For every high school star who made the trip to Miami this week for the McDonald's All-American Game, there was an Amateur Athletic Union basketball coach who first promoted the player as a future Big Mac.

For every squeaky sneaker that cuts to the rim at BankUnited Center on Wednesday, there was an AAU basketball coach who helped tie the laces and sign the shoe deal.

For every Kemba Walker (UConn), Ty Lawson (North Carolina), Scottie Reynolds (Villanova) or Kalin Lucas (Michigan State) competing in the NCAA Final Four, there was an AAU basketball coach who helped broker the recruiting process.

Simply stated, AAU coaches are the Don Kings of amateur basketball.

They are not certified teachers, yet they wield more power than high school coaches. They are not regulated by the NCAA, but the governing body of collegiate athletics has empowered them. They are not employed by shoe companies, although shoe companies pay their bills.

''Everybody can't get into high school basketball,'' said Kenny Gillion, coach of the Broward County-based AAU squad, Team Breakdown. ``Anybody can be an AAU basketball coach, unless you have like a felony or something. If you wanted to start a summer team, basically you just need the funds to pay for it.''

SHOOTING STARS

Gillion is the AAU basketball coach for South Florida's two most highly publicized players, Kenny Boynton Jr. of Pompano Beach and Brandon Knight of Fort Lauderdale. Boynton, a shooting guard, played high school basketball at Plantation American Heritage and is a 2009 McDonald's All-American. He will play for the East All-American team Wednesday in Coral Gables. Knight, a junior at Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest, is one of the nation's top-rated point guards for the recruiting class of 2010 and will likely follow in Boynton's footsteps as a McDonald's All-American next year.

With Boynton and Knight running the backcourt for his AAU team, Gillion has a considerable amount of power and influence in the basketball community. Reebok pays him $50,000 a year and helps his players choose where they are going to play college basketball.

''Most of these college coaches, I know them on a first-name basis,'' said Gillion, whose 17-and-under Team Breakdown is a two-time AAU national champion. ``Throughout the course of me doing this, I've had every college coach in the country come in and try and recruit the guys.''

How did Gillion become so influential? Is he a basketball-coaching genius? Hardly. After all, he didn't even play college basketball. Like all AAU coaches, he is a product of the system. The NCAA regulates how often college coaches can visit players at their high schools during the school year. In the summer, coaches have free reign to travel to AAU tournaments, where thousands of recruits converge and play hundreds of games in one weekend.

AAU coaches are the promoters, and the AAU coaches with the best players often are the AAU coaches with the best connections. College coaches clamor for the recruits, and high school coaches often succeed or fail based on where AAU coaches tell their players to attend high school.

''You have AAU coaches that really have a lot of control over kids. I'll say I'm one,'' said Gillion, whose brother, Darrance Gillion, coached the Oakland Park Northeast High boys' basketball team to a district championship this year with several Team Breakdown players. ``I have a lot of control over my kids. But it's a thing where I don't abuse the power.''

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