September 25, 2025

Far from Distractions, Jere Quinn Built a Basketball Powerhouse at Saint Thomas More

By Anthony Price 

Coach Jere Quinn talks to his team at the National Prep Championship game. Photo: Dayna Cass.

​Saint Thomas More (STM), a college-preparatory boarding school tucked away in the small village of Oakdale, Connecticut, enrolls just 180 students from 26 countries. Yet, from this modest campus, one of New England’s premier basketball programs has emerged, producing Division 1 talent that has gone on to win NCAA championships.
 
The results speak for themselves. More than 660 former STM players have advanced to college basketball, with over 100 continuing their careers professionally overseas.

​Some alumni have played in the NBA, including Andre Drummond, Eric Paschall, Omari Spellman, Yuta Watanabe, and Damion Lee, who won a championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2022.  
 
Trinity College won the 2025 NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball National Championship with senior Sean Macarchuk and head coach James Cosgrove—both products of STM’s program. 
 
Syracuse University sophomore Tyler Betsey (STM ’24) is already making his mark, while his best friend, London Jemison (STM ’25), is a freshman at the University of Alabama. Together, they represent the ongoing pipeline of talent emerging from this small boarding school, which refuses to be overshadowed by wealthier rivals.

They are betting on themselves.

Putnam Science Academy and Saint Thomas More battle for the ball. Photo: Dayna Cass.

Young Globetrotters 
 
STM’s National basketball team is usually all the buzz on campus. Made up primarily of postgraduates, the squad attracts players determined to sharpen their skills and secure college scholarships. 
 
Sports are woven into the school’s curriculum. For basketball players, the formula is demanding: rigorous academics paired with daily basketball skill development and weight training—and the same commitment applies to other sports.
 
The 2024-25 team started their journeys from points in the United States, Japan, Australia, Turkey, and Ireland. “They are betting on themselves,” says long-time head coach Jere Quinn. His players are go-getters. “They are risk-takers.” 
 
Quinn grew up in Queens, New York, and played under the well-known coach Jack Curran at Archbishop Molloy, where his senior team won the CHSAA New York City Championship over Power Memorial in 1973. 
 
After high school, Quinn starred at Central Connecticut State University, where he scored 1,006 points, serving as team captain during his junior and senior years. He still holds the single-game record of 18 assists.

Now in his 48th season at STM, Quinn has seen thousands of teenagers arrive on the school’s leafy 110-acre campus. For many, especially international players, the first challenge is not basketball but the culture shock of trading busy cities and far-off countries for life in the Connecticut woods. 

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The Lure of the Woods  
 
The STM campus is a nature lover’s retreat, and for nearly five decades, it has also been home to Jere Quinn. He and his wife, Judy— married since 1980—live in a house overlooking the lake, where they raised two sons and two daughters and now welcome 10 grandchildren.  
 
The land has always held a pull.  When Quinn’s father, Jack, first saw the property, he told his son, “You can never leave this place.” Quinn seems to agree. “It’s just a good way to live,” he says.  “I’m a morning kind of guy. I get up, have a cup of tea, and I open the gym at 6:30 in the morning.” Tired faces arrive to work out before classes start at 9:00 a.m. 
 

We are away from everything. 

Though Oakdale may feel remote, Quinn sees its advantages. “We are away from everything,” he admits, “but in the world of basketball this is a great location because they do so many showcases in New Haven, Springfield, Hartford, Providence and Boston.” 
 
Over the years, opportunities have arisen for Quinn to coach at other schools, which some would call bigger and better jobs. But the combination of the setting and family ties has kept him rooted at STM. 
 
“Did I envision doing this for 47 years? No,” Quinn reflects. “But I don’t envision not doing it either—because I still enjoy it and I still like coming to the office, and I still like trying to help kids work through the maze of college athletics.” ​

Jere Quinn looks out at Gardner Lake. Photo: Anthony Price.

Garnder Lake in late August 2025. Photo: Anthony Price.

Calm Under Pressure 
 
Some of Quinn’s best work comes in the tensest moments, when the game is on the line. 
 
In early March 2025, however, his team fell short, losing 92-86 to the No. 1-seeded New Hampton School in the semifinals of the NEPSAC Boys’ Basketball Tournament. Yet the season wasn’t over. The bigger goal—a national championship—still awaited.
 
On March 13, STM took the court at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford. The shoebox-sized gym was crammed with students, while college coaches packed the sidelines three and four deep. 
 
The semifinal against Cushing Academy was a competitive game. With 15 seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter, STM trailed 63-61 and called a timeout.

In the huddle, Quinn sat on a folding chair, his 6-foot-3 frame and white hair cutting a familiar figure. He was unfazed by the noise and the team’s predicament. Looking into the eyes of his players, he radiated the calm he always preaches. With 1,500 games behind him and not a single losing season, Quinn had been here before. 

I know our coach had a good play call, but it was initially for Brandon.

Last Play
 
With a clipboard on his lap, Quinn diagrammed a final play with the calm precision of a surgeon on a battlefield. The ball would go to London Jemison or Brandon Benjamin. 
 
Jemison inbounded from the sideline and made his way to the top of the key. Point guard Shuto Sakiham passed him the ball with 6 seconds left. One dribble, a step left, and Jemison rose up for a three-pointer. The shot floated through the net. 
 
STM’s Kieran Mullen, a 7-footer from Vancouver, British Columbia, put his hands on his head in disbelief as the student section stormed the court.  Chest-bumps, high-fives, and cellphones were everywhere. The referees furiously blew their whistles to restore order.
 
With 1.7 seconds left, Cushing heaved a desperation half-court shot after a long inbounds pass. It fell short. The Chancellors poured back onto the court to celebrate again. 
 
After the game, this writer spoke to Jemison. “I know our coach had a good play call, but it was initially for Brandon,” he said. “But Brandon rolled, so I popped [to the top of the key]. And I saw that they were guarding me one-on-one, so I did a pull-up and made it.” 

London Jemison shoots. Photo: Dayna Cass.

The Next Challenge
 
That night, STM faced nearby powerhouse Putnam Science Academy (PSA) for the national title. PSA’s roster, bigger and more physical, eventually wore the smaller and thinner Chancellors, pulling away in the fourth quarter, 79-72. It was the Mustangs’ third national championship in four years and their fifth overall, finishing the season with a record of 41-2. STM finished 27-12.
 
Quinn described the locker room afterward as “really upbeat.” His team had come within minutes of a national crown, and his focus quickly turned to what came next. “We finished the game, we’re going back to school the next day,” Quinn said. “We’re not headed to Disney World. We’re not getting a bonus.” 
 
By Monday, college coaches were at the STM gym. For Quinn, the real work was still ahead. “My job doesn’t end until all of our kids are placed in schools that match their academic and athletic capabilities,” he said. 
 
That honesty is part of his appeal. “The one thing about us is we are always going to be really honest with these kids,” Quinn noted. “I never tell a kid where to go. But it’s really important that kids go to places that match the way they play”.

By May, every player had found a home—at programs including Alabama, Pittsburgh, Fairfield, Western Carolina University, Lafayette, and Post University. Two others committed to playing professional basketball in Japan. 

We’re not headed to Disney World. We’re not getting a bonus.

London Jemison and Tyler Betsey at Saint Thomas More graduation 2024. Photo: Dayna Cass.

​A Former Player: Tyler Betsey 
 
In mid-September, I asked Syracuse sophomore Betsey what coach Quinn meant to him. “He saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself,” Betsey said over the phone, “and he just pushed me until I was one of the best players.” 
 
Betsey recalls an early conversation with Quinn. “I came to his office when I was a junior. He said, ‘I think you’re going to be one of the best players in New England. By the time you’re a senior, I think you’re going to be the best player in New England.’ And we had that plan, and we worked for it, and it became reality.” 
 
Trust was key. “He had a vision, and I trusted him—he’s done it before,” Betsey explained.
 
Betsey left STM in 2024 as the two-time Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year. He played his freshman year at the University of Cincinnati, averaging 3.3 points and 1.5 rebounds across 33 of 34 games. But the fit wasn’t right, and he entered the transfer portal. After considerable interest, he chose Syracuse. 
 
His bond with STM teammate Jemison remains strong. “It’s crazy—we played together in middle school,” Betsey said. “We could only dream of things like this, but we’ve been friends every step of the way.”

​Time Machine
 
The walls of Quinn’s office seem ready to give way under the weight of the photos, framed newspaper clippings and mementos from a lifetime on the hardwood. It is less of an office than a shrine—a daily reminder of what his players have accomplished and what the program has become.

Jere Quinn in his office at Saint Thomas More. Photo: Anthony Price.

Andre Drummond's sneaker sits on a computer in Jere Quinn's office. Photo: Anthony Price.

The place is rarely quiet. Current players drop in, alums stop by, and on one summer afternoon, his son Matt—now the head of school, and once his father’s player and assistant coach—poked his head in for a chat. 
 
Quinn never planned on this life. After a pro team overseas folded, his playing career ended abruptly, before it started. With few options, he accepted an offer from STM founder James Fox Hanrahan in 1978. He’s been here since. 
 
“I’ve always loved being a head coach,” Quinn says. “Not too many people get the opportunity to coach a nice program, as a head coach, when you’re twenty-three years old.” Then, with a laugh, he adds: “I started this job in the ‘70s, when I was in my 20s,” he says. “Now it’s the ‘20s, and I’m in my 70s! It’s kind of wild.” 

Quinn deflects praise for the success of the basketball program, insisting the credit belongs to his players and others who helped him. When asked about his overall record at STM, he replied by text: “I believe 1185-360.” 
 
Now, a new roster has arrived, eager to chase the same dreams as those who came before them. For Quinn, the cycle begins again, as natural as the changing seasons. 
 
Basketball still sustains him. The kid from a Queens parkway now walks each morning from his lakefront home to the STM gym, breathing the fresh Connecticut air. “It’s a nice living,” he says simply.
 
In many ways, Quinn is a modern-day Henry David Thoreau. He went into the woods to build a basketball program and guide young men toward college—and in the process discovered that he had everything he needed to live a full, contented life, far from distractions. 

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Anthony Price is an entrepreneur, author and publisher of CT Hoops Magazine. Jump Ball Journal is basketball beyond the score.