National Travel Program

Director & Coach of U15 - 2023 Team

Head Coach of U15 Team.

​

After turning down a european pro club coaching offer, Jamal started Triple Threat Basketball with Terrence Parnham and his entrepreneurial drive and acumen inspired him to launch his own basketball AAU organization, called SLAAM Basketball. SLAAM has become the top program in Western PA, which offers boys and girls teams 4th - 11th grade a chance to compete and grow and athletes and people. SLAAM strives to get players to maximize their potential, and to help players reach their dreams of getting into college on an athletic scholarship.

​

Jamal currently is the Head Junior Varsity Coach and top assistant at Oakland Catholic and has been in this roll for the past 5 years.  

U17 - 2020 SLAM - Thompson

Coach Thompson, affectionately known as "Coach J" Was the Head Boys JV Coach and Head Middle School Coach in the Mckeesport Area School District from 2015-2018. In addition to coaching basketball, he was also the strength and conditioning coach for both the high school and middle school programs. Prior to coaching at Mckeesport, Coach J worked at Mon Yough Catholic middle school, where his girls middle school team was the 1st team in the school's history to win a section title. Coach J has coached athletes at the middle school, AAU, and HS. Levels as well as assisting on the collegiate level at Penn State Greater Allegheny. Jared is currently a practicing exercise physiologist, personal trainer and Orangetheory fitness coach. He is a National Academy of Sports Medicine performance enhancement specialist, speed and explosion specialist, and USA Basketball Gold Certified Coach.

​

U17 - SLAAM Norman 2021

stephen737@gmail.com

​

This is Stephen’s first year coaching for SLAAM, and his sixth season coaching girls basketball. Stephen coaches a 10th and 7th grade SLAAM team and is an Assistant coach for the girls team at Shaler High School. 

Coach - U16 2022 Team & SLAAM 5th Grade

She graduated from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, where she played on the women’s basketball team for five years, being the captain for two seasons. She received her Bachelor of Science from Slippery Rock University in 2009 with a degree in Elementary/Early Childhood Education with a specialty in Exceptionality and minor in Coaching.
Dana began her coaching career in 2011, where she served as the girls assistant coach at Gateway High School who won three sectional championships. She also was the Head Coach at Woodland Hills High School for the girls’ varsity and junior varsity basketball teams for two seasons. Dana is currently coaching at La Roche University as an assistant coach/ recruiting coordinator for the women’s basketball team. She has been apart of the SLAAM Basketball for two seasons.
Dana received the Pennsylvania Governor’s Award called “Young, Gifted, & Black” in 2016 for her work in her community creating a scholarship in her mother’s honor which is called “The Ultimate Basketball Mother,” due to her mother’s love for the game of basketball. The scholarship is awarded to one female basketball player who plans on attending college.

Coach - U16 2022 Team

Tom currently wrapped up his fifth year as the Head Girls Varsity Basketball Coach at Pine-Richland.  He has an extensive coaching career in various sports at various levels.  Tom has over 20 years of basketball coaching experience and has coached over 50 seasons of sports including football, track, and baseball.  He also was the co-director of the 3 Rivers Swish AAU program.  Tom has a passion for teaching all levels and has developed in-house leagues, little dribbler programs in addition to his time at Caveman and 3-Rivers Swish Basketball.

          Tom Earned his teaching degree from West Virginia University and has been a Physical Educator in the North Hills School District for 20 years. 

Coach - U15 2022 Team

Coach Kaiser is currently the Head Junior Varsity Coach at Pine-Richland High School.  He has been in the positon the past 3 years. He was previously the Freshman Basketball Coach and Junior Varsity Football Coach at Valley Forge High School for 3 years.
 
Casey has been coaching AAU for 6 years. He coached a 10th grade boys team for 2 years with SMAC AAU in Ohio. He’s coached 3 years for Caveman AAU, 1 year with 3 Rivers Swish AAU, and this is his 2nd year with SLAAM Basketball.
 
He is a Waynesburg University graduate, who is a Network Analyst for PPG Industries.

U16 - 2022 Team Hoehler

SLAAM basketball welcomes Coach Hoehler to the SLAAM Family.

U16 - 2022 Hoehler

Mark Maier is entering his 3rd year coaching the Varsity girls at Butler High School, (WPIAL, 6A) and has been coaching AAU basketball with Coach Keith Hoehler for Prime Time for 3 seasons.  Mark has coached basketball for 10 years, working as JV Head Coach and Elementary Program Director at Butler, previously.  Mark played his HS basketball at Butler, where he was the first player at the school to score 1000 points. He also played four years of NCAA Division II basketball at IUP, and broke the 1,000 point scoring barrier there, also. He is excited to coach in the SLAAM organization with their 2022 Slaam Hoehler Team.

U15 - 2023 Team

SLAAM basketball welcomes Coach Kunich back to the family after a 2 year hiatus.  Coach Kunich is the girls basketball coach at Gateway Middle School

U15 - 2023 Team

​

Head Coach - 6th Grade

​

Head Coach - 6th Grade

Coach Graham currently is the 8th Grade girls coach at Pine-Richland High School.  She has been coaching in the SLAAM/Swish Family for 3 years

Head Coach - National 2021 Team

​

U17 -

This is Coach Olivia Rizzo's second year with SLAAM Basketball. She is coaching the 2020 team with Jared Thompson. Coach is excited to get started with the program and helping her team reach new heights in the game of basketball.

Coach Rizzo attended Penn Trafford High School. She played softball and basketball during her time there. She helped the Lady Warriors bring two section championships to a program that had not gotten there since 1974. She played collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown where she was a two-year starter. There, she majored in psychology with minors in both sociology and communications, respectively. Upon graduating in 2016, Coach Rizzo earned a Masters Degree in School Counseling from California University of Pennsylvania in 2018. In 2017, Coach Rizzo was hired as an assistant varsity girls basketball coach at her alma mater, Penn Trafford High School. This past season, she led the junior varsity team to an 11-5 record. Coach Rizzo is currently a long-term substitute school counselor at Kiski Area High School.

5th & 6th Grade Assistant

Betty Howard has been coaching basketball for over ten years.  Her experience includes coaching boys’ and girls’ developmental, school, and AAU basketball teams.  Recently she has coached for the Monroeville & Pitcairn community 6th, 7th, and 8th grade travel teams.  She is currently the Head 7th grade girls’ basketball coach for Gateway Middle School in the Gateway School District.  Coach Howard has been coaching for SLAAM for a total of 3 years as an assistant coach, first for the 5th & 6th grade teams, and now is an assistant for one of the 8th grade girls’ basketball teams within the organization.

On a personal note, she has been married for 24 years and has two children, a daughter and a son.   An interesting fact about Coach Howard is that she is a W.P.I.A.L. champion.  She played for Northgate Jr./Sr. High School and was a small forward on the 1986 AA Girls’ Basketball Championship Team.