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Haverford School's Zach Genther chooses Washington College

05/12/2021, 10:15am EDT
By Rich Flanagan

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
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During an early practice in January, Zach Genther looked over and saw a meaningful face. Washington College head coach Aaron Goodman was inside the Haverford School gym watching Genther go through drills and scrimmaging with teammates Jameel Brown, Bernie Rogers and Christian Clover.

That college coaches weren’t in the Fords’ gym wasn’t strange; Genther had played with more than a half-dozen hoopers who’d gone on to play collegiately. But this was different: Goodman was there to solely watch him.

For Genther, who was being recruited by other Centennial Conference programs — including Franklin & Marshall, Ursinus and Haverford College — and Wilkes University at the time, Goodman’s appearance displayed how much he wanted the senior guard to join the Shoremen.

Zach Genther dribbles a basketball

Zach Genther (above, last season) will spend his college years playing for Washington College (Md.) (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“Several schools were recruiting me and I didn’t get involved with Washington College until late in the summer,” Genther said. “Coach Goodman had reached out, then it took off from there. They were the main priority. 

“After he came to practice, I took a visit and I knew that’s where I wanted to be. The biggest thing was that he came all the way from Maryland to watch me. It became the only school I visited. That was huge for me.”

Genther visited the Chestertown (Md.) campus — about an hour-and-a-half drive from the Haverford School— shortly before Goodman came to see him. He received his offer to join the D-III program’s roster during that visit and officially committed to Washington College on Feb. 14.

His commitment to the Shoremen program was the culmination of a playing career that began on the freshman team and finished as a two-year starter. His maturation greatly appealed to the type of player Goodman covets.

“I’m not the biggest guy so shooting has always been my thing,” Genther said. “Coach Goodman liked that I could put it on the floor and get to the rim. There’s more work to be done, but the fact that I’ve shown I can score in a lot of different ways is something that he really liked.”

Fords head coach Bernie Rogers is known for giving guards the freedom to control the tempo on the offensive end while creating within the system. He helped Genther become more than merely a shooter and worked with him on developing other parts of his game.

“He has a high IQ and was the type of player who got better each year,” Rogers said. “He suited varsity and started JV as a sophomore and didn’t waste time. He competed in practices with those older guys then when he got his chance as a junior, he took advantage of it. It is built into senior year and people would’ve seen his improvement more if there were more games this season.”

Learning from experienced players is always a plus for young guys but learning from a core group of Christian Ray (La Salle), Jameer Nelson Jr. (Delaware), Asim Richards (North Carolina football), Gavin Burke and Brown — who holds offers from Marquette, Auburn, St. Joe’s and Penn State — took Genther’s game to another level. He was a member of the Fords’ 28-0 team that won the Inter-Ac and Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association title as a sophomore.

It didn’t hurt that he came from a basketball family — his mom, Linda DiGiuseppantonio Genther, starred at Prendie and is a member of the Rider athletics Hall of Fame after scoring more than 1,000 points for the Broncs, and his father, Chris Genther, is an assistant for the highly-successful Cardinal O’Hara girls squad. His twin brother, Eric Genther, has also benefited from the family’s athletic prowess, as he’ll head to Rhode Island to play baseball in the fall.

With prime examples of what a strong ethic looks like, Zach Genther took it upon himself to advance his game, and one player in particular put things in perspective for him.

“During my sophomore year, I saw the best example of a teammate and leader in Christian Ray,” Genther said. “You saw how hard that class worked. If you work hard enough, you see what you can become.”

As a junior, Genther initially came off the bench, but after the fourth game of the season, he was thrust into the starting lineup after Brown suffered a season-ending wrist injury. The 6-foot-3 guard scored 14 points against the Phelps School in only his second career start. He averaged 8.0 points per game over the 21 games he started and his best performance came in the final contest of his junior season with 16 points versus the Hill School in the opening round of the PAISAA Tournament.

Following that season, Genther hit the AAU circuit with East Coast Power and showcased more of his advanced game, particularly taking defenders off the dribble. Playing alongside some underrated but talented players in Haverford High’s John Seidman (Franklin & Marshall), Bonner-Prendergast’s James Welde (Villanova football) and St. Joe’s Prep’s Jimmy King (Holy Cross baseball), Genther made his presence felt.

Rogers credits the players Genther has had around him from his time with Fords and East Coast Power in elevating his game to the level he wanted to be.

“Zach had a good summer with East Coast Power and we were sending film out to several high academic schools,” Rogers said. “He knew he wanted to play somewhere and once Coach Goodman got the film, he reached out and came to a practice.”

While the Fords (7-2) were limited to nine games this season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Genther avg. 9.3 ppg, which included a 19-point outburst against Malvern Prep. 

The Shoremen have several location connections to southeastern Pa., which is part of what made the program appealing to Genther. Sophomore Nick Romeo played at Lansdale Catholic and freshman Sam Corrao played at the Perkiomen School. Assistant coach Joe Gimbel was a graduate and student manager under Fran Dunphy and then Aaron McKie at Temple before joining Goodman’s staff in January 2021. An Inter-Ac rival, Episcopal Academy 6-4 guard Nick Marshall, is part of the incoming class with Genther.

Rogers is confident the school and program fits in with exactly the type of person and player Genther is.

“They’re getting a high IQ guy who is very skilled and coachable,” Rogers said. “We always talk about love of the game and finding the right fit for you. It’s not really about the level. It’s more about finding a place where you will play and be happy. It’s a good situation for himself. He will continue to get better over his four years there.”

Genther is excited to get on campus this summer and continue the evolution in his game. He wants to be more than a shooter and further develop his all-around game. Playing under Rogers has pushed him to make decisions on the fly, which will be crucial to cracking the rotation at the next level.

He certainly has experience from the Fords 2019 class and tutelage of an accomplished coach.

“When I was a sophomore, you saw those guys were so talented and gifted that we didn’t have to run all the way through the offense,” Genther said. “When we stepped in as juniors, we really had to run some things to get offense and in the beginning it was a bit robotic. We were looking for the shots within the offense whereas Coach Rogers’ offense isn’t designed for that. It’s designed to set you up then have the player make the right decision. That’s the biggest jump from junior to senior year. I was no longer scared to make the right play.”


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