COOPER NEIMAND – PERFORMANCE COACH FOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL COACHES – EPISODE 1078

Website – https://cooperneimand.com/

Email – cooperneimand@gmail.com

Twitter/X – @Coachcoop__

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Cooper Neimand is a Performance Coach for College Basketball Coaches.  Neimand helps college coaches gain control, prioritize themselves, and build championship habits and cultures.

Cooper was previously a Men’s Basketball Assistant Coach at D2 Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee where he began his tenure in 2019.  Prior to that he was an assistant at D2 Lander University in South Carolina for two seasons.  Neimand also spent four years on the coaching staff at Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point, North Carolina, under head coach and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) legend Keith Gatlin.

On this episode Mike & Cooper discuss the profound impact of coaching habits and mindsets on personal and team success, highlighting that the essence of effective coaching lies in self-awareness and prioritization. Cooper emphasizes that many coaches often find themselves overwhelmed due to a lack of boundaries and an incessant drive to work harder, which can ultimately hinder both their personal well-being and their team’s performance. Through a series of compelling anecdotes and practical insights, we explore how coaches can cultivate championship habits and foster a healthier culture within their teams. Neimand’s journey from assistant coach to performance consultant underscores the necessity of supporting coaches in their growth, enabling them to not only thrive in their roles but also to ensure their teams flourish. This episode serves as a crucial reminder that the path to success is rooted in understanding oneself and nurturing the relationships that empower coaches and players alike.

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Be prepared with a notebook and pen as you listen to this episode with Cooper Neimand, Performance Coach for College Basketball Coaches.

What We Discuss with Cooper Neimand

• The significance of personal habits and mindsets for coaches and why they significantly influence team success
• Identifying destructive habits is crucial for personal and professional growth
• Having a balanced approach to coaching, highlighting the necessity of prioritizing personal well-being alongside team responsibilities
• The importance of creating a supportive environment for players, focusing on their emotional growth rather than solely on wins and losses
• Why authenticity is crucial in connecting with players
• Helping coaches develop championship habits, fostering a culture of self-care and leadership
• Understanding players’ motivations enhances coaching effectiveness
• The importance of establishing boundaries fundamentally influences both personal well-being and professional effectiveness
• Change and growth come from within, not just external advice
• Coaches are frequently overwhelmed by the myriad responsibilities they face, necessitating a focused approach to self-organization and prioritization
• The cultivation of championship habits and a positive culture is paramount for achieving success
• A good coach develops their staff as well as players
• Asking the right questions can lead to profound insights for coaches

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Your first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job.  A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies and, most of all, helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants.

The key to landing a new coaching job is to demonstrate to the hiring committee your attention to detail, level of preparedness, and your professionalism.  Not only does a coaching portfolio allow you to exhibit these qualities, it also allows you to present your personal philosophies on coaching, leadership, and program development in an organized manner.

The Coaching Portfolio Guide is an instructional, membership-based website that helps you develop a personalized portfolio.  Each section of the portfolio guide provides detailed instructions on how to organize your portfolio in a professional manner.  The guide also provides sample documents for each section of your portfolio that you can copy, modify, and add to your personal portfolio.

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High school and middle school basketball program directors, listen closely. Coaches are expected to do far more than just coach. You know this. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing the coaching yourself, or you have a full staff of coaches with you. You know very well that coaches handle scheduling, academic issues, parent communication, leadership development, and even mental health concerns for athletes. A lot to deal with, and they haven’t even gone home yet to balance those responsibilities.

No matter the passion for the game, and burning desire to help athletes develop, this level of responsibility can lead to burnout, inefficiency, and less time spent on actual coaching. You know it’s true.

When coaches are stretched too thin, it impacts the development of athletes, team morale, and the overall success of the program. Now here comes the outsiders throwing their two cents in about what’s happening. Then come the parents complaining about how you’re running things, as if they know what they’re talking about. When’s the last time you went to their place of work chiming in from outside their window?

Before you let that fire fizzle out, know that it doesn’t have to be that complicated. There are several ways to prevent you or your coaches from feeling overwhelmed. However, I’ll tell you one of our favorite ways to keep coaches firing on all cylinders, and that’s athlete-driven accountability and organization.

Instead of coaches constantly reminding players about assignments, grades, and practice schedules, our programs at Playmaker Planner puts the responsibility back on the athletes. By tracking their own academics, goals, and commitments, student-athletes become more self-sufficient, which of course allows the coach to put their babysitter hat in the closet, and put their coaching hat back on, allowing them to focus on what they love doing.

Are we offering planners that you can get at the dollar store as a solution? Of course not, but we are starting a conversation with you to see if our programs can be a compliment to what you’re already doing. Let’s find out. To learn more visit https://playmakerplanner.com/stop-is-this-for-you

THANKS, COOPER NEIMAND

If you enjoyed this episode with Cooper Neimand let him know by clicking on the link below and thanking him via Twitter.

Click here to thank Cooper Neimand via Twitter

Click here to let Mike & Jason know about your number one takeaway from this episode!

And if you want us to answer your questions on one of our upcoming weekly NBA episodes, drop us a line at mike@hoopheadspod.com.

TRANSCRIPT FOR COOPER NEIMAND – PERFORMANCE COACH FOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL COACHES – EPISODE 1078

[00:00:00] Mike Klinzing: Hello and welcome to the Hoop Heads Podcast. It’s Mike Klinzing here without my co-host Jason Sunkle tonight. But I am pleased to be joined from Coach Coop,  Cooper Neimand. Cooper, welcome to the Hoop Heads Pod man.

[00:00:15] Cooper Neimand: Mike, thanks for having me. Big fan of what you guys do and how much you guys have a passion for growing the game.

[00:00:22] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely. We are thrilled to be able to have you on. I always say that I can never possibly give back to the game of basketball anything close to what it’s given me. So whatever small piece of that this podcast represents, that’s what it’s all about for me, is given back to a game that I can, I can never repay for what it’s given me in my life.

But for you, your journey has gone through a couple of different transitions and going from coaching to now consulting with college coaches. So we’re going to get there and work through your timeline, but let’s start sort of at the end, give us an idea of what it is today that you’re doing, and then as we go through your story, we’re going to dive into it much deeper, but just kind of off the top, let people know out there what it is that you do day to day.

[00:01:11] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. I’m a performance coach for college coaches. I work one-on-one with coaches to help them gain control, prioritize themselves, and build championship habits and culture. Coaches are expected to do it all. Lead develop players, manage a team and win. But there’s nowhere to turn for their own growth and wellbeing.

And they’re expected to figure out everything on their own while they’re being pulled in so many different directions. And when a, when a coach is struggling, their team struggles. And that’s where I come in. I, I provide a safe space for coaches to sharpen their. Leadership abilities, refine their coaching and improve their overall wellbeing so they can thrive in their role, but most importantly, give their team a competitive advantage.

[00:01:57] Mike Klinzing: We are going to get into all the details of how you do that, why you do that, how you got started doing that as we go through the podcast. But first, let’s go back to when you were a kid. Tell me about how you got introduced to the game of basketball and what made you fall in love with it?

[00:02:16] Cooper Neimand: I don’t know what introduced me to basketball.

I know there was always one in the house. My dad wasn’t a basketball player. My mom, destiny was not a basketball player, but I was a kid who grew up in the park. All the older kids were playing basketball and I would just go to the park, it was in the center of our neighborhood and just watch the older guys play hoping somebody got hurt so I could jump in there or hope someone got called home so I could jump in there and play.  And just kind of fell in love with it ever since.

[00:02:49] Mike Klinzing: When you think about just coming to the game without, because so often Cooper, we hear about people who it was their family’s influence, right? So my dad was a coach, or my mom was a player, or we were just a huge sports family and my older brother was playing and so I tagged along with him.

So for you to kind of come to the game on your own without that family influence is kind of a unique story. So when you think about yourself playing the game and developing as a player without a family there to, and I don’t want to say not support, but a family that didn’t push you into it because that was the family business.

What was it like for you getting out and trying to find ways to improve and play and just give yourself opportunities?

[00:03:41] Cooper Neimand: I think it was a blessing.  I think too many kids today, their parents think they know way too much. And so my parents didn’t know anything. They just knew how to support. My dad was a huge Lakers and Knicks fan, so I was pushed towards Latrell SP Row and Kobe Bryant growing up.

But other than that, it was, it was, it was cool.  I, I didn’t get any extra pressure. My, my dad thought I was the greatest thing walking but he didn’t, he didn’t know enough to, to yell at rest or coaches. He was just there to support and my mom had no clue what was going on in games. So she was just happy to see me with my friends playing.

And yeah, I would say it was a blessing. As a young kid,

[00:04:26] Mike Klinzing: were you at all thinking about basketball from a coaching perspective, or were you strictly thinking about yourself as. A basketball player. ’cause what I’ve found here on the podcast is that coaches usually come from one of those two schools where you have the kid who’s playing, but when they’re in third grade, they’ve got napkins spread out around ’em, and they’re drawing plays up, or they’re telling their friends, Hey, this is what we gotta do and this and that.

And that’s one path. And then the other path is the kid who plays and plays and plays and goes to whatever level they end up playing at. Whether that’s, they finish as a high school player, they finish as a college player, they play professionally, but at some point the ball stops bouncing and then they look around and they’re like, oh man, I, I gotta stay in the game of basketball somehow.

Yeah. Maybe what I need to do, maybe what I need to do is coach. So, I don’t know. When you’re a kid, are you thinking at all about coaching or is that something that you’re not thinking about? At that time,

[00:05:24] Cooper Neimand: I didn’t find out I wanted to be a coach until a lot later. I thought I was going to the league.

Of course I was, I was a delusional kid. I, I. I thought I was going to the league. When I would go to the park and practice by myself as a young kid, I was picturing like, or imagining like the Wizards GM would see me shooting and putting in these reps and sign me to like a, like Mike 10 day contract.

 I was, I didn’t know, I didn’t realize I was going to not play in the NBA until late till like freshman year of college. That’s when I realized like, oh, you’re, you, you’re not going to make it. ? I was always smarter than everybody else on the court. I was slower, but I was I did have a, a knack for coaching.

I was like a player’s coach, like my coaches would let me call plays or  I, I did have that, but I, I thought I was going to the NBA we all

[00:06:21] Mike Klinzing: did, right? I mean, I think that’s something that any kid who grows up with the ball in your hand. Especially if you don’t have somebody there that’s saying, well, you may want to think twice about that.

And nobody wants to crush your dream, right? They’re just like, right. Yeah. You keep, you keep, you keep, you keep going after it. Cooper, you keep going after him, Mike, you’re going to, you’re going to get there eventually. But yeah,

[00:06:40] Cooper Neimand: and I was, it’s, it’s interesting. I was the best kid. Yeah. I was the best kid in the neighborhood, so I thought I was like, oh, I’m, I’m special.

I’m the chosen one. Exactly. My parents, we didn’t know too much about a a u what I didn’t take into fact about the neighborhood was the best kids in the area were going to private schools, and I was at the public school so but yeah, I grew up in a very rich basketball area. I should’ve knew a little earlier than I did, but I got there eventually.

Tell me about your favorite experience as a high school player. My favorite experience was actually with my rec team.  we, we grew up in rec centers as well, as well as the park. And my rec center coach was. My same coach from sixth to 12th grade and he created a family out of every coach I’ve worked with and, and been a part of, he probably knew the least about basketball, but he knew the most about how to get a group to believe in each other.

And that is still my family to this day. Every single one of those guys that were on the team we went through, we, we were able to, we were a rec team. We were all from the same area, but we were able to play in some a a u tournaments and held our own for a bunch of neighborhood kids.

[00:07:57] Mike Klinzing: When you think about his influence, obviously one of those things is right to get people to buy in, but when you think about what you learned during your time as a coach, the things that you share with your clients now, what’s one other thing that you’ve taken from him that you feel like is still I.

Ingrained and is a part of you that’s made you a good coach and something that you can share and pass on his legacy to some of the clients that you work with today?

[00:08:29] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. I mean, showing kids that you’re there for them more than basketball. His house was always open. When, like we would go there Thursday nights for our practice, we would catch the bus, go to his house before practice.

He took us to every games. I mean, it was just, he was definition of a servant leader. And he really was so good at telling us how good we were, as well as telling us how much harder we had to work at the same time. And that was all through relationships and just if you could show people how much you care about them, they will play so hard for you.

And he also, another he, he taught me a lot just competing we. The curtain would go down at seven 30 and ping pong would come in on the other side. And that’s when we knew it was time for war. It was, it was 5 0 5, half court, no outs, no fouls. And he let us go after it and, and foul each other and fight.

But that made us so much stronger, ? And so just not, I think it really showed me not to be afraid of iron sharpening iron and, and letting the, the sparks fly.

[00:09:40] Mike Klinzing: So once you come to the realization that coaching is maybe something that you want to do, was it a light bulb moment or was it more of a gradual realization?

[00:09:53] Cooper Neimand: No, man, I was I got my first job out of, in college. I came home and I was doing outdoor painting, and then my old, one of my old coaches was like, I got a second grade team, why don’t you come help out with that? And so I would paint all day in the heat. I. Then I would go work with the second graders and I loved it.

And then eventually with that program, I ended up working all the camps and, and doing, running the whole program pretty much having my own workouts, my own second grade team. And then I just did that over the summers. And then in college, I still didn’t know what I wanted to be. I didn’t think you could go to college to be a college coach, ?

I had no clue. So I, I, I love people and so I got a human relations degree, and then I got a athletic coaching minor, which really set up the rest of my coaching career

[00:10:49] Mike Klinzing: with those second graders. What did you love about coaching, right from the very minute that you started doing it, what was it about those kids and standing up in front of them as their coach that you took to immediately that you knew, this is, this is where I want to be.

[00:11:05] Cooper Neimand: Fast they learned how smart they were, how, how much they just needed a positive influence. And honestly, I think the biggest thing I learned from that group was how to deal with emotion.  their second graders. So they were literally crying and like having 10 tantrums and just learning that early and how to work around that was huge for my career.

[00:11:33] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, I think that one of the things that I’ve learned Cooper on this podcast, and I’ve also experienced it in my own life with the camps that I’ve been doing for, I don’t even know, I think I’m at like 33 years or something, but all the camps that I’ve run, the majority of them have been for elementary school kids.

And so when I see somebody who is good working with kids at that level. There’s a unique skillset that you have to be able to have to engage those kids to be able to teach the game at a level that they can grab onto and, and then be able to have fun with. Which ultimately is the most important thing when you start talking about elementary school kids.

And there there’s people out there that are great working at all different age groups. And I think sometimes there’s a misnomer that great coaches are at the highest levels. And that’s not to say there aren’t great coaches at the highest levels because there are, but you can look at all levels of college basketball.

You can look at high school basketball, you can look at middle school basketball, you can look at a a U basketball, you can look at rec basketball, and you can find coaches who are great at what they do in the environment where they are. And it sounds like you were able to. Quickly adapt to, Hey, I got some second graders in front of me.

I gotta figure out how to make this work and make it fun and, and learn as a coach. And then obviously for you, you then eventually, and we’ll get to this, have an opportunity to coach at the college level. So you’re coaching players who are different age, obviously a lot different size and skill and all those kinds of things.

But just I think to be able to know what to do in front of a group of second graders and to be able to connect and as you said, watch ’em learn, that’s really has to be something that I’m sure for your first job found. You found it to be inspiring that, as you said, it kind of catapulted you into to doing more with that particular organization.

[00:13:40] Cooper Neimand: Yeah, I mean I, it teaches you how to be creative in teaching. And then I also think your practice, like I was go, I was doing the real thing, like I was having practice plans and  you have to be good in practice. You have to be able to adjust when. I have no clue what’s going on and scrap that drill or and you have their attention span is, is super short.

And just being able to adapt, but then mostly just relate to people it’s, they’re, they’re  you gotta coach them like anybody else, ? What’s

[00:14:15] Mike Klinzing: the universal through line for connecting with people in your mind? You said earlier that you’re a people person. When you think about what that means, what’s the, what’s the connection a way that you can relate and connect with second graders, that works with college students, that works with adults.

What have you found in your life that’s enabled you to be able to connect with players at all these different levels that you’ve coached at? And then obviously now connecting and emotionally with coaches as well.

[00:14:49] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. I think you have to one, be yourself. ’cause if you’re not yourself, people will be afraid to be themselves around you.

I think humor is a part of it. And then really curious about people and where they’re from and how they operate. And what, what motivates them? What I’m, I love different cultures, so in recruiting, I was always asking so many questions about where they’re from. What’s it like there?  I grew up in a very diverse area.

I think that helped me a ton. I was exposed to all different types of people from racial backgrounds to social economic backgrounds. So I was very comfortable with all types of stories and that I think helped me a lot as well.

[00:15:37] Mike Klinzing: I love that concept of making sure that you are authentic and being yourself, because so often I think this happens, I know it happened to me as.

A young coach, and I think it happens a lot of times to young coaches that we tend to try to emulate either the coaches that we played for or maybe the coaches that we worked for or with initially. And I could speak to my own experience that when I coach, I don’t want to say I’m necessarily quiet guy, but I’m not a guy who’s going to yell and scream and get in somebody’s face.

But I have worked for, with, played under coaches who would do that. And in a lot of cases I saw those types of coaches having a lot of success. And so there was a part of me that said, well, I have to do that. And I find that whenever, as a, as a young guy, whenever I tried to do that, it it complete, like I couldn’t even take myself seriously.

When I was, when I was yelling, I’m like, this is a, so there’s, there’s no way when, when I’m yelling and I’ve kind of got this like goofy grin on my face as I’m doing it, there’s no way any kid is going to, there’s no way any kid is going to, yeah. There’s no way any kid is going to take me seriously. So I have to go back to being who I am, which is, I, I’m going to put expectations on you.

I’m going to still have demands, I’m going to still hold you accountable, but I have to do it in a different way than somebody who’s going to yell. It sounds like you maybe had a similar experience at some point.

[00:17:12] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. I, I, I coached when I got out the game, and we’ll get to it later, but I, I needed to get back in the gym for a sense of community and I, I coached a freshman team and then I actually was able to move up with them to jv.

It was our last game of the year. And we’re, we’re going for our JV title of the city and we were playing awful. And I, I was talking to my assistants before going in there and I was like, man, I think I’m about to just go off, go off on them. It’s time. And then as soon as I walked in the locker room, I just stayed calm and I was like, I was going to go off on you guys, but  that’s not me.

Yeah. And it’s, it’s, you have to stay true to yourself.

[00:17:54] Mike Klinzing: So tell me about the first job that you get following graduation and what that looks like and where you thought your career path was going at the time you graduated from High Point.

[00:18:07] Cooper Neimand: Yeah, so in High Point I had to get a in my athletic coaching minor, I had to work with a high school team.

And I was luckily enough that Wesleyan Christian Academy was pretty much on campus. And they had the number one player in the country at the time. They had the number six ranked senior in the country and a and a boatload of talent. And so I had to just pre get some hours and follow a coach and I was, fell in into Coach Keith’s lap.

Coach Keith Gatlin, he was played at Maryland. He was a CC legend, played with Len. Bias went overseas, played for a long time, and I got, I got to follow him everywhere. We were going to top a hundred camps. We were traveling the country, seeing the best players play, competing against the best players, NBA players in high school.

And I learned so much from him. And after my senior year, I asked him if I could come back and he said, sure. And I was a volunteer assistant pretty much there. I mean, I got a, a little check and then helped with JV and worked at a car dealership. But I, I wanted to be a coach. I was all in now. I was young and I, I thought I knew a lot more than I did, but I was just, I was just so excited to be around this, this type of level of basketball.

So that was my first stop out of graduation and. Because I had everybody coming to the gym. I thought I was going to the league again.  I thought I was I thought my next stop was a high major just ’cause everybody was coming to me. I was running the workouts while Coach Keith talked to all 50 of the coaches and everybody and I was rubbing elbows with pros who were coming back to our gym, big time college coaches.

And so that’s, that’s where I started.

[00:20:00] Mike Klinzing: What sets those guys apart? Who eventually made it to the NBA that were a part of that program at Wesleyan Christian? What set those guys apart? Obviously physical tools and skill level, but maybe what are some of the intangibles that those NBA eventual NBA guys had while you were around them that just makes them different?

’cause I’ve had lots of coaches on that. Just talk about the fact that. So many of us, we see guys in the NBA, you see whether it’s their physical skills or their, they’re just their size and we’re like, yeah this guy look, yeah, of course he is six 10 with a seven four wingspan. So of course he’s going to make the NBA and everybody that works with NBA players just tells me that you have no idea the work ethic and the attention to detail and all those things.

So I’m just curious as to what your experience was like.

[00:20:54] Cooper Neimand: For the ones that went to the MBA and pretty much everybody that kind of came through the program was just be a sponge.  coach Keith was a pro and he, he brought a bunch of pros around and so just learned gain from the older guys. You could tell from an early age the younger guys who would come in and, and get beat up and would stay extra or, or really hated.

To, to lose to the pros or to the older upperclassmen. You could tell early, like, okay, he got something under him. But the guys that were like, I’m coming to yoga with you guys, I’m going to the steam room let’s hit the pool. Like all bought into the weights. Like, just wanted to, to get there. And then honestly, just good people.

I had Theo Penson who played at UNC, unbelievable person. Aaron Wiggins, who plays for OKC. Unbelievable person. Harry Giles was the number one player in the country. Unbelievable person.  they all kind of had that it factor. And that’s, that’s going on top of a bunch of high major guys and a few other NBA guys.

But I think the, the sponge mentality as well as the, like, okay, big brother’s beating me up, but that’s not okay.  I, I don’t care that I have to wait my turn. Like that’s not okay.

[00:22:14] Mike Klinzing: As you build your confidence when it comes to working with these guys who are playing the game at such a high level.

I know that’s something when we’ll talk to young coaches and sometimes I’ll feel it’s like that imposter syndrome of man, who am I to be sharing with these guys who are NBA caliber players? Why, why are they going to listen to me? Why, why should they listen to me and why should they take what I’m saying?

Seriously? Why should they be a part of my workouts? How did you develop the confidence to be able to go through those workouts and to be able to put guys through and have all these coaches in the gym and, and watching you? What was your preparation process and, and your learning, your learning mentality that allowed you to go out there and do the things that you did?

Because I think sometimes that. A lack of confidence sometimes could kill that. And so you, you have to, I think, go through your prep and, and do that. So just tell me about your process for Yeah. For feeling like, Hey, I’m confident in what I’m doing here.

[00:23:20] Cooper Neimand: Yeah, no, it’s definitely different when your players are over the summer playing for team USA and then they come back to you.

But I, I just learned a lot watching Coach Keith and I was very good at just picking up stuff quickly. And then also I was with the guys. I wa I wasn’t that much older than them.  I think I was four years older than them, and so I was in the weights with them. I was sweating with them. I would play pickup with them.

And then I just, I, I think I just built trust through just being around. I would open the gym for them. I would, whatever they needed. The trust came from being around and being present and also being there for the right reasons.  these guys are getting pulled by. Sneaker companies and, and AAU teams and colleges and handlers and just to be a relief of someone there purely for them I guess that helped my confidence.

I was just there for the right reasons.  I put in the work, right? I would, I would watch YouTube stuff, but most of it was just feel I learned from Coach Keith how to have a quick, intense workout get right to it and keep the guys moving, and then in with some competition and at the end of the day, they were 15 to 18 year olds and they, they just would look up to anybody.

[00:24:40] Mike Klinzing: I think that what you just said there in terms of putting the time in and making sure that those players understood that you were there to help them. And I think that ability to be authentic with your players and to have them know that I. You care about them, and you talked about it earlier, not just care about them as basketball players, but care about them as people.

And if a player knows that you have their best interest at heart, that’s the best way to be able to sell yourself. Right now, there has to be some technical knowledge behind that, but certainly when a player knows that you have their back and that you’re there to support them and to be able to try to help them to reach their goals, it’s a lot easier to get buy-in from somebody than when a player thinks that you’re just there because, hey, I’m using this workout to try to be able to get that next job, or to just be able to nowadays post it on social media or whatever.

Right. People can see through, players can see through that, that facade very, very quickly. And it sounds like you were able to get in there and again, as you said, build trust with the players because you were there for. The right reasons. And obviously in Coach Gatlin you had a, a, a really good mentor in terms of, in terms of doing those things.

[00:25:56] Cooper Neimand: Yeah, and I also I started from the bottom. I i, I didn’t step out of place, I just rebounded for a while until I was like, can I get on the bus? Then after I got on the bus it was like, let me do a workout.  it, it, it, they saw me work and yeah, I was always confident in, in the basketball piece for sure.

[00:26:15] Mike Klinzing: So, as you said, you’re getting a lot of high level coaches that are coming in to watch these guys. You’re getting an opportunity, I’m assuming, to occasionally have conversations with those coaches. What’s the mindset in terms of where you see your career path? I know you said at the beginning you’re like, Hey, I’m going met next stop NBA.

Right? I’m seeing all these guys coming in, and so I’m, I’m, I’m moving on to coaching the NBA. As you started to talk to people and look at it, and just like you did as a player, sort of come to the realization of. That’s not necessarily the career path that I’m going to get the opportunity to take. What did you start to look at in terms of how you were going to manage your career from that point going forward?

Were you thinking, Hey, high school coaching, were you still thinking college coaching? Were you thinking maybe I can go and volunteer and, and work my way into maybe the NBAG league? Or, or just what was the thought process? Yeah.

[00:27:13] Cooper Neimand: No, I was, I was set on, on college and I, I started shifting towards the end at Wesleyan towards, okay, I need to go get a ga a GA job.

And I started up practicing for the GRE, which was terrible. Never even ended up taking it. Reached out to a bunch of people and I, I really was like, it’s hard to get in. Like, this is hard. Like absolutely. My coach knows everybody like. It’s not a handout I just gotta keep plugging away, keep being in the right places.

And it just happened to fall in my lap where a former pro who was rehabbing was working with our bigs during the year, and he asked me, would you ever do D two? And I was like, I’ll do, I’ll do anything I’ll go anywhere. And it was late, it was like October, and I interviewed and got on campus at Lander University the first day of practice.

And that’s where I started my, got into college level at the D two level and Greenwood, South Carolina, and kind of took off from there.

[00:28:21] Mike Klinzing: What do you remember about the first couple weeks on the job as a college assistant? What struck you as being something that maybe you hadn’t thought about, maybe something that was surprising to you, maybe something that you loved?

Just what stood out. And that was first two or three weeks of having that job.

[00:28:40] Cooper Neimand: First two or three weeks was how much extra stuff besides basketball there is. I think, and then as far as game planning, like just how much goes into coaching. Like, it was a lot, . And also being going to the D two level, I had no clue.

Maryland, we didn’t have any D two schools, so I didn’t really, I wasn’t familiar with the level at all. And we were, we had grown men a lot of D one bounce backs. Our whole league was D one bounce backs at the time, or guys who weren’t eligible for D one. And we had grown men, we had guys who were just as old as me there.

And I mean, I, at that level, you have to do everything. And so I, I did and yeah, just the first two weeks, I just remember I. How, how long the list of is, of, of things I need to do.

[00:29:38] Mike Klinzing: I think that’s something that for former players, for people who haven’t been around a college coaching staff, I always hear that same surprise that you just expressed of.

Man. There is a lot of things to do that aren’t necessarily directly related to coaching basketball on the practice floor or during games. And I know I can speak to my time a long time ago as a player that I just figured practice starts at three o’clock. It ends at six. Coaches show up at 2 45, get there a little bit before the players and practice ends at six.

And just like I’m taking a shower and going back to the dining hall to eat and then going back to my dorm or my apartment coaches are doing the same thing and really as a player had no idea. Of all the things that go into being a college coach. And it sounds like for you, you stepped into it and you probably had some idea, but certainly probably not the complete picture of what it was going to be like as you step into that role.

And not only that, but at the division two level, as you said, you got your hand in everything, which I’m sure looking back you appreciate because yeah, it gave you the, a wide breadth of experience in, in doing all these different things.

[00:30:54] Cooper Neimand: Yeah, no, for sure. It was, it was a, a wonderful experience.  we were a right at 500 team so we got great games, bad games.

 I was a guidance counselor. I was an Uber driver, I was a therapist, I was a bus driver. I was everything and, and learned so much. Really learned there about recruiting. It’s, it’s changed a lot, the landscape of, of it, but understanding, how to recruit and, and kind of how much goes into it and just the so many different levels.

[00:31:32] Mike Klinzing: How long did it take you to get a feel for the level of player that you needed to recruit there at Lander in order to win games? I think when you step into a a school, right, you have to understand a, what’s the level of player that we need to be able to compete? But then you also have to understand what’s the type of player that my head coach wants to coach and feels comfortable with and is going to fit our system.

And I’m always kind of amazed at how quickly guys are able to sort of adapt and figure out like, okay, this is the type of player we need to recruit. Because for me, as somebody who has never recruited at the college level, I can walk into a gym and I can watch a game. And I’m sure you can do the same thing where you can identify like, okay.

Most fans walk into a gym and they see this kid scored 10 points. That kid’s the best player, but you and I can walk into a gym and watch a kid score 10 points and tell you no, this kid over here is the best player because that kid just knows how to play. But yet I’m not so sure that I could be confident in Yeah, that kid can play.

But does that mean that kid can play at the mid-major division one is that kid at division two players in division three? So how did you get comfortable and how long did it take you to get comfortable with being able to understand the type of player that you needed to recruit at that level?

[00:32:55] Cooper Neimand: Yeah, that, that took a time, that took some time for me.

Honestly, I don’t think I got the craft of recruiting and, and knowing level until I left there. I was only at Lander for two years. It was at LMU where I really started getting an eye for all of that. I think at Lander I really figured out like you have to recruit one who your coach. Can coach and, and two who, who could take your coach’s coaching, ?

Right. That’s, that’s, that’s something that I learned. I, it was, I, coach Roberts was a special guy at Lander, but he was, he was a little different and his players had to be able to adapt to him as well and his leadership styles and, and what he likes more old school type of guys. So that limits some stuff when you’re out there recruiting.

And so really knowing your head coach is super important.

[00:33:52] Mike Klinzing: What are some things that you look for, and you could talk to either one of your stops from an intangible standpoint. Clearly there’s a basketball skill level that a player has to have, but what were some of the things that your two head coaches liked or that you personally liked in a player that you felt would lead to them having success at the college level beyond their skill?

[00:34:14] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. How much they impact winning. How many winning plays they’re making how, how they move as far as just as a person. At LMU we love size and, and skill. We liked everybody to be able to do everything. So like, kind of like the unicorns. So, but you want guys that are super competitive and, and know how to play just know how to work a ref, know how to, how to talk on the court, know how to, to lose, know how to win.

Just really like guys who know hoops. And, and then you gotta do your background information of like, okay, how much does hoops mean to them? And where are they trying to go with this? And we always went after guys who wanted the best competition, who wanted to go somewhere with basketball. His school mattered.

But they, these guys were, were super competitive and hungry and you can, you can tell that, and it wasn’t always scoring a lot of people like athletes and people who would dunk the ball. We, we liked people who knew how to hoop and really impacted winning and infected winning.

[00:35:30] Mike Klinzing: I like that. And I like that.

That is something that Right, is to some degree it’s in the eye of the beholder. I think somebody who’s a basketball person knows exactly what you’re talking about. I think someone who maybe is not a basketball person might nod their head and say, yeah, oh yeah, you want somebody who can play the game.

Right? I get that. But they don’t really necessarily understand exactly what that means. But, but I know exactly what you mean. And then from a competitive standpoint, I think that oftentimes I’ll hear coaches talk about wanting players who are competitive. Then my follow up question is always, well, how do you evaluate that when you’re watching a player?

How do  whether a player’s competitive? And your answer that you shared there is one that I hadn’t heard before, which is, does that player want to do something with basketball beyond college? Right? If I’m having a conversation, I say, Hey, I want to be able to play professionally when I’m done. Well, that guy better be getting after it, right?

In order to be able to compete, first of all at the college level. And then secondly, if you’re going to play professionally, you better be putting in a lot of time and effort and work at your game over the course of your college career, however long that may be. And that’s a way of evaluating competitiveness that I hadn’t heard before, but it’s one that makes a lot of sense to me, right?

If I want to continue my career beyond college, I better be ready to compete now, today, tomorrow, and certainly. In the future when I go and try to compete against other fellow players who may want to play professionally, I, I thought that was a really interesting answer.

[00:37:12] Cooper Neimand:  when at LMU we were really good, we had a ton of pros and we wanted guys who wanted to be pros.

One, because it helps us if, if everybody in there will work every day and go after it because they want to be a pro, that, that helps us in the long run.  a lot of people are afraid of individual goals, but they help you if, if, if you can teach people and, and motivate them that their individual goal could be met with team goals.

[00:37:44] Mike Klinzing: What are some characteristics of a head coach that you appreciate now looking back as an assistant coach, so maybe even when you talk to guys that you’re working with in the coaching profession today, what are some characteristics of a head coach that you feel are. Assistant friendly, maybe for lack of a better way of saying it.

What do assistant coaches appreciate about a head coach?

[00:38:12] Cooper Neimand: Oh head coaches that share camp money.  ’cause assistants are absolutely keeping tab Absolutely. They’re, they’re working hard. No, but ones coaches that allow you to be yourself  and, and give you freedom. ’cause they know that you, you want this as bad as they do.

A coach that puts you on their team and, and it feels like you’re coaching with them and not for them. A coach that holds you to a high standard and isn’t afraid to let  how you’re doing. But at the same time isn’t afraid to let  you’re doing a good job. A coach that been there before and, and can understands it and.

Leave a helping hand,  what I mean? And honestly, just a coach who, who is a good person it’s, it’s, it, at the end of the day, that’s really what it comes down to. Someone as an assistant, if you feel like your head coach cares for you, and if a job was on the table, he would say, go take it.

 that’s a better position for you. That’s somebody you want to work for. Somebody who will be at your wedding.  somebody who you can call at any, any time. And when I, when I kind of left Lander in a, in a weird situation, my coach resigned halfway through the year and new coach came in.

And when I went to Coach Shirtz at LMUI, I just said, look, I’m going to look up to you as, as a role model and, and if, if a good opportunity comes, I just want you to steer me in the right direction. And he said, I. One thing I’ll never forget, he is like, my job is, is not only to develop players, but is to develop my coaching staff.

And that just like was true. He, he gave me stuff to, to grow as a coach. He always put me out there to get better as a coach. And that’s something I’ll never forget. I

[00:40:08] Mike Klinzing: think that’s one of the most underrated aspects of a great head coach is that ability to develop assistant coaches, develop your coaching tree and give your assistance room to grow.

When I think about the best head coaches that have an impact on their staffs, I think about somebody who is willing to delegate, which isn’t always easy to do. Yeah. Because many head coaches, especially I think the younger you are, the more you want to have your hand in every little thing and every decision and kind of oversee.

What’s going on. But what I’ve found with coaches who have gained more experience over the course of their career and talking to them on the podcast, those coaches almost universally say that as I got older and I gained more experience, what I was able to do, if Cooper is my assistant coach when I was young, I might tell Cooper, well, hey, you go ahead and do the Scout, but while Cooper’s doing the Scout, guess who’s also doing the scout?

Me? Yeah. Yeah. ’cause I don’t necessarily trust Cooper. Yeah. But as I get older, I realize the reason why I hired Cooper is ’cause he knows what he is doing and maybe he brings a different perspective than what I bring. And I’m still going to have oversight over what he’s doing. But I’m going to allow him to do his job, which is a going to help me.

But it’s also going to help that assistant coach to be able to grow and learn and all those things. And I, I think that sometimes outside of the coaching profession, people don’t always understand just how important that. Assistant coach, coach relationship is both in terms of the development of the assistant coach, but also the head coach helping the assistant to get a job through the networking and through recommendations and all those kinds of things, and helping that assistant coach to grow.

I think it’s super overrated. Cooper underrated. Sorry.

[00:42:01] Cooper Neimand: Yeah, no, I, and I agree and I think another thing that another great trait in a head coach and I, and coach shirts and coach Jeremiah, who I worked for, they didn’t care where a good idea came from.  GA’s were in, in our, in our pre, pre-game meetings, everybody if, if it didn’t matter, who said if it was our manager who said, or a player who said, I think this player should guard him, or, I think we should do this to a ball screen when this guy comes off.

It didn’t matter as long as we thought it would help. It, it didn’t matter where it came from and that, that is huge too.

[00:42:36] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely. Tell me about the decision to. Step away from coaching and get into the consulting business that you have now. Let’s start with just the decision, the thought process and how difficult it was to step away from coaching and maybe the why behind it.

[00:42:59] Cooper Neimand: Yeah, it was, it was really hard. I knew early in the year I think right before the season started that this was going to be my last year. I was burnt out I, I coached shirts, left, we unbelievable job. And then coach Jeremiah took over and me and him were in the office all day. And I didn’t realize it at the time.

I thought it was the game and the extra pressure, but I was, I was setting myself up for failure with my own mindset of, I. We gotta keep this going.  we, it’s, it’s on us. Everybody thinks we’re going to fail, which was good, but then it was also unhealthy. And I super successful career as far as wings and losses and, and growing young men.

But I was tapped out and the wins weren’t as exciting and going up the ranks wasn’t exciting to me anymore. I like, just to put it in perspective, I never lost a home game in four years at LMU. Like it. We were special. People would die to be in my spot. I was the highest paid assistant in the region.

I had it made there but it didn’t feel like it and I was living in a dorm pretty much, 30. My fiance moved. She, I met her at LMU, she moved, and I was like I just can’t see myself doing this. And that scared me ’cause this is all I know. I worked, I poured my heart and my, my dreams changed on me overnight.

And so I owed it to the kids to give him everything I got. I didn’t really have anywhere to go. I couldn’t tell Coach Jeremiah ’cause he is like my best friend and I, I didn’t want him to worry about me. I couldn’t tell coach shirts ’cause he is in coaching tree with Jeremiah. I couldn’t tell Coach with Todd Omar, who’s at Lander, who worked with Jeremiah as well.

 I, I didn’t want my family to worry about me, so I didn’t have anywhere to go. Just told my parents and then we had an unbelievable year. Went to the Elite eight. I’ll never forget my birthday was Sweet 16, cutting down the nets. I’m the only one who knows that I’m leaving and I’m just like devastated.

Go to Elite Eight or our best player tours, ACL and the Sweet 16. And. I go to the Elite eight and get smacked. It was a bad way to, to leave on national television, just getting a 30 ball. But I, I told Coach Jeremiah as soon as we got back I told him I had no clue what I wanted to do. I didn’t have a resume I wanted to end the season for the guys the right way.

Told the team just was hurt and, and had no clue what was coming next. Got out thought I, I was like, I just need time to breathe. I breathed for about two weeks and then was like, okay, I gotta do something. And had no clue what to do. Interviewed a bunch of life coaches to figure out like what my next steps were, and all of them were like, have you considered coaching?

I had no clue what it was. I thought it was a money grabber to be honest. And then I learned more about it. And Coach Jeremiah, when I in my exit meeting with him, he’s like, if you want to be our, our, our guy to talk to the players, individual players like a sports psychologist or  mental performance coach for coaches, I would hire you.

So I called him right back and was like, what, what were you thinking about that? And got a first contract before I even knew what I was doing. And then I learned about the art of coaching and asking powerful questions and bringing out the answers within people. And kind of took off from there.

[00:46:53] Mike Klinzing: How do you think that what you thought it was going to be, those first, that first opportunity when you start looking at what it means to, to be a coach, to be a consultant, and the role that you’re in now? How does it look different today than maybe what you thought it would look like as you were first getting started?

[00:47:17] Cooper Neimand:  after talking to you, I realized I’m a big dreamer. Like I thought I, I knew everybody, everybody likes me. I’m my, it’s just going to take off. Right. It was a lot harder than that. But I I learned more about myself than anything one, I learned how much coaches need this and how much a a space for coaches to, to breathe and to think about themselves and work on themselves is huge.

I realized how much I needed it, but then I, I, I found out so much about myself from going, being a part of a team to working remote and realizing how much, what I missed, as well as re realizing the habits that I needed to reprogram and. To have let me have a successful life.  I, in the two weeks, I, I, when I got out, I started walking dogs on Rover and I ended up earning myself out just the same thing.

Like it was, I just, that’s where I realized it’s habits. It’s all habits, it’s all mindset of work, work, work and take anything and don’t set boundaries and never say no. And, and once I realized like, okay, this is, this was all me. It wasn’t the game. It shifted everything for me and realize like, okay, it’s your habits and I need to help coaches realize that their habits are, are what’s getting in the way and, and how to shifted it.

[00:48:48] Mike Klinzing: What are some habits that you had or that you’ve seen coaches have that you feel are destructive to both their wellbeing as a person, but also I. I’m assuming that if those habits are destructive to them as a person that’s obviously impacting their coaching in a negative way. So what are one or two of the habits that you’ve seen or that you personally had that you feel like are a negative for coaches?

[00:49:15] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. I think overworking for a sense of control. And just nonstop work in extra film and so many clips on, on synergy or just when you’re prepared enough and, and it’s not, it’s not that, it’s just you need to believe in yourself. I think another one is something I work with a lot of coaches with is just the ability to set boundaries.

A lot of people think it’s confrontational like I gotta sit my team down and say, you can’t text me between seven and nine. It’s, that’s my me time.  that’s not what boundaries is. It’s just deciding when you’re going to respond. And being okay with not responding to a text message.  a recruit or somebody on your team who texts you at 1145 about a shooting machine or the ice.

 you don’t need to answer that.  and, and honestly, I think the biggest thing was, and what coaches need to learn is, is to put themselves first. Because as a coach, you wake up and you think about 30 other people before yourself, and you are pouring into everybody else before you pour into yourself.

And that’s something I had to, to realize as well. And then I think just understanding the inner critic and the anxiety and where it’s coming from and not to, to turn to it at a comfort and, and really create who you want to become and practice it.

[00:50:54] Mike Klinzing: Well said. I mean, I think I can picture myself and all of those habits to some degree. I can certainly think about coaches that I’ve worked with, that I’ve played for, that I’ve spoken to on the podcast that fit some of those criteria. The overwork one, I think is one that every coach has to be really, really careful of.

I laugh all the time when I talk to coaches here in 2025 about watching film and their ability to see through synergy or whether it’s high school and looking at huddle. Or you can, you can watch video forever and ever and ever and ever,

[00:51:40] Cooper Neimand: and it never

[00:51:40] Mike Klinzing: stops. Versus back 35 years ago when I was a player, you had to go and pick up the VHS tape at the FedEx.

Store. So GA’s were driving around to trade trade videos. It was, it was a lot harder to watch a lot of tape or you were a lot, you were just a lot less efficient watching tape than coaches are today. But the danger is, okay, if I’ve watched four games of my opponent, I’ve probably gotten 98% of the things that I need, and I could spend another 20 hours and pick up that final 2%.

Does that final 2% make the difference and is it worth it? Or am I in danger of overworking? And then depending upon what level of the game you’re talking about, the danger of overworking is almost built into the rules of the game. Like I always think about now at the Division one level, how much access coaching staffs have to players in the summertime and almost every one of those guys is on campus all summer long with the same coaching staff that’s coaching ’em all year.

I know that if that had been the case when I was a player, that would’ve been really, really tough for me to spend 12 months out of the year hearing the same voices chirping at me over and over and over again. I wanted to be able to get away, go work on my game, go play pickup, go do some things that were going to help me to become a better player.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t going to work at the game, but it was a break for both the coaching staff and the players. And now because those rules are in place, I think there are a lot of coaches at that level that I’ve talked to that are like, yeah, we gotta be really careful not to do too much. But yet you can’t really walk away from it because if you do walk away from it and then you don’t win, people are like, well, why didn’t you do?

Because we, we can do all this, but is it really helping us? And I think that’s the point that you’re getting at when it comes to talking about overworking.

[00:53:43] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. And a lot and. When I work with my clients, we really just figure out why why are we overworking? And a lot of the time it’s for control.

 we want to somehow control and we realize we can’t. No matter how much film you watch, you can’t control if you’re five or members to show on a ball screen.   so you really have no control. And then another, a lot of people that I work with work to prove themselves.

And this started at a overwork to prove and to prove they belong. Not so much for their head coach, but to themselves. And that’s, that’s the game that I was battling mentally, like while I was coaching. And like it basketball’s funny ’cause you, you have actual opponents you act, you have people who are working and so you’re working against actual people, but then you’re in your mind, you’re, you’re going against yourself as at the same time.

And so. Really teaching people how to win the game within and, and  be on their own team is huge.

[00:54:50] Mike Klinzing: And so how did you take this coaching idea and actually turn it into a business? What was the process of going from, Hey, this is an interesting idea. I think I could work with coaches. I think I could be helpful.

I think I could learn from this. I think they can learn from me. That’s great. That’s an idea. How do you take that from, I’m going to walk away from coaching and do this and then turn it into an actual business. What did that look like?

[00:55:18] Cooper Neimand: Yeah, it, it, it was a lot it was I was like a, a first time head coach in my, in my business.

So I, I had to figure myself out. I had to figure out what I was good at in, in different areas of marketing. But I reached out to a ton of, ton of coaches to see.  do you see the importance of this? And I got really good feedback. I hired a coach to help me get all my messaging correct and, and build my program to that would really help coaches and serve them the way I, I want to and really get my thoughts out on a paper.

And then I just reached out to everybody I know started getting clients.  it’s just like when you’re a trainer growing up or if you’re a coach at a small level, do as well as you can where you’re at and the rest will take care of itself. ? So I poured everything I had into my clients.

They started winning. People started asking them what’s the key to success? Or, and referrals started coming. And but I think a, a thing that helped me the most is I. I was a coach. I lived the life. I know the fears. I know what it’s like to get on the bus after a loss and the wherever you’re getting meals that doesn’t, didn’t start cooking yet.

 I know how hard, hard that is. I know what it’s like to win. I know what it’s like to every year you have a decision to make, whether you’re going to move across the country and, and just uproot yourself. ? I know what it’s like to, to work for someone that’s not easy to work for. I know what it’s like to have other assistants that aren’t working as hard, and you take all the slack or take up, take up everything.

I know what it’s like to pour the kids and, and then get cursed out in while you’re reffing and try to not take it personal, ? And so that, that helps me a lot. That gives me advantage over  therapists I try to be, I try to go to therapy while I was coaching. It was just hard because the first 45 minutes, you’re explaining what a recruiting period is or why you have, why you have to pick up the phone for a recruit on a Friday night or, or a coach.

So coaches love strategies. I think that’s what helps me as well. I, I think like a coach and so all their problems or areas they want to grow, we really strategize and sit down and create a game plan to help them win and, and be better and enjoy sport, ?

[00:57:59] Mike Klinzing: What’s the process like for a coach that you’re working with?

With, yeah. In other words, you, how are, are you doing it mostly by phone? Are you doing it in person or what, what does it look, what does the process look like?

[00:58:14] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. The process is people come to me with a. An issue or something they really want to improve on. And we create a roadmap on how to get there.

And we do everything over the phone or Zoom. And for example, I had a, a softball coach who came to me in the middle of the season. Her team was below 500, like 14 and 16. And she was like, I am panicking in games. I get super tight at the end of games. Like, I know I need to chill. And we figured out how for her to do that we figured out where this was coming from.

We figured out what she wanted. I think that’s really important is to, to know what you want and, and then work towards that.  a lot of people think they want to win Player of the Year or to be a coach of the year and that will bring them confidence. It’s like, no, you gotta work on confidence that whole time to, to get confidence, ?

So. Figure out where they want to go and then create a roadmap to get there. And then the process that I do is, is, is all through questions and asking deep questions and holding a space for them to process.  we are all processors, internal or external. And giving them a, a, a chance to hear their own self and just give them a space.

Coaches have nowhere to turn give them a space to to focus on themselves. And so we do that. We, we have about two sessions a month where we, how’d it go?  how, how was those techniques that we, we came up with, how was that plan? Fill me in on the discussion you led your team through, or how, how was that player after the player meeting?

How are you doing? Where, where do you need to improve on? Tell me about your wins. Then we just keep going. And the great thing about this is that I, I meet ’em where they’re at.  I had a, I had a coach who got fired and really struggled like, was it my fault? What, like really embarrassed in, in a bad place about it.

And we were working through that. And then he got a, a call to be a head coach for an interview. And then we had a process, like a bunch of fears, like how do I make sure this never happens to me again? And going into the interview. And so really meeting people where they’re at and just having a mini huddle.

[01:00:50] Mike Klinzing: Do you have a favorite question or two that in your first session with somebody that you asked that you help do you feel like helps, gives you some general insights into. Coaches, obviously you get into specifics as you get to know the person better. Yeah. And you can dive deeper into their psyche. But just off the gate or off the  off the jump first, first, first session that you have with somebody, do you have a go-to question or two that you feel like kind of gives you some insight into where they’re coming from?

[01:01:21] Cooper Neimand: Yeah, and this is something that I think all coaches can use, and I would do, I would do with my in individual meetings before season, but at the end of the day, the best players coach themselves, the best teams or people coach themselves. So really ask them, they know themselves better than anybody and just ask, ask them write up like right up front, what do you want?

 how can you sabotage that? Like how can you get in the way of that? What is the biggest block? And then if I notice you sabotaging your success, what do you want me to do? Or how do you want me to handle that? So I get super clear on, ’cause people are really good at knowing what’s getting in the way where their blocks are and, and what’s getting in the way.

And people are, are very self-aware of, it’s, it’s a lack of confidence. It’s, it comes from this thought process. And then I get the answer from them if I notice this happening, what do you want? And you’ll be shocked  with that.  I’ve, I had a JV player this year. I asked him what he wanted and, and how would he, how could he sabotage himself?

And he was like I, I could be lazy or he, he was actually very, a lot smarter than I thought he was. And then I asked him, if I notice this how do you want me to solve it? And he said, just be patient. He’s like, I’m, I’m trying but sometimes I, I, I, I don’t do well with people snapping at me.

He is like, just be patient with me. And that was coming from a 13-year-old and so asking coaches that, it, it, it takes the pressure off of the coach and, and it’s, it really creates a collaborative opportunity in relationship.

[01:03:19] Mike Klinzing: Do you feel like most coaches right out of the gate when they first talk to you, because they’re coming to you, right?

It’s it they’re coming to you because they want help. So do you find that most coaches right off the bat are honest and able to answer those questions truthfully, as you said, being self-aware, I feel like sometimes when you think about like a survey or you think about something that’s maybe less personal or something that you didn’t bring.

That, that you’re not actively seeking out, that you might not be as honest because that truth might not reflect as well on you. But because they’re coming to you, I’m guessing that they probably come to the truth maybe much quicker than they would in some other circumstances because they’re coming to you looking for help.

Is that kind of how you found it to work?

[01:04:14] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. I mean, they’re usually, once people find out what I do, they’re, they’re pretty open to just let everything out. And I, I do, I think I do a good job of it’s, we don’t start off the gate like that. We learn about each other.  it, we, it’s, it’s just like coaching basketball.

You, you gotta learn somebody before you can help them and, and, and make them comfortable and make them feel seen. And so I, I don’t have a problem with people opening up there, there are blind spots. But I just tell ’em what I notice. Or, or and see what they think about it. And a lot of the times just reflection in a mirror and, and the processing that goes on just helps ’em remove those blind spots

[01:05:02] Mike Klinzing: without divulging too much detail or names.

Yeah. Can you give us an example of an issue that a coach or coaches have come to you with and what the process has looked like for you working through that problem or that challenge with them, and then the action they took and then ultimately what was the outcome? So kind of walk us through a challenge that a coach might be facing that you’ve dealt with before, and kind of how you helped the coach work through that, and then what the results were for that coach.

[01:05:40] Cooper Neimand: Yeah, I mean, that softball coach that I was talking about, panicking in games was really good in fall ball, but as soon as it was, the lights were on just, just struggled. It just the huge weight on her shoulders did not eat on game days, really just was only worried about what was wrong and or what could go wrong.

And so we sh we moved the spotlight to where it needed to be, which was win the pitch and control what you can control, focus on what you need to focus on. She, she started going to yoga every once a week. She, she realized that she was working at a place of fear and, and was best when she was working at a place of joy and dancing on the third baseline.

Talking to players, I think an another thing that was hard for her was just the weight of, of being a coach. And so together we. Figured out how to empower her players and her coaching staff. And she ended up winning 30 games that year, making the NCA tournament. And then all 15 of her players who were able to return returned.

So nobody hit the portal. And her big thing was, I really want to create an environment of that people want to be a part of and are proud of. And then this year, her team is 29 and one right now, and she’s continuing to go to yoga. She still has fears and, and anxiety and, and different things that come up, but she’s not afraid of it.

She’s composed late games. She realizes that her team is a reflection of her.  I had another coach who, a young head coach, really afraid to to set boundaries. Did not want his players not to like him. And did, did not enjoy breaks at all.  struggled a lot over breaks as most coaches do.

 you look forward to, to getting a break, and when you finally get it, you feel guilty for not working. And that’s something that we had to, to, to really get over. And so we set like little recco respond times throughout his break. We left the phone at home. We never used the phone in bed and we really just came to the mindset shift, like, if you don’t respond to, to this player, it’s okay.

Like, they’re not thinking about you that much. And it helped him. And then he, he’s another coach. He just felt like he lost his, physical and mental health throughout the season. And so we set goals to, to keep on track for both of those.  he, he doesn’t have time to work out throughout the day, but I mean, like a set of time for a two hour wait room session.

But he can, he can do 10 pushups every hour or set a challenge. He likes challenges, so he has a challenge of the day, whether it’s 200 squats, air squats, and he can do it throughout the time. So it’s being very creative with what the problem is. And then he had two all Americans who were clashing and one was a kid who earned everything he had.

And another one was just a straight talent guy who could show up and they were clashing and he didn’t know how to talk to them or he was afraid to conflict of conflict. And we ended up. Devising a plan of him sitting down with both of these guys, asking them what, what they want this year and what could get in the way.

And those two questions opened up a very powerful discussion and took so much weight off of his shoulder to manage people. And it, it shifted to empowering people. And then there’s just so much, I deal with a lot of, or work with a lot of coaches who are struggling with this portal and causing a lot of anxiety and leaving a coaches meeting after, or a recruiting meeting is, is, is hard.

 you’re walking back to your desk and it’s like, I just put in so much work, but we’re not going, we haven’t gone anywhere. And so creating routines for post recruiting meetings and yeah, so it’s, it’s, I know that’s a lot. I gave you a bunch of different ones, but.

[01:10:06] Mike Klinzing: Those are great. That’s, that’s exactly what I was looking for.

’cause I think it’s important for coaches to be able to hear you say what it is that you’re actually doing. What are some of the issues that you’re working through, what are the actions that you’re asking those coaches to take? And then what are the outcomes that you’re trying to get? I have one for you.

Yeah. This is in my own, let’s do it. Personal situation. So, and I’ve been someone that, over the course of my coaching career, I’ve been an assistant coach. I was an assistant varsity basketball coach for a long time. And then I was the coach of my son’s AAU teams, my daughter’s AAU teams where I was the head coach.

Mm-hmm. And then I’ve also been where I am now, where I’m an assistant coach on my daughter’s team. And then I’ve also been a parent sitting in the stands. And so what I have found is that as an assistant coach and as a parent. I’m invested in the outcome of the games. I want my teams to win. I want my teams to be successful.

But if they’re not successful on the scoreboard, I’m not talking about the other things, the, the process, the, the culture, all that I’m just talking about strictly on the scoreboard. If things don’t go well on the scoreboard and I’m an assistant coach or I’m a parent, I can put those things, I can put that loss aside after a game very, very, very quickly.

[01:11:40] Cooper Neimand: Hmm.

[01:11:41] Mike Klinzing: On the other hand, when I’m a head coach, I cannot put those games aside in any way, shape, or form until the next game. It doesn’t matter if I was coaching my daughter’s third grade basketball team where I. Anyone like yourself who has experience coaching second or third graders,  that your decisions as a coach during a game has very little to do with the outcome of that game.

But yet I would find myself not able to put those losses aside and I’d be thinking about them at night while I’m trying to go to sleep. I’d be thinking about them when I’m at work teaching school, and I just couldn’t, I couldn’t put them aside as, as a head coach. And so what advice would you have for me?

And again, I know this is a

[01:12:39] Cooper Neimand: Yeah, yeah.

[01:12:40] Mike Klinzing: A, a very small, not detailed, but just, just gimme some thoughts of w why, why do I feel that way? Or what questions would you ask me to kind of elicit why, why I feel that way?

[01:12:49] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. I would, I would just be curious what is the difference between you being an assistant and you being a head coach?

[01:12:58] Mike Klinzing: So for me, I think that when I am the head coach, I feel that everything that goes on with the teams is reflective of me and who I am, and sort of my self-image of who I am as I’m going to go back to what we talked about a little as a quote basketball guy, right? That if I’m coaching a team of third graders, my team of third graders should be able to beat parent X because I have more experience.

And so if Parent X, who doesn’t know anything about basketball, if his team is beating my team, I feel like that’s a reflection on me, which is a blow to my ego. And I’m guessing that that’s why I feel that way as a head coach, whereas an assistant coach. Yeah, I’m over here. But  it’s not that’s not I, I’m help, I’m helping out, but it’s not my, it’s not my team.

So I’m thinking that that’s probably what it is. And just by you asking that one question, I’ve probably come to a realization of something that I probably, I probably knew that deep down. But I guess what I see is that by you asking me a good question, you’ve gotten me to think about something, or you’ve gotten me to bring something that was maybe deep in the recesses of my brain, and now I’ve been able to, to bring it out.

So that’s just, again, that’s why I see the value in what you do. I could totally see it, because sometimes we just don’t want to get to the truth ourselves. We need someone to ask us those kinds of questions. Right.

[01:14:38] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s, I can’t figure stuff out on myself by myself, ? I need to talk to somebody.

It’s just, that’s. What it is. Like, I need to go to therapy. I need to call one of my best friends. I I have to write it out, get it out. Or if it’s just me, I go back and forth for too long. I ruminate, I hold on. But what you were going through, I think is very common. I did it, I was a college coach and now I’m coaching freshman basketball.

I was like, I shouldn’t lose ever for me it WI realized, and I’m not saying you are, but I realized I was making it about myself. And  it, it’s, it is hard. You want to win I’m, I’m, and I’m in this profession to help people continue to win.  it’s this isn’t just all relief.

It’s, it’s competitive too I think Right. For sure. A, a coach who, who doesn’t take as much home and who’s able to not take it personally and who’s able to let it go, can be better for his team the next day. And so. That is a very valid thing. I, I think the next question I would, I would ask would just be kind of what, what do you want instead of, of you, you, you sound like not embarrassed, but kind of like you’re,

[01:16:05] Mike Klinzing: people

[01:16:05] Cooper Neimand: are questioning, you think embarrassed is

[01:16:06] Mike Klinzing: pro.

Yeah. I think embarrassed is probably the right word in a sense of probably not to the, the full degree or meaning Yeah. Of the word. But I think that there, I think that there’s definitely truth in that. And so then when you ask me, well, what do, what do I want? What I want is to feel proud of the process that I went through.

With my team. Was I doing the right things on the practice floor? Was I doing the right things in what I was talking to them about? Was I being the best teacher of whatever it is that I was trying to teach on the practice floor? And that’s what I want to be reflective of me as a coach, but yet when I’m out there as the head coach and I’m coaching a game and my team loses people who are sitting around watching the game, parents from both teams, people who may be just strolling through the gym, whatever they see, they don’t see my process in practice.

They don’t see my pregame talk, they don’t see my postgame talk, they don’t see the conversation that I’m having with my team.

[01:17:23] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. Right. They put into it.

[01:17:26] Mike Klinzing: Correct. They only see the score, and so then the score is the only thing that is reflective of. My performance. And I know that that is not true, but it is sometimes hard to remember that that’s the case.

And so again, there’s another good question that you asked me that got me to another truth of, I wanted to be about all the things that I’m trying to do to be the best coach that I can possibly be. But sometimes that doesn’t end up being reflected on the scoreboard. And the only thing that’s public that somebody who’s not part of what I’m doing with my team, the only thing they can judge me on is that score, which is public.

And so that does, I think, create somewhat of a situation where, man, I’m doing all the right things and I know that I’m helping my team and I know I’m helping my players to get better as people and as players, but other people outside that can’t see that because we lost this game 52 to 26. ’cause the other team had.

Better third graders than what  than what I, yeah. Would you say, would you say that you’re worried about the score? I would say yes. I mean, I would say, I would say yes because to me, the, the score is something that, the score is something that reflects upon, for me, the process. I know my process is a good one.

I know I’m putting my best into what I’m trying to do, but yet when the results don’t come, sometimes that leads me to question, well, is my process right? Maybe I should play that zone that’s going to allow me to win more games here at third grade, even though I know it’s not the best for my players’ development in the long term.

So you have all these things. Again, it’s, to me, it’s almost like the, the what the public sees for what versus what everybody else sees and. Even though I know the one way is the right way, there’s still a small part of you that feels like,

[01:19:32] Cooper Neimand: yeah. But what would you tell that’s not always reflected? What, what would you tell a player who, who takes losses really hard and, and is embarrassed by losing or shameful.

[01:19:47] Mike Klinzing: I think what you would tell them, or what I would say to them is you have to learn from the loss and then you have to put it behind you and take the lessons that you learned and move forward and try to improve as a result of that. It’s not a loss. It’s an opportunity to learn. And I think, again, that’s advice that I should take right, as a coach, that I gotta learn from that and I gotta figure out, I.

What can I do? Maybe I don’t, maybe I can’t do, maybe I don’t do anything differently. Maybe what I’m doing is a hundred percent right, and the other team is just more talented and that’s just, that’s that’s the way. That’s the way it is.

[01:20:31] Cooper Neimand: If you were able to do that, how would that help you in the future and help your team?

[01:20:37] Mike Klinzing: It would allow me to create a more positive environment because I would not find myself judging our success by the scoreboard. I would find myself judging our success based on all the things that we’ve done in practice, all the things that we’ve talked about, all the things that are important to our program beyond just the scoreboard.

Are we good teammates? Are we sharing the ball? Do we play the game the right way? Sometimes we can do everything right and still, you may not end up winning a game. And then from a personal standpoint, right, if I can do that, then what I’m able to do is I’m able to. Take the advice that I just gave to a player two minutes ago, right?

I’m able to learn, I’m able to put it behind me. Now I can go home and I can eat dinner and still have a smile on my face and not be laying awake in bed at 1130 trying to figure out, well, what could I have done differently against the third grade press? To try to, yeah, to try to win that, to try to win that game.

And so I think, so my whole point in bringing that particular scenario up is that it’s something that, that was real for me, and it’s, it’s not necessarily, right now I’m an assistant, so I’m not, I’m, I’m putting, I’m putting those, I’m putting those, I’m putting those losses behind me. No no, no problem.

No problem at all. But it, that’s something that, that I have definitely felt over the course of time that I’ve been involved in the game of basketball. And so I can see just by this whatever 10 minute conversation that we just had, how you’re helping somebody to work through those issues, by asking ’em questions and, and getting them to think about.

What it is that they’re doing and how they’re processing it. And sometimes just by articulating it and thinking about the question, you’re able to come to that answer ’cause Right. You never gave me any answers. Right. You gave me the questions and caused me to reflect, which I think is, again, that’s where somebody who’s good at what they do is able to elicit that.

The answer, the answer is within me because I think I know what the truth is, but I need, I, I might need somebody to help me to bring that out.

[01:22:45] Cooper Neimand: Yeah. And that’s, and that’s the most important thing. ’cause change comes from within.  if, if it was just  if it was just knowledge or just, we would all be solved through social media, ?

Right. There’s so many great quotes, there’s so much information out there. But it change has to come from within noticing your blocks, understanding where you want to go and, and working towards that.

[01:23:11] Mike Klinzing: We are coming up to an hour and a half here, Cooper. So I want to ask you one final two part question.

Part one, when you think about the next year or two, what do you see as being your biggest challenge? And then number two, when you think about what you get to do day to day, what brings you the most joy? So first, your biggest challenge, second your biggest joy,

[01:23:35] Cooper Neimand: biggest challenge. I’m doing a lot at once. I am moving at the end of this month, first time buying a house.

Okay. I am getting married next year. I’m moving to a whole new chapter in my life as well as growing a business. And all of that is, is a challenge.  I’m going to be in a new location. I. In a new environment. I’m a big systems or a routine guy, so I’ve gotta find my, a new routine in what works for me in that area.

I got comfortable here and as soon as I did it’s time to leave. So that’s going to be a challenge. And then continuing through all of that change and, which is great, change is great, but through all that, just continue to be myself and continue to be true to who I want to become at the same time is a challenge.

And continuing to pour into a business where you, you don’t see results right away is hard, but it’s, it’s all part of it. And so just staying the course and staying true and, and programming who I want to become, I think is, is the challenge. As far as the joy. Really helping the heroes.  I like help the helpers coaches have nowhere to turn.

And nothing’s brings me more joy than helping, helping somebody who has so much impact on so many other people. And I love helping people grow, helping people realize how much the answers are within them and show these heroes, their superpowers and, and help ’em tap into their superpowers and then pour into more people and, and help help them.

So that’s where I get most of my joy is, is, is serving my people. And, and helping.

[01:25:39] Mike Klinzing: Alright, before we get out Cooper, I want to give you a chance to share how people can connect with you. Find out more about what you’re doing, share social media, email, website, whatever you feel comfortable with. And then after you do that, I’ll jump back in and wrap things up.

[01:25:52] Cooper Neimand: Cool. You can find me on Twitter @CoachCooper__ LinkedIn at Cooper Neimand. My website is cooperneimand.com. You could email me at CoachCooper@cooperneiman.com. And anybody can reach out about anything. I’m a helping hand and if I can’t help you, I’ll try to find someone who can.

[01:26:16] Mike Klinzing: Cannot thank you enough, Cooper, for taking the time out of your schedule tonight to join us. Really appreciate it. And to everyone out there, thanks for listening and we will catch you on our next episode. Thanks.