Coach Jerry Cuffee takes leadership of AFA Basketball

When the Carolina Panthers selected offensive lineman Will Montgomery in the 2006 NFL draft he made sure to call his high school coach — his high school basketball coach Jerry Cuffee — to share the good news.

“Calls like this humble me,” said Jerry. “I have been blessed beyond imagination with the kids God has brought into my life.”

This passion for “his” kids is what excited Ad Fontes Academy about Jerry Cuffee serving as our new Basketball Director and Head Varsity coach.  Mr. Cuffee comes to us with more than 15 years of coaching experience, most recently at Northern Virginia Christian Academy, where he won a conference championship.  Cuffee received the 2008-09 Coach of the Year award from the National Christian School Athletic Association.

‘Basketball was the only thing we had,’ is how Cuffee remembers his childhood in a poor section of Norfolk.   As a boy he quickly took to the game and dreamt of playing for the then Baltimore Bullets.  When that wouldn’t happen, he turned towards coaching.  ‘I believe God has gifted me with leadership ability, and coaching is my way to share that with young people,’ Cuffee states.

While his experience includes being a lead engineer on projects for Ohio class nuclear submarines, ‘seeing kids grow is my greatest source of gratification.  I tell them that playing for me is not about you being good on the court, but being a good person, and having a good life experience.’

Coach often returns to the larger purposes for what basketball can mean for young people.  ‘Kids need to believe that if you shoot for excellence, you achieve it.  The discipline and integrity I require on the court transfer to the classroom.  Adversity lasts as long as you let it.’

Coach Cuffee enjoyed his first AFA victory last week! Come out and cheer on the Falcons!