Harry Morra has known Zay Jennings for a long time.
As an assistant coach at DeSales and Lehigh, Morra had Jennings on his recruiting radar when he played at Allentown Central Catholic before graduating in 2016.
“He was a very recruitable basketball player when he was in high school,” Morra said. “The Division 3s really wanted him, the Division 2s really wanted him, and there were a lot Division 1s who were evaluating him. When I was beginning my coaching career at DeSales and Lehigh, Zay was in the thick of recruiting interest for the schools I was connected to, and we all wanted to see what level he could get to, and he made some great decisions. Then I would hold some high-level workouts at both DeSales and Lehigh with players like CJ McCollum, Darrun Hilliard, Terrence Roderick, and Tyrese Martin and Zay was always in those workouts playing with unbelievably talented players. Zay belonged in the gym with those guys.”
When Jennings’ college career, which started at Caldwell University in New Jersey, and ended at LeMoyne College in upstate New York, was complete, Morra stayed in touch with Jennings.
“We hired him at Lehigh as our director of basketball operations while he was getting his Master’s degree in education, so I’ve known him for at least 10 years now, and I would tell him to enjoy his time as a player, but I also told him that he was going to be a really great basketball coach,” Morra said. “The main reason why is that he was always into it. We would run these high-level workouts and there would be Lehigh and Lafayette players and East Stroudsburg players and guys like Darnell Braswell and Zay just got it. He could fit in with very high-IQ, high-level basketball players at such a young age. He understood the dynamics, the relationships, the leadership necessary and his game on the floor with his Xs and Os also showed a high basketball IQ. His dad, Ed, was also a longtime coach, so Zay knew every facet of coaching. It was just a matter of time for him.”
That time has come.
Morra, who is in his second year as the head coach of the national team at Perkiomen School, has brought on Jennings as an assistant coach of the national squad and the head coach of the prep team.
It’s an exciting opportunity for Jennings, who aspires to be a college head coach.
“Harry came to me, said he thought this would be good for me and for Perkiomen,” Jennings said. “It’s a great opportunity for me to grow as a coach and also from a networking aspect. There are a lot of kids here at Perkiomen who want to play at the next level, and there are always going to be college coaches in our gym checking out recruits. And from a coaching aspect of player development and in-game coaching, I am getting valuable experience.”
Perkiomen’s national squad has become renowned for helping to develop some of the most talented players in the country.
The starting point guard for the Phoenix Suns in the NBA, Ryan Dunn, is a Perkiomen product, as are University of Florida starters Xaivian Lee and Thomas Haugh. West Virginia’s Honor Huff, who also spent some time at Dieruff, is one of the top shooters in college basketball and grew his game while at Perkiomen.
“Our current roster features three kids who are Division I prospects, starting with Darnell Lloyd, who is committed to Boston University,” Mora said. “He’s 6-foot-11, and his upside is off the charts. Another guy is Tyler Royal, who is a 6-foot-9 power forward, and a third guy is Elijah Crispin, who is the son of former Penn State star Joe Crispin. Elijah broke all of his dad’s records in South Jersey and came to us as a postgraduate to see what level of college basketball he could get to. He’s outstanding as well.”
Jennings’ prep team may not have the same level of talent as the national team, but it also has a roster filled with good players and prospects such as Jayden Leatherbury, who transferred from Freedom.
“I am having a ton of fun,” Jennings said. “We’re playing a bunch of games, and we’re in the gym a lot. Two weeks ago, we had five games, playing every day. With the national team, we went down to Washington, D.C. to play a game in a league we’re in called the Elite Prep League for select prep schools. We’re not bound by the 22-game season that the PIAA mandates. We can play as many games as we want. Our schedule is always open and fluctuates. We just added a game to play on a Sunday in Delaware.”
Jennings said the prep team and the national team practice together.
“There are about 20 kids in the entire program, and every now and then we’ll break off and have separate practices and if one team has a game, we’ll split practices so that team can focus on its upcoming opponent,” he said. “My team played a team from Australia that’s on one of those foreign tours, and they played a bunch of games in New York and New Jersey and made a Pennsylvania stop. Our team is off to a 7-2 start.”
Jennings said he got to learn a lot about coaching while at Lehigh, especially the scouting component, and learned the administrative side of the profession as well.
“Once I stopped playing, I knew I wanted to coach at some level,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to coach at Division I, II, and III college programs, and now I’m here at a high-level prep school. I started my coaching career at Wheeling University in West Virginia, a Division II program, and then I was at Lehigh for two years, and then I got the chance to be a volunteer assistant with Scott Coval at DeSales. So, this is my fifth year of coaching, and I’ve learned at every stop along the way.”
Asked to describe his own coaching philosophy, Jennings, who scored 1,426 points in his high school career and then added 950 points and 176 3-pointers as a college player, said, “My biggest principles are to play fast and have players who can do all three things on the court – dribble, pass, and shoot. I always want our guys to make good decisions, and we’ll play five out with everyone out on the perimeter and showing what they can do. That’s the way basketball is being played these days. Defensively, I want our guys to keep the ball in front and pressure a little bit. We want teams to have to use the shot clock for its entirety. And then I want to hold each player accountable. That’s really important in culture building. I want everyone to focus on doing their job.”
Jennings and Morra are trying to get kids ready for the next level of basketball, but they’re also trying to help produce people who will have productive and successful lives.
“That’s a big aspect of Perkiomen as a school,” Jennings said. “They have to understand that one day basketball is going to have to stop for everyone, but when that happens, they can fall back on their character and education. Perkiomen is big on saying that even if you’re on the national basketball team, you’re part of the Perkiomen program, and you are going to be asked to do things the normal student would do, like being a part of clubs and other activities. Everyone has to have a hand in the community, and no one is above anyone else.”
Morra is a 2000 Phillipsburg, New Jersey, graduate who played for Coval at DeSales and then got to travel the world playing international professional basketball. He returned to the area at the age of 30 and got into coaching. He loves basketball and the opportunities it offers young people.
“Perkiomen doesn’t recruit,” Morra said. “But if families are compelled to leave a school and they are leaving that school, we have to respect that. We aren’t actively going out and seeking kids, but if they come to us, we’re going to try to provide the best experience possible for them athletically and academically.”
As for Jennings, Morra said, “He’s got a bright future, and it’s awesome to see where he’s at. I knew him as a kid, and now he’s a super, mature, intelligent, capable, young adult. His parents have raised a good one. We’re happy to have him at Perkiomen.”
