Spalding, Pratt has served as a Counselor at Gary Williams’ University of Maryland Summer Basketball Camp and as a coach in the Baltimore Catholic League Preseason All Star game, which is held annually at Spalding for all of the BCL member schools. Pratt is realistic about the Saints’ chances in the MIAA “B” Conference next year. “It will take us a couple of years to get up with the top of the conference. Brett Davis has a good program at Pallotti, they won the “B” regular season last year. Gilman has some good young players, they won the “B” Tournament. Boys Latin is going to be good, so is Severn. I think in three or four years, we’ll have things where I want them to be… it will take a while to do it right. Like some of the other teams in the MIAA “B” Conference, I’d like to get to the “A” Conference someday but, of course, you have to be winning in the “B” Conference first. We’re going to test ourselves early on, we are going to play five games against “A” teams next year.” As for the 2004-2005 season, Coach Pratt is cautiously optimistic his first year at St. Mary’s will be a good one. “We have a few seniors who have played who I think are pretty good, I hesitate to mention just a few of the kids, but, I’d say that Matt Davis, who is 6’6”, will be good. Anthony Bennett, who is a ‘combo’ guard, is probably our best player. Anthony is a really good player. Mike Stanford is another good guard. We got a couple of new kids who were already coming who might help. There are four freshman here who will make the varsity as sophomores, so that might be a big part of our future here.” ‘We got a lot of work ahead of us, but I really like the people up here. I think we can build a really good program,” said Pratt. Pratt’s longtime mentor and employer, Mike Glick, has no doubt that St. Mary’s made a great selection in Pratt. Coach Glick told MdVarsity.com, “Josh is a tremendous guy. He really cares about the kids. He is a great teacher and coach. He is good at recruiting and player development. He was a big part of our success (at Pallotti and Spalding). I think he’ll do a tremendous job at St. Mary’s.” The MIAA “B” Conference has a number of good, young coaches and improving teams. The Conference should be very competitive in 2004-2005 and looks to be improving as a basketball league.