How to Rebuild a Program - Stephanie Norman, Louisville Basketball

Jody Conradt Keynote Address

4/27/2012

Below are some notes I took from Coach Conradt's keynote address at A Step Up coaching symposium in Dallas this weekend. Watch for much more A Step Up information over the next few weeks!


This is a PROFESSION; teach one, reach one- each one.

Coaching is not just recruiting; what's most important is being a student of the game; setting your self apart and rising above. Coaching is

Contribute or Contaminate

Easy enough: you're either contributing or your contaminating the practice court. Great video.

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

3 Ways to Build Team Trust

Another great blog post by Stephanie Zonars (www.LifeBeyondSport.com)!!

As I gathered with a team for a Building Trust workshop last weekend, the assistant coach roamed around the room with a small box collecting cell phones. I’ve heard about coaches doing this, but it hadn’t happened at one of my workshops yet. Got me thinking about the impact of technology on relationships.


We’ve

Coach K's Most Important Ingredient for Success

-Post written by Stephanie Zonars (www.LifeBeyondSport.com)

Coach Mike Krzyzewski won his 903rd game a week ago, surpassing Bobby Knight as the winningest coach in men’s collegiate basketball. (Basketball super-fans know that Pat Summitt holds the overall coaching record with 1,071 and counting).

Amazing accomplishment for Coach K! He’s built the strong, winning tradition of Duke

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

Communication: Do they know what to say?

A thought occurred to me last night after watching a great, high energy practice: we preach communication, and there was a lot of 'talk' during our practice, but do the kids know what to say?

For example, when moving from one drill to the next, there was a lot of “Let’s Go” or “Keep it up ladies”. That’s talk....and talk is better than silence...but is an even better communication something like

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

Here's to the crazy ones...

10 Secrets of Successful Leaders (Part 1/2)

Part 1 of 2.