A Slam Dunk Behind the Scenes

John Hood, '09, discusses journey from high school basketball to working behind the scenes in the NBA

Many students dream of one day making the big leagues. While few achieve such a dream, there are plenty of opportunities, for those who are ambitious enough, to be a part of the bigs outside the field or court. As Senior Editor for League Operations at the NBA, John Hood, ’09, can say he has accomplished such a feat. 

Hood admits to always having been the ambitious and competitive type. Those qualities, however, have given him incredible drive and motivation that has led him to achieve the goals he has set for himself. 

Hood credits a lot of who he is today to the values instilled in him by Farrell- specifically, his time with the Farrell Basketball Team. Hood attributes his will to succeed to the lessons and values engrained in him by his coaches. 

"I always pushed myself, specifically in sports," Hood said. "I always pushed myself as hard as I could in regard to my height. And my coaches throughout my time in at Farrell, they always saw something in me that they always took it and empowered me to be bigger than I was. 

"And that is something that gave me the belief that I could not only compete with people that were taller, stronger, and even better than me, but it instilled my thought process of I will outwork everybody no matter any chance that I get. If you give me an opportunity, I will outwork them."

Hood also was not all athletics during his time at Farrell, either. During his senior year, Hood took a journalism senior elective Farrell offered at the time, taught by Mr. Lou Bergonzi, ’65, a previous faculty moderator of The Lion. Throughout this course and his time with The Lion, Hood picked up skills on how to be an effective writer and what it meant to be a part of the media industry, eventually leading him to work alongside the NBA. 

"[Mr. Bergonzi] really instilled a path in sports and media and how it was changing again. When I first took the class, print journalism was still a major aspect of journalism," Hood said. "And it was more newspaper based and online was just coming around, but he really opened up, my eyes at the time...it just excited me to be a part of almost a revolution in journalism and a change from what I grew up with was strictly newspapers."

Hood took his newfound love of journalism and combined that with his passion for sports he has had since childhood. The two intertwined led to a decision to pursue a career within the sports media industry.

After graduating from Quinnipiac University, Hood landed a job as a part-time statistics analyst at ESPN while studying for his master's in business. However, this did not stop Hood’s enterprising mind from transpiring innovative ideas, the most prominent being the Dream Leagues.

The Dream Leagues was a 4v4 low-rim basketball league that offered amateur athletes the chance to experience the life of a professional basketball player. With features like automated statistics, highlight reels, photos, social media coverage, and the opportunity to play at a prominent level, it brings the excitement of pro basketball to the everyday player. 

"And that's a whole another long, extravagant, piece of my journey," Hood added, "But at the time, it was a lower end basketball league and was cutting edge at the time. We had live stats and highlight films for a men's league. And that that coupled with my experience at ESPN actually helped in my resume when I applied for a role at the NBA."

After years of arduous work, Hood ultimately landed what some might consider a dream job working alongside the NBA. So, what does Hood’s daily life and responsibilities look like? 

Hood's duties revolve around preparing for upcoming events. Hood starts his day reviewing the morning report, which consists of a video for the basketball operations team to keep them up to date with the most recent games. After reviewing the morning report, Hood then hosts a daily call to discuss trends, issues, and ongoing projects. 

Throughout the day, Hood creates content for social media such as designing videos called "Make the Call" which engages the audience to allow them to better understand the rules of basketball.

In addition, Hood also attends meetings to discuss upcoming events, such as working alongside the WNBA to review presentation materials or collaborating with the referee operations team to prepare for pipeline events, where potential referees from the NBA, WNBA, and G League are evaluated.

Hood is also one of several people responsible with constructing a curriculum for the Basketball Africa League during their preseason meetings.

Eventually, the day of the event arises, and Hood’s work responsibilities slightly change. A typical day at an event involves coordinating video play reviews and running presentations. He oversees technical aspects like AV setup and Zoom calls in order to ensure smooth operation during the event.

These events can be profoundly vigorous and intense particularly at Summer League and international locations like Africa where Hood spends extended periods running similar training sessions.

In Hood's free time, he mentions he enjoys spending time with his family, attempting to play basketball despite his skill level, and playing golf. Hood is expecting a son this coming January, and we here at Monsignor Farrell wish him the best and continued success.

For Hood, 15 years after graduation, Farrell’s motto, Vir Fidelis, still holds great meaning.

"...The values that the school instilled in me on doing the right thing...being someone that's faithful to my family, my friends, my company, [it] has really stayed with me," Hood said. "My loyalty is my loyalty, and I will always fight for that. And it always has that coupled with my willingness out to try to outwork everyone that has really garnered me a very flourishing career."