Harriton tabs Jesse Rappaport to return as boys’ basketball coach

Bryn Mawr >> With 2020 being a year that things seem to change by the minute, Harriton High School Athletic and Activities Director Tom Ferguson could certainly relate to that when he suddenly found himself looking for a new boys’ basketball coach.
With basketball season right around the corner, Ferguson announced Monday afternoon that Jesse Rappaport will once again head the program that experienced tremendous success under his leadership from 2007 through 2017.
“I feel fortunate that  Coach Rappaport was willing to step in to support our student athletes,” said Ferguson. “He knows our students and the Central League expectations. He will be able to resume his previous role as head coach and have the team up and running without a learning curve that most new coaches would face.  We have worked together for 12 years and I was thrilled  that Coach Rappaport was willing to come back and lead the Rams.”
“It means a tremendous amount to be able to return,” said Rappaport, who teaches Social Studies at Harriton  “I have incredible memories of coaching here, thanks to my former players, many of whom I reached out to in the last few days.  They mean to world to me, and I am indebted to the impact they have, and had on my life.  Their excitement about this return fuels my excitement.
“While this was certainly unexpected, a change in coaches at such a late date, I feel recharged and excited for this tremendous challenge.  When Tom Ferguson asked me to come back, I was flattered and felt a call to serve Harriton athletics once again.  I am still in the building  teaching, and  I feel tremendous loyalty to this high school.  What really sealed it were some players in the program reaching out to me asking me to coach.  I was completely humbled, touched, and impressed with their initiative.”
Rappaport takes over the Harriton program from Kyle Sample, who stepped down to pursue other opportunities.
When Rappaport was named Harriton coach back in 2007, the Rams’ program was muddling in mediocrity. Almost immediately, Rappaport turned the program into a perennial contender. He took over a team that had won three games in the 2006-2007 season, and by the 2008-09 campaign, Harriton advanced to the Final Four of the PIAA District One Class AAA tournament, upsetting the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds along the way.
For the 2009-2010 season, Harriton was moved up to Class 4A due to enrollment classifications, and the Rams finished that campaign as one of the Top 10 teams in District One AAAA. In the District 1 4A tournament opener, the Rams won a thrilling buzzer beater win over Council Rock North on a foul line jumper from Alex Shippen.
The Harriton program continued to set the bar higher. In the 2013-14 campaign, the Rams posted their best record in 10 years, qualified for the Central League playoffs and posted their second straight upset in the opening round of the PIAA District One playoffs, taking down host Coatesville thanks in part to a half-court buzzer-beater from Jordy Knight to change the momentum in Harriton’s favor.
In 2018, Rappaport stepped down at Harriton to pursue his dream of coaching at the collegiate level. Ben Kay was named head coach at Penn State-Brandywine and asked Rappaport to be part of his staff.
“The experience coaching college was amazing,” said Rappaport. “Ben is such a great recruiter and offensive mind, he provided us with plenty of talent and firepower.  Putting me in charge of the defense was a great honor,  it took great courage on his part to experiment with trying our  Harriton defensive scheme and presses on a college level.”
With Rappaport in charge of the Penn State-Brandywine defense, the team led the league in forced turnovers and won the first league title in program history.
“At Penn State-Brandywine, I learned a tremendous amount about the game and made a new set of relationships that continue to this day,” said Rappaport. “We were a great team, and Ben’s future is so bright as a young coach.  When Coach Kay left after the year for the incredible opportunity join Division I Rider, I thought long and hard about continuing with college coaching.
“That came to a halt when my wife told me, soon after Coach Kay resigned from Brandywine, that she was pregnant with our first child.  I wanted to be around more for my new family, further hone my teaching (Social Studies at Harriton) and also pursue other business interests, to provide for my family.”
Harriton is hoping that the new father will be able to lead the Rams back to the success they experienced a short time ago.