A Coach's Diary

Go ahead Kobe, tell us what Mamba Mentality really means. We hear it all the time, we read about it, and we watched him live it. But what on Earth is "Mamba Mentality" anyway? Never fear, Kobe Bryant explained it himself as the recently-retired Los Angeles Lakers legend is in the Philippines again for his 2016 Mamba Mentality Tour, Saturday. "To sum up what Mamba Mentality is, it means to be able to constantly try to be the best version of yourself," Bryant said. "That is what the Mentality is," he added. "It's a constant quest to try to better today than you were yesterday." With him leaving the NBA after 20 years, Bryant said that the Mamba Mentality will live on, thanks to younger players that step up to the plate. Like Kyrie Irving of the 2016 NBA Champions Cleveland Cavaliers. "I feel great about it, it means everything that I've done throughout my career, it doesn't just stay in the history books. It does...

Mike Brey, head basketball coach at Notre Dame, has a good process for correcting bad body language.   Negative body language can be very cancerous, and you need to address it in a teaching setting immediately and appropriately. It’s important to get to know your athletes and get in tuned to their body language.   When you see negative body language, make sure that you correct in a positive way that does not embarrass your athlete.   Don’t let them display their reactions for everybody. --> Coach Brey says that he will imitate their bad body language and show film of their bad body language and reactions.   Find ways to simulate it in practice.   Model it for them.   Do whatever you need to teach and fix bad body language.  

Recruiting enthusiastic kids is harder than it has ever been.   Finding kids that are upbeat, loving life, loving the game, and who have this tremendous appreciation for when teammates do something well is uncommon.   Be that person.   Every day.   Not just on the basketball court, but in the classroom, at home, and in the community as well.   Be that person that brings energy and enthusiasm to the room when you walk in. When I first started coaching college basketball, I was surprised when in recruiting, my head coach said that he does not have any idea of the stats of the players he recruits.   Talent and skill level definitely are visible at first, but the character of our recruits was equally important.   And as we went through the entire process and had to narrow down our efforts and decide which players to finally offer scholarships to, character won out over talent. We felt that high character kids had more of a chance to grow, develo...

We know Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson today as a real-life action figure who leads an incredibly inspirational life, but as   a high school student, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson started getting into trouble. He was arrested for everything from fighting and stealing to forging checks, but Dwayne says he began to change his ways when he was 16 years old and he met the football coach.  Here is what he said he took away the most from that experience: "The empathy that he had for a punk kid who treated him so rudely and disrespectfully.  He looked past the BS and said that I believe in you and I want to turn you around.  Often times you see kids who are labelled punk kids, its true.  But there's good in them and we have to see that potential.  Especially kids who are kind of wayward and are going through it." We have and see those kids everyday.  But instead of seeing the punk on the outside, try finding the potential on the inside.  My mom always had ...

"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...

With the emergence of Steph Curry as one of the dominate forces in the NBA game, the term 'gravity' has made its way to the basketball court. Gravity in basketball terms simply refers to the pull that a certain player has over the defense, or, how closely you have to guard a player at any given time on the court. Steph Curry has strong gravity because no matter where he is on the court, all defenders must know where he is and be close enough to him to close out and take away shots.  Great shooters such as Kyle Korver also have strong gravity off the ball. Great drivers, like Kyrie Irving, also have strong gravity, but with the ball more so than when they are off the ball (although Kyrie is also a high level shooter).  When Kyrie has the ball in his hands, the defense has to shift towards him early enough to keep him from getting to the basket. Great rebounders, especially on the offensive end, can also have strong gravity.  Guys like Tristan Thompson have strong...

This article comes from Hoopthoughts.Blogspot.com regarding the characteristics needed to be a successful head coach. Bill Polion, one of the NFL’s best general managers, in his book,  "The Game Plan: The Art of Building a Winning Football Team," gives great insight to what he is looking for from a head coach.   Below are the 10 characteristics that he finds most important in a head coach: The 10 characteristics he outlines are: 1 – Organization 2 – Leadership 3 – Communication 4 – Emotional Stability 5 – Vision 6 – Strategy 7 – Flexibility 8 – Judge of Talent 9 – Public Relations 10 – Player Respect You can read the article in full below.