Many people create plans for where they want to be in five or ten years. Noel Hightower M.Ed.’20 used to be among them. Then switched his approach. He redirected his focus to a different model.
It was one that balances performance (the quality of his daily work), influence (affecting the development of others), and exposure (being seen by the decision-makers who advocate for him). That PIE framework has fed him and allowed him to thrive beyond what he could have imagined in any long-term plan.
He went from a too-short junior varsity basketball player to an NBA player development coach for the Golden State Warriors, with a pivotal stop at Lehigh along the way. The journey was one of continual improvement, constant leadership, and remaining present to the joy surrounding him.
Performance
The first joy came from watching his father play pickup basketball games across the Lehigh Valley. One court in Bethlehem near the Lehigh River had space for kids to use chalk and garbage cans to create their own court for 3-on-3 contests.
Hightower went on to play in a recreation league, with the middle school team, and on the junior varsity squad. His varsity days began after a summer growth spurt transformed his game and led to deep runs in the playoffs. Recruiters came calling.
He connected with a coach and joined Chestnut Hill as a preferred walk-on. At a scrimmage, he had a reality check when the seventh man entered the game twice before Hightower saw the court. He didn’t want to sit that far down the bench, so he got focused and worked hard.
Ten games into the season, he was named a starter. The next year, he earned a scholarship. More notably, his peers elected him captain — it would have been unanimous if Hightower had voted for himself.
Over his four years on the team, he became one of the best defenders in program history, ranking in the top five in eight categories, earning team MVP, and winning the Athletic Director’s Award.
The success he found on the court is something he also achieved on the track. He also holds records in the 110- and 400-meter hurdles.
Influence
Over three summers as an undergraduate, Hightower worked at the Lehigh basketball camp under camp director Joey Knight ’07. The relationships he formed with the staff and head coach Brett Reed felt authentic.
Still, it surprised him when the call came to become Lehigh’s director of basketball operations. He did everything for the team except draw up plays. Planning meals and travel, welcoming recruits, assisting with class schedules, and player support — he did it all.
After a year, he was promoted to full-time assistant coach, the youngest in DI basketball. At 23 years old, he was barely six months older than the seniors on the team. But he was honored by Reed’s belief, encouragement, and support.
In addition to running practices and wearing a suit on the sidelines at games, he pursued an advanced degree.
His father was a revered — and now retired — local principal and a pillar in his life. His mother was the person who helped him when the chips were down. Education was a central part of their family values, and all of Hightower’s older siblings earned college degrees.
He enrolled in a master’s program in educational leadership at Lehigh and applied those lessons on the court, designing practice plans with points of emphasis and strategies to accelerate, adjust, simplify, review, and scale performance for each player.
Education became more than a framework. He wanted it to inspire. So he wrote a children’s book about a basketball game between students and teachers, which landed at #1 in its category on Amazon. He has since read it at several elementary schools in Easton, schools in the Bay Area, and basketball camps.
More than that, he created the Hightower Hoops Scholarship, which supports a two-sport minority athlete from a nontraditional household who graduates from Easton, is actively involved in a non-athletic extra-curricular activity, and plans to play a sport in college.
“Giving a helping hand to others who are in the same position as I was feels like the least I can do to show my belief in them and their goals,” he says.
Exposure
When the COVID-19 pandemic changed the nature of his day-to-day life, Hightower used the time to connect with others through Zoom. Those conversations led him to an assistant player development coach role for the Indiana Pacers.
His year there was special, including witnessing a franchise-shifting trade that brought Tyrese Halliburton to the team.
In his role, he hustled on and off the court, supplementing his meager income as an independent contractor for Uber, DoorDash, and Lyft. But he loved working with players and editing film to reveal easy adjustments they could make to improve performance.
His expanding network within the NBA soon opened new doors. He became an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors’ G-league affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors. It was a split role — coaching during the season and working with NBA team through the Finals, draft, summer workouts, and training camp.
Two years later, he advanced to player development coach with Golden State. Today, he works with two players, creating a holistic game plan on offense and defense for opponents, tracking stats, cutting film, and playing ball.
The organization is focused, like him, on winning and on championships.
“Everyone on the team and across the organization is connected, banded together, and bought in on what we can and should accomplish,” he says. “The core values align with my own, especially the focus on joy. It will come if we believe and work to our potential.”
