DeMatha Catholic High School

DeMatha Catholic High School has one of the top basketball programs in the nation. It’s a program built on tradition with a storied past that has continued to flourish each decade as the type of players change and the strategy for the game of basketball has changed. In addition to annually being one of the best basketball teams in the Washington, DC area, the school has won six national championships.

A countless number of All-Americans have played at DeMatha from Ernie Cage ’58 and Adrian Dantley ’73 to recently with Victor Oladipo ’10 and Markelle Fultz ’16. Dantley and legendary coach Morgan Wootten have even been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Dantley and Danny Ferry ’85 were both named National Players of the Year while in high school and Fultz became the first DeMatha basketball player to be taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.

The basketball program and DeMatha’s proud athletic reputation owe a lot to Morgan Wootten, who was the varsity head basketball coach for 46 seasons and won 1,274 games with the Stags with an 86.9 winning percentage throughout all of those years. Morgan has consistently been recognized by the media, as well as his peers, as being one of the greatest basketball coaches ever at any level of play. Morgan also was a teacher at DeMatha for 33 years and coached varsity football for 12 seasons. Morgan remains a living legend for past DeMatha grads and current students.

Following up a living legend can be a very difficult task, but current head coach Mike Jones ’91 has succeeded at every turn. In 16 years, Mike has himself amassed 435 wins and seven WCAC Championships, including one most recently this past February. That makes 40 total WCAC titles for the DeMatha basketball program. Mike himself played under Morgan and was the Stags’ second leading scorer on the 1991 team that won the WCAC and finished 30-0, one of only two undefeated teams in school history. He has also become a national fixture with his work involving USA Basketball.

The DeMatha basketball program has achieved great heights in the past 70 years and there seems to be no signs of slowing down anytime soon. With the tradition, history and superior coaching at its arsenal, don’t be surprised to see continued success with each new year and each new team of DeMatha players.