A Coach's Diary

I’m reading the book, ‘ The One Thing ,’ by Gary Keller , and there is a chapter titled Willpower is Always on Will-Call .  There is a common saying that goes – where there’s a will , there’s a way , and in this chapter, Keller talks about how misleading that saying is and how misleading common perception of will-power is as well.  Keller calls will-power a renewable energy source, and that will-power is usable and rechargeable, much like a cell-phone battery or the gas in your car.  He references university studies, such as ‘ TheMarshmallow Test ’ by Walter Mischel, the ‘ Heart and Mind in Conflict ’ experiment by Baba Shiv, and a study on the impact on willpower on the Israeliparole system .  He uses these studies to show the effects of will-power and how to effectively use it. While studies have shown how effective will-power can be, studies have also shown that we all have a limited amount of will-power, and that when we use it up, we revert to ‘default...

“Steve Jobs has a really good quote.  It says that you cannot connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking back.” In the video below, Golden State Warriors GM Bob Myers began talking about his success with Warriors by referencing the above Steve Jobs quote and how each stop along his journey has helped prepare him for the position his is in now. While we have goals for our teams and our careers, we often look up and our realities our different than planned.   All we can really do is show up, work hard, be persistent, and have faith that our dots are connecting in a way that one day we will be grateful for. He also talked about the culture of the Warriors and how important it is to have people around you who are passionate and deeply care about basketball. From Forbes : It simple terms:   Trust Yourself .  Trust yourself to think big, make a difference and have an impact in ev...

I'm always looking for ways to better and better maximize my practice times.  In this short clip, OU women's coach Sherri Coale talks about the 5 things they do at OU every practice.  I believe in these 5 things completely, and aside from having live time to 'play,' these 5 are definitely everyday 'must-haves' in my practice as well. 1 – Shoot - Make shots, win games - Game shots, game spots, game speed The greatest plays in all the world make no difference whatsoever if you can’t make a 3, make a jump shot, finish a layup. Practices shooting the shots that you expect to get in the games. Be good at the things that happen a lot, and how can you be good if you don’t practice shooting? 2 – Defensive Transition – Contest EVERY shot - No layups | no uncontested shots | make teams shoot over you Protect the basket and stop the ball so that you don’t give up easy baskets.   3 - Rebounding – No second shots -   No second chance shots...

I came across this story on a Facebook group, and thought it was full of gems from a coach who has seen a lot and has a great perspective on coaching, running a program, and being someone who positively impacts others through his profession.  You can read the original article here . "All coaches teach. Temple's Fran Dunphy is one of the nation's few teachers" Being Able to Bring Stories To Life, and Make it Interesting “Stories, stories, stories,’’ Anderson said with an enthusiastic smile. “He can bring concepts to life like I never could, and make it interesting, and he is the most amazing and caring networker I’ve ever met. More people love him, and he’s so attentive to everybody.’’ Coach Knight on Teaching About Life In a 2000 interview with television host Larry King, Knight said he taught a class at Indiana University called Methods In Coaching. “I really didn’t talk basketball,’’ Knight said, “but how to get a job, and things I thought were importa...

The following article is one of the legendary coach Pete Newell.  It is an old Sports Illustrated article that covers so much information about teaching the game and the life (and stresses) of being a coach.  You can read the article in its entirety here .  Below I have posted some of the key points that I took away. A GAME OF MISTAKES "Basketball," says Newell, explaining the reason for his malaise, "is a game of mistakes, and the team making the fewer mistakes generally wins." Despite his worry, or perhaps because of it, California rarely makes more mistakes than an opponent. In fact, California on the average makes only six ball-control errors a game compared with an opponent's 15, and since Newell figures control of the ball is worth about 1.5 points, that gives Cal a 14-point head start before the teams even take to the court. ON CONDITIONING At all three schools, Newell has used the same approach. Basically, he has a "for want of a nail the ...