Gregg Popovich and the Spurs: Intentional Fouling

Gregg Popovich, as far as I can tell, is the only NBA coach who routinely fouls bad foul shooters on the opposing teams to gain a strategic advantage. The reaction to this from fans and media has been to paint Pop as sort of rascal — the kind of guy who will game the system without shame or apology. But the real mystery isn’t what makes Popovich so brazen and inventive, but why the rest of

How to Rebuild a Program - Stephanie Norman, Louisville Basketball

The Most Beautiful Offense in Basketball....

The Triangle Offense. Fundamentally sound, difficult to defend and an equal opportunity offense, Tex Winter's triangle has won NBA coach Phil Jackson 11 Championships and has also been a part of collegiate women's basketball programs at Stanford, Tennessee, Connecticut, Hartford and countless others.

What makes the Triangle Offense so good? It's a detailed system that requires all 5 players on

A great tip when preparing for opponents

I heard this from Nikki Caldwell (LSU):

During practice when you are running your opponent's offense and reviewing individual players' tendencies, keep it simple...

Green Jersey = shooter
Red Jersey = driver
White Jersey = all-around

This is a simple trick that can have a great effect. It can be a challenge to explain to your team that Susie is your opponent's #23 and she is a left handed kid

Is your coaching style adaptable to the new generation?

Here's a simple fact with huge effects: you cannot coach today's kids the same way you coached a team 10 years ago. Are you making the adjustment?

Below are 5 characterizations from the article The Most Technologically Advanced Yet by Sherry Posnick-Goodwin that pinpoints how today's "Generation Z", "Generation @" or "iGeneration" cohorts (generally born between 1991-2001) experience the world

Vic Shaefer's talk at the Final Four

Below are some notes I took when Texas A&M Assistant Coach Vic Schaefer spoke at the WBCA Convention at the Final Four last year (the day his Aggies won the National Championship!).

-Assistants and Head Coaches can agree to disagree...but, when you disagree, it should be about what we think is best for the program or team.

-The Head Coach should talk to parents about intangibles, but let the

Making & Breaking Habits

 The hard must become habit.  The habit must become easy.  The easy must become beautiful.  ~Doug Henning
We are all creatures of habit; basketball players are no different.

Using the left hand on the left side of the backboard...applying ball pressure...sprinting the lanes...boxing out. All of these are habits that can be established or demolished.

Coaches get frustrated when players

Culture beats strategy...All day long!

How Do You Weigh Strategy, Execution, and Culture in an Organization's Success? -Article from Harvard Business School by Jim HeskettStrategy, execution, and culture: Do we have our priorities right? 
"An outstanding strategy weakly executed will always be trumped by a weak strategy with outstanding execution.
What if you had a plan to be president of the USA? You could have a perfect plan. A

10 Proven Teaching Methods for Coaches (Part 2 of 2)

 from Winning Hoops March/April 207

6. Effective Motivation
Find something positive to say ti every athlete at every practice. This satisfies the athlete's need for attention, recognition and appreciation. Be specific with your praise- specific praise is used to reinforce the "WHY" of pracitce. Always attempt to find more positives than negatives while constantly praising effort.

7. The Hoopla

10 Proven Teaching Methods for Coaches (Part 1 of 2)

"Productive coaches spend 75% of their time teaching the sport to their players and the other 25% of the time coaching."

1. Understand Your Passion For Basketball...First.
Before jumping into coaching, coaches first must understand their passion for the game. Having a high level of passion for basketball tremendously influences your energy, creativity and ability to motivate players. Passion is

4 "MUST HAVES" in Your Drill Work

1. Weak Hand Development2. Footwork and balance emphasis3. Playing through contact4. Contesting shots
-Kevin Eastman

The Theory of Two

It takes 2 minutes to show you a new skill.It takes 2 weeks of practicing the skill before you are comfortable.It takes 2 months of consistent practice and execution before it is "game ready".

9 Important Teaching Points for Your Drills

The following are notes from Morgan Wootten's Basketball Camp around 2005...these were given to Joe Wootten from Kevin Eastman (Boston Celtics Assistant Coach) and passed on to the camp staff:

1) Basketball is a game of inches (John Stockton; slow, but sure)- Attack ankles/Attack hips, etc.

2) Pound dribble for better handle on the basketball

3) Play the game low to high (on screens: cutter's

Rebounding & Defensive Balance

While on offense, your players know what to do- they have plays to execute and patterns to run. When a shot is rebounded by the opposing team, your players know what to do- they sprint back in transition, protect the hoop and match up defensively. But what do your players do when your team takes a shot and the ball is in the air? 


I'm a huge proponent that rebounding balance leads to defensive

"They'll Walk If You Let 'Em"

Thanks to Bob Walsh for the assist on this post:

I was recently reminded of an article about the San Diego Chargers from a few years back.  This is the first paragraph:

Philip Rivers drives a Ford pickup truck with a custom-made bumper sticker on the back window that reads, THEY'LL WALK IF YOU LET 'EM. It was a message that former Chargers linebacker Carlos Polk used to shout at the end of long

Do you deserve to win?

Rick Pitino opens his book Success is a Choice with the following: "Winston Churchill's rallying cry for the British people during WWII was simple and succinct: hoping and praying for victory was fine, but deserving it was what really mattered.

What does it mean to 'deserve victory'?
According to Churchill, victory comes only to those who work long and hard, who are willing to pay the price in

Tex Winter: Essentials of Coaching

 Read this post on another great blogger's website. Enjoy!





What makes Tex Winter so great is that his principles regarding the game of basketball remain true no matter what era. Because of his principles, he was able to remain influential as a coach his entire career which was over 50 years. Here are Tex Winters Essentials of Coaching:




A. The answer to success in coaching does not

You haven't taught until they have learned...

The title of this post is from a book by the same title written by John Wooden. I hope you enjoy this post because I think it's one of the most important ones I've put up here!

When I was getting my Master's Degree in Education, I did a project focusing on the different ways that people learn. Essentially there are 3 groups:

1) Visual learners
2) Auditory learners
3) Kinesthetic learners

How brain science can change coaching...

I love evidence based, scientific research about coaching and sports...here's a summary of a great article from "Psychology Today" called Wired for Success: How to fulfull your potential by Ray Williams (full article here).
Because the brain operates in a quantum environment, our perceptions and self-talk alter the connections and pathways in our brains. Whatever we focus our "attention" on

Why trust your coach?

A tennis coach, golf coach, swim coach, personal coach, business coach, executive mentor, financial planner, personal trainer, sport psychology coach. What do all these coaches have in common? Why work with a coach? A coach won't do the work for you, but here is how a coach can help launch you to the next level:

1. A coach can be a