High school basketball: Glenn Farello of Paul VI named 2025-26 MaxPreps National Coach of the Year

Veteran of 28 years on the bench led Virginia program to state title, top spot in national rankings.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Jordan Divens
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Apr 14, 2026, 11:30am
Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) owns high school basketball's longest active streak of national top 10 finishes with five dating back to 2021-22. The Panthers have finished No. 1 twice in the past three seasons and have won the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference regular season championship five straight seasons.

Head coach Glenn Farello is the architect of that success, leading his program to a 33-3 record in 2025-26 and second national championship in three seasons. For his efforts, Farello has been named the 2025-26 MaxPreps National Coach of the Year.

"It's an awesome feeling to know that the coaching staff we have gets to share in this recognition along with our players, families and school administration because it takes all of us to make this happen." Farello said. "I am proud the nation gets to see what I already knew, we have the right people on the right bus all moving in the right direction."
Farello, who has been the head coach at Paul VI for 19 seasons, guided the Panthers to a 14-1 record against teams who ended the season ranked in the top 100.

"To be able to be to top four-year traditional school and have that recognition and have earned it, we take a lot of pride in it," Farello said. "Our guys compete, they are great student-athletes it is fun to see our community have this kind of recognition for what we have been doing."

Culture is the key to Paul VI's success, according to Farello.

"I am very proud of all the guys that have helped built it," Farello said. "We always talk about how we want people to contribute to our culture and not just use it and I think it has been established the tradition of winning and the excellence and the players that buy into it now. They want to live up to the legacy and they want that challenge of hey, it's your turn."

That culture was especially evident in a pair of games this season. The Panthers overcame a 16-point, fourth-quarter deficit against St. John's (Washington, D.C.) in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference title game to capture their fourth WCAC title in five years. There was also a 74-51 win over No. 7 Bartlett (Tenn.) in the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions semifinals without MaxPreps National Player of the Year Jordan Smith.

Paul VI is the third program in the MaxPreps era to run the table on postseason awards with Farello winning National Coach of the Year honors, Smith winning National Player of the Year honors and the team finishing No. 1 in the MaxPreps Top 25. The Panthers join Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) in 2014 with Stanley Johnson and Gary McKnight along with Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) in 2018 with R.J. Barrett and Kevin Boyle.

Past MaxPreps National Coaches of the Year
2010 — Ed Azzam, Westchester (Los Angeles)
2011 — Bob Hurley, St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.)
2012 — Danny Henderson, Marcus (Flower Mound, Texas)
2013 — Quincy Lewis, Lone Peak (Highland, Utah)
2014 — Gary McKnight, Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
2015 — Sam Duane Jr., Corona del Sol (Tempe, Ariz.)
2016 — Pat Donnelly, University of Detroit Jesuit (Detroit)
2017 — Wes Swift, Jonesboro (Ark.)
2018 — Kevin Boyle, Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.)
2019 — Mike Thompson, McEachern (Powder Springs, Ga.)
2020 — No award (Pandemic)
2021 — David Peavy, Duncanville (Texas)
2022 — Josh Giles, Centennial (Centennial, Calif.)
2023 — Ty White, John Marshall (Richmond, Va.)
2024 — Matt Wester, Plano East (Plano, Texas)
2025 — Stephen Singleton, Roosevelt (Eastvale, Calif.)

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