ROUND TABLE 39 – HOW DO YOU STRUCTURE YOUR INDIVIDUAL POST SEASON MEETINGS WITH PLAYERS & WHAT ARE YOUR KEY TALKING POINTS? – EPISODE 609

Welcome to the 39th edition of the Coach’s Corner Round Table on the Hoop Heads Podcast. Each episode of the Coach’s Corner Round Table will feature our All-Star lineup of guests answering a single basketball question. A new Coach’s Corner Round Table will drop around the 15th of each month.
March’s Round Table question is: How do you structure your individual post season meetings with players and what are your key talking points?
Our Coaching Lineup this month:
- Rob Gardiner – Next College Student Athlete
- Jeff Huber – Westlake (OH) High School
- Liz Kay – Wahconah (MA) High School
- Matthew Raidbard – Author of Lead Like a Pro
- Nate Sanderson – Thrive on Challenge
- Don Showalter – USA Basketball
- John Shulman – University of Alabama-Huntsville
Please enjoy this Round Table episode of the Hoop Heads Podcast and once you’re finished listening please give the show a five star rating and review after you subscribe on your favorite podcast app..
If you are a basketball coach at any level please check out our Hoop Heads Coaching Mentorship Program. You’ll get matched with one of our experienced Head Coaches and develop a relationship that will help take your coaching, your team, your program, and your mindset to another level.
Be sure to follow us on twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.
Let’s hear from our coaches about how they structure their post season meetings with players.

Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!



We’re excited to partner with Dr. Dish, the world’s best shooting machine! Mention the Hoop Heads Podcast when you place your order and get $300 off a brand new state of the art Dr. Dish Shooting Machine!

Prepare like the pros with the all new FastDraw and FastScout. FastDraw has been the number one play diagramming software for coaches for years, and now with it’s integrated web platform, coaches have the ability to add video to plays and share them directly to their players Android and iPhones via their mobile app. Coaches can also create customized scouting reports, upload and send game and practice film straight to the mobile app. Your players and staff have never been as prepared for games as they will after using FastDraw & FastScout. You’ll see quickly why FastModel Sports has the most compelling and intuitive basketball software out there! In addition to a great product, they also provide basketball coaching content and resources through their blog and playbank, which features over 8,000 free plays and drills from their online coaching community. For access to these plays and more information, visit fastmodelsports.com or follow them on Twitter @FastModel.


Hey college basketball fans, join the action during March Madness with DraftKings Sportsbook. Turn your team’s victory into your own big win. New customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS on any team to win and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS IN FREE BETS if they do. It’s that simple. If they win, you win.
If Sportsbook isn’t available in your state yet, you can still join the college hoops action with DraftKings pools. · Everyone can PLAY FREE pools all March long for a shot at a share of over TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS in prizes. · Simply join a pool and answer questions like “Who will make it to the next round?” and “Who will hit the most three-pointers?” then track your results. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now, use promo code HOOPHEADS, bet FIVE DOLLARS on any college hoops team to win and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS IN FREE BETS if they do. If they win, YOU WIN with promo code HOOPHEADS this week at DraftKings Sportsbook. 21+, Restrictions Apply. See show notes for details.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NH/NJ/NY/OR/ PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.
THANKS COACHES!
If you enjoyed this episode let our coaches know by clicking on the links below and sending them a quick shout out on Twitter:
Click here to thank Rob Gardiner on Twitter!
Click here to thank Jeff Huber on Twitter!
Click here to thank Liz Kay on Twitter!
Click here to thank Matthew Raidbard on Twitter!
Click here to thank Nate Sanderson on Twitter!
Click here to thank Don Showalter on Twitter!
Click here to thank John Shulman on 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 ROUND TABLE 39 – HOW DO YOU STRUCTURE YOUR INDIVIDUAL POST SEASON MEETINGS WITH PLAYERS & WHAT ARE YOUR KEY TALKING POINTS? – EPISODE 609
[00:00:00] Narrator: [00:00:00] The Hoop Heads Podcast is brought to you by Head Start Basketball.
Mike Klinzing: [00:00:21] Hello, and welcome to the 39th edition of the Coach’s Corner Round Table on the Hoop Heads Podcast. Each episode of the Coach’s Corner Round Table, will feature our all-star lineup of guests answering a single basketball question, a new Coach’s Corner Round Table will drop around the 15th of each month
March’s round table question is: How do you structure your individual post-season meetings with players and what are your key talking points?
Our coaching lineup this month includes:
- Rob Gardiner – Next College Student Athlete
- Jeff Huber – Westlake (OH) High School
- Liz Kay – Wahconah (MA) High School
- Matthew Raidbard – Author of Lead Like a Pro
- Nate Sanderson – Thrive on Challenge
- Don Showalter – USA Basketball
- John Shulman – University of Alabama-Huntsville
Please enjoy this Round Table episode of the Hoop Heads Podcast and once you’re finished listening please give the show a five star rating and review after you subscribe on your favorite podcast app.
If you’re a basketball coach at any level, please check out our Hoop Heads coaching mentorship program. You’ll get matched with one of our experienced head coaches and develop a relationship that will take your coaching, your team, your program, and your mindset to another level.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.
Hey, Hoop Heads. Anything is possible this March with our partners and friends at Dr. Dish basketball. Their Dr. Dish Shooting Machines shooting machines are undoubtedly the most advanced and user-friendly machines on the market. Get a huge $2,000 trade-in discount on a new machine in March. When you trade in any old Dr. Dish machine Learn more at DrDishbasketball.com and follow their incredible content @drdishbball on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Mention the Hoop Heads Podcast and save an extra $300 on the Dr. Dish Rebel, All-Star and CT models. Visit DrDishbasketball.com for details. That’s a great deal Hoop Heads! Get your Dr. Dish shooting machine today!
[00:02:22] Steve Moore: Hi, this is coach Steve Moore and you’re listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast.
[00:02:31] Mike Klinzing: Prepare like the pros with the all-new Fast Draw and Fast Scout. Fast Draw has been the number one play diagramming software for coaches for years. You’ll quickly see why Fast Model Sports has the most compelling and intuitive basketball software out there. For a limited time, Fast Model is offering Hoop Heads listeners 15% off Fast Draw and Fast Scout.
Just use the code HHP15 at checkout to grab your discount and you’ll be [00:03:00] on your way to more efficient game prep and improved communication with your team. Fast Model also has new coaching content every week on their blog, plus play and drill diagrams in its play bank. Check out the links in the show notes for more. Fast Model Sports is the best in basketball.
Let’s hear from our coaches about how they structure their post-season meetings with players and what their key talking points.
[00:03:28] Mike Klinzing: Rob Gardiner, Recruiting Coach at Next College Student Athlete
[00:03:36] Rob Gardiner: When structuring post-season meetings, you want to have two main bullet points, one reflection to moving forward, both as a player and a coach. You want to look back on the past year and reflect on what the player can do better, what they did good and what they did not. So good and same as a coach. You want to identify things, you did good things, you did bad and things you can do better.
And then same thing as a general team. Now, this is an important piece here is that you want to make sure this is a two way conversation. You don’t just want this to be a one-way conversation with the coach, talking to the player the entire time, this needs to be a partnership. So you want the player to come to the table too, with things that they did.
Good things they did bad and things that they can do better. Next point. Want to talk about moving forward through the off season and into next season. Now here, we want to identify strengths and weaknesses and things that as a coach, you think the player can do to improve, to be better for next year. Now the key thing, the thing here is you want to come to the table with solutions, with actions.
You don’t just want to be someone who’s pointing out problems the entire time. You want to come to the table with solutions and actions that the player can tangibly work. To be better for next season, whether that’s skill, whether that’s intangibles, whether that’s physical capabilities, you want to present solutions and actions on a day by day basis to help this player become the best possible player they can be.
Now. Same thing. To come to the table to identifying strengths and weaknesses that they want to get better at, but then present solutions and actions, right? Don’t just say you want to be a, be a great shooter. You want to come to the table with a workout plan. You want to come to the table with clear, specific goals, right?
Solutions and actions are how we get them. It doesn’t just talk, you know, get better by talking about here. So then once again, moving forward, come to the table with solutions and actions on how the player can become the best player they can possibly be. So the team can become the best team that it’s capable of.
[00:05:38] Mike Klinzing: Jeff Huber, Westlake High School, Westlake, Ohio.
[00:05:46] Jeff Huber: Hi, this is Jeff Huber from Westlake High School. And this month round table question is how do you structure your individual post-season meetings with players and what are your key talking points pretty timely as we’re actually doing some of these today, I’ve evolved a little bit on this. What I try and do when we meet with our players as a staff after the year is we start with kind of going over what I think are their strengths.
I think that. I used to focus a lot on, on weaknesses, but we’ve tried to shift that a little bit more towards strengths, both to start the meetings off on a positive note. And because I really think that, you know, I do think it’s important that players address weaknesses, but I also think sometimes it’s your strengths are the things that get you on the floor.
And if you can make those stronger, you know, if you can go from being a good shooter to a great shooter that could be the thing that really takes your game to the next. So it really started off. We’ll talk about strengths. And the other thing I’ve really done is tried to narrow down the meetings.
You know, I used to come in with really, almost a laundry list of good things, bad things, whatever. And I’ve kind of evolved that to a little bit of a less, is more approach. I’ll come in with three strengths and then no more than three areas of it. And I try and rank those in areas of priority. Like if you’re going to focus on the number, one thing you focus on this off season should be this number two, this and number three, this, and I’ve tried to make, those are also things that the player really can do without a coach.
So oftentimes. You know, working on your three point shot working on your left hand ball handling, working on your finishing around the rib eye, which of course are things that yes, as coaches we can assist them with and we should assist them with, but also realizing that in the off season, a lot of that time is going to be spent by themselves.
I want them to be able to have a plan to achieve those things. And then I’ll give them some paperwork with some workouts that they can do to try and to try and make that real. And then just kind of give them some overall thoughts that gets into maybe a little bit more of the intangible stuff.
What we expect for them during the off season, where we foresee them next year and where they can really make a jump in the program. That’s how we tailor our under our underclassmen meetings. We’ve also started doing exit interviews with our seniors to try and get a sense of what their experience was like what they liked kind of, we base that around kind of the idea of what should we keep doing?
What should we stop doing and what should we start doing and use that top guide us into the future. So that is how we do our individual meetings.
[00:07:58] Mike Klinzing: Liz Kay from Wahconah High School, Dalton, Massachusetts.
[00:08:04] Liz Kay: Hey Hoop Heads! It’s Liz Kay from Wahconah Regional High School in Dalton, Massachusetts. And to answer this month’s round table question on individual post-season meetings, we have a pretty standard format.
I meet with our assistant coaches to go over what we’re going to talk about with each. We meet with each player for 10 to 15 minutes, our outgoing seniors have a different conversation than our returning players sort of focus on the returning players. We talk about the progression of how we want to go from this season and transitioning into next season.
So for example, after reflecting a little bit on the season we had and their contributions, we ask them next, where they want to go and what they envisioned their role being for next season. It’s interesting. Their perspective on where they think they are versus where we currently think they are. In addition to sort of where they want to go, we then ask them, how are they going to get there?
And we go through sort of our offerings for opportunities in the off season. Other things that they might do that may be sports specific, but also might include things like opportunities for strength strength, training, and conditioning. We, we talked to them a lot about sort of the makeup of our team.
And we’re really honest about where we think they stand at this point. That’s not to say that there’s not room for growth, but we want to make sure that they’re on the same page with where they, where they think they are and where we think they are at that. We talk about our captains and sort of the, the idea that the, the ideas that they have about what makes a good captain, what makes a good leader and who they think should be next year’s captains.
We always get their input with that. And we ask why we tell them that we, you know, if, if the grade level and if the number of captains were. Who do they really think should lead next year’s team? Those that consider themselves applicants for, for captainship are then given a captain’s application and we have a four pronged criteria for that to even be eligible.
And then we have a series of questions that are open-ended that they have to answer and submit in detail to be considered for captainship. The kids are usually pretty articulate about this because they know what the expectations are within our program. And then finally we say, okay, well, you know, what are your, what are your goals and aspirations, whether they be within our program or beyond our program.
And that could be becoming a better athlete. It could be playing at the collegiate level. And if so, we asked them how, how we think, how they think we can help them get. We think it’s really important that they understand that we’re there to support them in their process and that we are there to help them get to where they want to be.
So at that, with that, I think they know that we care about them, not only just as players, but also as people which ultimately is most important in our, in our process. Hope this is helpful and hope you’re all well happy end of season. And hope it was all good for all of you.
[00:11:12] Mike Klinzing: Matthew Raidbard, Author of Lead Like a Pro.
[00:11:19] Matthew Raidbard: Hey Hoop Heads Nation! This is Matthew Raidbard, former men’s college basketball coach. Really excited to be here on another edition of the hoop heads round table. This month’s question. How do you structure your individual post-season meetings with. And what are the key talking points? This is a really great topic, especially for this time of year basketball coaches.
Hopefully you’re still playing but if you’re not, and, and even if you are, you’re going to be having these meetings. The most important questions for me were always, what are the, what did my athletes think of a team culture and how was their experience? I find those two key talking points, inform a lot about what they thought of the team, their place within the team, the structure of the team.
And they really helped inform a lot of the adjustments and changes. That, you know, our staff could potentially make to the following year. You know, if athletes aren’t having a good experience, that’s going to affect a lot of different aspects of the team. It’s gonna affect a lot of different aspects of the culture.
Likewise, if the culture that we create, isn’t really positive, doesn’t really fit the needs of our athletes. It’s gonna have a really profound impact on their experience. So I really find that those two key talking points are really important for moving forward into the off season and being able to. On your coaching and leadership and make meaningful adjustments for the following year, then I help your team be even more successful.
[00:12:50] Mike Klinzing: Hey college basketball fans, join the action during March Madness with DraftKings Sportsbook. Turn your team’s victory into your own big win. New customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS on any team to win and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS IN FREE BETS if they do. It’s that simple. If they win, you win.
If Sportsbook isn’t available in your state yet, you can still join the college hoops action with DraftKings pools. · Everyone can PLAY FREE pools all March long for a shot at a share of over TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS in prizes. · Simply join a pool and answer questions like “Who will make it to the next round?” and “Who will hit the most three-pointers?” then track your results. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now, use promo code HOOPHEADS, bet FIVE DOLLARS on any college hoops team to win and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS IN FREE BETS if they do. If they win, YOU WIN with promo code HOOPHEADS this week at DraftKings Sportsbook. 21+, Restrictions Apply. See show notes for details.
[00:13:58] Mike Klinzing: Nate Sanderson, Thrive on Challenge.
[00:14:03] Nate Sanderson: Hey Mike, this is Nate Sanderson from Thrive on Challenge. I love the question this week asking about exit interviews and how we try to approach those with our team. And I want to share just a couple of ideas that we’ve kind of built our philosophy on over the years. First of all, we see our exit interviews as an opportunity to gain as much information and as much perspective on the season as we can, obviously during the year we’re doing one-on-one conversations, we’re checking in with players, but we really don’t have time to get in depth with some of the things that can help us to plan and prepare as well as to improve the program before next.
Now a couple of logistical items. When we sit down with our players, our lower level kids will often do these in small groups. In fact, this year, our freshman team and our JV team. They got into groups of three or four, would schedule a time to sit down and kind of share some thoughts together and just a little bit more non-threatening environment, I guess, for our younger players to experience an exit interview for the first time our varsity players will meet with me one-on-one and just because of the schedule difficulties with my assistance on my varsity staff usually that’s just with me at school sometime during the day and the weeks coming up.
The season. Now, when we get into those interviews, that’s basically three things that we’re looking for. The first third of the interview is just the players reflection on the season. The middle third is kind of going through our process. We ask them what they like, what they didn’t like, what was effective, maybe what we need to invest some time as coaches in thinking about improving for next year, when it comes to things like.
Our weights or our scouting report or film or practice. We want the players to kind of give us some input in terms of what their experience was like there. And then the last third we’re talking about next season, asking them questions about the role that they like to play, what they like to compete for.
And the like, so what I’d like to do here before I let you go home, Mike is to just share some of my favorite questions, the questions that I find most interesting. In our interviews and I’m just kind of reading off of our script right here. The first third again, when we asked them about their experience, I like to start with asking them why they played basketball.
Attrition is an issue for so many coaches these days where we’re losing kids to other sports or jobs or frustrating. I don’t know if I spend enough time trying to figure out why do kids go out for basketball and why do they stay out? And what’s interesting. And I was starting in year one at a new program this year, the majority of our kids in their exit interview said they went out for basketball this year out of obligation.
Not because necessarily they really wanted to, or they were looking forward to it, but because they felt like they had to. I think next year when we do our exit interviews, we’re going to hear a much different answer to that. And I think hopefully they’re going to talk about the experience and the love for the game and how much they enjoy being around our program, how much they look forward to it.
And for us, that’s a way to measure growth as we go from year to year. Now from there, we’ll ask them some questions about their experience. What did they like? What did they enjoy most? What are they most proud of? Both individually and as a team, we’ll ask them if there was anything negative or frustrating about their experience.
We’ll ask a few questions about their role and about what their job was on the court. What was their job as a teammate or as a leader, and really in that, I’m just looking for clarity to figure out if we communicated well as a coaching staff. And oftentimes I’ll ask some follow-up questions for a player that let’s say had a roll off the bench.
Did we, did they feel like we communicated what was expected of them during the season? Or were there things that. We’re unsure about it, different parts of the year. I’m trying to evaluate my ability to communicate clearly to them so that they know what is expected. Here’s a couple of questions that we stole from somebody else I think actually stole off of Twitter, but I really liked this one who on the team, whether it’s a teammate or a coach or a manager or multiple people, but who had the most positive impact on you this season?
I like asking them how they’re different as an individual than they were a year ago. In other words, I just had this conversation with a senior the other day, and I said if junior Kenzie was sitting here at the table and she’s getting to know senior Kenzie for the first time, H how is senior Kenzie different?
And what I really asking them to reflect on is just how they’ve grown. How do they see that they’ve developed from a year ago to today? I also like asking them to try to define, or describe our team chemistry or our program culture. If they were going to talk to somebody that’s never watched us play a game, never been in a practice, never been in the locker room or on the bus.
How would you describe this thing that we’ve built to somebody else? I think that’s a really interesting question. I also ask them, what’s it like to be a player in our program? And the answers to that question, very, in a lot of ways, there’s a lot of different places that you can take that, but it’s a good conversation starter just to get the perspective of what’s it like, what are the expectations like for players in our program?
Finally, in the first third here, I like to ask them just point blank. Have you felt comfortable being yourself? On this year’s team. That’s one of the philosophical and program goals for us is we want players to feel psychologically safe, that they can be themselves. They don’t have to pretend they can, they can show up as they are and feel valued and feel loved.
And so we want to make sure that that was the case. And we asked them to explain their answers to that. Now, as I mentioned before, the middle third here is just a reflection on our process and things that we’ll ask them about again. What did they enjoy? What did they find effective? Is there something maybe that they didn’t like or things that we would should think more about as coaches in terms of improving for the next season?
We ask them about our use of scout team in practice and in the post season, just in general, what they think about our practices that they like are structured, that they like our game-based approach. Are there things where they felt like, you know, we did something, but it didn’t really seem to translate to a game.
It’s hard for them to remember. Those things have obviously a couple of weeks after the season, but we’d like to have a conversation about practice. We’ll ask about our film sessions. We asked them to reflect on our scouting reports. Our weightlifting was done a little bit differently this year. We asked them to reflect on weights and our recovery.
We do culture days, or we call them mental health days every week during the course of our season, where we get all of our ninth through 12th graders together and just talk about different things related to the mental side of being a student athlete, we asked them what they thought about those, about their discussion groups.
If there was any significant learnings that they took away from those, we asked them to reflect on team bonding experiences, which we do four or five of those during the year. Our use of captains during the season is something we ask. And then as I mentioned, we do one-on-one check-ins individually with players throughout the year.
We ask what they thought about those. And then finally, the last third of the interview here is really about them looking at. And the first question that I ask, and this is just from experiences that I’ve had in other places, but is there any reason that you would not go out for basketball at Mount Vernon next year?
And I think this is just a way to clear the air at the end of the year. If you have some players that are thinking, you know, coach, I don’t know if I’m going to go out next. Or maybe I want to try a different sport or maybe I’m overwhelmed with my school or whatever it might be. Sometimes we hear those things in the spring, but we just never really know how accurate they are.
And so we’ve gotten a lot of mileage just getting in front of some of those issues, just knowing where players are at at the end of the year, I think is worth asking in the exit interview. Now, another question that we get a lot out of years, do you anticipate any drugs? On next year’s team. Again, I’m trying to just get ahead of if there’s issues with playing time.
If there’s maybe an attitude with a younger player, if they’re not sure about how the freshmen next year’s freshmen are going to fit in, if anybody has any concern about things that could be disruptive to our team. I want to know about those things at least to get them on our radar as a coaching staff.
So we can prepare for some of those things in the summertime and certainly scripting some of our culture days to anticipate some of those potential channels. When it comes to their role, their experience for next year, we really want to hone in not necessarily on what they want to do. I E I’d like to score more.
I’d like to start, I’d like to have a greater role, but really trying to get them to reflect on what’s the cost of that goal. If you want to go from being a player that played 10 minutes off the bench to being a starter, that’s a great goal. And certainly, you know, that should be something hopefully that all of our bench players aspire to, but what they have to understand is.
What is going to be required of them? What, what skills do they have to improve? What work do they have to do in the off season to give themselves a chance to compete? And in the context of that question, I’m always explaining to everybody look at the end of the year. Like in some ways the rotation for next year will be like Tetris.
You know, we take out the players that were the seniors and all the names kind of fall from there, you know, into the place in front of them. But it’s also a little bit like ending a board game. And my grandma always used to say, you know, when we got done playing a board game, even if we ran it back and I might feel good about what.
She would always say, you know, Nate, the pieces all go back in the box in the end and in a sense that’s kind of how we restart after every year. And so for example, this year we had a junior point guard that was very steady, but not very dynamic and could do the job, but maybe it was a neutral player when it came to our skills without really adding a ton of pluses to the office or to the defense.
And so we were just clear, look, it may be that you’re going to play as many minutes next year in that role. But if, if we can become a little more dynamic or play a little bit faster with somebody else playing on the ball a little bit, then we’re certainly going to explore that in the off season. And I think that’s only fair to, to outline or to explain some of those possibilities to players as they’re reflecting on what their goals are for the coming year.
Finally, a couple other questions that we like here, and I apologize for giving you so many I like to ask who they’re going to look to for leadership next. Almost always players. We’ll talk about rising seniors and then I’ll ask them, well, what about somebody that’s not going to be a senior next year?
Who do you think is going to have a positive influence on the team? And what I’m really looking for there is not next year’s generation of leaders, but the generation after that, who were some of the rising juniors that I should be already starting to help prepare and develop as leaders because the team sees them emerging in that way.
Finally at the end here. This is my second. Finally, I apologize. But I love asking this question. What is it like to play for me now? My AED, we always share the notes from our exit interviews. I take notes on a Google doc and I share them with the staff. I share them with our athletic director simply because he likes to see sort of that inside view of the program.
And one of the things he said in my email last week, as we were kind of concluding and reflecting on the season, Is that when you do an exit interview and you’re asking for feedback, you really have to do a great job of creating a feeling of safety for the player to respond, where they feel comfortable giving some criticism or giving some suggestions.
And this is one of those questions where if they don’t have that, usually you’re just going to get praise. But I think we’ve done a good job of really. Ask that from a legitimate way of, I’m trying to find ways to improve, but it’s great to hear players describe what is it like to play for me has been a really insightful question.
And then related to that, we follow up with how do you like to be coached? And is there a way that I can coach you better or communicate with you better next season? And that’s through. Open my eyes to players that can be pushed a little bit more. And they’ll say that or players that say, you know, coach, there were times where I was down on myself and I really need someone to pick me up.
And I didn’t realize that maybe that’s a role that our coaches, at least one of us shouldn’t have in that player’s life during the season. And some of those things are brought to. Now the last subject, the last question here that I really liked to land on before we start talking about just open gyms and the opportunities in the off season is asking them, how has your basketball experience impacted your life outside of basketball?
Is there anything that you learned, anything from this experience together? This. That you think either has had an impact on life outside of basketball or will stay with you in the future to help you outside of the game. And to me, everything that we do during the season, I mean, we are oriented around a transformational coaching philosophy.
Our goal is to use the game of basketball to help impact positively the lives of our players, both in the game and outside of the game. It players can’t answer this question. If they can’t come up with something that they can take from the game and relate it to the rest of their life, I feel like I’ve failed them as a coach.
Honestly, now I coach in the state of Iowa and we had a very famous high school football coach named ed Thomas, who has a quote on a plaque up at Appleton Parkersburg. And it, it says, if all I’ve done is teach you how to block and tackle. Then I failed you as a coach. And I think this question of asking them to reflect.
What they’ve learned that they can apply to the rest of their life is really a way to keep our mission at the forefront for us as coaches and keep it in check a little bit to hold us accountable, to really being explicit about trying to impact them both as people and as players. Now we conclude our interviews by asking players to ask me a question.
They know that the only way out of this interview is for them to come up with some question for me. And again, it’s just a way to drive the conversation in a little bit different direction and kind of get to get an idea of what’s on their mind as they think back to the season. And they look ahead to next.
But it’s been a fun way to connect with our players when we throw that in at the end. And I’m like, I know that was probably a little bit more than you bargained for, but I’m passionate about exit interviews. We’re doing them right now with our team. And I don’t know if there’s a better way to conclude your season to find out information.
You couldn’t find another way and to help prepare for the next season, then meeting with your players one-on-one and devoting some time to listening to their perspective.
[00:28:09] Narrator: Don Showalter, USA basketball.
[00:28:15] Don Showalter: Hey, Don Showalter here with USA basketball. Giving some insight on what we do for individual post season meetings with players. I think it’s really important. You have a plan when you visit with players at the end of the meeting at the end of the season, with their meeting, a number of questions that you wish you would ask is, you know, where do you see yourself next year?
What do you think you have to do to, to reach your goal? And then you know, give them some advice on what you see, but let them, but let it be a meeting where they give you feedback and then you respond with it. To me, that’s the best because then they have ownership in it. And of course, you know, you, you give them a list of things they can do during the summer open jams camps.
You know, whether they’re playing on a few teams, club teams or whatever but make sure they, they understand that the skill development that they have to read. Is something that is very important to them in order for them to play next year and then just get to know them a little bit. I think after the season is over, give them a week or two off and then, and then have a visit with them.
After this, after the couple of weeks removed from the season, I think this is best just to give everybody a clear head on what to talk about and want to visit about that.
[00:29:36] Mike Klinzing: John Shulman University of Alabama, Huntsville and the 720 sports group.
[00:29:43] John Shulman: This is John Shulman, Head Coach at Alabama. Huntsville. The question is about post-season meetings and your talking points. And how do you want to structure it? I think one number one. It’s a great question. Number two. I, I think you have to start by doing a great listener probably not what you want to hear some of the things, but I think you bring them in and one on one meetings and tell me what you liked and tell me what you didn’t like and be honest. And let’s see if we can’t improve our program and improve what I’m doing, cause we’re all in it to improve and you’re going to have to hear things.
You just got to make it a safe place. But I thank you. You got to go back and be honest with them. You know, I don’t think they can be emotional meetings. And I think you got to take that out and I think meetings are different in high school than they are in college and high school. I think very simple.
Your post-season meetings. Here’s what you got to do, and let’s be honest. You got to get in the gym and you’ve got to work on this. You got to work on that. What are your goals? What are your goals for after high school? What are your goals for the team? What are your goals for you? How are you going to reach those goals?
How are you going to attain those goals? So I think they’re, they’re different in college. Those post-season meetings are very difficult, especially with the transfer. Number one, you know, are you staying are you leaving? Do we want you to stay? Do we want you to go? I think those are very difficult, you know, but I think in the very simple, I think those meetings are supposed to be, and we’re supposed to be about reflection on your program, reflection upon themselves, and then.
Looking forward, how can they get better? What do they need to do? Be honest. And they need to be honest, write them up, write them down, write their goals, what they need to work on. And I, you know, I think it’s a great question. I think it’s I think those meetings are vital and so important and I don’t think they can be negative meetings and I think they need to be unemotional and I think they can be very constructive to the.
And to you hope this helps hope everybody has a great spring, but I do think these meetings need to take place. And especially with the ones that you’re probably dreading to have a meeting with, I think they need to take place to no parents, just you and the young man or young lady and write it down and listen sometimes not sometimes, but God gave us two ears.
One mouth. So we need to listen double the time that we talk, hope this helps take care and good luck.
[00:32:32] Mike Klinzing: Mike Klinzing: Thanks for checking out this month’s Hoop Heads Podcast Round Table. We’ll be back next month with another question for our all-star lineup of coaches.
Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast presented by Head Start Basketball.

