Long-time New England prep coaches John Carroll and Jason Smith have teamed up to run the basketball program at the newly formed Masters International Academy in Stowe, MA. Carroll will serve as the Director of Basketball, while Smith will serve as the head coach
Masters Academy International bills itself as New England’s first and only academy combining elite sports and top-tier academics.
Over the past two decades, Carroll has built what many regard as the premier combination of elite academics and high-level basketball in the country. He has coached 54 Ivy League players — more than any coach in the United States. His programs have become synonymous with greatness on the court, elite academic performance in the classroom, and national-level basketball success.
In addition to his Ivy League placements, Carroll’s players have advanced to some of the nation’s most selective and competitive institutions, including Stanford, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Michigan, North Carolina, and many others. At the Division III level, his players have gone on to elite academic institutions such as MIT, University of Chicago, Williams, and Middlebury, reinforcing his reputation as the country’s leader in academic basketball placement.
Smith arrives at MAI after 26 seasons leading Brewster Academy, where he built one of the most dominant prep basketball programs in the nation. Under his leadership, Brewster captured seven National Prep Championships (2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020), along with seven New England Prep Tournament Championships and ten New England Prep regular-season titles.
Over the course of his career, Smith has amassed more than 700 victories while developing some of the top basketball talent in the country. His program has produced 25 NBA players and more than 200 NCAA Division I players, while dozens more have gone on to play professionally in the NBA G League and leagues around the world.
Smith’s success has earned widespread recognition across the sport. He is a three-time National Prep Coach of the Year, six-time New England Prep Coach of the Year, and a Jersey Mike’s Naismith National High School Coach of the Year finalist. He has also been named among the Top 100 Most Impactful People in Men’s College Basketball by Silver Waves Media five times. Recently, Stadium Talk recognized Smith as the Greatest High School Basketball Coach in New Hampshire History.
