A Coach's Diary

"It's one thing to win ball games; it's something else to change lives." Cathy Self-Morgan is the head girls basketball coach at Duncanville High School in the Dallas  Coach Self-Morgan has over 1100 wins and has a total of 8 state championships at 2 different programs.  She is known as one of the best coaches in the country, but it's her tough love and her ability to change lives and the impact she has on people that makes her special. People describe her as tough, disciplined, and tenacious, and Coach Self-Morgan preaches grit, hard work and determination, and will accept nothing but the best from her athletes.  She tells her girls that she might not always 'like' them, but she always 'loves' them. It was stated that her bottom line is the kids' future and that she gets to know each individual so that she can help them become a better person.  One player even stated that her respect level for coach Morgsn is so high that she...

Be who you are.  Coach because of the relationships.  Have balance.  Pace yourself.  Don't be irrationally emotional.  Have goals, but embrace your path, stay committed, and don't measure yourself against anyone else.  Get over yourself and empower others around you.   USA Today Sports recently posted an article in which it asked some of the premier coaches in college basketball one simple question: "Knowing what you know now, what is advice you would give your younger self about coaching and your career if you could?"    As a relatively young coach, I took a lot of good gems from this article.  A couple of the lessons I was forced to learn early, a couple I was blessed to learn by having such a great staff, and some I am still working on now.  Read below as some of the greatest coaches, and leaders, in the world talk about some of the things they would have done differently if given the chance. Mike Krzyzewski...

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...

The article below is from the Dallas Morning News .  It talks about how new head coach Travis Mays has began the process of turning around the SMU Women's basketball program in his first year.  I have put in red some the takeaways that I have found as a coach also in his first year leading a new program.  You can find the original article here . UNIVERSITY PARK -- It took all of one practice, and countless eye rolls, for the SMU women's basketball team to realize how different things would be under new coach Travis Mays. The Importance of Attention to Details The Mustangs did the three-man weave. Then they did it again, and again, and ... "The whole 45-minute workout we did the same drill until we got it perfect," junior guard McKenzie Adams said. "We were like, 'What the heck? Forty-five minutes of the same drill?' But those 45 minutes paid off. We're seeing how important it is to pay attention to the details." The changes have no...

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...