Bio

Jesse Rappaport joined the Penn State Brandywine men's basketball coaching staff prior to the 2017-18 season.

An experienced coach, Rappaport joins the Lions' staff after 19 seasons on the high school level, the last 10 of which he spent as the head boys basketball coach at Harriton High School. Under Rappaport's guidance, the Rams qualified for the PIAA playoffs eight times, including seven consecutive seasons, after taking over a program that had won three games in the season prior to his arrival.

During his second season, the Rams entered the Central League, and the 16th-seeded Rams reached the district semifinals before falling to district champion, Holy Ghost.  After moving up in classification to AAAA in 2013, the Rams, the No. 25 seed, were able to reach the district quarterfinals, including a victory ranked as the "Philadelphia Inquirer Buzzer Beater of the Year." The following year, the Rams were the top scoring team in the conference, reached the Central League semifinals, and upset perennial power Coatesville High School during another PIAA Cinderella run.

At Harriton, Rappaport cofounded the "Jesse Rappaport Running Rams Basketball Program", that included clinics and camps in the Main Line area. 

Rappaport served two seasons as general manager of the Philadelphia Force, a summer professional basketball team in the National Rookie League. Responsible for player personnel and the business operations, Rappaport lead the Force to back-to-back regular season championships.

Prior to beginning his coaching career, Rappaport played two seasons of professional basketball for Hapoel Nahariya in Israel.  While in Israel, he started the Jesse Rappaport All-Stars, a youth program that worked with the young people of Israel on and off the court.

Rappaport played four years of college basketball at NCAA Division III Hobart College in Geneva N.Y. In 1995, he was named the Ford-Butler Most Improved Player, and won the Shot of the Decade Award for his buzzer-beater against nationally-ranked RIT.  In 1996, Rappaport was named a Statesmen Scholar as he owned the highest GPA among Hobart's varsity athletes.

Rappaport play prep basketball at Avon Old Farms School in Avon, Conn. He was the Truman Johnson Award winner for the 1992 league championship team.