Photo: Jason Aigner
Behind every successful operation, there’s a mastermind. For the George Washington Revolutionaries, the last two seasons have shown signs of life, following a period of turmoil that left them at the Foggy Bottom of the Atlantic 10.
The great George Washington teams have had coaching staffs with future head coaching talent such as Steve Pikiell finding themselves on the sidelines at the Smith Center. Head Coach Chris Caputo has brought in a talented staff with deep basketball knowledge and experience. As assistants like Pikiell, often find themselves as a future head coach, a name that appeared on social media as a potential candidate for jobs this past offseason was Zak Boisvert.
From Boisvert to Assistant Coach Dwayne Lee, the Revs have filled out their staff. Coach Lee was a member of the Elite Eight Saint Joseph’s team alongside future NBA players Jameer Nelson and Delonte West. Lee was a member of the Atlantic 10 all-defensive team. Coach Lee and Lamont Franklin are primarily in charge of the defensive scheming by focusing on the opponent’s offensive side of the ball.
On the offensive side, coach Boisvert and Matt Colpoys (who was just promoted to AC) scout the opposing team’s defense in preparation for the offensive game plan and strategy.
Collaboration on the coaching staff has allowed the Revs to have their hottest start in years. While many coaches have a conventional path to the coaching ranks through playing, others have traveled down a different road into the basketball world.
Originally from Portland, Maine, Zak Boisvert did not play college basketball.
As a kid, Boisvert was obsessed with all sports and he fell in love with the game of basketball after his father bought a hoop when he was in the third grade. Unlike football, which would have required multiple people to practice, the hoop allowed for practicing no matter how many people were around, and that independence allowed Boisvert to practice.
On March 24th, 1999 Boisvert’s mother bought tickets for Boisvert and his father to go see the Boston Celtics take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in Boston. At the time, Boisvert was a huge fan of Stephon Marbury and the Timberwolves and was especially bummed following his trade out of Minnesota only two weeks prior. He insisted that they arrive an hour and a half early to watch warm-ups, as his father took it like a trooper and waited with his son in the stands an eternity before the 8-17 Rick Pitino led Celtics took the floor.
Before his eyes was Bill Curley, a then Minnesota Timberwolf and Boston College alum. Curley was a member of one of the most famous victories in NCAA as BC took down North Carolina. Boisvert’s father explained to his son about the legend of Curley while they observed him practicing the same shot over and over again.
He noticed Curley was working on a pick and pop with the local guard setting a side ball screen followed by a pop into the corner, an action that GW now runs often. As Boisvert watches in awe, with questions of why this action was being run remaining in his brain.
The game starts, and becomes one of the lowest scoring home games in the history of the Boston Celtics, as they only put 68 points on the board.
Curley would check in earlier than normal for Minnesota as they drudged the Celtics. Boston had a combined 10 of 49 shooting performance from Paul Pierce, Ron Mercer, and Antoine Walker.
As the BC alum was in the game, the Timberwolves ran the pick-and-pop for Curley. The Celtics were hedging out on the screens, and eventually, Curley would be open and they would run the play multiple times to the delight of the crowd watching a hometown hero.
Boisvert’s basketball website PicknPop.Net which still maintains a large Twitter following was named after that specific play.
“The crowd understood they were getting drubbed, but it was a local guy doing it,” said Boisvert.
Sure enough, it clicked for Boisvert that it was the same shot that they were working on in the pregame.
“For me, that [Flip Saunders] recognized there was a hole in this coverage, we’re gonna play this coverage and we can adjust and do this,” Boisvert explained. “I’m going to set my guy up for success and he’s back home playing in front of his hometown in the arena where he played his high school state championships.”
There, Boisvert sat in the third level, thinking to himself how cool that was. He was drawn to the individual creativity that can exist within the game, which Boisvert says may not exist in any other sport.
“There’s an individual expression, there’s a how an individual needs to constantly assess their strength in the mix of the team, and what they need to do to sacrifice what they do to help a teammate,” said Boisvert. “I think that’s different in basketball than in any other sport. And I think that’s what drew me to it a little bit.”
But rather than looking to play basketball in the college ranks, Boisvert attended George Washington foe Fordham to study English.
Boisvert thought to himself, following his completion of his English degree that he would wind up in law school to follow the path of his dad, who was a lawyer. Those plans were changed when he thought he wanted to be a broadcast journalist and began working with WFUV, the pinnacle of college radio stations. Current ESPN commentator Ryan Ruocco, and US Open tennis analyst Brian Clark surrounded Boisvert.
Instead of further pursuing journalism, the kid from Maine instead found himself as a team manager for the Rams, completing all tasks asked of him. Whether doing laundry, filling up water cups, or rebounding after midnight, the drive for the future was never lacking.
“I go there as a manager, and all I wanted to be was an assistant coach,” said Boisvert. “I was going a million miles a minute. I’d go to the Smith Center, Cintas Center, the Mullins Center.”
Traveling around with the Rams and being a student manager for three and a half years only fed the fire of working in basketball. At this time, there were strict regulations on coaches working with their players over the summer, so Boisvert saw an opportunity. He would run drills over the summer for the players, learning on the job.
“I was just on learning on the fly and trying it you know, trying to watch them, trying to get feedback from them,” said Boisvert. “Watching them and saying hey, that worked, that didn’t work and then it was more like just yes, make mistakes. I make them every day.”
The young Boisvert would do everything possible to land his next job. From reading everything he could get his hands on to watching every clinic on video. Steps included writing a letter to every single assistant coach in Division 1 who did not play D1 basketball. Lucky enough for him, a George Mason assistant coach named Chris Caputo, who played his college basketball at Division III Westfield State got back to him.
“Zak wrote to me when he was a manager at Fordham,” said Chris Caputo. “I always made it a point to get back to these people, to give them my phone number and to be in touch.”
Oftentimes, New York high school basketball powerhouse Mount Vernon would often practice down in Fordham at Rose Hill Gymnasium (one of the coolest basketball venues). Caputo had told Boisvert that if he ever came up to watch a practice for recruiting purposes, they would get together. About a month later, Caputo traveled north to watch Sherrod Wright, who eventually committed to George Mason.
Notoriously, parking anywhere in New York City is extremely difficult, but Boisvert had a trick up his sleeve.
“Being a Fordham student, I could finagle parking. Trying to park at Fordham was a disaster. But as a student, I’d meet [Caputo] at the gate, show my student ID, and he’d be able to park,” Boisvert recounted. “We started that relationship in 2009. We just kept it for another 13 years and shared notes, talking basketball, talking strategy, seeing each other on the road recruiting and kind of just going back and forth.”
Boisvert did not originally wind up working with Caputo, but instead wound up only a few miles away from Fordham, going along with Fordham interim Head Coach Jared Grasso to join Tim Cluess on the staff at Iona. He was able to maintain the same social circle, only 20 minutes away from Fordham, and find cheap housing.
Though hired to a college basketball staff, life was not glorious for the recently graduated Boisvert.
“I know my parents had just paid a lot of money for me to go to Fordham University. My dad probably was hoping I would be a lawyer. I told them that I was taking a job that paid, think it was $2,600 a year,” said Boisvert. “Frankly, when I first told him my mom thought that’s what it was per week or month, not per year. But you know, they supported it. I got a chance to do it and I felt like I was rich. You know, I was poor. I was broke. But I felt like I was rich.”
Boisvert lived in an attic, making microwaved hot dogs for around eight meals a week. Luckily for Boisvert, Iona Assistant Coach Mark Calzonetti would take him out to Deanna’s in New Rochelle. This was not a one time occurrence, but almost every night of the week.
“We’d get chicken parm and thank God, because I don’t know how I would have gotten enough nutrients so it was great.”
Tim Cluess had an expansive career before recently retiring from coaching after a long stint at Iona, where he was in talks for the Saint John’s job in several cycles. Cluess formerly the Head Coach at LIU Post (which used to be CW Post) was a massive influence on the coaching career of Boisvert.
Leaving Iona opened the door for the legendary Rick Pitino to re-enter the NCAA ranks.
Working under the Saint John’s alum gave Boisvert the ability to grow and learn on the job. Cluess allowed him to learn from his mistakes and keep on going.
“Tim Cluess forgets more about the game of basketball every day than I’ll ever know,” Boisvert recalled. “And so it was fun, like being exposed to someone. And he was such a unique thinker. He is the epitome of the 10,000-hour rule. In terms of the man, he has never been an assistant coach in his life. He’s just an unbelievable master coach.”
Boisvert spent five years at Iona, helping to lead the team to an NCAA tournament appearance in 2013 and helping Scott Machado become a future NBA player.
In 2014, Boisvert returned home after he was hired by Bob Walsh. He was tabbed as the offensive coordinator by Walsh in 2015-16 and helped guide Maine to a 16-point increase per game, which was the biggest in the NCAA.
His time at home was a cameo, as Boisvert took his offensive mastery to West Point. Unlike most programs, working at a service academy has many different variables that differentiate them. Recruiting was different, and Boisvert built up a massive respect for everybody at the academy.
“I spent five years there, and it was the professional highlight of my life, you’re getting a chance to work with kids that have chosen to serve their country and have, you know, they choose the harder right over an easier wrong every single day,” said Boisvert. “And a lot of them are when you talk about sacrifice. A lot of them are sacrificing some of their own desires, in that they’re serving the country.”
Boisvert, under the tutelage of Jimmy Allen, helped lead Army to the most successful five-year run in the history of the school. Even at GW, Boisvert makes his West Point roots known, wearing shoes that said, “beat Navy” before the Revs thrilling win against the Midshipmen.
Following several years in West Point, he packed up his bags and headed to Terre Haute, Indiana to work for Josh Schertz at Indiana State. Originally, Boisvert met Schertz at a Boston Celtics practice on a Sunday in 2014, and Schertz made the call upon accepting the job with the Sycamores.
At the time of his hire in Indiana, it was the height of quarantine and they were unable to host official visits. Even though Schertz and company were unable to recruit in person, Boisvert saw the offensive vision of Schertz.
Josh Schertz would lose Boisvert to GW the following offseason, but the vision seen by the rising assistant coach has come to fruition. At the time of writing, Indiana State sits at 44th nationally on KenPom, an impressive feat for the small school.
“I really did believe in [Schertz] vision and I believe in the players,” Boisvert explained. “Frankly, the guys coming in that we were recruiting were going to level up and yeah, I mean, it’s awesome watching them.”
Chris Caputo was hired by George Washington on April 1st, 2022, and one of his first phone calls was to Zak Boisvert.
On the phone with Boisvert, Caputo said that he had some things to figure out in terms of staffing and Boisvert would receive a call back about three weeks later.
“Hey, you know, if this is something you want to do, you know, I’d love to have you,” Boisvert explained as he recounted his conversation with Caputo. “We talked about what he was looking for and I jumped on the chance to join this program. I knew the landscape and all the players around. I know it’s unique, it’s the best city campus in the country.”
For Caputo, the phone call was a no-brainer.
“Obviously he’s passionate, has a love for the game and a servant mentality loves people,” explained Caputo. “It’s obvious and to me, I knew if I had an opportunity to hire someone, he would be one.”
Watching the Atlantic 10 was nothing new for the 35-year-old rising star. Growing up in Maine, Boisvert remembered watching games aired on NESN during the height of GW success. He remains excited about the city of DC, and what it can bring to the program.
“DC is a completely unique city. It sits in the epicenter of the most, you know, of all the power that is what is the most powerful country in the world,” Boisvert explained. “ I love the city, and I love the pure uniqueness of GW within that. I love the vision that [Caputo] has, I love that he’s got a staff of people that are all growing in the same direction and all have an idea of what could have, and we’re marching towards this vision that coach has in such a talent-rich area.”
Following the surprising success of the Revolutionaries in their 2022-23 season, Boisvert was mentioned as a candidate for a few head coaching opportunities by college basketball Twitter insider “Trilly Donovan”.
“My goal is, at some point, you know, it’s going to take my whistle off to blow the whistle and have the group encircle you and have the whiteboard in your hand and be able to mold a vision,” Boisvert explained. “To be able to mold the program and your vision. Like that’s, it should be the dream for anyone that does this. Now, some people may not but like, that’s ultimately my goal.”
Revs fans can take a deep breath, as Boisvert is in no rush to take that next step.
“I’m in no rush to do it. I would work for a great boss at a great program, and a great city. Great, with great tradition, like not in a rush to do and I want to see this through. I want to see what we can build. I believe in coach’s vision, and what he is trying to establish. I’m not in any rush to do it.”
The staff around Boisvert knows about his basketball prowess, and the mastermind behind the offense is surely seen as a future head coach.
“I think every guy on our staff is a head coach, I don’t want to hire assistant coaches, I want to hire future head coaches,” said Caputo. Every guy on the staff I think we have can take over this program tomorrow and be able to do a fine job.”
For the love of the game, fans can look back to the 8-17 Celtics as one of the reasons Boisvert moved into coaching. From seeing his first game at the Mullins Center in 2001 to returning as a GW coach in 2024, it was simple as the classic pick and pop sparked a possible future head coaching career.
