The Business Behind the Game
Breaking into College Basketball ft. Ben Platt
In today's episode of The Business Behind The Game, I sat down with Ben Platt, a Graduate Assistant Coach at the University of Vermont and founder of Courtside Connections, a networking platform built to connect people across the basketball industry. Ben graduated from Vermont with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Sports Management, spent nearly four years as Head Student Manager for the Vermont Men's Basketball Team, landed a Graduate Assistant role at USC Men's Basketball, and then came back to Vermont in a hybrid coaching and operations role where he oversees all film aspects, leads player workouts, and manages the student manager staff.In this episode we cover Ben's path from student manager to USC coaching staff and what it actually took to make that happen. We get into what film breakdown at a high major program actually looks like, how he built Courtside Connections while balancing school and basketball, and what the day to day of a college basketball coaching role really involves. We also talk about how NIL and the transfer portal are changing life inside a program, what he learned from being around NBA level players at UVA workouts, and his advice for anyone trying to break into coaching or basketball operations from the ground up.
