Former CCU sharpshooter Leasure returns to Beach Ball Classic, this time as coach

The last time McQuaid Jesuit of Rochester, N.Y., played in the Beach Ball Classic, the Knights were a surprise champion and a shooting guard named Jack Leasure with few college options impressed Coastal Carolina assistant coach Jamie Kachmarik.

That was in 2002, and a resulting scholarship offer brought Leasure to CCU, where he finished his collegiate career in 2008 fifth on the all-time NCAA list of made 3-pointers with 411. He remains 10th on the list.

Leasure, 30, has returned to the Beach Ball this week in the professional stage of his life, imparting his knowledge in his fourth year as the head coach of his high school alma mater.

“I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been a lot of fun,” Leasure said. “I have a group of young kids that it’s fun to be in the gym with every day and they want to work hard. As long as I’m having fun and the kids are having fun, it’s something I want to continue for awhile.”

McQuaid Jesuitis 38-32 in Leasure’s three-plus years following his team’s two losses in the first two days of the Beach Ball to Georgia programs Pace Academy and Jonesboro. He has led the Knights to Rochester City Athletic Conference championship in two of the past three years.

“I’ve got a group of kids coming through now, I’ve been with them for a while now and I think we’re starting to develop a culture,” Leasure said.

McQuaid Jesuit won the last of its three New York State championships in the same season it won the Beach Ball, and received its first invitation to return since then from tournament director John Rhodes.

“We jumped at it right away,” Leasure said. “I think we were lucky to be past champions, but we have a group of talented guys who have earned the right to play in some of these national events.”

The Knights are playing this week without two of their most talented players – and the primary reasons they were invited to the tournament – because of injuries, and they have struggled without 6-foot-4 junior Thomas Jones and 6-8 sophomore Isaiah Stewart, who has already received an offer from Syracuse.

“I think when you’re a player you think [coaching] is a lot easier than it is,” Leasure said. “It’s an eye-opening thing, but every year you learn more and grow as a coach, just as you do as a player, and I’ve really enjoyed that process.”

At Coastal Carolina, Leasure still holds the school 3-point records for a career and season (125). He made nine 3-pointers in a game three times, made eight another two times and made seven treys seven times. He is also tied for first in CCU history with an 84 percent free throw shooting percentage.

Leasure was inducted into the CCU George F. “Buddy” Sasser Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013, and also returned to CCU last year for the inductions of former teammate Joseph Harris’ and friend Zack Byrd.

“I try to get back as much as possible,” he said. “I love this area and love Coastal Carolina. Coastal Carolina was one of the most special times in my life and I think it absolutely benefited me in a huge way.”

After graduating from CCU with a history degree, Leasure played professionally for five years, predominantly overseas. He played a year in Austria and played four years in New Zealand for the Taranaki Mountaineers, with short stints in the Premier Basketball League and the American Basketball Association with the South Carolina Warriors based in Myrtle Beach mixed in.

Leasure learned of the coaching opening at McQuaid Jesuit and while playing in New Zealand and applied. “I said I’ll apply for it and see what happens, and it happened,” Leasure said. “I’ve always felt eventually I’d have to do something else. I have a family now, I have two young boys, so it’s starting to make a little more sense to stay in one place.”

In addition to his international professional coaches, Leasure was able to experience the coaching styles of three men at CCU, as he was coached by Pete Strickland for a year, Buzz Peterson for two years and Cliff Ellis for a season. “That benefited me quite a bit as a coach, too, I think,” he said.

In addition to coaching McQuaid Jesuit, Leasure also operates basketball shooting and skills camps, something he started about eight years ago while playing overseas. He had camps at Carolina Forest High school for a couple years in concert with former CCU teammate Colin Stevens, who runs the Manzer Basketball Academy on the Grand Strand and a first-year coach at Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach.

“My career focus is training and skills camps, that’s kind of where I’m making a living,” Leasure said. “Shooting and skills camps and training has grown quite a bit and I’ve been lucky to do it. I’ve been able to piece together a basketball living. My favorite part about it is coaching this team. It’s a lot of fun.”

This story was originally published December 27, 2016 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Former CCU sharpshooter Leasure returns to Beach Ball Classic, this time as coach."