Youth Academies

Anyone who played for Coach Bianchi knows his standards for effort, discipline, teamwork and academics are second to none. Many players he picked for his Sutherland teams were not “better basketball players” but coach believed in them and saw something special that others did not.  Some do not know that he left his teaching position in Pittsford to become a college coach and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville from 2003-2007.  His men’s and women’s soccer teams set 54 school records and were both nationally ranked for the first time in a combined 75 years of program history. Academically, he was also the Director of Athlete College Life (an 8 week course which prepared athletes to be successful college students). During his time at UWP, none of his players on either team were ever ineligible and the athletes on campus had a higher combined GPA than the regular student body. He was a member of the Coach’s Advisory Board and Athletic Facilities Planning Committee while at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and was responsible for helping organize a multi-million dollar renovation on the soccer stadium and track.  He also did help out as an assistant basketball coach for one season. Not surprisingly, the women’s team had only their second non-losing season in university history.

Coach moved back to Rochester, got married and started an athletic education company called Red Penguin Athletics. He has been a national speaker and columnist on topics that include: college prep, leadership and NCAA compliance and acted as the Director of Athletics for the largest football program and baseball/softball programs in New York. He currently mentors college & high school coaches and provides professional development workshops for athletic directors and coaches. (He even has trained the Section V Athletic Directors twice as their keynote speaker)

Several former players have been pushing Coach to get back to basketball. As a result, he has agreed to create a basketball program called Game Changer Hoops.  “GC Hoops” will be part of Game Changer Solutions (a non-for profit 501c3) which has been providing academic and athletic programing since 2013. All donations to this program will be tax deductible! It is designed to start with fifteen 7^th and 8^th graders. In true Coach Bianchi philosophy, this is not a program for “the best basketball players” as there is much more to the selection process. Coach believes this should be free to the kids participating or at least deeply discounted. It will be the first basketball program of its kind in Rochester. This program is a completely comprehensive system for young athletes.”

GC Hoops will also include a Minority Coaching Mentor Program that will assist up and coming coaches in their desire to coach college or high school varsity basketball. Over the past several years Bianchi has successfully mentored 6 different minority coaches. This includes: club, high school and even college head coaches and assistants. Read a testimonial from Trent Jackson Jr. who is the son of legendary Franklin Coach Trent Jackson Sr. (former Olympian and NFL athlete). After playing for his father in high school and graduating from Franklin in 1997, Trent played basketball at Ohio State. He currently runs an AAU program called “Beast Nation” in Rochester.