Keylantra Langley and Brandon Hall, the new duo behind Marist’s basketball operations, know that teamwork is the only way to make the dream work when handling off-the-court responsibilities for the Red Foxes.
Langley is the director of basketball operations for the women’s team while Hall holds the same title for the men’s side.
“My primary role is to handle all the operations day by day, whether it be academics, getting the kids gear, getting situated with the dorms, food orders, anything,” said Hall. “I just make sure the kids are taken care of each and every day.”
“We have some players on our team who are gluten-free, we have some players who only eat chicken, and we have some players who don’t eat pork. So it’s good for you to know who eats what so that when you plan your meals, it can pretty much go seamless,” said Langley.
On top of those aspects, Langley adds that she oversees the team managers, helps with scouting, and with travel, one of the most important parts of every collegiate team. Whether it’s Buffalo, Jersey City, or Emmitsburg (a new stop on tour), the two of them are responsible for booking buses and hotels and always create a backup plan in case something falls through.
It’s one thing to book a bus and hotel to another state, but it’s a whole different ball game to book them in a different country, not to mention flights. This was the case in the fall, as both women’s and men’s basketball teams traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to play non-conference hoops in Europe. Brian Giorgis’s team played in Dublin, Ireland in mid-November for the MAAC/ASUN Challenge while John Dunne’s team played in London, England in early December for the London Showcase.
“It took a lot of planning,” said Hall. “It took a lot of calls. It took a ton of thoroughness with checking to make sure between the bus company and the meals and the arena and where we practice. We had to make an itinerary, so I put something together and put it on paper for coaches. It really got going in October, but it took a couple of months.”
For Langley, her role in planning the trip was as a MAAC representative as each school’s director of operations met over a call before they flew to Dublin.
“They [MAAC/ASUN] told us what we needed to do and who we needed to connect with over in Dublin and through that, I got the meals in the hotels squared away.”
While abroad, Langley and Hall were responsible for checking the teams into the hotels and had to communicate with the team via email or WhatsApp. They constantly checked in on players and coaches to ensure everything was going according to plan.
Both trips had been announced months before the duo joined the process, but they were instrumental in the process of organizing the team’s travels alongside athletic director Tim Murray and assistant athletic director and business operations Brandon James.
Langley and Hall were hired less than a year ago with Hall joining the Red Foxes in June and Langley arriving in September.
Prior to Marist, Hall worked as a graduate assistant coach at Seton Hall from 2018 to 2021 and as an assistant coach at Fairleigh Dickinson the following year. On the other hand, Langley was a director of site operations at Zero Gravity Basketball between 2016-2020 and was a student-athlete coordinator at Stamford Public Education Foundation from September 2021 to August 2022.
Both of their prior experiences helped them get their jobs, but both had close relationships with their respective head coaches. Hall played under Dunne at Saint Peter’s from 2008-2012 and was part of the team that won the MAAC championship in 2011.
“My family and I had a goal of me playing Division I basketball, and I had a lot of Division II schools and coaches recruiting me. And last minute, something fell through with somebody that [Saint Peter’s] were looking at, and I was next up on the board. It just so happened to be the night [Dunne] came to see me play, I had my best high school game of my career.
“They ended up offering me [a scholarship] after the game and I committed right away,” said Hall. “So he gave me a scholarship and a job all within the last 14 years and I’m very appreciative of that.”
Langley got to know coaches Brian Giorgis and Erin Doughty because they scouted her while in high school.
“They recruited me to come to Marist back in 2010 when I was coming out of high school, and I chose to go to St. John’s,” said Langley. “However, over the years we kept in touch and when I saw this [position] open up I was like, wow, those are great people at Marist. I would love to at least learn under coach Giorgis for his last year and pick up any gems that he may be able to give me, so our relationship is great. I even guess what he would like to order for his food and you always know that he wants a Diet Coke.”
While coaches and administrators have helped Langley and Hall out in their short time with the Red Foxes, the two of them interact every day.
“We give each other a hard time all the time. That’s the best director of basketball operations in the world. You can ask him, I tell him that every day,” says Langley. “We basically kick ideas around all the time. Especially when I first started, he helped me out a lot because we film practice on a daily basis, so he helped me out with that software. But yeah, we definitely go to each other for stuff.”
This is only the beginning of their journey as directors of basketball operations and both understand more will be learned and they will continue to grow. Though they may not be very well known, they are essential team players in the success of the men’s and women’s basketball programs.
