John A. Rapaport enters his first season as an assistant at Purchase.
For nine seasons, he coached at the high school level as a head coach, which included stints at Byram Hills (2000-02), Scarsdale (2003-04) and Solomon Schechter (2009-12). That stretch was highlighted by a AA League title at Scarsdale and a Coach of the Year award in 2004.
Previously, Rapaport was the JV head coach at Scarsdale from 1997-99, where he's most proud of leading his team to two wins at Mount Vernon and four against fellow rival New Rochelle. He also coached the varsity girls team at Friends Select in Philadelphia in 1990 and spent six seasons as varsity assistant (Scarsdale, 1995-96; Schechter, 2006-07; Saunders Trades & Tech, 2012-13) prior to his head coaching experiences.
In between, Rapaport also coached the Empire State Games – five summers as the head coach of Hudson Valley Scholastic (2000-04), where his team medaled in 2003 in Syracuse as part of the 25th Anniversary games. During his Empire State run as a coach, he coached current NBA player and Mount Vernon legend Ben Gordon. Many of his players would also go on to play and coach at the DI level.
Rapaport is a graduate of Eastchester High School (1982) and later earned his undergraduate degree from Michigan (honors program, 1986) before working on his law degree and graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School (1989).Â
