A Coach's Diary

When searching for a way to approach creating team rules, I found the following article at http://www.coachlikeapro.com/basketball-team-goals.html , written by Brad Winters. Basketball team goals are very powerful! Team goals have the power to promote team unity, to create loyalty to the program and to the coach, to improve the intensity and quality of practices, and to create the mind-set that the team is bigger than any one individual. Establishing and Setting Basketball Team Goals Simply put, for programs to be successful over the long haul, the coach must set clear goals for himself and his team. These goals incorporate the coach's vision, his mission, and the foundation that his program is built on. Once written down, these goals will provide the coach and his team with a compass that points everyone involved with the program in the right direction. These goals also reveal the amount of hard work, time, and personal sacrifice everyone involved with the program must ...

I ran across the following article from here as I was doing research for core values for our program.  It’s an article about Shaka Smart’s initial impact on the UT men’s basketball program.  It was written before the start of the basketball season, and you can see the change of ‘energy’ in the program immediately after Smart taking over. The first 5 paragraphs below with the red font are the first few paragraphs of the article which quickly highlight the immediate impact of Smart and his staff on the UT program.  I then bulleted key takeaways that I saw from the article.  You can read the article in full after the jump. New coach has put the fun back in the game for his players. When Smart was introduced, Isaiah Taylor was so fed up with Texas basketball that he couldn’t wait to pack up and leave. The way March ended, could you blame him? Get me outta here. Javan Felix, Demarcus Holland, Connor Lammert … go right on down the list. Basketball, at Texas...

The following article was borrowed from Bob Starskey’s blog, HoopThoughts.BlogSpot.com . The following were a few takeaways from an  article written for USAToday by George Schroeder  on Alabama's Nick Saban and his annual battle with complacency: 'People think success is a continuum.  Success is momentary.  And to be really successful you have to have consistency in performance, so you have to do it over the long term.'   “The challenge is always when you have success, people tend to forget what made them successful, And complacency creates a blatant disregard for doing the right things or continuing to do the things that you’ve always done to help you be successful. So consequently you’re not at the top of your game when that happens.” “The human condition is to survive. It’s not to win the championship. It’s not to be the best you can be. It’s to survive. … So when you tell me I’ve got to sell this many cars this month and that’s my quota — wel...

Megan Leuick and Kaitlyn Cresencia have created a website titled ‘ The Coaching Assist .’  What they do is target various coaches and then do a comprehensive 30 minute interview via telephone and then put those thoughts their website.  They also include book reviews. They recently interviewed Bob Starkey, the mastermind behind the popular blog  Hoop Thoughts . Coach Starkey’s career began at the high school level and includes stints of time on both the men’s and women’s sides of the collegiate game. The following excerpt is from that interview regarding the importance of establishing strong relationships with today's athletes.  You can find the full article  here . When we asked Coach Starkey if players have changed during his time as a coach, he pointed out that parents are the ones who have changed. Kids today are raised differently than they were 20 years ago, just as society as a whole has changed. From working with people like Dale Brown he ...

Defense Wins Championships! 1 – Stop and pressure the ball. 2 – Plug all gaps. 3 – Rotate and help the helper. 4 – Contest all shots. 5 – Box out and secure the rebound. 6 – Do all with togetherness, energy and enthusiasm.                 - Best way we can measure that is through our level of communication. We Have To … - Be the toughest team to score on. - Be the loudest team every game. The Team That Takes, and Makes, The Most ‘Great’ Shots, Wins The Game 1 – Score in transition. 2 – Score in secondary. 3 – Have a possession that ends in a great shot What Makes a Great Possession 1 – Ball reversals 2 – Scoring actions off the ball 3 – Good spacing 4 – Paint touches | Inside out possessions 5 – Open perimeter shots or shots inside the paint 6 – Second chance shots We Have To … 1 - Win the turnover battle 2 - Be the best passing team 3 - Set...

Megan Leuick and Kaitlyn Cresencia have created a website titled ‘ The Coaching Assist .’  What they do is target various coaches and then do a comprehensive 30 minute interview via telephone and then put those thoughts their website.  They also include book reviews. They recently interviewed Bob Starkey, the mastermind behind the popular blog  Hoop Thoughts . Coach Starkey’s career began at the high school level and includes stints of time on both the men’s and women’s sides of the collegiate game. The following excerpt is from that interview regarding the importance of correcting your players in a quick and efficient manner so that they can get the important information and move onto the next play without focusing on the present and future as oppose to previous mistakes.  You can find the full article here . John Wooden had a rule where he tried his best to never lecture his players or spend too much time making a point; brevity and conciseness...

Megan Leuick and Kaitlyn Cresencia have created a website titled ‘ The Coaching Assist .’  What they do is target various coaches and then do a comprehensive 30 minute interview via telephone and then put those thoughts their website.  They also include book reviews. They recently interviewed Bob Starkey, the mastermind behind the popular blog  Hoop Thoughts . Coach Starkey’s career began at the high school level and includes stints of time on both the men’s and women’s sides of the collegiate game. For newcomers to the coaching world, Coach Starkey has the following pieces of advice: 1.  Seek multiple mentors - Have 5-7 people you can go to at all times - Inside and outside coaching 2.  Do the best you can and others will notice - He never had to apply for a job; all of the job changes in his career he was recruited for - Focus on being the best you can and the opportunities will come 3.  It’s a journey, you can neve...

When asked why she became a coach, Coach Sahar Nusseibeh of Bowling Green referenced her high school coach and his commitment to his team.  She said that the still resonates as one of the best motivators she’s ever met and is responsible for lighting a passion in her for coaching.  “He was extremely committed to us.  I felt as if he would run through a wall for me. https://thecoachingassist.com/2015/11/02/sahar-nusseibeh-assistant-coach-at-bowling-green/#more-392 ‘For sustainable success, you have to put the person before the player.’ Coach Sahar Nusseibeh of Bowling Green has created  a library of resources to provide to her players, along with activities for the players to help apply the concepts that she is looking to emphasize.   For example, if a player is struggling with confidence in her ability, she may find a TED Talk on confidence that the player might relate to.   Sustainable Development: Person Over the Player ...