A Coach's Diary

Great quote from the guys at Proactive Coaching .  Its important to have purpose in what we do, and this quote outlines the 'why' to competing, having a strong culture, leadership development , commitment and sacrifice, accountability, selflessness, discipline , grit, and integrity.  This is why we coach, this is why they play.  Sure the wins are great, and the accolades are amazing for recognizing talent and hard work , but the life lessons learned through sports are what make them really worthwhile.

Lawrence Frank gave a really good Pick ‘n’ Roll Offensive breakdown in the video below.   Frank says the objective of pick and roll is to create 4 on 3 advantages, so you want to be aggressive, attack, and make the defense pay for however they guard you. One of the key points that he makes is the importance of being able to counter-punch.   Each team you play will have a plan for how they want to guard, or attack your ball-screens.   This video identifies several different defensive options and how to exploit them. At the end of the day, no matter what offense you have, it is important to teach, grow, and develop your players so that they can make the right reads at the right speed and so that they have the skill set to beat their man when they make the read.   This breakdown outlines ‘what’ you need to do.   Every day in practice you must teach ‘how’ to do it. Frank also says that, as a coach, you want your players to know who you are and wha...

I am borrowing this post from the great blog at HoopThoughts.BlogSpot.com .  We all want to win, but we have to make sure that we have the right foundation in place.  At some point, with every team, adversity will hit.  It will hit in terms of losses, player frustration, loss of focus, injuries, etc.  When you do experience adversity, it is important to have a good foundation and set of values that will catch you.  If not, there is no telling how far you might end up falling before you are able to pick yourself, and your team, back up. What men's basketball coach  Chris Collins  says he learned from Chicago Cubs manager  Joe Madden : “He was really helpful, especially (by saying) that when you are trying to build something, pretty much the last thing that comes are the wins. You have to build the winning culture and the winning environment. And sometimes you have to learn how to celebrate some of the small victories … guys coming in ear...

I follow a really good page on Facebook called Herb on Hoops where a lot of coaches come together to discuss the strategy, to share ideas, and to discuss the ‘issues of the day.’ Recently, there was a post regarding AAU basketball, and as many ‘old school’ coaches do when this topic arises, many complained that the kids are playing too many games in the summer and not spending enough time developing their skill.  One coach had some really good thoughts on the necessity of combining the drills, vision, and development of a skill trainer while teaching the IQ necessary to have success in this team game.  Some of the thoughts outlined in his posts are: - Sacrificing Growth and Development For Wins Now By Focusing On Schemes and Sets Rather Than Building Skill - Winning Leads To Validation, Not Necessarily To Player Development or Level Of Coaching - Players Need the Development Of Training To Become Their Best - The Best Trainers Help Grow Players Overall Game...

“At its best, criticism can do exactly what its supposed to do: motivate, educate, and inspire.  But when it seems mean and destructive, it can break spirits, damage companies, and even ruin careers.” - Hendrie Weisinger The Power of Positive Criticism Is your teaching/coaching building athletes up and making them better, or is it tearing them down? There is a difference between ‘giving everybody a trophy’ and riding your athletes unfairly and unjustifiably.  The best coaches engage and inspire their athletes.  They make their athletes want to learn, want to get better, want to WORK for success.

- How can we be intentional in making this process magical for our athletes and their families? - How can we be intentionally ‘plus’ the school experience for our athletes and their families? I include families because how we treat the girls we have impacts, not only them, but their families.  We have a girl who basketball was her ‘second sport’ who wants to be a basketball player.  Her parents are now signing up her younger sister in basketball so that she can one day be in our program.  Because of how we treated one girl, her younger sister now wants to play basketball and her mother wants to make that happen because she knows that we will take care of her!  How cool is that?

As a coach, I am constantly asking myself, "Why do I do what I do," and recently, as our season ended and we shifted into off-season, I thought again about what I want to give to my athletes every day this spring.  Right now, this is what I have come up with.  These are the things that are important to me.  I tell my kids every day, 'It's bigger than basketball.' 1 – Make Players Better Every Day. - This is why they are here.  This is how we grow as a program.  We want to HELP every player become the best player that they can be for themselves, their team, and the program. 2 – Make Our Athletes Better People. This is why we are here.  To help them grow to become the best version of themselves.  We just use basketball to teach the life lessons necessary to help them grow into their best self. 3 – Send Them Home With The Confidence That We Believe In Them And Their Abilities. Their confidence is necessary for them to continue to come in w...

The article below is about how Greg Popovich, and the man who first hired him at Division III Pomona-Pizter College, Curt Tong.   It is a good article about the lasting influence of a coach on his players, and how that influence trickles down through all of the people that those players come in contact.   Live right, do the best you can, and take care of your family and friends, and you will be okay in coaching and in life.   You can find the article in its entirety here . Coach’s Expire Every Day, They Never Die Those are the details, and they are important details. They are a life’s work, in and out of the office. On and off the court. But details never tell the full story of a coach’s life, because a coach—a teacher, by any measure—is more than the sum of his life’s accomplishments. A coach is his own life, and every life he has ever touched, his words and his lessons melting down through generations, outliving him by decades. Coaches expire every day, but they...

(Harish Balasubramani/Illustrations director) The following article is something that I will share with all of my managers!   It is a really good look at the value and importance of a really good manager if you realize that you are more than ‘just a manager.’   Tony Luftman was a manger on the 1995 UCLA men’s basketball team that won a National Championship.  One thing that stuck out to me was how he feels that he was a big part of that team, even though he never played in a game.  I want all of my managers to feel that included every season as well.  You can find the original article here . Like clockwork, Jim Harrick’s cell phone buzzed on April 3. So did those of other members of UCLA’s 1995 men’s basketball championship team, like Ed O’Bannon, Tyus Edney and Steve Lavin. Another year, another text from Tony Luftman, a manager on the 1995 team, with the same simple message: “Thank you for letting me be a part of your team.” But more th...

Photos of St. Joseph boys basketball coach Gene Pingatore, who has 999 career wins as of Feb. 9, 2017.   The following article is about the career of Coach Gene Pingatore, a legendary coach at St. Joseph’s high school.   I was first exposed to him as the coach in the movie Hoop Dreams.   This gives a very different side of coach than what was presented in the documentary.   Below are some key parts that I took away.   You can read the article in full here or after the jump. -  Kathy Taylor excused herself Thursday at St. Joseph High School because Taylor knew if she talked any longer about the generosity of her boss, high school basketball legend Gene Pingatore, the tears would begin to flow. -  The same emotion oozed out of the woman behind the welcome desk who, unsolicited, shared the memory of Pingatore sending her son souvenirs at the hospital without even knowing him. Longtime St. Joseph assistant Bill Riley, at Pingatore's side for 34 y...

It is important to learn how to play at different speeds as a basketball player.  Even if you are one of the fastest players on the court, players and teams can adjust to you if you just play ‘fast’ the entire game.  They can figure out how much space that they need to give you and adjust on how they anticipate and beat you to a spot. When you can play at different speeds, you are much less predictable and you can get by your defenders more effectively.  Below is a really good change of speed and change of direction drill by current Indiana coach and former Marquette coach Tom Crean.  Here he is working on changing speeds and different finishes, including pull-ups and layups. This is a great ball-handling drill, as it works on different dribble moves, a great shooting drill, and a great drill to teach finishing moves.  Instead of just doing full-court crossovers, this is a good alternative through which you can get ga...

Tom Brady Celebrates Another Touchdown The article below is full in excerpts from a Sport Illustrated article that you can find here .  I originally came across this article on Facebook through a Huffington Post article.  My biggest takeaway is this: - You have to make a decision on what type of person that you want to be.  Do you want to dedicate your life to this and be the best, do you want to put in the work to be great, do you want to go with the flow and be average? - In all things, you have to find balance and stability while still searching for the best practices available to help you grow and become your best self.  Don’t settle for status-quo ‘just because.’ - Its important to have stability in a world that is constantly changing.  The Patriots having a constantly changing roster, but have stability at the key parts of the organization: ownership, head coach and quarterback.  Though all the pieces around Brady on the field is cons...

The article below was borrowed from Bob Starkey at HoopThoughts.BlogSpot.com .  You read the original article here . It's been a while back, but I posted briefly about a concept that I hold dear to my coaching philosophy -- the ability to teach your players to figure things out on their own. There are three things that I think coaches should stress, teach and demand on a daily basis regardless of what their philosophy is in regard to X & Os, discipline and team building.  I believe you should be teaching players to Talk, to be Tough, and to Think.  Figuring things out is a major component to thinking. One of the most underrated things that the best coaches teach, in any sport on any level, is that of educating their players how to think on their own.  Few were better than Coach Newell. “I wanted players with initiative, guys who could control a difficult situation on their own.  People may not realize that years ago, you couldn’t bring a player...