Former Rutland High School basketball star Noah Tyson has put together a solid career both playing and coaching.
Tyson led Rutland High School to back to back state championships in 2017 and 2018. Given the great success those teams had, Tyson misses what high school basketball offered him.
“It’s different at every level but I miss the overall competitive atmosphere of being a part of the Rutland basketball program. Coach Mike Wood has done an unbelievable job creating and sustaining a program that gets the most out of every player that works their way through it,” Tyson said.
“A lot of my closest friendships in high school were my teammates and we became so close due in large part to the bonds we were able to build competing with and against each other every day throughout the season.”
Winning back to back state championships was Tyson’s most memorable feat due to the team’s approach and what they were able to accomplish. Tyson described the team his junior year as a very talented and close group of guys who made it to the semifinals two years in a row and lost. The team positioned their minds to be fixated on winning and winning only in those final two seasons.
“We all shared a similar mindset of getting over that hurdle and we went into that season of my junior year with that collective focus of not only returning to Patrick Gym but finishing the job and bringing home a championship which at the time had not been accomplished within the program for 50 years,” Tyson said.
“So to be able to put in all that work and see the end result be exactly what we were striving for was a special feeling. And then to comeback my senior year after we lost multiple key starters and players from the year prior and go undefeated and repeat as state champs, I couldn’t have asked for a better final two years of my high school career.”
After an illustrious career at Rutland, Tyson continued his basketball career at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Coming in, Tyson felt confidence in his skillset but Tyson knew playing college basketball would be an adjustment.
“Going into Colby I initially was focused on trying to find my place. I expected there to be a transition period and an adjustment process especially with the style of play Colby had compared to what I was coming from in Rutland,” Tyson said. “The competitor in me wanted to get on campus and fight for playing time immediately but my initial expectations were that there was going to be a learning process as I made the jump.
“Fortunately, I was able to use both my teammates and a connection with an assistant coach as resources to help ease the adjustment process and make the transition as smooth as possible.”
Playing at Colby College was a new level of basketball, forcing Tyson to not only adjust but to also enhance his game to become an effective player.
“My skill set was enhanced at Colby because in high school my strengths were more on the defensive side of the ball, being able to rebound and guard multiple positions. This was something I felt this would give the best opportunity to get on the court and as I got to Colby I continued to have that mindset of being a versatile defender and someone who rebounded well but offensively I had to adjust more on the perimeter,” Tyson said.
“I had to shift my focus toward developing more consistency shooting the ball so Colby set me up with a strong blueprint in the preseason on how I could improve the consistency and confidence I had shooting while playing more aggressively offensively.
Tyson improved his 3-point shooting, making his game more well-rounded.
Tyson realized early in his collegiate career that player development was pivotal but the adjustment to the college game was also just as critical. Obviously physical differences stand out first from high school to college but Tyson appreciated the uniqueness of what each opponent brought.
“I experienced a lot of the changes that most people discuss when they make the jump from high school to college with the physicality and the speed of the game. But the biggest difference in my eyes was the consistency in terms of the competition game to game,” Tyson said.
“Being fortunate enough to play in the NESCAC and play against some of the best talent across the country for division 3, there was a level of consistency regardless of the opponent. During my time at Rutland we played against a lot of very good teams with high level players. But Colby, that was taken to another level with the amount of guys each team had that were highly skilled and high IQ players.”
After an impactful career at Colby College, Tyson had aspirations of becoming a graduate assistant collegiate coach. Tyson is now in his first year as a graduate assistant coach at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. His decision to become a coach stemmed from his background as an individual, the people Tyson was surrounded by, and the COVID pandemic.
“As I moved through high school and college and had the realization that my days of being able to impact games as a player were coming to an end and I wanted to find a way to continue to use basketball to impact not only my life but hopefully others. Fortunately, I was surrounded by plenty of people within the athletics world so it did not take long for me to realize that coaching was something I wanted to get into,” Tyson said.
Tyson took a gap year after his sophomore season due to the pandemic and during that time he connected with a successful basketball trainer in the Charlotte, North Carolina area.
“I was able to become a better player through the workouts he would put both myself and my teammate through. I also gained valuable experience shadowing him at other workouts he would run,” Tyson said.
Tyson worked with various types of players, from NBA players and prospects, overseas players, high school athletes and middle school athletes.
“Participating in their workouts and using some of my experiences as a player to help instruct and teach was my first real introduction to the coaching side of things and it was something I enjoyed,” Tyson said.
Tyson got some more coaching experience as Rutland’s junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant under Wood.
Tyson has enjoyed the pleasures coaching has given him, he understands it’s a challenge but is finding new ways to impact basketball games without physically playing on the court.
Tyson has been appreciative of working beside two well-respected and successful coaches in Ryan Cain and Jack Barrett at Johns Hopkins. According to Tyson, they have taught him more in the last four months than he ever thought possible, making the transition easy.
Tyson loves the group of guys he’s gotten the opportunity to coach as they’re all highly competitive smart guys making coaching that much easier and enjoyable.
With the level of gratitude and pleasure coaching has brought Tyson, he sees himself continuing to coach in the future, an opportunity to start his basketball career over.
The day-to-day process of learning new schemes or drills to use and continuing to develop better ways to communicate to the players has been exciting for Tyson. He continues to be driven to learn from as many people as possible and hopefully being able to run his own program in the future is motivating him every day.
“Basketball has meant the world to me, it’s opened so many opportunities for me that I never thought would be possible. It has helped me develop as a person and has pushed me to be the best version of myself athletically, academically, and in life,” Tyson said.
“I’ve used basketball as an escape mechanism, an educational tool, and to meet and connect with some of the most important people in my life. This game has done more for me than I think I realize, and I hope now as I begin my coaching career, I can use the game to impact the next generation of athletes in a similar manner.”
