Basketball player turned coach, Shawn Anstey continues to find success in his sport.
Shawn Anstey was 10 years old when he picked up a basketball and began to learn the rules of the game. Years later, after excelling in the sport at both the high school and collegiate levels — ultimately realizing he wanted to someday coach — Anstey has now earned his 100th career win as the boys basketball head coach at Moorestown High School after the team’s 73–30 win over Cedar Creek High School on Saturday, Jan. 14.
“It is a great accomplishment to get to 100 wins,” said Anstey, who played high school basketball at Holy Cross Academy and college basketball at Rowan University. “I didn’t know what my overall record was until we put together our ad book this year with our updated stats. It just means that I have a had a lot of good teams over the years.”
“It’s a nice accomplishment. I’m sure coach Anstey would be the first to say he attributes it to his great staff and good kids,” Neil Rosa, director of athletics at MHS, said. “Any plateau a coach reaches is certainly something to celebrate.”
After serving as assistant coach for two years at Rutgers Camden, Anstey began his coaching career in Moorestown in 2002, fulfilling the role as seventh-grade coach at William Allen Middle School. The following year, he was asked to be the junior varsity coach at MHS, and after five years he was then given the title of head coach.
Now in his eighth year as head coach, Anstey was able to reach a milestone few high school coaches ever achieve. While his record highlights personal achievements, Anstey chooses to attribute his success to all the students he has had the privilege to coach over the years. With these teams, he has gone on to be both competitive and successful in state Group III play.
“I have coached a lot of great teams over the past eight years that have worked hard every day to get better,” said Anstey, a native of Burlington Township. “I would not be close to 100 if it wasn’t for the athletes that I was fortunate enough to coach.”
Anstey remains in contact with many of the players who contributed to his path to 100 wins. He said seeing previous players he coached each year at the annual alumni game and getting to catch up with them and their families is always a great time.
Even though he doesn’t have any single greatest memory, he explained he has a lot of great memories from each team he has coached. Anstey believes each team accomplished so much as a group, and those are the memories he will remember.
“Coaching basketball has been very rewarding. I have built relationships with my athletes and alumni that continue to grow over the years,” Anstey said. “You get to enjoy seeing them grow from young men to adults who are now very successful.”
