Boys basketball: Bellarmine has a new coach for first time in three decades
SAN JOSE — Alex Sarrett grew up on the Bellarmine campus. His father, Ed Sarrett, spent 31 years as a part of the Bellarmine soccer program. He was the head coach of the 2001 team named national champions by Student Sports.
Alex Sarrett was in his sophomore year at Bellarmine at the time. More recently, he has been part of the Bellarmine basketball coaching staff since 2013. And when Patrick Schneider announced his retirement last spring, ending a 30-year run with the program, Sarrett was tabbed to take his place.
Not hard to envision him sticking around for a while, as well.
The Bells lost their first two games under Sarrett, by three points to Piedmont and four points to Granada, teams that are a combined 15-4 so far this season. They bounced back with wins over American Canyon and Pitman-Turlock, They will take on Sacred Heart Prep on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the DJ Frandsen Tournament on the Bellarmine campus.
You might expect the system he employs to greatly resemble Schneider’s as a result of their years together. And it does, at least to an extent.
- No refs, no games: Doubleheader at Bellarmine on Friday canceled
“I’ve learned a ton from Patrick,” Sarrett said. “His offense was fundamentally based and his teams were always prepared. But basketball is so fluid. I just try to keep up.”
Sarrett also serves as vice president of the Top Flight Elite AAU program. Some of his Bellarmine players play for him there, but not all.
“We didn’t want it to be a feeder program,” Sarrett said. “As long as they’re playing and getting coached somewhere, that’s what’s important.”
Bellarmine went a combined 92-28 in the four seasons from 2017-2020. Several key players return for Sarrett from last season’s 12-15 team.
“I am really excited about this group,” Sarrett said. “They have a ton of potential.”
There’s size down low with junior Nick Corbett (6-7, 245).
“We’ll be playing a lot of inside-out basketball,” Sarrett said. “He has great mitts and is unselfish in the low post.”
Corbett’s younger brother, Will Corbett, plays on the wing and is in the rotation as the first freshman to do so at Bellarmine since Jake Wojcik. Sarrett terms his shooting stroke as “Chris Mullin-esque.”
Tariq Weiser provides senior leadership at point guard and Sarrett is extremely high on Brayden Harris, a 6-4 sophomore, the team’s leading scorer in the early going and coming off a 21-point, 11-rebound game.
“He has all the tools,” Sarrett said.