Local coach aims to facilitate basketball dreams at annual event

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Longtime high school basketball coach Michael Stinnett loves the game, but maybe even more so, he loves helping players live out their hoop dreams.

“It gives you a lot of purpose. At first when I was doing it, I think I was so young, but now as I get older, it’s kind of like it’s more of what you were meant to do for people. There’s something there. There’s a lot of purpose to it to place these guys into their dreams,” Stinnett said.

For the past 25 years, Stinnett has organized events like the one he held at Beth Haven Saturday morning, that aims to help players show their skills on the court and grab the attention of the abundant overseas basketball leagues. As part of the camp, Stinnett also holds a workshop to walk the players through avoiding the pitfalls of bad agents and bad contracts.

“In this business, overseas, there’s a lot of stuff that goes on…with these kids that’s not always on the up-and-up. And that’s what we’re about. We try to do it right. It’s $50 for them to come. We got to pay officials. There’s no money being made. It’s more about the love of the game and helping guys,” Stinnett said.

Saturday’s event drew more than 40 players, including Valley High School graduate Raekwon Evans, who just finished up his college basketball career at Midway University.

“I came here last year just to watch and to get a nice feel. They had a guard, Quentin Gooden out of Xavier, that came and he had a great performance…just seeing him doing it gave me a lot of inspiration to try to do it myself,” Evans said.

Gooden signed a contract with a team in Germany following his appearance in the 2021 camp.

2017 Ballard graduate Jamil Wilson also attended Saturday’s camp after wrapping up his college career at Kentucky Wesleyan.

“A bunch of different people told me that I needed to be here and be in this camp. I’ve talked to a bunch of guys that he’s worked with that’s he’s signed who are overseas currently. Talked to a bunch of different guys and they all said that Stinnett is one of the top guys in Louisville, in the area and really across the nation, so I came here. It’s crazy not to be (here),” Wilson said.

Stinnett says his group has placed around 185 players in overseas spots in the past four years. He hopes to have more events over the course of 2022 in an effort to help even more players live out their dreams.

To visit Stinnett's website, click here.