A Coach's Diary

1. Tighten up our half-court defensive schemes now that we know how they are attacking us, with extra attention on their most successful plays.  2. Add a twist to each press based on how they attempted to break it.  3. Get feedback from staff and players  as to what offensive actions they liked best and what we need to run if we have to get a bucket.  4. Laser in on our best plans for each end-who are we targeting in pick and rolls, who has foul issues on each side, who is hurting us on the glass and why, what are we going to do to fix what is hurting us the most.  5. Inspire the team to believe we can play our best half of basketball to date. https://www.facebook.com/groups/HerbonHoops/permalink/1735886693134556/

This is my Spring Off Season for the Team Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday: Bob Hurley Open Gym Rules and I added to it 1-5 on 5 No Dribble 2-5 on 5 Zone On Makes Man On Misses 3-5 on 5 Hockey 4-5 on 5 run an Action 5-5 on 5 Beep Beep 6-5 on 5 Everyone must Touch before you can score 7-5 on 5 Post must touch 8-Weak-hand Layup is worth 3 Points 9-NBA Three is worth 4 Points 10-Everyone must cross Half Court if not the Offense Keeps the Ball,  vice versa Offense doesn’t cross everyone the Basket doesn’t count 11-10 Minute Games 12-Games to 1, 3, 5, 7 Points 13-21 players 3 Teams Of 7 Hockey - Rebounder has to dribble across half-court Beep-Beep - 10 second shot clock Run and Action - Run a play

The video above is a compilation of post feeds from the Villanova Wildcats.  Jay Wright is known for his player development, and post play and post feeds are a skill that is sometimes overlooked but is important to master. - All players can make sharp accurate passes with both hands - Post players do a great job of shielding their man, meet the pass, and catch with both hands - The passers always relocate on the pass to make the double team hard - The post players take their time on the catch and read the defense before attacking They don't always score, but the action is always sound and solid which is part of what makes Villanova so tough every year. The video was taken from Zak Boisfert's YouTube channel .  He is a great resource for anything you need on the court.

--> The following excerpt comes from the book What Drives Winning by Brett Ledbetter .  Its a GREAT resource for character development. The thing I talk about most is appreciation.   That is the number-one core value in our program.   I feel like appreciation is the foundation for anyone that is successful over a long period of time, on or off the court. I believe in an appreciation-to-entitlement ratio.   Appreciation should be high.   Entitlement should be low.   If someone feels like when they take the floor they deserve something because of who they are or because of what they’ve done, they automatically are not going to be in the right frame of mind to make their team win at the highest level. Entitlement = Think you deserve something based on who you are or what you’ve done. Appreciation: To recognize the good in someone or something. Teach and develop that character skill in your athletes.   Teach them to eve...

Many coaches have great ideas, but how you communicate those ideas and how the players receive and buy-in to those ideas are what is really important.   Its always good to see how different coaches present their ideas/thoughts/philosophy and how the players receive it. Here, Coach Porter Moser talks about the “Wall of Culture” that he had made for the Loyola-Chicago basketball locker room. This was the cultural impact Moser hoped for when he came up with the idea for the wall shortly after arriving at Loyola in 2011. Four seasons on the staff of late coach Rick Majerus at St. Louis taught Moser to fixate on fundamentals. Majerus could have written a dissertation on a jump stop. “When I got the job and was writing down all these things I wanted to do philosophically, all these details from notes when I worked for Rick, I was like, ‘Let’s just put it up there so they see it every day and buy in,’ ’’ said Moser, 49. “This was a blank wall when I got he...

Reference: What Drives Winning by Brett Ledbetter The value of winning a championship comes in understanding that anything in life that's worth achieving cannot be done on your own. - Billy Donovan  Having the message is one thing - what is important is how you deliver it and even more important- how the players receive and act on the message. Great team's are built on great relationships, and great relationships are built on trust.  Trust is built when trustwilling meets trustworthy. Trust is built every day and every day that we practice, we prove to our teammates and coaches that we are worthy of their trust. Everybody has been on team's where some of the players aren't always on the same page.  You have to pour energy into putting them in shared experiences where they have to learn to depend on each other. The key to gaining trust is being consistent and matching your actions with your words.   One way to help build trust...

When teaching, coaching and developing a youth athlete, it's important to build both skill-set and mindset.  You can't have a complete athlete without intentionally developing both.  You also need to focus on building a complete athlete who's athleticism can cross all sports and will lead to an active and healthy lifestyle for later in life. Athleticism They have to have the strength and coordination to be able to perform all the movements that it takes to have success in their sport. Skill-set They have to have skills needed to have success in their sport. Mindset They have to have the mindset needed to commit and have the grit to work to build up their athleticism and skill-set, and the grit to overcome the many setbacks that they will encounter. It is a Marathon - Not A Sprint It takes years - really a lifetime - to fully grow and develop our skill-set and mindset completely, so be patient, consistent and diligent. Use others as a healthy gauge on progres...

It is easy to become discouraged as a coach.  But every time you start to get discouraged, go back to why you chose this profession in the first place.  You love the kids, you love the game and you love to teach.  Let it show.  Your kids will follow your lead.

--> Reference: What Drives Winning by Brett Ledbetter Pay For Points A couple of players went to their coach and said that they have an issue with a teammate.   They feel that their teammate is playing selfish and that it is hurting the team. When the coach asked, “Why do you say that,” the players responded, “her parents are paying her to score points.” What signal does it send to the player when his/her parents are paying them to score?   Don’t pass.   Your points mean more than wins.   What will that player value?   Individual success over team success. When we pay our athletes for scoring, or we celebrate our athletes individual performance over team performance, we emphasize the wrong thing and they value the wrong thing.   Ledbetter’s 42 points wasn’t enough. Headlines like this show that when you score a lot of points, you get a lot of attention.   Celebrating individual success over team succes...

Kevin Durant sends signals to everybody around him that the team is his number one priority.   Yet he still led the NBA in scoring multiple years. Be the kind of athlete that brings your teammates with you.