Jason Smith & John Carroll: How MAI is Redefining Basketball Development

Join Cory Heitz as he welcomes Jason Smith and John Carroll, the heads of the basketball program at MAI (Masters Athletic International), a groundbreaking prep school basketball program in Stow, Massachusetts. In this episode, Jason and John dive deep into the future of prep basketball, sharing their mission to create a program that prioritizes year-round player development, elite competition, and academic excellence without compromise.

Jason and John also reveal their strategy for college placement, the ideal player profile for MAI, and how they’re reshaping New England basketball by keeping top talent home. Whether you're a parent, player, or coach, this conversation is packed with actionable insights for navigating the prep-to-college pipeline.

💡 Key Topics:
 📌 Year-round basketball development without academic sacrifice
 📌 MAI’s competitive edge: Location, facilities, and elite coaching staff
 📌 Injury prevention & recovery: Prehab, load management, and nutrition
 📌 Academic tailoring: College-prep courses, online learning, and flexibility
 📌 College placement strategy: Early recruitment and fall workouts
 📌 The future of prep basketball: Transformational vs. transactional programs

🏀 About Jason Smith & John Carroll:
 Jason Smith is a legendary prep school coach with a track record of developing 26 NBA players, including current pros. His expertise in player development, recruiting, and elite competition has made him a sought-after leader in basketball circles. At MAI, he oversees the on-court development and team strategy, ensuring players receive NBA-level training daily.

John Carroll combines Wall Street acumen with decades of coaching experience, including sending 55 players to the Ivy League. His vision for MAI merges academic rigor, athletic excellence, and character development, creating a holistic prep experience. John’s focus on innovation and adaptability positions MAI as a pioneer in modern prep school education.

🔗 Connect with Jason Smith & John Carroll:

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/john.carroll32/
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/coachjasonsmith_/
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/mastersacademyinternational/
Website | https://www.mastersacademyinternational.com/

🔗 Connect with Cory:
 
Website | https://www.prepathletics.com
Twitter | https://twitter.com/PREP_Athletics
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/prep.athletics/
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/PrepAthletics
Email | coryheitz@gmail.com
Phone | 859-317-1166

🔖 Subscribe to the PREP Athletics Podcast:

iTunes | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/prep-athletics-podcast/id1546265809?uo=4
Spotify | https://open.spotify.com/show/6CAKbXFiIOhoHinzsReYbJ
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Transcript

Cory Heitz (00:00)
Welcome to this week's episode of the Prep Athletics. Hi friends. Thanks for coming back or thanks for joining us for the first time. Proud to have you here. I think we put out a pretty good product here on the Prep Athletics podcast. And this week I'm excited to have joining us, Jason Smith and John Carroll from MAI Masters Athletic International. It's the new place being built in Stowe, Massachusetts at the former Bose call center.

And yeah, they get into it and talk about what they're looking for, what they've built, who the ideal player is for MAI. We talk about number one draft picks and future number one draft picks, AJ Dybantsa and Cooper flag and what they would have done if this was around, what a typical school day looks like their schedule, how they're going to place kids and more and more. This is a great podcast. First one with these two guys on it. It's been out there. So I think it's very informative. And these two guys were two of the first members.

of the prep athletics podcast, guest list way back when we started during the COVID days. And John Carroll, as we mentioned at the beginning was the one who told me we should start a prep school basketball podcast. without him, talking to me about that, all those years ago during COVID, as we were dipping in the ice water of Colorado, I thanked him at the beginning of this because this would not be possible or would not have been conceived without his, his kind suggestion. So gratitude to John for that, but exciting option up here.

there's going to cause some ripples in the prep school world with, you know, a lot of good players going there. They're going to be trying to compete for the high school national championship playing in the Nike, EYBL scholastic league. so yeah, tune into this one. It's a good one. And if you like it, be sure to share it with somebody that enjoys basketball recruiting. you know, all the ins and outs of prep school basketball. This is a good one. These are two masters of the game and I'm proud to have them on here. And if you like what you hear subscribing all the

podcasting platforms to include our YouTube channel, which includes a lot of bonus content. And, I think we got some good stuff on there. You can really learn a lot about this world. So thanks for tuning in today and enjoy this week's episode of the prep athletics podcast with Jason Smith and John Carroll of M.A.I.

Cory Heitz (02:32)
Jason John, welcome to the podcast.

Jason Smith (02:37)
Thank you.

John Carroll (02:37)
Thanks, Cory

Cory Heitz (02:37)
Good

to have, good to have you back. You guys were part of the original crew that joined us and this podcast would not exist without you, John. So once again, publicly thanking you for pushing me to get into this forum. It has been doing wondrous things for the past six years and I owe that to you. So thank you once again.

John Carroll (02:54)
You're welcome. I believed in you, believed in the vision, believed in you, and it's awesome to see it play out the way we both thought it would. So it's awesome. You've done a lot of good work for a lot of good people.

Cory Heitz (03:04)
I appreciate that. when you, we last talked, both you guys were at different schools and now you're at MAI in the outskirts of Boston. So John, I know we've talked about this before offline, but once you share with our listeners what your thought process was to help build something like MAI.

John Carroll (03:23)
Well, it's, um, you know, very market driven, um, you know, through my, my background in coaching, but also my background on wall street and worked at Morgan Stanley. And I just always paid attention to what was a trend and what was a little bit more beyond that. And what I really was seeing that my people that I was working with and my players wanted more basketball. wanted to not sacrifice academics to do it. And they wanted to not sacrifice character to do it. And.

What I was seeing was that the ceiling was lowering where I was in terms of what the opportunity was for kids to really chase the basketball piece, limitations out of season, limitations in season, amount of games, everything. And so Jason and I have been talking about this for 12 years and we're always thinking about what the future was. That's what I really enjoyed about our conversations. And I think we both saw that if there was a sports academy that ever came to

New England, would really disrupt things, because that's the model that our, our, our players wanted. So four years ago, I met with, Peter Masters and he proposed the idea to me and he was selling me the idea. And I said, you don't have to sell me. I'm already there. I've been there for a while. I'm in. So that was four years ago. Then, you know, all the things that have happened from then to now. It's been really, really interesting to be a part of. and nothing's changed in terms of my opinion.

and the direction of where this whole thing is going. And I think the timing of Masters is perfect in relation to what's happening in NCAA, in terms of what's happening in professional basketball, but most importantly, what's happening in grassroots high school, prep school basketball. It's perfect. The timing is perfect.

Cory Heitz (05:13)
Perfect. how is this, Jason, how is this different than like a traditional prep program? Like what are the benefits that you're getting at MAI versus like a place you're familiar with?

Jason Smith (05:24)
Yeah, just the sheer amount of time that we are able to work with the players and work with the players year round. Unfortunately, a traditional boarding school limits the amount of time that you're able to work with the kids, in particular out of season. For as long as I can recall, I've been told that players are made in the off season. And unfortunately, traditional boarding schools limit the amount of time that you're able to work with kids in the off season.

Cory Heitz (05:54)
Yeah, gotcha. Now there is a statement now or, or, or saying that there's more injuries now from kids playing the same sport all year round for years after years. Are you worried about overuse injuries if kids are focused on this same sport every day or what's your, what's your comeback on that?

Jason Smith (06:15)
Turn this off, Cory. I'm sorry, my phone's moving.

Cory Heitz (06:16)
Hehehehe

John Carroll (06:19)
Yeah,

I mean, can, I can answer that for sure. Yeah, I can answer that for sure. think, you know, my teams have played a lot of games over the years and so have Jason's and another place where we both align is, prehab and recovery. And, you know, you watch a basketball, they play four to six games in a weekend and no one's talking about recovery. No one's talking about pre prehabilitation stuff.

Cory Heitz (06:21)
Overuse. Answer me that. Yeah, go for that.

John Carroll (06:49)
So I don't think the overuse is coming from a well-organized, thoughtful, prehab situation, recovery situation. I don't think injuries come from those types of environments. Josh Lee, who is Jason's assistant, he's a physical therapist. He got a hold of the sports medicine room at Masters and a lot of it was about rehabilitation and dealing with injuries. And he switched it quickly.

to making sure that it was a lot of prehab and a lot of recovery. so it was like 80, 20 injury rehabilitation, and then it became injury prehabilitation. So we were, I really enjoyed that switch. So I think, overuse of basketball, sure, without the recovery and the prehabilitation is big. And I think that one of the biggest things we have is

We don't call it four hours of basketball a day, we call it four hours of sport. And that's going to include recovery and that is going to include nutrition and that is going to include prehab. And really being aware of, they call it load management, but it'll be aware of that for sure. Those things are available to us and they're not available at a traditional boarding school.

Cory Heitz (08:06)
Yeah. Love that. Now, Jason, the word on the street is you guys are being called the IMG of the North, right? So if families are looking at IMG and MAI, like what are the differences that you guys offer that they might not?

Jason Smith (08:19)
Again, I don't feel comfortable speaking about IMG because I'm not as knowledgeable about their program. What I will say the difference is our location. Our location is such that we really don't have to get on a plane to get high level competition in games. For several decades now, New England's the home of post-graduate or prep basketball.

So we don't necessarily have to travel outside the region to get high level games and competition. So I think that's what's really attractive about Masters Academy International is our location is such that there are 20 plus teams in our region that are gonna provide high level competition every time you compete against them.

Cory Heitz (09:06)
you

Yeah. Okay. Perfect. And this is something that has been a topic of conversation too, is two of the potential number one picks in the draft have left New England for other high school options. And that's Cooper Flagg and AJD and Bonsa. If MAI were in place now, right? What would your pitch be to them versus them leaving to go to another situation like they did?

Jason Smith (09:32)
John, you want to answer this or you want me to?

John Carroll (09:35)
You can get this one, yeah, for sure.

Jason Smith (09:37)
Yeah, I think that, you know, I actually had both of them visit my previous school on back to back weekends, ironically. know, and unfortunately, at that time where I was located, we weren't able to offer, you know, year round training out of season, you know, whether it was preseason or postseason. And I think that that is what they wanted. That's what the market, as John said, dictates. know, kids want to be able to

to work on their craft year round. And now Masters Academy International is able to provide what kids want. So I think that if MAI existed at the time, it certainly would have been a player for both of those families, you because that's what both of those families were looking for at the time.

John Carroll (10:23)
Yeah, and I think, you know, I also recruited them and Jason and I talked quite a bit about it. And the two of us were like, I don't think either one of us are going to get them. And it really is the ability to serve them. They did not make the wrong decision. I mean, they both went to a place where they had a lot of basketball. They had a lot of training. They were able to really play a top level competition.

and we could not offer either of them that opportunity. So yeah, think we will certainly, and just as know, support what Jason said, like we're certainly gonna be able to provide that opportunity to anyone in New England, nevermind the globe. Like of course we want our kids to stay home in New England. That's one of the motivating factors for this is both Jason and I really wanna support New England basketball and everything that we've done.

There's always been an angle to really make sure that basketball stayed in New England. The NABL is a great example of that. And we want basketball to stay in New England. We think this is a big piece to that.

Cory Heitz (11:27)
Yeah, love that. So the big thing parents always ask me, they always ask you guys is what do you do to develop my son or daughter? Right? So Jason, since you're going to be on the court with these kids, what is your pitch to families on how you're going to develop them versus other schools they may be looking at?

Jason Smith (11:44)
I think that it's being able to evaluate where their game is at the moment. I think that we have put together a tremendous staff to work with kids on a daily basis on the court. Nadir Tharp was recently announced as one of our player development coaches. Nadir had a great career, starting with me at my previous school where he was the New England player of the year. He then went on to play at Kansas. Then he has experience playing professionally in the G League and in Europe.

So I think that the fact that we're gonna be able to train kids the day that they arrive on campus in September is the separator. Unfortunately, some traditional boarding schools have to wait before they can intentionally work with kids on a daily basis and we're not gonna have those restrictions at MAI.

Cory Heitz (12:36)
Who will MAI be playing as far as your schedule goes?

Jason Smith (12:41)
The scholastic team will be part of the Nike EYBL scholastic. So we're excited to be part of that. I made the move at my previous school three years ago to join that league. The league is tremendous in terms of the competition you face with the other schools in the league. But I think what we'll do is we'll offset our league schedule by playing some of the traditional New England powers out of conference. I've already talked to a handful of...

England prep coaches and they're excited about the opportunity to play against MAI because they want to play the best competition to help their kids prepare for the next level.

Cory Heitz (13:22)
Yeah, love that. obviously basketball, you guys gonna have that covered. What about academics? John, like what are underclassmen? What's their classroom and daily situation gonna look like? And then what about the post grads?

John Carroll (13:34)
Yeah, I mean, you know, the thing for me that I say to parents is, know, Tiger doesn't change its stripes and I'm not coming to masters because we're dropping academics. Like it's an elevated experience academically. We know where we're located in New England and our academics have to be aligned with the top end schools in New England. So for me, one of the things that I insisted on was that I wanted to make sure that we would have multivariable calculus in person.

because the kids that I work with, they want to be in that type of course. So Richard O'Dell and Andy Williams, the head of school, they flexed on that and they brought in two professors that are going to be teaching linear algebra and number theory in person. So I think for post-grads and 11th and 12th grade students, their academic programming is going to look like college. They'll be taking three classes in the fall, three in the spring. I love that model.

know, colleges can get to see three completed courses instead of six partially taken courses. So I think we can really be creative in terms of what we offer them. And we could really make it if a kid's more into STEM, we could do heavy math. If a kid's more humanities, we can lighten up on the math a little bit. Most of the kids that we take will be, we'll get through the NCAA requirements by their junior year outside of senior English. So there'll be a lot of flexibility.

There's a few ways where I really have pivoted academically and one of them is I really was about brick and mortar and making sure every class is in person. But the reality is in college you are going to take online classes. So I do want in the spirit of making sure that our kids are supremely prepared for college, I want every kid to take an online course because they're going to do it in college. I don't care if they go to Stanford, Northwest and Harvard, there's a very, very, very strong likelihood that one of their classes is online.

So we will partner with Dwight Global and kids will have access to that really, really deep and broad curriculum to explore what fits for them academically and just get them more prepared for college. And then with the underclassmen, sorry, underclassmen, there'll be a little bit different schedule. 10th grade, they'll be exploring humanities and the sense of self and all that. But it'll be a little bit more structured in terms of what's available to them academically in terms of like.

Cory Heitz (15:47)
When you mentioned three-

John Carroll (16:01)
know, freedom of movement in terms of what they take.

Cory Heitz (16:05)
When you mention the three courses each semester, is that actual college courses?

John Carroll (16:10)
Well, not necessarily. mean, this changed years ago where colleges don't want you to spend their money, your money on a prep school campus. They want you to spend their money on their campus. So to get college credit in prep school is really difficult in order for it to translate to an academic school. So there is a way to do it, but that's not going to be like a focus of ours to make sure they can get college credit, just because so few schools will accept that.

Cory Heitz (16:41)
we have support if a kid has trouble with executive functioning. Okay.

John Carroll (16:45)
Fisher, yeah.

This is a senior staff that have built the Avenue School in New York City. They had one of the largest starting enrollments of all time. had over 700 new students enroll. The head of school then went to China and opened up another Avenue School there. Then he went to another school in San Juan, sorry, in Brazil and created an Avenue School there. This is a very, very...

You know, we always say like there's nothing new about the school other than the beds. But in terms of the structure and who's teaching, these are veteran teachers, these are veteran senior staff, veteran coaches. I don't think there's a head coach on the boys side at least that has not had less than 20 years of head coaching experience. The same thing applies to our academic curriculum and our teachers.

Cory Heitz (17:38)
Love it. Now, so the academic thing, so people that are going to come at you and say, this is a basketball academy, it's nice. The school as well with heavy influence on sports. And it sounds like the academics can be tailored depending on the kid too, right?

John Carroll (17:53)
Yeah, for me, what I really like about what we can do on the strength is make it really tailored towards the individual. The basketball with the amount of time we could be on the court, we can tailor it to the individual. Academically, we can also tailor it to the individual. And what I really like about what we do, and it took me a while to be convinced of this, but our basketball coaches only coach basketball, and our teachers only teach.

Cory Heitz (18:18)
Right.

John Carroll (18:21)
And then our residential life folks are only residential life. And it really allows people to go deep and be an expert and really produce an outstanding product. And there is going to be an holistic approach to each kid where it gets all connected. But I really have come around to that concept that all we're doing is what our job is. And you're not getting a really great coach who's pretty good in the dorm room.

and as an okay teacher, you're getting someone who's elite at all three categories.

Cory Heitz (18:53)
Yeah, thanks for sharing that. Now, Jason, it is May of 2026. Obviously, placement of prep school kids, high school kids transfers is as messy as it's ever been. What is going to be your college placement strategy now that you're an MAI for your players for the future?

John Carroll (18:55)
Mm-hmm.

Jason Smith (19:11)
Yeah, I don't necessarily agree that it's been a challenge. My previous school haven't had any difficulty placing guys. I think if you get the right type of kid, whether it's the academic profile or a high level player, ideally I like to have my guys placed as early as possible. So even during the pandemic, think that we had 100 % of our guys placed before the new year began, the new calendar year.

So I don't envision much change. What I do look forward to is the fall period, which is huge in prep school athletics. That September period where we're gonna welcome coaches. We're not gonna have to compete with other schools that wanna come, college coaches that wanna come see us work out. At MAI, we're gonna have our workouts in the morning.

you know, when other schools are in classes. So you're not going to have a situation where a college coach comes to watch a workout in September and then have to leave halfway through to make another workout. You know, we're not going to have that conflict, you know. So when colleges fly into New England, they're going to know that MAI is working out, you know, whether it's, you know, nine to 11 every day while the other schools are in academics and we're going to flip our academics are going to be in the afternoon.

when other programs are having their workouts.

Cory Heitz (20:39)
think that's genius. That's gonna get so many more coaches in the door. And how far are you guys from Logan Airport?

John Carroll (20:44)
45 minutes.

Cory Heitz (20:48)
Walk me through a typical day in the life on a Wednesday in October. What's a typical day like for an MAI basketball player?

John Carroll (20:58)
think the really cool part is, and Jason mentioned it, so many schools have to wrap their athletics around their academics, and we're wrapping our academics around athletics. So at both of the schools I've worked with so far, we need to do 6 a.m. because their class day starts at eight.

you're sacrificing something and getting back to what I said earlier, the recovery and the rehab, you're putting that at stake, you know? So like we don't have to do a 6 a.m. workout and our kids can get a full eight hours plus of sleep and they can recover. You know, we're in the gym at eight o'clock. So from eight to 12, we're doing our sport, which will include strength.

individual instruction, team stuff, which we can start in September. We can start practices if we want, which is a huge difference. we can play games in October, which is a huge difference. So, for us, eight to 12 is sport. They have lunch, and then they have their classes from one to five. So on a typical day, you'd have a kid going eight to three 30 or eight to three with academics. and they'd have these random blocks in the day. And we just don't have that.

So our kids will have eight to 12 support. They'll have breakfast before that. Lunch, they'll go to class one to 5.30. They'll have dinner. They'll have some downtime. And then there'll be another opportunity to get back in the gym for a couple hours in the evening. And then there's also incorporating recovery. We also want these kids to be, you know, kids also. So there is room for that for sure. I don't expect and don't want every kid in the gym every night.

They're gonna get more than enough basketball with us, but I do want them to have that availability to get the gym if they just wanna get shots up and they wanna get more technique and more instruction from our coaches. That'll be available to them for sure.

Cory Heitz (22:55)
Perfect. Perfect. Thank you for explaining that. Now, Jason, how many teams are you going to have in your first year? then after you've built that out and everything's established and you have the amount of teams you want when you guys are fully filled, what's it look like in year one and what's it look like ideally when you guys have everything in place?

Jason Smith (23:14)
Yeah, I know in year one, we're going to have two teams. We're going to have a scholastic team and a prep team. know, John can probably speak further about what the future looks like after things are built out. But in year one, I think we're going to limit 22 to 24 kids in the program to be intentional to those kids and those kids needs. You know, as we as we start off, the scholastic team, as I said, will play in the Nike EYBL scholastic. The prep team is going to play in the NEBL.

So both are going to provide tremendous schedules and opportunities for kids. John, if you want to speak a little bit what the future will hold after year one.

John Carroll (23:50)
Yeah, mean, think May 22nd is going to be a big deal for a lot of people. And what the ruling is by the NCAA will dictate some of the things that we can do. I think the really fortunate spot is we can really, really pivot on a dime if we have to. You know, we'll see how involved middle school becomes. Reclassified eighth grade, reclassified seventh. We'll see what happens there if, you know, the reclassification thing gets removed.

or post-grads. So I think there's a lot of room for change. The bottom line for me, though, is I took this job because I wanted to be transformational, not transactional. And you won't see 20 teams at Masters. If we get to four, including middle school, that's appropriate for me. you won't see five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 teams. Because I think you really do hit a breaking point where

it does cross over from transformation with transactional. And this will always be a transformational experience. I know our senior team is committed to that. Rich O'Dell in particular, that was where he and I aligned the most. And he's our CEO of the operation there. But that's where we'll be. I mean, we'll grow. As the school grows, our program will grow. But you won't see it in an eight team situation where kids are playing on the purple team or whatever they call it. You know what mean?

Cory Heitz (24:47)
Mm-hmm.

John Carroll (25:14)
So it'll always remain transformational.

Cory Heitz (25:14)
Yep.

Okay. Love that. Now, Jason, as far as players go, who's an ideal player for MAI?

Jason Smith (25:25)
I would say an IMAI ideal player somebody that's a gym rat, somebody that's driven, somebody that's motivated to play at the highest level and beyond. We don't want guys that don't want to put in the time, that don't have ambitious goals and dreams. We want the best of the best. I think that we've been very diligent.

and intentional as we build out our rosters. Like I think that on our scholastic team at this point, you've only seen one kid publicly announced that he's coming and that was by design. Antonio Pemberton is a huge first piece for our scholastic team. Somebody that I'm very familiar with, he's been our point guard at my previous school for two years and then he'll come with us for his senior year. So as we build our team, we're really...

know, turning over every stone. You know, we had, you know, tremendous amount of people that have expressed interest in MAI. But we want to make sure that we have the right type of kids, you know, high character, but also guys that are driven and motivated to be successful in all areas, not just, you know, athletically. We want guys that academically have goals and ambitions as well.

Cory Heitz (26:41)
I love it. Now, what are some misconceptions you guys are hearing about MAI that you want to clear up? If any.

John Carroll (26:50)
Yeah, I haven't heard much in terms of that. Or I haven't heard anything, so I don't know how to address that. I just want to say, there's a reason why we both left where we were. it was because we both felt like there was a better way to do it. And what I mean by doing it was supporting.

Cory Heitz (26:56)
Okay. Okay. Perfect.

Jason Smith (26:57)
Yeah, I haven't

heard anything at this point either.

Thank

John Carroll (27:16)
kids chasing, you know, you say they always say the best version of themselves. Right. And I just think this space, this opportunity with these, you know, this is across the board in all the sports. You know, our baseball coaches left that, you know, end over in Deerfield to come here. And the reason and, you know, soccer coach left was to like these. Everyone left a very successful career and path to do this. And we all think it's the right right way to do teenage life socially.

We all think this is the right way to do it academically and we all think this is the right way to do it athletically. was no Jason could have stayed where he is and is building a hall of fame career. And I've been very fortunate. I didn't have to, I don't have to leave and do really anything else, but I think this is the right way it should be done in terms of serving really high level kids who are ambitious and want to be and see how good they can be.

And we just don't think there's a better way to do it than the way Masters is offering it.

Cory Heitz (28:19)
Yeah, I appreciate that. Now walk me through the Masters, the whole package here. So obviously there's been a lot of investment. Tell us about your location, what it was, what you're doing with it, kind of the other sports that are there. Tell me the whole big picture of MAI.

John Carroll (28:36)
So originally it was the Bose campus and it was a call center basically and it's over 300,000 square feet. When COVID hit, all the call centers got relocated and they were left with a couple hundred engineers and researchers and they all wanted to be at the headquarters in Framingham. So they closed the campus. It was out for bid. Another company won the campus and then they lost it. And then we came in and won the campus.

a few years later. So it's been refurbished. It's gonna be a world-class academic space. So that was the gist of it for sure. That's where it started.

Cory Heitz (29:22)
Gotcha. And then

do you guys have a shoe company you're working with specifically?

Jason Smith (29:30)
Right now, again, with us being in the Nike EYBL Scholastic, our Scholastic team will certainly be with Nike.

Cory Heitz (29:38)
Okay. Perfect. And do you guys have a mascot yet?

John Carroll (29:43)
We are the Mavericks going back and forth on two different ideas. But getting back to your previous question, the campus made sense because of the location. It's within an hour and a half of every prep school in New England, pretty much. So that made sense. The support that we're getting from Cognita is significant. And what I think...

Cory Heitz (29:48)
Okay. Okay.

Mm-hmm.

John Carroll (30:10)
is sometimes getting overlooked is the support we're getting from Massachusetts governor's office and the local politicians. And they want to see this succeed. There's been significant tax credits thrown towards Masters Academy and there's really tremendous support from the governor's office down. And with cognitive support, this is a $6 billion company, for-profit education program that educates 100,000 kids a day.

at over 100 schools worldwide. So you're really talking about some deep pockets that want this to succeed. So we're really talking about a connection and collaboration between Massachusetts highest ranking officials, an international company, $100 million investment into the town of Stowe through this campus. It's gonna be a huge boom for the community in Stowe.

I sat in on a lot of the meetings on the buildup. The people in Stowe are super, super supportive of it and they're great partners already. So I think, you know, in terms of the support that we have and the build that we have, both financially and from the local government and the state government, it's significant. So I think there's a lot of people that are behind this that want to make sure that the wheels of Greece for success for this institution.

So for me, that's also a big piece. Obviously the talent that we have on the coaching staff and the admission office and the academic circle and all that, but the financial support is significant. And then also the support we're getting from the local and state government is also significant.

Cory Heitz (31:52)
Yeah, that's huge. You don't normally hear that when you're about prep schools. all right. what time is it?

John Carroll (31:54)
Yeah.

Yeah, you don't.

Jason Smith (32:03)
High noon.

Cory Heitz (32:06)
We got 12 bells coming. All right. This is perfect. I got kids yelling on a snow day here. We got clocks chiming. I love it. yeah, look outside for those that can't see, in the mountains of Colorado, May 6th, we have a snow day today. So come on. had that New Hampshire Jason. You must've had snow days in May.

Jason Smith (32:14)
Snow day.

Remember, it was a 70 Not that late close, not that late

John Carroll (32:29)
I don't think we've had a snow day.

Cory Heitz (32:31)
Okay, okay. Well, now it's a Colorado. You just can't predict it.

So, all right, getting near the end here, gentlemen, but this is for both of you guys. Jason, if this looks exactly the way you want it to, and it goes exactly as planned, what does MAI look like in five years and your program?

Jason Smith (32:49)
a perennial top five program in the country, winning national championships, competing for Chipotle championships nationally. So I think that that's the goal. And right away, not waiting five, 10 years, it's right out of the gate. We wanna compete and be the best program in the country.

Cory Heitz (33:11)
How about you?

John Carroll (33:13)
Yeah, I think we reshape what college preparation means. We've hired our first member of our front office, as I'm calling it. We're going to really be involved in educating and offering opportunities for families to understand the landscape and what their return on investment can be.

I imagine and are expecting to have within five years, we'll have a draft pick or two or three in the NBA draft. You know, we'll have high level placement on, you know, the professional path in college at the best, you know, colleges in the country. And then we'll be also supporting that with, you know, some really high end academic placement also with the Ivy League. Jason sent, you know,

26 of his former players have played in the NBA, including a bunch that are playing right now in playoffs. And I've sent 55 kids to the Ivy League and we've run parallel at two different institutions for a long time. And now that merges. And I think you're going to see the best version of both of those things. Like Jason said, not in five years, in a year, two years, three years, this thing is going to hit the ground running.

Cory Heitz (34:31)
I love it. Is there anything you guys want to mention before we get off here that we didn't touch on today about MAI or what you guys have going on?

Jason Smith (34:40)
I think what the kids are excited about when they visit is they hear it's not just their teammates that are having the same goals and ambitions that they do in just their sport. There's going to be high level ice hockey players. There's going to be high level soccer players, major league baseball prospects. United States fencing is moving their location to MAI. So they're going to be Olympians that they're

in math class with. So I think that once we share how the other sports at MAI have athletes that have the same goals that they do, you see the kids' eyes light up with excitement and having peers in class that maybe play a different sport have the same goals and ambitions and dreams that they do.

Cory Heitz (35:27)
Well, basketball players room with basketball players. Are you going to mix up the sports for some cross pollination?

John Carroll (35:35)
You know, I've always had one rule when it came to roommates, and I just don't want guys that play the same position living together. But other than that, I've stopped micromanaging who lives with who. You know, these kids find a way to negotiate it. I just don't like when two kids that are in physical confrontation for two hours a day in practice now have to like figure out how to be roommates. That's a tall task.

So outside of that, our kids will be living with hockey players, soccer players, basketball players. It will be a nice mix.

Cory Heitz (36:11)
John, anything else you want to add to this?

John Carroll (36:14)
You know, just think the, for me, think, you know, a kid really, and a family really needs to ask, is the school I'm looking at participating more in the future or the past? And I think this whole landscape is moving really, really quickly. And people who are fighting for the way things used to be, you got to really pay attention to that if you're a prospective family.

because there's nothing going to be the way it used to be. I mean, I was joking with a former college coach yesterday where depth charts had played a role in your college placement. That is so far gone. And I just think, masters is not only on the cutting edge, but it'll be setting the standard going forward in terms of what prep school and what preparation and accessibility and training and academic, we're really,

on the cutting edge and we're going to be leading the way in a lot of categories. So I think parents really need to make sure that they're talking to coaches who understand that and make sure their institutions understand that too. And I think MI really provides that opportunity with really cutting edge, advancing. We have an eye on the future, acknowledging the past for sure, but we're really ripping towards the future.

Cory Heitz (37:36)
I love it. I love your forward thinking on all this and thinking outside the box. think that's great. And for players around the US and around the world that want to learn if this could be an option for them, what's their first step they should take?

John Carroll (37:52)
Yeah, I mean, our website, there's an inquiry form there. You know, hopefully we connect them on our social media platforms too. And that'll be attached to this. So they can DM us, they can reach out on inquiry forms and just reach out and set up a visit to campus and get information their way for sure. Just dive deep. There's a lot of information that are out there about us for sure.

Cory Heitz (38:16)
Yeah, we'll have all that stuff in the show notes below, whether it's watching this or listening to this and just full disclosure, I did visit the campus about a month ago. John was kind enough to show me around. It's still under construction, but I know they're making progress every day and I'm excited to see it this fall and when it come out completed. So, it's exciting stuff. So gentlemen, I appreciate both you guys coming on today to share the updates on your new exciting venture. Anything we can do on RN to help, I appreciate it, but yeah.

Good luck in your ventures and we'll chat soon. All right.

John Carroll (38:47)
Thank you.

Jason Smith (38:48)
Thank you, Cory

Cory Heitz (38:49)
If you guys like this episode, please be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and all the podcasting platforms. And if you're interested in prep school, such as MAI, reach out to us also at prepathetics.com, fill out the free assessment and we'll get back to you and let you know what your options are. So thank you for tuning in, share this with a friend. We'll see you next time on the Prepathetics podcast. Take care.