Investor Tull, Rize Sports draw star-studded list of basketball coaches to clinic aimed at growing game

Rize Sports, the massive, multi-million-dollar, four-court basketball facility just off Ohio River Boulevard in Leetsdale, isn’t just about billionaire investor Thomas Tull’s generous funding of the building’s construction in 2023. The Steelers part-owner and entrepreneur who lives in nearby Edgeworth — emphatically — doesn’t want it to be.

Instead, Tull insists it be about growing basketball in Western Pennsylvania, where football rules.

And hockey. And baseball. And, perhaps, even soccer.

“Look at the Riverhounds. They’re starting to take hold,” said Gateway coach Alvis Rogers, a former Wake Forest basketball star who was a sixth-round pick of the old NBA Kansas City Kings. “But, having a pro basketball team here would help with the development of our high school teams.”

For now, events such as instructional clinics must make do.

On Sunday, high school coaches from around the region gathered at Rize Sports’ $20 million-plus, state-of-the-art compound to hear what a star-studded menu of speakers were offering at what wasn’t just any old basketball clinic.

“You’re all here on a Sunday morning because you care,” Tull began by telling the group. “You’re passionate.”

So, too, is Tull, who staged the clinic as “an opportunity to connect some of the best coaches in college basketball with more than 200 high school coaches and their staff in Pittsburgh.”

“It’s important to me to have it here in Pittsburgh, which has a rich sports tradition,” he said.

But this isn’t supposed to be a story about Tull, who convinced Moon native and newly named Arkansas coach John Calipari, Gonzaga coach Mark Few and legendary former high school coach Bob Hurley, among others, to attend.

Calipari, ever a showman, kicked things off to the enthusiasm of his listeners and spoke passionately about his own practices and principles.

He paused near the end of his 40-minute piece and glanced into the stands at his high school coach at Moon, Bill Sacco, who was wearing an Arkansas shirt and hat. The two exchanged smiles.

Calipari went on to play in college for Joe DeGregorio at what is now known as PennWest Clarion.

Of Calipari, DeGregorio once told the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, “He made everyone else better, John knew the game. In other words, he knew where everybody was on the floor. … He was just like a general out there. And he had all the sergeants and privates and corporals below him. And he could make them into one.”

Sound familiar? Calipari is among college basketball’s winningest coaches with six Final Four appearances and one national championship.

Pitt coach Jeff Capel followed, leading the group with a discussion on his plan for daily practices.

The Panthers, under Capel, posted their second consecutive 20-win season (22-11) in 2023-24, despite falling short of a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

In six years, Capel is 97-92 at Pitt. His 15-year mark, which also includes time at VCU and Oklahoma, is 272-202 (.574).

Hurley followed, talking about such things as “elbow to eyebrow,” while mimicking a shooting motion. Players from Division III schools Carnegie Mellon and Chatham were on hand to illustrate drills for the 77-year-old Hurley, who led Jersey City (N.J.) St. Anthony to 26 state championships in 39 seasons before the school closed in 2017.

“You can tell he’s been around the game a long time,” Rogers said. “It’s interesting how he relays it to the players and how he relays it to the audience here. He just goes right into his drills — no intro — but I guess it’s his style.”

When Hurley, the father of Connecticut coach Dan Hurley, who led the Huskies to a national championship last season, and Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley, asked if there were any questions, before anyone could ask, he excitedly continued to talk.

“I’m going to go and watch UConn play (Monday night against Rhode Island in the inaugural Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Game) at Mohegan Sun Arena (in an exhibition game in Uncasville, Conn.),” he said, “and then the Yankees game (Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series at New York’s Yankee Stadium).

“By the way, are the Pirates going to do anything?”

Few, who won 14 West Coast Conference Coach of the Year awards at Gonzaga before the Zags moved to the Pac-12 this season, began an afternoon session by comparing Western Pennsylvania to his roots in Creswell, Ore.

“I grew up in a town much like here,” he said. “I played for a phenomenal high school coach who inspired me when I got done playing and wanted to do something afterwards. It turned out to be coaching. So many kids can come in here and use this place from the beginning level on up.

“We need places like this all across the U.S. because the world is catching up to us. There’s good coaching and good players everywhere. Anytime someone comes in with the generosity of Thomas Tull, we want to keep it going and be the powerhouse we’ve been and what we can continue to be with facilities like this helping the cause.”

The Rize Sports facility hosts camps and leagues throughout the year with an emphasis on youth development, which is something of a special interest to all the coaches, they said.

When first-year Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III took the floor, he centered on introducing his defensive teachings to the college players taking part in the clinic.

Later, Joyce, an Akron, Ohio, native, said, “Thomas Tull has done an unbelievable job of bringing this facility to the area. It’s a diamond in the rough.”

He hoped it would spark a renewal of days past when Pittsburgh’s ABA teams — the Condors and Pipers — tried hard to entertain basketball enthusiasts around the Golden Triangle before both at different times were forced to leave mainly for financial reasons.

“It was an advantage for me as a youngster to have the Cavs,” Joyce said. “I saw those guys in public. I remember going to the All-Star game in 1997. Those opportunities can take hold of you. But let’s not sell Pittsburgh short. They’ve had those moments. There is a lot of history in basketball in the city. It may get overshadowed at times, but a wealth of coaches have come from this area at the top of their game.”

With many attendees still hanging around on a long day with a spotlight on basketball development, Robert Morris coach Andy Toole rounded out the list of speakers with a presentation on defensive practice skills.

And even though the incredibly humble Tull, a supporter of the USA Basketball Foundation and a National Basketball Hall of Fame board member, did his best to shine the light away from him, everyone on hand was aware of his considerable contributions.

“Growing up, sports had an enormous impact on me, and I’m grateful for each coach that touched my life,” Tull said. “From drills and skills to learning how to run an efficient practice, our goal today was to give each high school coach inspiration for the season ahead and share our passion for the future of basketball in Pittsburgh.”