Become a Better Coach

I have been fortunate enough to be a part of many different programs at many different levels.  I believe that a lot of people make assumptions on different levels based off of rumors and guesses rather than complete knowledge of the subject.  I was lucky growing up with my father.  He was a high school basketball coach and then a college basketball coach and now back to high school.  I got to see a lot of different things at his meetings, practices, and games.

If you really want to get into coaching here are some tips to help.  Learn everything you can about your program.  That could be everything from parent meetings to how you reserve buses for road games.  Most people don't realize that coaches have to deal with all of that stuff on top of coaching the kids. As a head coach of a program, if more than 50% of your job is actually coaching your kids then you have GREAT support staff and assistants.

Become a sponge.  Talk to as many people you can about everything basketball.  Go to as many clinics and college practices you can.  Also, watch basketball on tv.  Just don't watch it either, analyze the game you are watching.  Don't be a ball watcher.

Write things down.  Have a notebook that you keep all your notes in.  I didn't do this until seven years and it's a great resource for me when I need something.  Looking back on words of wisdom, different sets, and different drills that I've picked up over the years.

The last thing I'll talk about is CONNECT, CONNECT, CONNECT.  Meet as many people as you can and try to stay in contact with them as well.  The more people you know the better it is for you down the road.  It isn't a bad idea to work for someone that you don't know very well in order to expand your own coaching tree.  Connecting with different people might not help you immediately but it will probably help you get a job sometime down the road.

Connect, connect, connect - the bigger your tree is, the better you are.