Eric Polli

Senior Director and Founder

Coach Polli is a well-respected AAU and high school basketball coach, previously serving as the Head Boys Varsity Basketball coach at Austin Prep from 2015-2018. In his final season at Austin Prep, Polli’s team won a school record 18 games, making it to the D4 North Section Finals for the first time in school history. Coach Polli now serves on the Austin Prep staff as Assitant Coach. As Director of College Counseling, Polli has helped over 100+ student-athletes play collegiate basketball. I

Josh Morse

Associate Boys Director, 10th-12th

Years at Mass Elite: 3

Hometown: Turners Falls, MA

Past coaching experience: JV & Assistant Varsity Coach at Frontier Regional HS, Assistant Varsity Coach  at Bishop Guertin, HS.  AAU coach for Hawks Hoops.  Suburban Basketball Coach, Western MA. Director, Nextup Basketball.

What do you love about working at Mass Elite? Team environment, winning culture, commitment to developing players through fundamentals and focus on college recruitment.

What do you enjoy outside of coaching? Spending time with my 4 children (3 girls/1boy) and beautiful wife, working out at F45, reading CJ Box novels and watching college hoops.

How do you enhance the student-athlete experience? At every moment, individual improvement is centered around team play.  When they believe in the team, the team believes in them and great things happen collectively.  Players are challenged mentally and physically to go above and beyond to achieve more than they could have originally envisioned.  It’s not always an easy path but they are given the opportunity to succeed from a coach who believes in them.

Favorite Athlete? Larry Legend #33

Favorite sports team? Celtics

Favorite Movie? Tombstone

Favorite Color? I bleed Green.

Favorite Season? Summer

Tyler Strange

Director of Basketball Operations and Program Development

Tyler Strange enters his first year with Mass Elite as the new Director of basketball and program development. Strange joined the program after spending the year at Wofford College as an Assistant coach. 

In Strange’s first season with the Terriers, Wofford posted a 19-13 overall record with a 10-8 Southern Conference mark. He helped lift the Terriers to a road win over the SEC’s Georgia and a No. 4 seed entering the Southern Conference Tournament. Two players earned All-SoCon honors, B.J. Mack on the second team and Max Klesmit on the third team.

At Montreat, Strange was hands-on with a multitude of tasks within the program, such as serving as head coach for Montreat’s junior varsity program, in addition to his coaching duties with the varsity, pre-practice preparation, preparing scouting reports and recruiting.
 
Strange made an immediate impact upon joining the Cavaliers’ coaching staff in 2018, helping Montreat land multiple national top-25 rankings, an Appalachian Athletic Conference finals appearance and reach the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship for just the third time in program history with a 23-8 record for the 2018-19 season. With Strange’s assistance in just his second year, the Cavaliers would notch a consecutive 20-win season at 24-9, a consecutive AAC finals appearance and the school’s fourth and second-straight NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship berth for the 2019-20 season.
 
Overall, Strange helped produce and coached seven All-Appalachian Athletic Conference selections during his three years at Montreat, including the 2020 AAC Player of the Year and NAIA Third Team All-American.

Additionally, Strange was a four-year member of the Gardner-Webb men’s basketball program as a student-athlete from 2011-15, having previously played under coach McAuley and assistant coach Paul Hemrick during their time coaching for the Runnin’ Bulldogs.
 
As a student-athlete, Strange was a four-year starter and point guard for Gardner-Webb, holding program records as the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ all-time leader in assists (651) – which also ranks second all-time in Big South history – and steals (207). A two-year captain, Strange enjoyed a decorated career at Gardner-Webb, leading the Runnin’ Bulldogs to 68 wins during his career (the second-highest total for an individual player in the school’s Division I era), while also being a part of squads that nabbed marquee wins over DePaul in 2012, Clemson in 2014 – most notably at the hands of a crucial late game-tying 3-pointer from Strange – and Purdue in 2014.
 
Having collected First Team All-Big South honors his senior year, while also being named the Cleveland Country Christian Athlete of the Year in 2015, he additionally set a record for most minutes played ever upon graduation from Gardner-Webb.
 
After college, Strange played at the professional level internationally for over two years in countries such as Montenegro, China, and Canada. He also coached at his high school alma mater, Notre Dame Prep, where he had the opportunity to coach three NCAA Division I athletes.
 
A native of Leominster, Massachusetts, Strange graduated from Gardner-Webb in the spring of 2015 with a degree in business administration.

Liam Gantrish

Club Team Coach

Years at Mass Elite: 1