Brian L. Clifton

Brian L. Clifton is the founder and head coach of St. Christopher Academy, a college-preparatory basketball program serving middle and high school athletes in the Raleigh–Wake Forest area. He built the Academy around a simple premise: elite training only matters if it is paired with academic discipline and character, and the goal is preparing young men to compete with confidence on and off the court.

Clifton's résumé runs through some of the biggest names in the sport. As head coach and director of the D-One Sports club program, he coached and mentored John Wall from his high school years through his selection as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, and he has coached and mentored 18 high-major Division I athletes at programs including Duke, Kentucky, Baylor, Michigan, Ohio State, UNC, Wake Forest and NC State, with four going on to NBA rosters. His work has been recognized by Bleacher Report, which named him one of the 50 Most Influential People in College Basketball History.

Beyond the Academy, Clifton serves as Director of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships for The Grind Session, the top platform in high school basketball and the nation's premier winter circuit of elite prep programs. In that role he helped launch the circuit's first international regular-season event, The Bridge of Hoops Invitational in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, bringing together top academies from the United States, Italy, Lithuania, and the UAE. He has also coached and instructed at high-profile international events and maintains working relationships with college and professional coaches across the game.

Clifton also serves as an operations manager for Team Loaded, one of the top AAU programs in the country, named a top-5 program nationally.

On the floor, Clifton is a demanding, detail-first coach. His teams play man-to-man defense, earn their minutes through effort, and are held to the same standard in the classroom as in the gym.