Former KU guard Tharpe nets first job in coaching: ‘I love it,’ he says of basketball
Former University of Kansas basketball point guard Naadir Tharpe has been hired as assistant coach at Brewster Academy, his prep school alma mater located in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, head coach Jason Smith announced on Twitter.
“Pleased to announce the addition of Naadir Tharpe (2011) to the Brewster Academy coaching staff. Naadir Tharpe was the 2011 NEPSAC Player of the Year and received all-Big12 Conference honorable mention honors while at @KUHoops,” Brewster coach Smith wrote on Twitter on Friday in announcing the hire.
Tharpe, who attended Brewster Academy, then played at KU three seasons (2012 to 2014), told The Star in a direct Twitter message he is “excited to start coaching back at a school where I developed my game, but more importantly, a place that guided me a lot throughout school and become a young man as well.”
Tharpe, a 29-year-old native of Worcester, Massachusetts, has played professional basketball in the NBA G League as well as in Poland (2017-18) and for his hometown Worcester 78’s team in the American Basketball Association (2018-19). He was a teammate of former KU teammate Tyshawn Taylor while playing one game for the Stillwater (Oklahoma) Stars in The Basketball Tournament earlier this summer.
“Of course that’s my plan,” Tharpe said of beginning what he hopes is a long career in coaching, starting at Brewster. “I’ve put so much time into the game. I love it. I want to be around the game (that) I’ve gained so much knowledge from my previous coaches, from my start of Biddy basketball in my city to being able to play for HOF coach (Bill Self). I instill every piece of the game I received from my prior coaches to the young generation now,” he added.
Tharpe, who played on KU’s 2011-12 Four team his freshman season, left KU after a junior year in which he started 31 of 34 games and averaged 8.5 points, 5.0 assists and 29.4 minutes a game. The 2013-14 Jayhawks went 25-10 and won the Big 12 title, losing to Stanford in the second round of the NCAAs.
“Yes I still speak with a lot of the players from KU that I have played with in the past,” Tharpe told The Star. “Of course Jamari (Traylor) and Ben (McLemore) are my main buddies but with social media it’s beyond easy to say hi here and there from running across one another,” Tharpe added.
Tharpe in the summer of 2019 returned to Lawrence not only to work out with KU’s alumni team that played a game in The Basketball Tournament, but also to finish coursework toward his degree. The result?
“I have my received my degree from KU this year in Liberal Arts and Science. Some of the work was online. I came to campus to finish,” he said.
Armed with that degree, he’s now qualified to teach and coach in high school and college.
“We are excited to have him back on campus in our community. You can see the impact he had while a student here based on the feedback received on social media from his classmates, as well as faculty (after hearing of Tharpe’s hiring),” Brewster coach Smith told The Star in a direct message on Twitter.
Indeed, former KU guard Tyshawn Taylor and former KU director of basketball operations Doc Sadler congratulated Tharpe on Twitter as did many other individuals Friday into the weekend.
This story was originally published September 20, 2020 at 3:08 PM with the headline "Former KU guard Tharpe nets first job in coaching: ‘I love it,’ he says of basketball."
