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The Basketball Podcast: EP373 with Brandon Rosenthal on High School Coaching Success and Career Management
In this week’s coaching conversation, CIA Bella Vista College Prep Brandon Rosenthal joins the Basketball Podcast to share insights on career management and high school coaching success.
Brandon Rosenthal brings a wealth of experience to his coaching career, encompassing six years of professional experience, nine years at the collegiate level, and one year in high school.
In his inaugural year as head coach at CIA Bella Vista College Prep, Rosenthal revitalized the basketball program, transforming it into a championship contender, and was named the 2024-25 EYBL Scholastic Coach of the Year. Bella Vista College Prep competes in the EYBL Scholastic Conference, widely recognized as one of the most competitive leagues in high school basketball.
Prior to Rosenthal’s arrival, the program had struggled, holding a one-and-eleven conference record. Under his leadership, the team achieved a remarkable turnaround, finishing with a nine-and-two record in conference play. This success earned them the title of regular season co-champions and an invitation to Chipotle Nationals in his debut season, spanning from 2024 to 2025.
During the 2024-25 season, CIA Bella Vista College Prep achieved a twenty-and-four overall regular season record. The team reached rankings as high as number two by MaxPreps, number four by Slam, and number five by ESPN. Notably, the team secured the most top ten wins and the most top twenty-five wins of any team in the nation, and played what was considered the toughest schedule in the country. The program received an invitation to the 2025 Chipotle Nationals. Additionally, the team became the first from Arizona in forty-two years to win the Beach Ball Classic. Rosenthal also oversees an academy of seventy boys and girls, which has produced two All-Americans.
Brandon Rosenthal’s extensive assistant coaching experience includes roles at various levels. He served as an Assistant Coach for the Santa Cruz Warriors (2023-2024), where he contributed to the team’s G-League Franchise of the Year title, Winter Showcase Semi-Finals appearance, and G-League Playoffs Quarter-Finals appearance, while also seeing five players called up to the NBA. Prior to that, he was an Assistant Coach, Director of Scouting & Player Development at Arizona State University (2019-2023), supporting the team in various capacities and contributing to a 2023 NCAA Tournament appearance. His experience also includes positions as Video/Player Development Coordinator for the Phoenix Suns (2017-2019), Assistant Coach for the Northern Arizona Suns (2016-2017), Video Assistant for the Houston Rockets (2015-2016), and Interim Assistant Coach/Director of Basketball Operations at Santa Clara University (2012-2015), where he was part of the 2013 CBI National Championship team.
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Brandon Rosenthal Quotes:
“There’s a lot of different ways to be successful in basketball . . I’ve worked for head coaches at all ends of the spectrum, whether it’s style of play, whether it’s leadership . . I’ve gotten to a place where, as a head coach, it’s about adapting and trying to find the best way to really help your team.”
“I have to learn to be adaptable to our personnel, be adaptable to the coaches I’m working with. We all have different strengths; we all have different weaknesses. Being able to play off of one another and, ultimately, being the best assistant coach that I can be for the head coach. And sometimes that means giving more of my opinion, sometimes that means giving less of my opinion.”
“I had some ideas in mind and we jumped right into it . . [I wanted] to emphasize certain things offensively and defensively that I was curious if they would translate from the higher levels, from the NBA or from college . . And ultimately, as the season progressed, I started realizing a lot of what we were doing at the professional level or high level Division 1 college basketball, we can do it at this level. I had a lot of fun going through that process.”
“Player development is holistic and everything connects together. Your sleep, your diet, who you surround yourself with, what your preparation is, all of that connects together.”
“The thing I knew about conceptual basketball is you’re going to go through highs and lows of the season. Teams are going to get better. They’re scouting you, they’re going to start to recognize your strengths and weaknesses.”
“Part of player development is getting used to playing in front of a lot of people and not getting distracted by the cameras and the media piece of it all and the business side of basketball.”
“Conceptually, I think you have to start with how you’re playing in transition and then get into your different sets and how you’re going to space the floor. I’m a big proponent of random basketball . The more random the game is, I think the more beautiful it is.”
“The biggest thing that we emphasize is running the floor, throwing the ball ahead. We want to throw the ball ahead because it flattens out the defense. . And that way, if you don’t have an early strike, you throw the ball back and the defense has been flattened out. It’s really difficult to get into ball screen coverage . . And then if you get stuck in the half court, you have different triggers.”
“Everybody has the debate about mid-range shots . . I spend more time talking about what’s a great shot for us as a team. And I really wanted the guys to be confident that when they attack the paint, they can make a good decision with the basketball. Whether that was finishing or whether that was kicking the ball out.”
“From a basketball standpoint, I want you to understand how to play with the other four players on the floor, both offensively and defensively. So, it didn’t matter where you went off to college, you’d be able to figure it out.”
“At different times, I tested our team, especially using practice as a way to figure out who are the guys that I know that, if it’s a little chaotic out there, I can get in there to settle things? Who are the guys I need to look towards if things are going a little bit sideways that can bring us back?”
“That’s how we talked a lot about roles and responsibilities within the team . . what does the team need from you for us to be successful? That was how we addressed each other and that was how we held each other to a certain standard throughout the year.”
“And so, if you’re doing a great job developing your players and you’re doing a great job developing your teams, the end product should ultimately be winning.”
“At the beginning of the year, we wanted to play as much as possible. And part of it was an evaluation piece, part of it was trying to establish chemistry . . But the value of playing and requiring the players to play at a very high standard and not stopping the play every single time there was a mistake and letting guys play through their mistakes helped us really make sure the conditioning piece was where it needed to be.”
“I really challenged myself to go year by year and not get too caught up in what’s across my chest or the opportunities that I would like to have, but really what’s best for me in my development. And then who do I want to surround myself by every single day? Part of the reason I took this job is I knew I was going to be surrounded by really good people here. I think lot of success goes to being surrounded by good, smart and talented people.”
“Sometimes there’s parts of your career where the bigger job or more money is the most important thing. But I think, especially early on in your career, you want to take opportunities for development and take opportunities for building out your coaching tree.”
Brandon Rosenthal Breakdown:
Brandon Rosenthal Selected Links from the Podcast:
Brandon Rosenthal
Chris Finch
J.B. Bickerstaff
Igor Kokoskov
Adam Gordon
Andy Farrell
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