Photo by Brian Hoffman
Josh Aliveto and JJ Redick have taken different paths since Aliveto guarded the Cave Spring freshman in 1999. Redick is waiting to see if the Lakers will hire him as their new coach, while Aliveto has a job in hand, and he didn’t have to wait for Dan Hurley to make a decision before Botetourt County hired him.
Josh was officially named the coach of the Cavaliers last week, replacing Andrew Hart who stepped down to spend more time with his growing family. Aliveto is a person who needs no introduction to Botetourt sports fans, as he’s been part of the Cavalier program for most of his life.
A 1999 graduate of LB, Josh played football, basketball and baseball for the Cavaliers and was a standout in all three. He was the Cavaliers’ quarterback on the football team and went on to play at Concord University, graduating in 2004. However, he also had some highlights in basketball playing for Ed Purdy and Chuck Pound.
“We were around the top of the Blue Ridge District during my junior and senior years,” said Aliveto. “The Blue Ridge was much different then. A lot of the River Ridge teams such as Salem were part of the district. I averaged around 10 points a game while typically guarding the opponent’s best player. I guarded JJ Redick my senior year and his freshman year.”
As most fans know, Redick survived the matchup and went on to star at Duke, followed by a long career in the NBA. He’s now the top analyst on NBA broadcasts and is waiting for the Lakers to decide if he’s going to be their next coach.
Aliveto took a different route, and the folks in Botetourt County are glad he did. Over the past 19 years Josh has coached middle school and high school football and basketball, high school baseball, middle school track and field and, yes, even high school girls tennis in the county.
“Up to this point, I have coached 50 teams from a variety of levels such as rec, travel, middle school, junior varsity and varsity programs,” he said.
Josh is also a teacher, so he’s quite familiar with the boys on the basketball team. He sees a group who is excited to learn and win games.
“There are a bunch of kids who are passionate about getting better as a basketball team,” he said. “I have either had most of these kids on the athletic field or court, and/or the classroom, and I believe they are a good representation of the Botetourt community. We have returning players who I believe will be strong leaders.”
As a player, Josh was influenced by his coaches at LB. including Purdy, Pound, Tony Hart and Jim Phillips. He’s also taken notes while watching the University of Virginia team.
“As a coach, I enjoy watching Tony Bennett from UVA and I have become a fan of what he stands for as a coach,” said Aliveto. “We’re going to establish a style of basketball that is tough on defense with a team-oriented offense. I hope at the end of the day we will be viewed as a mentally and physically tough team, a team that takes pride in doing the grunt work necessary to be successful.”
Aliveto has a wife, Charlene, and two children, 11-year-old Michael and 7-year-old Eva. He’s been coaching Michael’s recreation football team, often getting up early for Saturday games after coaching on Jamie Harless’ LB varsity staff Friday night. Josh said he still plans to help out with the Cavalier football team in the fall.
