ROUND TABLE 59 – WHAT QUESTIONS SHOULD COACHES ASK THEMSELVES EARLY IN THE SEASON? – EPISODE 873
Welcome to the 59th 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.
November’s Round Table question is: What questions should coaches ask themselves early in the season?
Our Coaching Lineup this month:
- Dominic Amorosa – Strake Jesuit (TX) High School
- Dr. Rob Bell – Mental Toughness Coach
- Jerry Buckley – Bishop Kenny (FL) High School
- Erik Buehler – Chatfield (CO) High School
- Dave Hixon – Basketball Hall of Famer from Amherst College
- Bob Krizancic – Mentor (OH) High School
- Josh Merkel – Randolph-Macon College
- Don Showalter – USA Basketball
- John Shulman – University of Alabama Huntsville
- David Sloan – Bard College
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.
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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 Dominic Amorosa on Twitter!
Click here to thank Dr. Rob Bell on Twitter!
Click here to thank Jerry Buckley on Twitter!
Click here to thank Erik Buehler on Twitter!
Click here to thank Dave Hixon on Twitter!
Click here to thank Bob Krizancic on Twitter!
Click here to thank Josh Merkel on Twitter!
Click here to thank Don Showalter on Twitter!
Click here to thank John Shulman on Twitter!
Click here to thank David Sloan on Twitter!
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TRANSCRIPT FOR ROUND TABLE 59 – WHAT QUESTIONS SHOULD COACHES ASK THEMSELVES EARLY IN THE SEASON? – EPISODE 873
[00:00:00] Narrator: The Hoop Heads Podcast is brought to you by Head Start Basketball.
[00:00:21] Mike Klinzing: Hello and welcome to the 59th 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.
November’s Round Table question is, What questions should coaches ask themselves early in the season?
Our coaching lineup this month includes:
- Dominic Amorosa – Strake Jesuit (TX) High School
- Dr. Rob Bell – Mental Toughness Coach
- Jerry Buckley – Bishop Kenny (FL) High School
- Erik Buehler – Chatfield (CO) High School
- Dave Hixon – Basketball Hall of Famer from Amherst College
- Bob Krizancic – Mentor (OH) High School
- Josh Merkel – Randolph-Macon College
- Don Showalter – USA Basketball
- John Shulman – University of Alabama Huntsville
- David Sloan – Bard College
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.
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[00:02:37] Corey Heitz: Hi, this is Corey Heitz from Prep Athletics, and you’re listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast.
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Let’s hear from our panel about what questions coaches should be asking themselves early in the season.
Dominic Amorosa, Strike Jesuit College Prep in Houston, Texas.
[00:04:32] Dominic Amorosa: Dominic Amorosa of Houston Strike Jesuit. Coaches should be asking themselves if the roles that they think their players are in are the best fit for the team to win games.
[00:04:50] Mike Klinzing: Dr. Rob Bell, Mental Performance Coach.
[00:04:55] Dr. Rob Bell: Hey, this is Dr. Rob Bell, this month’s round table question Number 59, what questions should coaches ask themselves early in the season? I think it’s a great question. I believe that too often we just focus on the outcome, wins and losses, and that’s what’s going to dictate, one, how we feel about ourselves, but how we define success.
The main question that we need to ask ourselves is, what does success look like outside of wins and losses? So what is it that I really want to have my team achieve or what do I want to achieve this season outside of outcome that I’m going to know we did our job as a staff, as coaches, as a team? What’s a success look like outside of wins and losses?
[00:05:45] Mike Klinzing: Jerry Buckley, Bishop Kenny High School, Jacksonville, Florida.
[00:05:51] Jerry Buckley: This is Jerry Buckley from Bishop Kenny answering this month’s question of what should coaches ask themselves early in the season. As we get into the early part of the year, obviously we’re looking at rotations, understanding where our playing time will be amongst our players.
And not only starting, that would also be finishing games, find out who really excels at the end of games. Offensively. looking at actions to get our best scores, the ball in the positions that they need to, so it can be most effective. And also early on trying to figure out exactly who your best inbounder is going to be, because obviously that’s going to be a key situation, key thing against any type of pressure situation, under, out of bounds, whatever the case is there.
Defensively. Again, kind of understanding your best defense that gives you the best chance to get stops and also finish plays with rebounds. And then overall early on, especially the first couple of weeks of practice and first couple of games, understanding where do we need to get better. You know, sometimes you can focus on your strengths, but also it’s important to know where you need to get better and how you can improve throughout the course of the season.
[00:06:59] Mike Klinzing: Erik Buehler, Chatfield Senior High School, Littleton, Colorado.
[00:07:04] Erik Buehler: Hey, what’s going on Hoop Heads? This is Erik Buehler from Chatfield Senior High in Colorado. And this month we were asked, what should head coaches be asking themselves at the beginning of the season or before the season starts? And I always say that list is really, really long.
And we’ve probably been working through it over the last nine months or so. But I think the big thing that I always try to remember and I always try to ask myself is what, what beats us? And can we do anything about it? Do we need to change our defensive scheme? Do we need to have some strategies on offense?
But what will beat us? What are our major weaknesses? And then the next thing is, is do we have all our special situations in and ready to go before our first game? Press breaks, our presses, our late game defenses, late game offenses. Who are the guys we’re going to go to and lean on? late in the clock before half or at the end of the end of the game.
And are we preparing them and putting them in the best possible situations for them to have success? Those are just things that I know when I first started coaching, I didn’t have ready. And they, they taught me some hard lessons in the middle of the season. So hope that helps. Thanks for having me on again, guys.
And look forward to talking to everyone again next month. Talk to you later. Bye.
[00:08:29] Mike Klinzing: Dave Hixon, Basketball Hall of Famer from Amherst College.
[00:08:36] Dave Hixon: Hi Dave Hixon here. I think this time of the year we all have a thousand questions. But the good news is we’ve had a couple games under our belt to help us answer some of those questions.
And I think it’s important that you’ve played a couple games against outside competition and not just yourself. So you can, you know, really start to get some solid answers to questions that you need to ask. And I’d always ask, number one, are we trying to do too much and not doing it well enough? And I think that happens a lot and that, you know, you have these great ideas early on and you realize the first two teams you play that you’re not executing the most basic parts of it well enough and you need to go back, trim it up a little bit, uh, become more solid on what you’re doing.
Or, on the counter, are we, are we doing enough? In other words, you might have had a young team and just assumed they wouldn’t do the basics really well and they are doing the basics really well and so, are we ready to add some things that can make us better? And so I think that’s a really interesting dilemma that you have right there as to whether you’re doing too much.
Or whether you’re ready to move on and add some things that’ll make a difference in your program. I think the second most important, how’s my rotation decision going? Am I playing too many kids trying to decide at this point of the season, you know, who’s gonna help us and who’s not? And, you know, losing our rhythm.
I know toward the end of the season, you know, I’d be playing eight or nine players tops with nine not getting a whole lot. But right now, you know, you try to play more. You try to play a few guys because you’re trying to decide how kids actually play. against outside competition, but if you’re playing 14 players every night and sort of random substitutions, four minutes in the first half, no minutes in the second, or whatever it is, if it looks quite random, you need to go back and sort of develop some sort of set sequence of who you’re going to substitute for, how many minutes they’re going to get in a perfect world, without fouls and that sort of thing, but you know, develop some sort of a Rotation and rhythm and so you could see the best of you players.
anD then finally, am I getting my best players, the guys who can make decisions and, and make a difference in the game into the right places, and am I getting them there often enough that they can make an impact on the game? So, I know there are a thousand other questions. Those are just the ones that I used to ask myself.
[00:11:05] Mike Klinzing: 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 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.
As a Hoop Heads Pod listener, you can get your Coaching Portfolio Guide for just $25. Visit https://www.coachingportfolioguide.com/hoopheads to learn more.
[00:11:57] Mike Klinzing: Bob Krizancic, Mentor High School, Mentor, Ohio.
[00:12:02] Bob Krizancic: Coach K, Mentor High School. Self assessment, self evaluation early in the season is so important. The questions that I ask is, who are our leaders? Who can I go to in crunch time? Are we in shape to go hard for four quarters, especially end of games and possibly overtime?
Are we executing? Sharp V cuts, coming off picks tight, the little things are usually the difference between a win or loss. Starting lineups, is it clear? Is it clear who our sixth man is? Who our seventh? Eighth? You know, coming off the bench, you know, we definitely want that clarity going into game one. Best of luck. Have a great year.
Josh
[00:12:50] Mike Klinzing: Josh Merkel, Randolph-Macon College.
[00:12:56] Josh Merkel: Coaches, thanks for doing this. Josh Merkel, Randolph-Macon College. What questions should coaches be asking themselves at this point in the season? I think the first one comes back to effort. Are our players playing with max effort? Gotta be number one. Are we playing with force? Defensively, are we shrinking the floor?
Are we making things tough? Are our practices are we linking the training to the match? Do we have enough competitive drills set up? That that help players link the practice to the game. And sometimes are we, are we running them? Are they getting enough conditioning? If they’re not competitive enough, then maybe we need to add consequences.
I think if they are competing, like there’s no tomorrow, then. They just need the after action review. Some questions we like to ask, even just after a segment, what did we do? Well, what needs work? I heard Belichick say, you know, after the game, basically what gaps do they have and how do we close those performance gaps?
Another question would be, am I connected to my guys? Do I have a pulse? of the team and what they’re thinking. Are the guys connected to each other? Are they unified? Do they know what it’s like to compete the right way? Do they know the culture of game planning and having themselves ready before the game?
Some questions to consider. I hope that helps guys. And again, thanks.
[00:14:42] Narrator: Don Showalter, USA Basketball.
[00:14:48] Don Showalter: Hi, Don Showalter here from USA Basketball. And the question was for this session is, What questions should you be asking as a coach this time of year? I think there’s several questions you should be asking, especially as you start the year after early season games and early season practices. Number one is, how can I be a better communicator?
Am I communicating enough to the players, to the parents, to the administration? So I think that’s one of the first things that you need to ask yourself. Secondly, how can I become better organized? Maybe with practices or… Just the overall program. Third thing is how can I get my assistant coaches involved at a higher level?
I think that’s really important and as the season goes on I think it you figure that out, but that’s something that you need to ask yourself early in the season. I think another thing then you move on to X’s and O’s, but do I have game plans in place for final two minutes? Strategy for when the game is close in the final two minutes.
You know, what am I going to do? How am I going to run the plays? Those kinds of things are really crucial early in the season because you probably don’t spend enough time on that in practice. Thank you.
[00:16:01] Mike Klinzing: John Shulman, University of Alabama, Huntsville and the 720 Sports Group.
[00:16:08] John Shulman: Yes, this is John Shulman head basketball coach at the University of Alabama in Huntsville questioned this months what questions should coaches ask themselves early in the season? I would say a lot. One, you gotta be, you gotta try to be as ready to play as you can be. And so, I, I think i probably need to have a checklist up on your board or on your notepad or for you younger coaches, I guess on your phone or a computer.
But do you have in, you know, all of your… You don’t have to have all of them. Can you get to ball and bounds under OB? Can you, what D are you going to play under OB defensively? Do you have your side OB offense in? Do you have your side OB defense in? Do you have some kind of zone offense? Do you have some kind of zone D?
Do you have your man principles in? Do you have a You know, do you have your man offense in? What if you’re behind? Can you, can you trap and can you get back and get back in the game? What are you going to do late game situation? You know, there’s a lot of questions that you need to have answered that, just to be honest, you will not have answered.
You know, I think early in the season, that’s why I don’t think as a coach you can freak out early in the season and you’re not ready or… Your Your team’s not as good early in the season. It ain’t happening. You’re you’re, you won’t be as good early in the season. It’s not going to happen. So I wouldn’t freak out about it.
What I would do is you play a game and then you dissect that game and then you ask yourself questions. And then you fix the problems and, and that’s why you play early regular season games. I don’t like in our conference is one of them. I don’t like playing meaningful conference games. In, in November, we do, and I don’t think that’s right.
But it is what it is. And so use your early games to answer those questions. Use your early games to answer, you know, what you’re good at and what you’re not good at, and then fix the problem. You know, we have a saying here, Ralph. RALFF . Recognize, you know, so if we’re watching the film and we can’t get a rebound or we can’t get a stop recognize that we have a problem.
That’s the R. Admit, you know, don’t blame it on anybody else. Admit you have a problem. Recognize it, admit it, learn from it. What can we do to get better? Learn from it. Fix it and then move on. Stop dwelling on it. And so, Ralph, recognize, admit, learn from it, fix it, forget about it, and move forward. And so, that’s, you know, that’s what we use our early season game for.
I don’t know, we, we open this Friday night. At Berry down in Miami, Florida, and play Nova Southeastern on Saturday. I have no idea of whether we’re ready. I’m not one of those people that say, Hey man, we’re ready. We’re ready to kick tail. No, I don’t know if we’re ready. We’re going to try to be ready. And then we’ll see what happens on Friday, and whether we win or lose on Friday, we’ll watch film and clean it up, and do the same thing after Saturday, and do the same thing the next weekend.
So that’s the only way I know to prepare. I hope this helps and have a great year and have a lot of fun. Take care.
[00:19:48] Mike Klinzing: David Sloan from Carnegie Mellon University.
[00:19:55] David Sloan: One of the most important questions to ask right away in the season is, are our daily habits and the way that we do things, are they at the level from day one? That’s going to get us to the goals that we want to reach. Too many people equate habits with execution. And to me, there, there’s non negotiables, right?
And are you working hard enough? Are you preparing, you know, all of those things at the level needed to win and reach those goals that you want to have at the end of the year? Because execution will increase. the more reps you get throughout the season. The other one specifically to offense is, are the players seeing and becoming aware of the looks that we will get?
Now, the execution in terms of making the pass or making the shot, that will increase, again, as the reps go on as you have more film to watch, right, as the season progresses. But the earlier they can become aware of This is where I should look. Here’s the progression of reads. He’s open. I should have thrown it here, right?
The earlier you can get that, then the more directed and intentional your reps can be as the season moves on.
[00:21:07] 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.
[00:21:20] Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast presented by Head Start Basketball.