A Coach's Diary

In the 4th chapter of his book, Win Forever , Pete Carroll talks about the lessons he learned as the head coach of the New York Jets.  He was promoted from a defensive coordinator to head coach, and he talked about how he wanted his players to perceive him in his new role.  Concerning that, he wrote: I wanted to show them that they were going to get the same coach they had had the past four seasons - someone who was positive, focused, and extremely competitive.  I believed that the only way we were going to win was as a single, united team. His philosophy was forming, but it was still undeveloped.  He know what he wanted to do, but he was still figuring out how to make it happen.  Here he talks about the vision he had for the Jets organization: The vision I wanted the team and staff to share wasn't about 'not failing' but about really searching within yourself and developing positive approach to wining.  I wanted every member of the team to think of...

In Chapter 3 of Pete Carroll's book, Win Forever , Coach Carroll talks a lot about the importance of athletes achieving a 'peak performance' in competition by playing with a 'quieted mind.'  A quieted mind is when a player is completely absorbed by the task, free of distractions, and the game is moving in slow motion. I once had a 'peak performance' in an interview.  I was approached to apply for a position as an assistant principal in my district.  It was a position that I probably was not completely ready for, as I was still a young teacher, but the administration in my district thought that I would be good for the position and that I should go for it.  I was fully prepared to answer any and everything that they threw out at me, and I did a good enough job to earn the position because of my performance.   I remember being in a zone in while they were firing questions at me, and the biggest reason for that was the way that my principal at the time hel...

In chapter 2 of his book, Win Forever , Pete Carroll talks about how his academic learning helped influence his approach to coaching.   Abraham Maslow and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs made a lasting impression on how he approached getting the most out of his players.  Here is an excerpt on how Maslow influenced Carroll's viewpoints on player performance: "What I learned about Maslow's insights challenged me to start asking: What if my job as a coach isn't so much to force or coerce performance as it is to create situations where players develop the confidence to set their talents free and pursue their potential to its full extent?  What if my job as a coach is really to prove to these kids how good they already are, how good they could possibly become, and that they are truly capable of high level performance? What if players were able to perform exactly how they envisioned themselves performing?" I think as coaches, we have to identify our player'...

Cool story on how Sonny Vaccaro helped Nike sign Michael Jordan out of college.  Imagine a world where Adidas made Air Jordan's.  Crazy how Nike giving him his own shoe (and Adidas supposed reluctance to sign and feature a non-7 footer) helped Nike become what they are today.

So many games are won and loss by how we as coaches handle late game timeouts and special situations.  Many times its the last 5 or 6 plays of the game and the adjustments you make as a coach in those situations that separates the winners and losers, and it is important to stay sharp in this area in the off-season.   To keep myself and my coaching staff sharp in our ability to recall plays quickly and efficiently, we have a little activity that we use.  We have identified certain situations that we need to be ready for, and we have written them down on small pieces of paper.  We put them in a bowl and several times a week we pull on one and quickly draw out a play that fits the situation.  We also like to talk about how we would guard that particular action so that we are always thinking about how to put our guys in position defensively to have success against anything somebody might throw at us. These are the situations we have written down to ...

This is a video that I like to show my guys, especially in the off-season where we don't have the excitement or purpose of preparing for competition.  In the off-season, our guys can sometimes get bored with the skills and drills that we do to improve their fundamentals, so a little perspective and added motivation is always great to get them going and to provide importance and relevance to what we do. Here, the guys at NBA Open Court are talking about the importance of teaching and learning the fundamentals of the game and how mastering the fundamentals is a difference maker between being good and being great.  They use Tracy McGrady, Michael Jordan, and Larry Bird as examples.  As good a player that Tracy McGrady was, and for as much talent as he had, he was much maligned for never being able to get out of the 1st round of the playoffs. The guys mentioned that college, and more importantly mastering the fundamentals of the game, is something that might have held him...

  The following notes are from a speech that Steven A. Smith gave at the University of Rhode Island.  They are gathered from an article I found at The Good 5 Cent Cigar is the University of Rhode Island’s student news organization.  It is written by Jeremy Dawson , and you can find the complete article here . “How bad do you want it?” This was the sentiment that resonated throughout a motivational speech from one of ESPN’s leading faces who spoke at the University of Rhode Island. “No matter what your gifts are or how much talent you have you can’t pull it off by yourself,” said Smith. “So many of people’s problems today are based on their inability to come together.” To prove this, Smith used the New England Patriots, San Antonio Spurs and Floyd Mayweather’s successes. In regards to Mayweather, who Smith predicted to knock out Manny Pacquiao in the 11th round of their bout that will take place on May 2nd, he said, “It ain’t just because he gets up and runs 7 ...

Coach K is coming off of his 5th National Championship, and if he hasn't done so already, he is really starting to create and even larger gap between his legacy and those of even his most successful peers, and he's done so in large part because of his willingness to buy-into adapting to his players and the changes in the sport in general Bucky Gleason at  Buckyandsully.buffalonews.com wrote a great article on Coach K's ability to adapt, and even recived some words from two of college basketball's all-time greats, Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley to comment on just how much Coach K has evolved. I have listed some key takeaways that I have found useful below.  You can read the full article here . Christian Laettner On Coach K Evolution Over the past quarter-century, Laettner has realized that Coach K didn’t compromise his ideals when it came to Hurley. Krzyzewski was evolving into the greatest coach in the past 40 years. Laettner came away with even more res...

At the Final Four press conference, Coach Cal talked about the importance of being the best version of ourselves in performance.  his conversations with his team leading up to their game against Wisconsin.  He said that their sole concern was themselves and that he preached to them that they have one job individually, and that is to get themselves prepared physically and mentally to be the best versions of themselves. He also said that if he could count on them for effort, they could count on him for adjustments.  We can argue back and forth whether or not the Kentucky players just didn't make plays down the stretch,  we can argue whether or not the coaching staff put them in the best position to be successful, and we can argue about the significance of them not having watched film on Wisconsin.  But, we can't argue with the fact that one of our main purposes as coaches is to get our guys to grow into become the best versions of themselves and to play at th...

POSTED:   TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 10:32 PM   | UPDATED: 10:35 PM, TUE MAR 24, 2015. By CONNOR O’GARA / Hub Sports Writer RAVENNA — After 448 wins, four state titles and 25 years at the helm, Ravenna boys basketball coach Paul Beranek is finally hanging up his clipboard. The Bluejays’ general announced on Tuesday that he’ll be retiring after 31 years of coaching. “It’s a hard a decision to make because — I’m not about an identity — but you lose your identity a coach,” Beranek said. “I had to sit down with my family and talk about it with them first and they were all very supportive. Connor (Beranek) even called me and told me it’d be fun to have me watch his games his senior year.” Getting to watch his youngest son, Connor, lead the University of Nebraska at Kearney basketball team was one of several reasons Beranek decided to retire. He’ll still teach art at Ravenna High School and become a spectator. That’s a role he didn’t get to take when coaching...