The beauty of fall is preparing for the upcoming season. We’re starting to think about pre-season workouts, individual development, conditioning and our early season practices. Hope springs eternal for almost every program, and our batteries are recharged to the point to where we are now anxious to get started again.

For some coaches, you may be thinking about the next step, especially if you are an assistant coach who feels like they are ready for the challenge of becoming a head coach. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of possibly running your own program, but there are things that you should think about and execute this season before you start thinking about the shot that you might get next spring.

You can’t get to Point B unless you take care of business at Point A, so your sole focus should be on the 2026-27 season. However, here are some things that I suggest you think about and/or do this upcoming season if you are thinking that you’d like take the next step in your career or if you’re looking for the next opportunity as a head coach.

*Become well rounded, but hang your hat on something: Bill Belichick always says ‘the more you can do, the more you can do’. Many coaches hang their hat on one thing (usually one side of the ball or the other), and they fail to develop other skills because they are singularly focused on something that they’re very good at. Head coaches need to have a wide range of skills, so you can’t stay in your silo and expect to be successful if you do get hired. You will be required to be a CEO (learn how do be a CEO through this!), and you will not be successful if you’re a specialist.

BUT . . . you also have to sell yourself, and your program will need an identity. You’re not going to be great at everything, but you do have to have one or two major areas of strength that you can sell your candidacy on. It’s the art of coaching; you can’t be a jack of all trades and a master of none, but you also have to be able to build your program around something.

Subscribe now

*Shut up and listen: It doesn’t matter how long you’ve prepared for the job, because you’re never really prepared for that next step. You think you know everything, that if you were in charge you’d have it figured out . . . until you screw something up early in your first head coaching job. You don’t have all the answers; no one does. Learn from others and get better by asking good questions of experienced coaches, then shut up and listen. They don’t know everything, but they know more than you.

*Develop your people skills: Rare is the coach that is successful that doesn’t understand how to work with other people and be an effective communicator. You don’t have to like small talk or ass-kissing, but if you’re going to get a job or gain support for your program, you have to be able carry conversations at a variety of levels. People want to talk to the head coach, whether you like it or not. Don’t lose someone’s support in one bad conversation.

*Stay patient: Just because you want to be a head coach and someone is offering you a head coaching position doesn’t mean you have to take it. Not all jobs are created equal, so make sure that you are taking a job that you believe you can be successful. If there is a trackrecord of five coaches in ten years, and everyone had losing records, do you really believe you can turn that around? You can recover from a bad stint as a head coach if you have had previous success, but it’s much harder to recover from a bad stint as a head coach if it’s your first head coaching job.

Subscribe now

When in doubt, just listen to Axl Rose . . . it got me through my teenage years . . .

*Think like a head coach before you become a head coach: You’re not there to usurp the head coach that you’re working for, but keep a journal or diary of decisions that you would make in certain situations. Coach Smith had a parent meeting with Timmy’s parents; here’s how it went, and here’s what I learned from it. The more often, concise and organized you write down your experiences and thoughts, the more prepared you will be to make the right decision when it’s your turn to do so.

*Don’t complain: You may be in a situation where your head coach has assigned you duties that you’re not enthusiastic about. Guess what? Complaining about it will not only not help, it will make the situation worse. If this is your job, your role, then do the job, and do it to the best of your ability. You get the jobs that you really want by doing the jobs that you don’t want to do.

*Have a genuine network of references: Many times, an assistant coach will put big-name references on their resume because they were one of fifty coaches that worked their summer camp, but they have little to no relationship to said reference. It’s much better to network the right way, get to know people by putting in the time to create genuine relationships and have people vouch for you for all the right reasons rather than a big name. Trust me when I say that goes a lot farther than the headline name with no relationship.

*Don’t compromise yourself: Do things the right way. No job is worth getting if you have to compromise who you are as a human being or your own morals. If that’s what you have to do to get the job, imagine what you’re going to have to do to keep the job? Is a head coaching job really worth that? Only you can answer that question . . .

*Be where your feet are: You don’t have another job right now; you have this job, so do it the right way! Stay focused on this team, the right here, right now part of your life. If you take care of that, the future jobs will take care of itself. If you’re always looking for the next thing, you’ll never find it.

Climbing the ladder in the coaching profession is a tremendous challenge. It is highly competitive with highly qualified people going after a finite number of positions. It’s okay to plan and prepare for the opportunity, and smart coaches will do that, but keep your focus on you and what you can control here and now. Find the job that fits you, and once you get it, make the most out of it!

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

Hoops 365: A One Year Guide to Becoming a Basketball CEO

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XXVI: The 1991-92 Chicago Bulls

You can hear “Sirius” by the Alan Parsons Project playing as you read this, right? With Michael Jordan at perhaps his athletic and intellectual apex, the 1991-92 Bulls ran away with the NBA’s best record and won a championship, with Jordan partnering with Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant and a deep bench of role players. Jacob Brindle, Nate Wall and I examined this team and came up with some interesting and conflicting conclusions; we all agreed that this was a great team, but how great was it?You tell us . . .

Subscribe now

THE “COACHES CORNER”: The greatest NBA coaching staff ever??

Let’s dive into some words of wisdom from the coaching staff of the Bulls 2x-Three Peat coaching staff! Phil Jackson, Tex Winter and Johnny Bach sharing words of wisdom on basketball and life; it doesn’t get much better!

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The First World War by Martin Gilbert

Gilbert’s analysis of the greatest conflict that the world had ever seen (up until that point) is spot on in this great work! Detailed enough to give you an in-depth look at the conflict, but not so detailed that you get bogged down in the minutiae, The First World War is a really fun read. It teaches us what caused the war, how the war evolved and its effect on the post war world.

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Sacred Hoops by Phil Jackson

Phil Jackson’s great work on his life from North Dakota, the son of a Pentecostal minister who was fascinated by Native American culture, and how he rolled all of that into a mindfulness, Zen-like philosophy that lead to more NBA championships than any other coach in the history of the game.

“WIN THE SEASON” DRILL VIDEOS: Closeouts, accompanied by Finishing Drills and Transition Drills

Subscribe now

P.S.-If you can’t understand me on the podcast, this is the reason why.

We’re in August, and you’ve navigated a long and crazy summer, from open gyms to youth camps, leagues and team camps, individual workouts and hopefully some time to yourself to rest and recharge. For almost everyone involved in hoops, August is a month of universal rest and relaxation, where we remove ourselves from the stress of the daily decisions that are involved in managing your program.

However, you can also use August to your advantage and create for yourself and your program some advantages to help you succeed this winter. August gives us the time and space to do something that we rarely get to do during the heat of the season or “Improvement Season”.

We get to do what this guy is known for.

By all means, you should be making time for that rest and relaxation, but August is also a great time to make high stress decisions in a low stress environment. The more you can think through various scenarios in a low stress environment, the probability that the decision you make when you encounter the high stress scenario during the season will drastically increase the odds that the decision will be the right one.

In no particular order, here are five topics that you can start to iron out now to make your job easier this winter. Obviously, there will be more variables (injury, illness, foul trouble, performance, etc . . .) during the season, but by thinking about it now, you’ll have a good baseline of thoughts to start with rather than starting from scratch.

*Late Game Rotations: As the saying goes, it’s not the five that start the game, it’s the five that end the game that counts. If you’ve got more than five potential options to close your games out, think ahead to particular opponents and what might be your best options to close out a ball game with. I had one season where we had three or four solid seniors, great role players, but our difference makers were our sophomores and juniors. I had made the decision in August that our first close game, we were probably going to go with our younger players to close it out, as I thought it would pay off for us both later that season and beyond. When we got to that first close game, the decision had been solidified and was simple to execute without hesitation.

*Watching some scout film: This is not a mid-season deep dive, but pick out a small number of opponents where there may be a bit more “elevated importance” to the outcome and just jot down a few notes while watching. It’s not going to hurt anything to do a little extra studying, and without the stress of the season, perhaps you’ll see some things that you maybe wouldn’t see. This helped our team win an opening season tournament one year by studying a great team in August for a December game!

Subscribe now

*Your discipline policy (for players) and your parental protocols: What have you put in writing that you will distribute to your players and parents to outline the consequences of violations of your policies? What is the protocol if a player skips practice? What is the protocol if a parent violates a communication policy with the coaching staff? Again, you definitely don’t want to make that up as you go along, you want to make sure that you’ve covered as many scenarios as possible and you don’t want to base any of your decisions on the emotion of the situation. Thinking about it now will help with that process.

*Absence policy: Similar to your discipline and player protocols or policies, what are the potential repercussions for missing practice or games because of another sport (especially club sports), another school activity, illness, etc . . .? You need to have well-defined parameters and expectations on attendance, or you’re (very) liable that someone is going to try to take advantage of your non-policy.

*Special situations sets and plays: Visualize that first tough moment early in the season? You’re down one with twenty seconds left; what are you going to run and who is going to get the shot? Flip it; you’re up one against West High, but you know the ball is going to their all-state point guard; how will you defend it? Again, by thinking about these scenarios in a low stress situation, you’ll be able to calmly and steadily lead your team in those stressful huddles when the game is on the line.

The most important thing you can do in late July and August is recharge that battery going into September, when, for many coaches, individual workouts and conditioning kicks into high gear. However, if you can find some time to think about these topics and put these practices into play, you’ll be in a much better place in a couple of months when the chaos begins!

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

Hoops 365: A One Year Guide to Becoming a Basketball CEO

Subscribe now

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XXV: The 1969-70 New York Knicks

When we think of legendary moments of not just basketball, but of sport, Willis Reed coming out and suiting up in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals is one of the indelible images of one of the great teams of these era. This squad is, without a doubt, a legendary team, but are they a great team? Along with guest host Casey Hall, Nate Wall and I examined this team and came up with some interesting conclusions, but was it a great team? You tell us . . .

Subscribe now

THE “COACHES CORNER”: Leaders from “The Big Apple”

In honor of both the 2026 AND 1970 NBA Champions, here are some clips of some of the greatest coaches to have ever led (some much more successfully than others) one of the NBA’s most glamourous franchises with perhaps its most fervent fan bases.

Subscribe now

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Confession by John Grisham

Read while I was on the plane and on the beach in the Dominican Republic earlier this summer, Grisham takes the legal system and brings it alive in this thriller that is right there with The Firm, The Pelican Brief and other classics!

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Grit by Angela Duckworth

“Grit”, the all-encompassing word for being tough and showing perserverance, is the theme to Duckworth’s all time hit. A strong example of what it takes to fight through the hard times, this is a must read for anyone in a leadership position!

“WIN THE SEASON” DRILL VIDEOS: Shooting, accompanied by Shell Drill

Subscribe now

P.S.-For my guy “G” . . . The Mistake They All Made

I woke up with a voice mail on my phone.

“Marty, this is Herb. I’m coming in next week to Iowa, and I wanted to know if you were working Snow Valley . . .”

Nope, I wasn’t working that week.

But I’m driving across Iowa to pick you up.

*

Herb Livsey is the reason why Snow Valley Basketball School exists. As I explained in The Last Of The Cowboys: The Story of Snow Valley Basketball School (you can pick up a copy here), Herb’s lineage in the game goes back to Bob Cousy in the 1950s. He founded Snow Valley in the mountains of California in 1961, and it reigns as the world’s longest continuous summer basketball camp, with only the Covid-19 crisis of 2020 interrupting its 65 year run in either California or, more famously today, in Iowa. The camp ran six days, from 6:15 A.M. to sometimes midnight. One game a day. Fundamentals, skill development and teaching reign supreme. It’s not a camp, it’s a school, and if you can’t teach the game, you can’t be at Snow Valley. It’s the same thing in Iowa today as it was in California, albiet only four days rather than six, and it’s indoors rather than on the parking lot of a ski resort.

The author, Coach Livsey and Snow Valley Iowa co-founder Coach Don Showalter

No Herb, no Snow Valley.

In writing The Last Of The Cowboys, I’ve gotten to know Coach Livsey. At first, it was through interviewing him through the book, then it became a more personal relationship. Text messages are frequently exchanged, as well as phone calls. It has truly become a special connection.

I’ve been taught to learn from those that have come before you, so who could you learn more from than someone who has both seen and done it all? At the same time, you also have that imposter syndrome in yourself; someone like Herb Livsey wants to spend time with me? Are you kidding me?

I am so blessed.

*

Subscribe now

I picked up Herb and his friend Kamal Assaf at the Cedar Rapids Airport on Monday afternoon. Kamal is a great guy and really takes care of Coach. After I dropped them off at their hotel, I went to pick up my good friend Tony Vis (the other, and much better, half of The Coaching Staff podcast), and we went back to the hotel to pick up Herb and Kamal for supper.

Tony had picked out Cheddar’s, but it was all the way across Cedar Rapids, and Herb was hungry. “Tony, you’re on the clock,” Herb reminded him more than once after we drove past the second Perkin’s . . .

We did get to Cheddar’s, and for the next two and a half hours, Herb keep us at the edge of our seats as we just talked basketball. Every possible person you can think of in the game, Herb has worked with them in some capacity.

Wooden. Popovich. Larry Brown. The Van Gundy’s. Tarkanian. Pete Carril. Jim Boeheim. Tim Grgurich. Pete Newell and his big man camp. Massi Ujiri.

What an unforgettable meal, a night I will treasure forever.

And in case you’re wondering, both Herb and Kamal loved Cheddar’s.

Herb, Kamal, Tony and the author

*

This is Abbie and Claire. They’re regulars at Snow Valley Basketball School. Coached them both over the years. I didn’t get a chance to coach them this week, but they made a beeline for me when they saw me, and we caught up sporadically all week. Claire is a senior this year and has improved dramatically, while Abbie wants to go the Naval Academy and serve our country.

These are the type of kids that bring you back, year after year.

With kids like this coming up after us, we’re going to be just fine.

*

The next morning I drove over and picked up Herb and Kamal at their hotel. It’s about a 90 minute drive to Waverly, Iowa from Cedar Rapids, and it gave us a chance to talk even more. Herb wanted to hear my podcast; it was kind of like having your favorite recording artist listen to one of your original songs. He really liked it, so that was good.

Subscribe now

As we drove, he also told me he was asked to speak for the coaches at this session in a couple of days during a luncheon. He asked me what I thought of his theme for the talk. I could share it, but I won’t; that’s for Coach to share, and for the coaches in the room to take with them, but I’ll say this . . .

It was perfect, Coach.

*

The first thing you do at Snow Valley is a coaches meeting, and during the meeting, Coach Showalter asks everyone to introduce themselves. The tone shifted a bit when Coach Livsey introduced himself. A reverance, you could feel, came from Herb’s presence in the room. After the meeting, numerous coaches came up to either say hello or introduce themselves to Coach. Graciously, Coach accepted his flowers in various forms, but then it’s time to get to work.

Coach and I sat and watched camp play out that afternoon. It was great watching him watch the coaches teach. He would point out things that even the sharpest of eyes would not see. He was excited to see the Snow Valley staple “Cut Throat” play out that afternoon.

The author and Coach Livsey, Snow Valley, July 2026

We walked over for supper in the cafeteria with a couple of coaches. As we walked into the building, Coach stopped us.

“Marty, I don’t get this!” he said out of nowhere. He then asked myself and two other coaches to reenact a ball screen coverage that had frustrated him as he had watched the playoffs this spring. We hashed it out and solved the problem with full court ball screens before we sat down to eat.

It was magical.

*

After supper, it was time for me to go. I didn’t necessarily want to leave, but I needed to get back to Omaha. I walked with Coach back to the main gym and made sure he was settled in. We said our goodbyes, and he wanted to make sure that my wife and I were going to try to make a trip to San Diego to see Herb and his wife Gerry. I started to get emotional, and I’m not afraid to say that I welled up little bit. I know Coach isn’t a big fan of sentimental stuff, but I didn’t care.

“Can I give you a hug before I leave Coach?” I asked.

“You bet,” he said.

I know that’s not the last hug we’ll get to share.

Subscribe now

*

I get asked about A Pen And A Napkin quite a bit. How do you do it? What’s it like to talk to person “X” or “Y”? Stuff like that.

I’ll admit that A Pen And A Napkin has given me a chance to talk to people that I’ve never dreamed I would converse with. I’ve worked hard for my luck, but through that hard work, it’s also opened doors that I thought would never open for me.

But with that being said, very few things beat being able to count someone like Herb Livsey as your friend.

I wrote a book about The Last Of The Cowboys, but I get to count “The First Of The Cowboys” as my friend. Only Sam Malone could say it better . . .

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

Hoops 365: A One Year Guide to Becoming a Basketball CEO

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XXIV: The 2018-19 Baylor Lady Bears

One of the more uniquely built teams of the modern era, the 2018-19 Baylor Lady Bears marched to a 37-1 record and a national championship with, under the modern models of basketball, an unortodox style of play. Dominant in the paint, this Baylor team outlasted tremendous contemporaries of the time. Jacob Brindle, Nate Wall and I examined this team and determined it was a great champion, but was it a great team? You tell us . . .

Subscribe now

THE “COACHES CORNER”: Snow Valley Legends

Let’s take a look at some of the teaching techniques and ideas of some of the folks that we talked about at Cheddar’s that night!

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

Subscribe now

“WIN THE SEASON” DRILL VIDEOS: Attacking Pressure, accompanied by Ball Handling and Passing

P.S.-Sorry, I ran out of room for book recommendations for this newsletter, but maybe try this book out if you like great basketball stories . . .

Kings Of Their Court

Subscribe now

Note: This article, because of personal scheduling conflicts, was written on July 9th. If there’s more to learn from the quarterfinals, it’s my bad . . .

Like many people in the United States and most of the countries around the world, we (our family) have spent quite a bit of time watching World Cup matches over the last month or so. My wife and I never played the sport, but both of our boys played through a couple of years of high school, so we spent more than a few mornings and nights watching our boys play with their classmates. By proxy, I started to understand the sport, how it worked, basic strategies and actually understanding what offsides actually is and how it works!

Every four years, the World Cup takes the world by storm, and the Plum family gets wrapped up in it every time. It is probably the world’s greatest tournament (March Madness is the best tournament), and with the tournament taking place in Noth America, many Americans have embraced the spectacle more than ever before. My brother and I really wanted to take in a match, any match, but the ticket prices refused to line up with two public school teachers salaries for the matches in Kansas City!

I’ve always believed that it’s important to study not just basketball, but to study other sports as well. As exciting, controversial or perhaps disappointing as this year’s tournament has been (depending on your rooting interests), there has been much to learn for us as basketball coaches from the 2026 battle for global sporting supremacy. Here’s seven things I’ve picked out to discuss . . .

Our sons Michael (closer, in blue) &Carter (farthest) as soccer players back in elementary school . . .

Importance of every possession: One of the great things about the World Cup is that you only have three matches to qualify for the single elimination portion. Of course, when you get into single elimination, anything can happen. Literally years of work by both players and the coaching staff can come down to one play, either positively or negatively, and every single play matters!

Subscribe now

Acceptance of Roles: When your amassing more than two dozen of the best players from each and every participating nation onto one team, most of which are amongst the best players on their club teams, it’s going to take a massive amount of role acceptance to succeed. Egos must be set aside for the good of the team, from playing time to ball touches to starring roles.

Continuity matters: Very rarely do “all-star” teams succeed on this stage, and the same goes for your team and programs. Take a team like Croatia, whose core has been together for the last four World Cup runs; their knowledge of one another’s individual tendencies has enabled them to achieve success at levels never seen before. The more reps you get together, the better chance you’re going to have.

Big time players make big time plays: Malik Tillman with two brilliant free kicks for Team USA. Lionel Messi with clutch goals for Argentina. Harry Kane leading England to an unprecedented victory in Mexico City over the host squad (by the way, England’s crowd singing “WonderWall” with the English team will give you chills). You can have the best tactics, the best chemistry and the best scheme, but if you don’t have players, it doesn’t matter.

Stuff is going to happen. How do you respond?: Folarin Balugon gets a red card in the round of 32 against Bosnia and Herzegovinia after scoring his third goal of the tournament. Team USA finds a way to win going almost 40 minutes down a man, but knowing their leading scorer is suspended for the next game . . . but then he’s not . . . but then everything that can go wrong against Belgium does go wrong. Brilliant response in one game, disastorous the next. You have to find a way to respond every time!

Winning is hard; only one team truly goes home happy: As of this writing, eight teams remain. Seven of them will be greatly disappointed, while one nation will be deliriously happy for the next four years. As much as you’d like to think that a championship run is repeatable, we need to be reminded that winning is really hard and should never be taken for granted.

You can’t let the result be the only measure of your success: Yes, many Americans got sucked in by Team USA’s group success and advancement into the Round of 16, elevating our expectations. But let’s be honest; Belgium was much better than the red, white and blue. Does that mean this run was disappointing? I’m no expert, but it probably ended about the way that it should have If we lose to Bosnia, then we can say it was a disappointment, but we beat the teams we were supposed to beat and lost to a better side. You can’t overestimate your capabilities and expect to win a state championship with an average or slightly above average talent.

I get it. It’s not what we do as basketball coaches, but there’s alot of commonalities between European football and hoops, even more than what’s in this article. Even if you’re not a proper fan or vested in the sport, enjoy the spectacle of what’s going to happen the next few days on our soil!

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XXIII: The 1982-83 Virginia Cavaliers

Another team from the “Golden Age of College Basketball”, one of the games most dominant players was thought to be the favorite to win the national championship before fate intervened. Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and I take a look at Ralph Sampson’s career, his legacy and his senior season. We thought this was a good team, but was it a great team? You tell us . . .

THE “COACHES CORNER”: Classic ACC Coaches

Staying with our recent theme of the “Golden Age” of college basketball, and let’s take a look at some of the great basketball coaches from the ACC during the 1980’s not named Smith or Krzyzewski. Here’s some coaching clips from some of the great coaches of that era!

Subscribe now

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion and America’s Struggle to Defend the West by David E. Sanger

As many of you know, I’m a Social Studies teacher by trade, and I believe that it is really important to stay on top of current events. Sanger’s New Cold Wars gives a great understanding of what has happened in recent history between the United States and our two greatest rivals, how we got here and what the future may hold.

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Return Of The King by Brian Windhorst and Dave McMenamin

With LeBron James hitting free agency for the first time in eight years (and a possible return to Cleveland for the third time; again, writing this on July 9th, so things could have changed drastically by the time you read this), Return of the King goes into great detail about LeBron’s return, the following two seasons and the impact of the 2016 championship on both him and the Cavaliers.

Subscribe now

“WIN THE SEASON” DRILL VIDEO: Rebounding

P.S.-As a proud Pizza Ranch #10 employee from 1989-1995, I believe I’ve found my new hero . . .

History is filled with important pyramids, from these . . .

To this . . .

To this . . .

The great thing about pyramids is that it is a simple visual to understand what your hierarchy and flow of importance should be. You know exactly whom or what is most important, because that is at the top, while the basic values that you need are the foundation of the pyramid, and everything above it would collapse without it.

For basketball coaches, we sometimes aren’t really sure how to organize our programs and what we should prioritize. Is it fundamentals? Scouting? Sets? Much of this depends on the state of your program, but in staying with the theme of pyramids, here is how I would arrange the priorities of your program, pyramid style. You can’t jump a level without mastering the one that you’re at, i.e. jumping from level one to level four. We’ve got five levels to our “Program Pyramid”, starting with the base and moving up . . .

LEVEL ONE-Fundamentals: This is where everything should start. Shooting, passing, ball handling, fundamental on ball defense, screening and cutting are all parts of this level. It’s where everything starts. If you haven’t mastered the fundamentals, the rest of the pyramid doesn’t make sense.

Subscribe now

LEVEL TWO-Implementing your system: While fundamentals are tremendously important, every team has to have some sort of system implementation. This is your base man to man and zone offenses, along with your half court and/or full court defensive philosophy or your pressbreaks. Your fundamental work can and should directly correlate with your system. Example; you’re working on closeouts, and your philosophy is to push baseline/sideline. Guess where you should be pushing the ball as you’re working on closeouts in your drill work?

LEVEL THREE-Set plays and special situations: As we’re really working our way up the pyramid, it is important to state that the more advanced your team is, the more time you can spend on the higher levels. It makes no sense to try to implement ten set plays when you can’t run your base offense or are struggling with turnovers because of your lack of fundamentals. But the next step in your programs evolution should be implementing higher basketball IQ concepts such as setting up shots for preferred players or having your players executing fouling when you’re up three.

LEVEL FOUR-Game plan and scouting reports: Again, most teams are going to touch on this regardless of skill level, but if you’re still struggling executing Level One or Two concepts, how do you expect your team to take away or understand an opponent’s concepts in one or two practices? Good scouting is all about deciminating information into digestible bites, so if your team is struggling with Level Two execution, minimize your Level Four content.

LEVEL FIVE-Adjustments and counters: The highest level of the “Program Pyramid”, this is where you can call a timeout and draw on your board or notebook counters or different plans on the fly with your team and they have the ability to execute them, or you go into halftime and you are able make schematic changes during your short window inside your locker room. This is not attainable unless you’ve prepared for an opponent, they throw something different at you than you anticipated and now your players have to adjust. This level is hard to achieve (remember, professional players screw this up all the time), but you can’t achieve the apex of the “Program Pyramid” without mastery of the four lower levels.

It’s important to do your best to teach in a linear concept when it comes to coaching your program, and we have to remember that we can’t expect our players to do something that they’re not prepared for or don’t have the skills for. We can’t put the proverbial cart ahead of the horse, so understand where your team is at and build it accordingly!

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

Subscribe now

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XXII: The 1984-85 St. John’s Redmen

During the “Golden Age of College Basketball”, New York City’s basketball team had one of it’s best seasons in school history. Lead by future Hall of Famer’s Chris Mullin and Mark Jackson, Lou Carnesecca’s 1985 squad was his finest that just fell a little short. Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and I break this team and this era down with some of the best names in basketball history. This was a great team, but how great was it? You tell us . . .

THE “COACHES CORNER”: Classic Big East Coaches

The 1980s were perhaps the “Golden Age” of college basketball, and perhaps the greatest conference of the decade was the newly formed Big East. Here’s some coaching clips from some of the great coaches of that era!

Subscribe now

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie

Every summer I spend time daily reading some sort of mystery novel, and my favorite author to consume in this genre is Agatha Christie! A great yarn about the spy game after World War II, it’s a great way to pass a couple of afternoons reliving the age of the Cold War in fiction.

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: What You’re Made For by George Raveling

My wife and I recently went on vacation to the Dominican Republic, and on the 4.5 hour flight from Chicago to the DR, I consumed this easy to read memoir of lessons from Coach Raveling. I love “The Daily Coach”, Coach Raveling’s brainchild of sharing leadership lessons, so if you enjoy what “TDC” offers, you’re going to love this book!

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Off-Season Fundamentals

P.S-I’ll be in Indiana in September; come join me at the house that Gene Hackman built!

There’s an expression in the Midwestern CornBelt that if you’re corn is “Knee High by the Fourth of July”, you’re in a good spot with your crops. Well, we’re knee-deep in most programs “Improvement Season”, and one of the most important measuring sticks that programs use is your summer league and team camp games.

Summer games can be a tricky time for a lot of programs. There’s alot of machinations that can be construed, both positively and negatively, from summer basketball, but there are far more positives than negatives in summer ball for your high school program. However, if you’re not precise with how you construct your summer league and team camps schedule, along with your expectations, standards and execution during those situations, you could create more headaches than solving problems for your program.

CONSTRUCTING YOUR SCHEDULE

I realize that by now, your summer schedules are in motion, so much of this section is something to think about for next summer. For me, I always tried to accomplish the following each spring while I was constructing my schedule for the summer, including:

Subscribe now

*Try to get the schedule finalized by April 15th so that every family could plan accordingly as to what leagues and camps that they could attend. If we were running into a bunch of different scheduling conflicts, we could make adjustments without being hurried. In addition, it helped with scheduling with other activities so that dual-sport kids wouldn’t be asked to go to two places in one day.

*We tried to find skill level appropriate camps based on our talent level.

*As time moved forward, we did almost exclusively one day shootouts at other high school programs. It was much more cost effective and it minimized conflicts with other sports. We also wanted to find camps that had multiple levels of play (Varsity/ JV/ Freshman) to encourage program bonding and support.

*We tried to keep our basketball activities to Monday-Thursday during the day so that kids could do other activities at night or on the weekends, and it also allowed them to work part time jobs much easier as well.

*We tried to do one overnight camp or excursion each summer for team bonding purposes.

EXPECTATIONS AND STANDARDS FOR EACH CAMP

We tried to be as clear as possible when it came to our expectations and standards for our summer camps and leagues, which included these highlights:

*We didn’t care that we won or lost. Everything was about getting better!

*We did demand game like intensity. You can’t get better if you’re not playing hard and concentrating. It would be nearly impossible to play great basketball for the duration of a team camp, but the effort and energy can be there.

*We made no excuses about conditions. Some places we played in were an absolute blast furnace, but guess what? The other team has to play in the same blast furnace, so figure it out! NO EXCUSES!!

*When you weren’t playing, and we had other teams at the camp, it was expected that each player would support our other teams. Remember, you’re not building a team, you’re building a program, and you build that program through joining all of your teams into one.

*Our behavioral expectations were the same in June as they were in January. We picked up trash. We left places nicer than what we found it. We were great teammates. In short, it’s an extension of the season, and nothing slipped.

EXECUTION FOR EACH CAMP

*Each player played fairly equally. Now, you can manipulate your rotations to have certain players on the floor at certain times if you want to go for the win in the end, but if you play one kid 35 minutes and another kid five minutes, you’re probably going to get an email or a phone call from a parent, and you deserve it.

*Give your players a chance to figure some things out. Let them experiment with skills that they have worked on this spring, and hopefully that will build their confidence.

*Experiment with lineups. This is something that I didn’t do a very good job of as a younger coach, but as I became more “seasoned and experienced”, I was much more willing to try differnt combinations of skill sets just to see what we might stumble upon. Sometimes you’re not aware of something until you throw it together and give it a chance.

Subscribe now

*Don’t be afraid to move players up or down. If you have three of your top nine gone from a team camp, and you’ve got your JV with you at a team camp, tell your top four JV kids that two of them will play with the Varsity for the first two games of the camp and then they’ll switch with the other two. It’s important to give players a chance to either prove, sometimes even more importantly, not prove themselves at a higher level.

*Just coach. Again; guilty as charged, but these officials are working a bunch of games for not alot of money, so just coach your team and keep your focus on that as long as they are putting in good effort and trying to get into the right position. There is one caveat; shooters should be protected when they are in the air. In my opinion, if they’re not protecting defenseless players, then you should say something.

*HAVE FUN! Don’t forget; it’s play ball, not work ball. Build on the joy of the game for your players, don’t sap it from them. Don’t lose a player or your team in the summer because you forget that this is supposed to be fun!

More than anything, remember why you are playing in these leagues and team camps; you’re there to build your players up and prepare yourself for the challenges of the winter. That’s the main thing, so be sure to keep the main thing the main thing!

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XXII: The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors

Subscribe now

Truly one of the great modern basketball teams was the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors. 73-9. 24-0. “The Death Lineup”. “The Splash Brothers”. The epic 3-1 comeback, followed by the 3-1 collapse . . . it was all there. Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and I break this team down from top to bottom, and there is no doubt that this was a great team, but how great was it? You tell us . . .

THE “COACHES CORNER”: Steve Kerr

Fourt time NBA champion and Olympic Gold Medal Coach Steve Kerr is without a doubt one of our greatest modern coaches. Here are some of his best coaching clips, both on and off the floor!

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Ed Kemper: Conversations with a Killer by Dary Matera

Ed Kemper was one of the most haunting, cold and calculating serial killers of the 1970’s. He' is not as well known as Bundy, Dahmer or Gacy, but in many ways, his crimes, especially when it came to his family, were more brutal than any other monster of the time period. A fascinating study of the human psyche.

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Seven Commitments of a Great Team by Jon Gordon

Another simple yet effective work by Jon Gordon, this one discusses all the things that any coach, with any team, has to align to ensure that the team can max out in its capabilities. A great and simple read, but one you can use with your team!

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Creating a Great Off-Season

P.S.-I’ll be in Indiana in September; come check it out!

Other than the coaches that I worked for or with, without a doubt the most important and influential person in my coaching career was Don Meyer. Through (mainly) videos, handouts and coaches clinics (of which I was fortunate enough to attend in person a couple of times), I could not get enough of Coach Meyer. Coach was born in Nebraska, and started his career in Minnesota before landing at David Lipscomb (now just Lipscomb) University in Nashville. While there, Coach Meyer built an NAIA powerhouse, winning the national championship in 1986. While at Lipscomb, Meyer used the advent of home video to make dozens of videos that could be purchased by any coach from across the country.

Later, when the administration at Lipscomb wanted to go Division I, Meyer showing that he was a man who knew who he was, defied the administration and resigned. He landed at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he took the program to new heights, eventually becoming (at the time) the all time winningest coach in college basketball history. Tragically, in September, 2008, Meyer was in a car accident that led to the amputation of his left leg below the knee. Even more tragically, Meyer discovered that he had cancer in his intestines, which eventually took his life in 2014.

There are so many things that Coach Meyer has given to both myself and the coaching world, things that many, including myself, have tried to emulate; without a doubt, without Coach Meyer, there is no A Pen And A Napkin. Coach Meyer was the ultimate teacher and sharer of the game, and his teaching style, while unorthodox at times, was also common sense and effective. Here is a (very) short list of some of Coach Meyer’s methods and teachings that I used in my programs:

Subscribe now

*Every player had a notebook, and every player hand wrote notes.

*Planning your week on Sunday, and plan your tomorrow today.

*The Foxhole Test to find out who your true leaders in your program are.

*The Don Meyer Shot Quality Rating

*Echo Drills

*One page handouts

*Team meeting organization

In addition, Coach Meyer was brilliant in being able to share important information in simple, easy to remember quotes. Some of his quotes that still stay with me today include:

• “You make enemies faster than you make friends.”

• “Every battle is won before it is fought.” -Sun Tzu

• “A team of lions led by an ass will lose to an army of asses led by a lion.”

• “NBA-Next Best Action.”

• “Play until the whistle blows.”

• “Don’t give orders that can be understood. Only give orders that can’t be misunderstood.” -Douglas MacArthur

• “You better have great practices.” -Al McGuire

• “It’s not what you teach, it’s what you emphasize.”

• “19 of the 21 greatest civilizations in human history were destroyed from within.”

• “He who is a friend is always a friend, and a brother is born for a time of stress.” -Proverbs 17:17

Truth be told? When I took my last job, I watched every single Coach Meyer DVD (us in Gen X are used to updating our media; records/ tapes/ CDs/ digital) again and took a fresh set of notes on each one. He was that good.

Subscribe now

One of the tragedies of history, and especially basketball history, is that coaches fade away and their influence is forgotten to a large degres as the game evolves. For my generation, Dean Smith, Bobby Knight, Don Meyer and Pat Riley have given way to Brad Stevens, Dan Hurley and others. It’s the natural evolution of things, but we also need to remind ourselves that there is still plently to learn from those that came long before us.

As you head into the summer, if you’re not going to study from A Pen And A Napkin, study Coach Meyer. Trust me when I say that it will be worth your time (check out the “Coach Corner” as a teaser) and energy to study Coach Meyer.

Take notes.

Say please and thank you.

And pick up trash.

It’s what the GOAT would demand of you.

To order anything Coach Meyer, go to coachmeyer.com

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

Subscribe now

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XXI: The 2016-17 University of South Carolina Women’s Basketball Team

The 2016-17 South Carolina Gamecocks was, for Dawn Staley, the proverbial “team that got it done” for her first national championship. Staley’s squad, led by A’ja Wilson, cut down the nets over Mississippi State in the title game in Dallas, laying the groundwork for what we’ve seen the last decade in their run to dominance. This was a championship team, but was it a great team? Jacob Brindle, Nate Wall and I have our opinions, but what do you think?

Subscribe now

THE “COACHES CORNER”: The GOAT in action . . .

As much time as I’ve spent watching and reading Coach Meyer’s stuff, I can rewatch the same stuff and get something new every single time I watch something. Here’s some of the best clips of Coach Meyer to help you get better today!

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Kill Shot by Vince Flynn

One of my favorite genres of fiction to read is spy thrillers, and Vince Flynn wrote numerous, easy to read escapades that turn into page turners really quickly! One of those is Kill Shot, in which agent Mitch Rapp’s assasination of a Libyan oil magnate goes south in a hurry, leaving Rapp on the run while also trying to figure out who was responsible for the double cross. A fun read!

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Deep Work by Cal Newport

I’ve got alot of things that I want to accomplish this summer, but the only way that they’ll get accomplished is by doing alot of work without interruption or interference. Newports’s Deep Work: Rules For Focused Success in a Distractd World is a great read to help you streamline your work process, help you with concentration and get the most out of the 24 hours that we’re all gifted with every single day!

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Shooting Fundamentals with Jamie Smith, GBB HC at Solon (IA)

P.S.-Happy birthday Dad! 6/7/48

Subscribe now

Currency in world history has evolved over the thousands of years of human experience. The value of a dollar is different today than it was ten, twenty, a hundred years ago, and how we exchange it has changed. From the barter system of pre-biblical days to paper money and checks to today’s digital and crypto world, the literal “coin of the realm” in 2026 is drastically different than 1926 or even 1976.

The same can be said about basketball. For the first 75 years or so of the game, it was all about having a big man to dominate the paint. However, with the advent of analytics, which are driven by the three point line, shooting has never been more important. Of course, perimeter shooting was important for the first 75 years, but it was more about relieving pressure on the post player rather than to be used as a consistent tool for victory and championships. The most valuable currency today, the “coin of the realm”, is no longer having a great post player; it is having great shooting.

As the game of basketball evolves, here are five statements that I have come to know to be as true related to “The Coin of the Realm”.

You can never have enough shooting: Let’s take a look at the eight Final Four teams in college basketball this season. On the men’s side, all four teams shot 35-36%, and only Arizona was not dependant on the three point shot for its success, shooting a far lower volume than its counterparts. Michigan was the most balanced team, with four players attempting over 150 3’s, while every player in Illinois’ eight man rotation attempted at least 100 3’s except for Andrej Stojakovic, who attempted 82 (which is ironic, as his father Peja was one of the great sharpshooters of his generation). Connecticutt had three players attempt well over 200 3’s. On the women’s side, there’s a couple of more outliers in Texas (34% as a team on low volume/ only one player took over 100 3’s) and South Carolina (37% as a team, but 55% of those attempts came from either Raven Johnson or Tessa Johnson). Connecticut was dominant at 40% as a team, with three players over 40% on high volume. Champion UCLA shot 37% as a team, with four of its five rotation players shooting 38% or higher from the arc. Although South Carolina defeated UConn in the semi-final, you can also see that the lack of shooting was a factor (but not the only factor) in Arizona getting blown out by Michigan in the men’s semifinal, Texas struggling to score against UCLA and South Carolina struggled to get over 50 points against UCLA in the title game. Small sample size, but it does say a lot.

Subscribe now

In constructing a roster, it is better to have great shooters and average drivers than great drivers and average shooters: Shooters create space, and the more space you have, the easier it is for average drivers to get to the basket. Without great shooting, drivers have less room to work with, as defenses can collapse into gaps and lanes, which negates their ability to score. A great example of this is Pryce Sandfort from Nebraska this season; he’s a great shooter and probably an average athlete and driver, but his shot is so lethal that it allowed for more and more lanes to open to the basket for him this season. Take a look at this clip, not necessarily the three point makes (of which there are a lot!), but the drives that open up because of the threat of three point shooting . . .

If you can’t shoot, you can’t win consistently: Here are the shooting percentages from the three point line for the NCAA tournament champions from 2014-2024. Most of these teams shot it even better than Michigan’s championship team did this year.

• 2024 UConn: 35.8%

• 2023 UConn: 35.5%

• 2022 Kansas: 35.5%

• 2021 Baylor: 41.3%

• 2020: No Tournament

• 2019 Virginia: 39.5%

• 2018 Villanova: 39.0%

• 2017 North Carolina: 37.3%

• 2016 Villanova: 36.2%

• 2015 Duke: 38.3%

• 2014 UConn: 39.0%

Shooters improve the most during “Improvement Season”: You can run all the greatest sets or the smoothest offense in the world, but if you can’t make the shot at the end of the great set, it doesn’t matter how good the set was. This is something that I had to learn the hard way through losing games by small margins because of poor shooting.

During “Improvement Season”, the majority of your instruction and repetition should be about offensive skill development, with the biggest thing developed is shooting. Team schematics can be developed during the season, but if you want “the system” to work in the winter, you’ve got to give your players the time and instruction in the spring, summer and fall to make it work. If you have an hour with your team, at least 75% of the time should be spent on shooting and skill development. You also need to put an emphasis on working on your shooting outside of workouts; that’s the real separator.

Shooters can’t improve unless the shooter understands their shot, have the right fundamentals and the right mindset: Understanding your shot, to me, describes knowing that when you miss a shot, you know immediately why you missed the shot. One of the traps that we fall into as coaches is trying to fix too much, so we overwhelm our players with correction. Oftentimes, by overcoaching shooting, we make it more complicated and more confusing; the player is thinking too much!

So to understand the shot, you have to engrain the fundamentals of shooting. For most players, it is best to narrow shooting to a handful of key components. When I worked with shooters, here were the parts of shooting that I tried to narrow it down to . . .

Subscribe now

*Get your feet where you want them, starting with good balance. Your strong foot should be slightly ahead of your weak foot, and your feet should be slightly wider than your hips.

*Dip your hips and your backside. This is where your range comes from! Get low and lift your shot from your base

*Get your elbow in so that you’re setting up a good follow through.

*Snap your wrist off, and try to have your middle finger and ring finger be the last two fingers to touch the ball coming off your hand

*Hold your follow through until the ball hits the rim.

For me, I believe that if a shooter is struggling, don’t attempt to fix all five of these things at once. Find the greatest deficiency, fix that and see what happens from there!

When you talk mentality, “Improvement Season” is a great opportunity to build up your shooters. During this time and make hundreds, if not thousands, of “emotional deposits” in your players shooting psyche. Shooters in basketball, like hitters in baseball or softball, are going to slump from time to time, but this is the time to engrain the mindset into your players that not every shot is going in, but the next one is.

And for goodness sakes, if you have a good or great shooter, don’t mess with them!

Take the time this “Improvement Season” to build up those shooters in your program. Don Meyer once said “You’ve never heard a coach say that we were just too tough this season.” The same can be said about shooting; in this day and age, you can never have enough shooting.

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XX: The 1993-94 University of Arkansas Razorbacks

It was called “40 Minutes of Hell”, and Nolan Richardson’s Arkansas Razorbacks of the 1990s were one of college basketballs preeminent programs. His greatest team was his national champion squad, lead by “The Big Nasty” Corliss Williamson and a host of great athletes who fit Richardson’s system. Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and myself have our opinions as to whether or not this squad was one of the best ever, but as always, you tell us . . .

Subscribe now

THE “COACHES CORNER”: Shooters Gotta Shoot!

As we’ve talked about in this newsletter, shooting is the most important skill that should be developed during “Improvement Season”, so here’s some clips on some of the best shooters and coaches talking about how you can improve shooting the basketball!

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Mother’s Day was this past Sunday, and when I think of both my mother and literature, I always come back to To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee’s classic (with perhaps a little help from Truman Capote) details the story of Atticus, Scout and Boo Radley in the Depression-era South. A timeless classic, it’s a way that I still connect with my mom . . .

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

Very few, if any teams, are perfect, and like using great shooters to overcome physical deficiencies, Gladwell’s David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and The Art of Battling Giants gives the reader multiple examples of how using different or alternative strategies can actually be an advantage as you take on the proverbial Goliath in your field. Many strategies that can be used in shaping your team during this “Improvement Season”!

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Building a Culture off the Floor with Matt Kern

Subscribe now

P.S. Happy anniversary Mom and Dad! 5/15/1971 . . . miss you mom!!

As we try to blaze our own path, both personally and professionally, each one of us are at a different place. Some are perhaps “ahead”, while others may feel that they are “behind”. Without a doubt, one of the fastest ways to move forward is to understand that many others have been where we have been. In fact, what we often fail to realize in the heat of the moment is that most of our issues, our obstacles, our troubles have been experienced by others before us. It would only make sense to learn from those people, to gleam their wisdom from their experiences so that we can both avoid their mistakes and try to replicate their successes.

Mentors have been around since the dawn of time, and one of the greatest indicators of an emotionally intelligent and aware person is to seek out those that have gone before them and learn from them. There are times when those lessons are readily available to us, while other times we don’t realize that someone is there to help us until it presents itself in the most obvious of ways. As an example, if R2-D2 doesn’t wander off into the desert, he would have never met the man that changed his life and the direction of the universe . . .

How do you know someone is a mentor for you? I think that there is one statement that will summarize whether someone is a mentor and/or a true friend; Will they tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear? It’s easy to tell someone everything that they want to hear; how great they are, how awesome of a job they’re doing, how everyone around them is wrong and they’re right. But a true mentor, a true friend will tell you the truth, tell you that you’ve messed up, you’re the issue or you’re the problem. But what a good mentor will also do for you in those situations is also help you fix the situation; that’s the difference between a critic and a mentor.

It’s also on you in that you have to be willing to listen and to trust the vision that your mentor has for you. It may not make sense at the time, but what you must be able to do is to trust the process. Learn a lesson from Daniel LaRusso . . .

There are two basic ways we can be mentored; the first is by someone that we know or work directly with. These are pretty obvious situations, and without a doubt, I’ve had some of the best mentors that a man could ever ask for. They’ve come in all shapes and sizes in my life and they’ve come at different times, but all of the these people have helped shaped me both personally and professionally. I’ve been blessed with too many mentors to count and/or acknowledge in this article, but with apologies to those that I don’t mention, here are some really important ones for me . . .

My Dad: I was blessed to have two terrific parents and an awesome step-mother, and I fully realize that not everyone is as blessed. However, I’m not going to apologize for having a man in my life that has given me advice that I needed to hear and always had my back, especially when I made mistakes.

Mike Power and Jamie Sale: I would not have the career that I have without these guys. From Mike, I learned the importance of daily grit, how to be a coach and how to get the best out of people. From Saley, I learned that there are different ways to skin a cat, how to make great ingame adjustments and the importance of carving your own path. These were, perhaps, the greatest days of my coaching life, and I miss them . . .

Jeff Ritz: I needed to have someone who was an experienced coach in my corner, someone who understand the footsteps that I was walking in. I’ll never be able to pay back Jeff for the countless phone calls, conversations and great times we had, and he was, for me, the ultimate truth teller.

My coaching staff: Kurt Weeder, Mark Polacek, Terry Theilen, Jeff Ritz and Sarah Goodwin

There are so many others; my childhood friends, my buddy John Schmitz, “The Committee (Parts I & II), and so many others. I am truly blessed . . .

The other way you can be mentored is by really diving in on someone you admire personally or professionally from afar. There have been numerous people that I have studied that have helped form my coaching career, including but not limited to:

Don Meyer: Anything Don Meyer I have devoured throughout my coaching journey, from DVD’s to books and articles. I know that I’m not alone, but Coach Meyer was integral in shaping my coaching philosophy. Still today, when in doubt, I think “What would Coach Meyer do?”

Rick Pitino: You cannot deny that Rick Pitino is one of the master motivators and most passionate coaches in the history of the game. He is one of the master’s of raising the floor on any group of players, getting them to work harder and believe in themselves more so than those players or teams believed. His pressing, running style also was vital in shaping my philosophy as well.

Bono and U2: Yeah, pretty cliche, but for a guy who has, at times, struggled with finding their place in this world, the music and lyrics of this band have helped me through some tough times, especially during my coaching career. But hey, three concerts later, I’m still there with them . . .

Ryan Holiday: Perhaps the most recent mentor in my life, Holiday’s books, podcasts, videos and other materials have helped center me and allowed me to really educate myself on the things that I believe are important to my overall well being, and by proxy, made me a better coach.

As you move through “Improvement Season”, thank those that have mentored you and tell them how much you appreciate them and all they’ve done for you. Continue to look for new mentors and new ways of learning, new topics to make you a better coach and a better person. And don’t ever discredit yourself in being a mentor for others; someday you’ll have all the answers that others will seek.

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME IXX: The 2012-13 Miami Heat

“The Heatles” broke onto the scene with “The Decision” by LeBron James in the summer of 2010, and the promises of “not one, not two, not three” championships never came to fruition, but one of the greatest NBA seasons in league history did in 2012-13, topped off by one of the greatest shots in NBA history by Ray Allen. Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and myself have our opinions as to whether or not this edition of the Heat were one of the greatest teams ever, but as always, you tell us . . .

Subscribe now

THE “COACHES CORNER”: The “Miami Vice” edition

In honor of the Miami Heat’s appearance on “The Greatest Teams” podcast, here’s some of the best stuff we can find from both Eric Spoelstra and Pat Riley on coaching the game!

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Twelve Caseaes by Michael Grant

Ancient history is still relevant today, and the study of leadership in Grant’s The Twelve Caesars is a fascinating look at the twelve men that ruled the republic of Rome when it was at its greatest heights. What made a great leader? What made a poor leader? How did these men handle the circumstances and conditions they were dealt? Grant details all of this in this terrific book!

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Book of Basketball Wisdom by Criswell Freeman

One of the first books that I purchased as a young coach was The Book of Basketball Wisdom. This is filled with quotes from some of the legends of the game about all of the various situations, from team work to character to winning and losing. I used this book countless times for a “North Star” quote for a practice or a situation with our team, so I highly recommend this one!

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Media Relations, Social Media and Fundraising

Subscribe now

Your season is over. Some of you are coming off of great seasons. Others, perhaps not so great or disappointing seasons. You’ve had some time to rest and recharge. You’re getting anxious. You miss the gym. You miss the players. You miss the action.

Yep, it’s time for “Improvement Season” to begin.

This past weekend, we hosted over 50 coaches at our 6th Annual Spring Coaches Clinic. Great speakers. Great discussions. Great day.

However, if all fifty of those coaches stop there, all of that will be in vain . . .

You can’t just show up one day, do a bunch of things, and then expect that to carry you until next season starts. Like your players, improvement is a daily choice, a daily decision that I’m going to take a portion of the most valuable thing that any of us has in this world, our time, and dedicate it to getting better and ‘honing our craft’.

Like our players, the greats work on their game and are always looking for aspects of their skill set to get better. Anyone who thinks that they’re a complete coach is foolish, and anyone who thinks that they know it all will quickly be shown that they don’t, either from their own team or from their opponents.

However, as good as we are at helping our players get better, we often fail to come up with an effective training plan for ourselves. I mean, would Rocky have been able to beat Drago and avenge Apollo’s death without Duke’s training regime?

We would never let our players come into the gym without some sort of plan, so it’s important that you, as a coach, comes into your “Improvement Season” with a plan as well. Here’s some thoughts on how to create a system to maximize your “Improvement Season” the next few months . . .

Subscribe now

• The Rule of “One”: We would not tell our players ‘just work on everything’ without some focus, right? Well, neither should you. Although your improvement will naturally go in multiple directions, just like a players improvement, I would encourage you to focus your off-season on ‘one’ thing. The following four areas will be the foundation of your development, then improvement will come in other areas from them as you focus on these four areas:

  • Select and study one coach you admire; dive into every video, clip, article, game film or book that you can find on that coach

  • Select one system (Triangle offense, “Lock Left” defense”, etc . . .) in the same vain as your coach study

  • Select one skill (ball handling, shooting, passing, etc . . .) to understand better.

  • Select one author (John Gordon or Ryan Holiday) that is going to help you with your off-court skill set, and study them in the same way you would off the court.

• Take notes: Write the key thoughts down; don’t depend on your memory! Highlight books, write notes from videos and then go back and reorganize all that information by typing it out. Is it tedious? Yep. Is it the best way to ensure that the lessons you’re studying will be retained and recalled when needed? Absolutely! You would never have your players do a few reps and call it good, right? Neither should you . . .

• Network: Don’t be afraid to coldcall or email a coach that you admire or you want to learn from. Most “seasoned and experienced” coaches are willing to help other coaches get better or pay it forward because there were coaches that helped them out somewhere along the way. Write an email to a college assistant and ask them if you could chat about X, Y or Z. I encourage you to find coaches that are along the themes that you are studying listed in the first bullet point, and have specific topics and questions prepared for them to help you understand. Go to coaches clinics, listen and learn.

  

• Schedule it: Dedicate a specific time every day that you have blocked off for your improvement. When I was a younger coach in the summers, I would be at home with my kids, but every day from 2-4 PM, while my kids were either napping or resting, that was my time to work on basketball. Everything before and after that was family time, but that was my time to ‘hone my craft’. Make it part of your daily routine.

• Learn from your own mistakes: Re-watch your team’s games from the previous season and analyze them without emotion. Take notes on the games, both on your teams performance and your opponents. Prepare for next season long before the next season starts, both for your improvment and your teams.

• Experiment: Use your summer games and team camps to try out the things that you’ve discovered. It’s low-stakes situations and it gives both you and. your team a chance to test your hypothesis. It’s smart to tell your team “Hey, I want to try this right now; let’s see if it works!” If you are a younger coach, look to gain reps by coaching as many summer games as possible. If you feel so inclined, look for an AAU team to coach to give you those opportunities to both experiment, gain reps and network.

• Don’t “overtrain”: Take it from a guy who, at times, probably took it a little too far. Rest and recharge; you can’t be any good for your players or program if you’ve worked so hard during the off-season that you lose your energy by December or January. Find things that you are passionate about outside of basketball that will keep basketball fresh and in its proper perspective. You want to get better, bu you also don’t want to end up like Peter . . .

  This is a great time for you to grow, just like our players, individually. Get organized, put in the time and hone your craft one day at a time!

  Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XVII: The 2010 Seattle Storm

One of the “W’s” best teams at a time where the league’s talent was really starting to bloom, the 2010 Seattle Storm (no pun intended) blew through the league, losing only six games all season while going perfect in the postseason. Lead by Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird, this was a championship team, but was it a great team? Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and myself have our opinions, but as always, you tell us . . .

THE “COACHES CORNER”: The Final Four (the Women’s edition)!

Congratulations to Cori Close and the UCLA women’s program for winning their first NCAA title with a convincing win over a terrific South Carolina team, who knocked off Connecticut in the semi-finals. Here’s a great clip to learn from our four women’s coaches at this years Final Four!

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Choice by Bob Woodward

It’s not an original thought; you can make the argument that Bob Woodward may be the most important writer of the last fifty years, and The Choice is another example of Woodward’s great work. Diving deep into the primaries of the 1996 presidential election season, The Choice goes behind the scenes to show the human side of those vying for our nation’s highest office . . . a great read!

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Ego is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday

So, yeah, I’m on a bit of a Ryan Holiday kick . . . but this is so good! As always, Holiday combines history, literature and Stoicism to paint examples of both successes and failures to help us realize our shortcomings and defeat them before they defeat us. In this book, Holiday talks about how one’s ego, both big and small, can be our greatest asset and our greatest enemy!

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Justin Carter, Player Development

Subscribe now

We are neck-deep in the madness of March, and it has been an amazing tournament so far for both the men and the women. We’ve had some upsets, some tremendous individual performances and, like every March, some memorable moments. Something that the 2026 March Madness tourney will be remembered for is the “takeover” of Oklahoma City by the University of Nebraska fandom, who were starved for their first NCAA tournament victory in school history. The Huskers delivered not one, but two memorable victories, including what some people are saying was the game of the tournament (so far) against Vanderbilt in the Round of 32.

For our family, this wasn’t a journey that was this year in the making, but seven years. No, we haven’t suffered nearly as long as many other Nebraska fans, but the personal connection to the program is strong, so strong that we HAD to make the journey to OKC last weekend.

For those of you that haven’t heard “Four Days In Oklahoma” on the “A Pen And A Napkin” network, the full podcast will be added at the end. But for now, enjoy an excerpt from the text of the podcast . . .

*************************************************************************************************************

I tried to talk him out of it. I really did.

My son Michael was in the spring semester of his freshman year at Nebraska when I saw him send out a cryptic text one night.

“I’m thinking about doing something big.”

As a father, I wasn’t really sure what to think, so as soon as I could, I called him, partially out of curiosity, partially out of concern.

“Well dad, I think I want to work for the Nebraska men’s basketball team. I want to be a manager.”

For me, this came out of nowhere. He had never played basketball, save for one season of Y ball in second grade and a couple of seasons on the B team at his Catholic elementary school, and when I was coaching, he would often be reading books instead of watching the games when he was in grade school. Of our two boys, my basketball bond was much stronger with our son Carter than Michael.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked.

Subscribe now

“Yeah, I am,” was the response.

The next week, I was down in Lincoln for the girls state tournament, and I scheduled us to sit down with my friend Kirk Walker, who was an assistant coach at Nebraska-Omaha at the time. I wanted Kirk to lay it all out there, the worst case scenario. The early mornings and late nights. The lack of appreciation. The low, if any, pay. Put it all out there, I told him, the bleakest, darkest horror stories you have experienced.

Kirk did that.

And Michael was still undeterred.

Okay, let’s do it, I told him. This was right at the time that Tim Miles was let go at Nebraska and the rumor was that Fred Hoiberg was in line to get the job. Once Hoiberg got the job, and thanks to Bill Fennelly at Iowa State, Michael was hired.

Now, what you have to understand is that I grew up in Iowa, a diehard Iowan living in Nebraska. I bore no ill-will towards Nebraska athletics, but to say it was weird to put undivided loyalty to “Go Big Red” chants instead of “Let’s Go Hawks!” was, quite honestly, frightening. How do I do this? How do I make “The Switch”?

Even the devious mind of George Costanza initially couldn’t help Jerry Seinfeld make “The Switch”; how could I?

But slowly but surely it started to seep in. We were balancing my games, Michael’s games and by this point, our other son Carter was a manager for the women’s team at South Dakota State. We would go to as many Nebraska games as we could, but those first three seasons, as has been well documented, were really long seasons. Talented players were recruited, but they failed to buy into the team concept. Some players played for themselves. Covid hit. In short, what could go wrong did go wrong, and it seemed that “Murphy’s Law” would undo the best laid plans of Coach Hoiberg and company.

But my wife and I were getting behind the program. Blood is thicker than water, and when Nebraska beat Iowa at home during Michael’s first season (which turned out to be one of their last wins that season) I found myself setting aside longtime loyalty to the Hawkeye state for Husker Power. It also helped that Michael was having a great experience. I will tell you this; as good of a coach that Fred Hoiberg is, he’s a better person. Fred and especially Doc Sadler took Michael under their wings, along with Matt Holt and Nate Loenser. You won’t find better people to entrust your child to.

The turning point, of course, was the fourth year. Sam Griesell, Derrick Walker, Juwan Gary and Keisei Tominaka brought respectability back to the program. Michael’s senior season, although they fell short of a postseason berth, was great. Life long bonds were created for him, as was the culture of high standards and winning within the program. The NCAA tournament in Memphis happened the next season, and we made the trek down to Tennessee with 5-6K of our closest friends. Although we lost, it was a win.

Fast forward to this season. The 20-0 start. We, like many others, started looking at NCAA tourney sites in early January. Oklahoma City. Very doable. A dream scenario.

As a former coach, I’m usually pretty cautious when thinking too far ahead. One step at a time, right? But in early February, when it became obvious we were headed to the tournament, we made hotel reservations for OKC. Three nights. Could cancel if they go somewhere else. But Selection Sunday, in perhaps fate, destiny or just common sense, sent NU to the former belly of the beast, the Sooner State. Nebraska’s most traditional rival, long before the Big Ten and the rivalry with Iowa, would host Nebrasketball.

Oklahoma had no idea what it was in for.

Subscribe now

Listen here for the entire “Four Days In Oklahoma-A Basketball Story” podcast!

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XVI: The 1997-1998 Tennessee Lady Vols

Perhaps Pat Summitt’s finest team, the 1997-98 were not just a great basketball team, they were women’s basketball’s version of “The Beatles” during the late 1990's. Lead by “The Three Meeks”, this team rolled to an undefeated season and a national championship. Wall, Brindle and I believed that this was a great team, perhaps one of the greatest ever, but as always, you tell us . . .

Get signed up TODAY for the 6th Annual “A Pen And A Napkin” Spring Coaches Clinic!

Subscribe now

THE “COACHES CORNER”: The Final Four (the Men’s edition)!

Let’s take a look at some of the best stuff from our four Final Four coaches!

Our next newsletter, we’ll have Geno, Close, Staley and Schaefer . . .

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

Subscribe now

We ran out of room . . . no books this edition . . .

Sorry : (

We’ve made another run.

For most everyone reading this newsletter, your 2025-26 season is over and in the books; at least that’s what the calendar tells us. But for almost any coach, there is never a season that completes leaves us. When it’s over, kind of do the “Facts of Life” theme song . . .

“You take the good. You take the bad . . .”

One of the most alarming trends that I have seen throughout the coaching community in the last few years (and it’s something that I’ve personally experienced) is the number of coaches that are resigning shortly after their season has completed. Everyone has their own story, so it’s not for me to say that any coach should or should not resign their position. As an example, my experiences were my experiences, and I did what was best for me.

But perhaps moreso this spring than in the last few years, I’m hearing first hand accounts of coaches resigning largely because of parental interference and pressure. Although this is nothing new, the sheer volume of coaches who are resigning or who are simply unhappy (even though they’re winning) because of parents is at an all-time high.

There’s alot of reasons for it, all of which have been hemmed and hawed over before. It’s not going away, so how do you best handle it?

One revelation of a conversation I recently had was talking to a coach who had parental issues this season, but he chose to keep his focus on his players. A veteran coach, he told me that instead of focusing on the noise that he couldn’t control, he focused on the noise he could, which were the kids. He emphasized that the kids were great to work with and gave him all that they could, which helped him keep the perspective on his issues with the parents and helped him get through a tough season.

Subscribe now

“When the world never seems to be living up to your dreams . . .”

Some of you are coming off of seasons that you’ll remember for the rest of your life. Some of you are coming off of seasons that you never want to remember. For all of us as coaches, we have many more seasons to do this if we so choose. But for our players, they only have four of these seasons, and for those seniors that are leaving, it’s important that you do so with grace and dignity.

Some exits of our seniors will be tremendously difficult. Other exits will be tremendously overdue. You’re not going to love each class the same; that’s human nature. You’re going to be closer to some players and classes than others, but regardless, treat them all the same, at least on the surface and in the public eye.

Send your kids out, either to the end of their careers or into the offseason, with the best possible exit you can. Give them everything you can to show them how much you care for them and appreciate their efforts towards making this season the best that it could be.

“Then suddenly you’re finding out the facts of life are all about you . . .”

One of the hardest things about the end of the season is taking care of all the stuff that you don’t want to do at the end of the season, especially since you’re exhausted from the three to five month sprint that you’ve been on. I watched our son Carter so through “the crash” (as I call it) at the end of the season; within 48 hours of the end of his season (they lost in overtime to go to the state tournament), he was sick as a dog. Nonetheless, there are things to be done.

Get that banquet organized.

Get your inventory taken care of.

Have productive post season meetings.

Get your players nominated for post-season awards.

Help those seniors find a home for next year.

And then start your process for getting ready for next season.

Start by finding some extended time (I’m talking an undisturbed afternoon, anywhere from two to four hours) and just write stuff down. What went good. What went bad. What you need to do better. Who you are pleased with and why. Who you are mad at and why.

Just write it down. Organize it later, but write it down now.

You’'ll be amazed what you come up with. By letting your mind flow and just writing down what you’ve experienced and how it’s made you feel, you’re going to feel better.

And you’ve also got your start to your personal “Improvement Season” to get you ready for 2026-27. At this point, the perspective has shifted from doing what is good for the team to working on yourself, whether you’re a player or a coach, to get you ready for the next season.

It’s all about you.

And as a reminder, six years ago at this time, we thought we were watching Fred Hoiberg suffer from Covid on live television . . .

The world was shutting down, and we didn’t know when we’d see basketball again. The headaches of the season, the crash of it being over, are all small relative to what we went through six years ago.

Keep that perspective.

And get better.

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XV: The 1999-2000 Michigan State Spartans

Tom Izzo’s one and only (to date) national championship team was led by Mateen Cleaves and “The Flintstones”, giving Sparty it’s other national championship to go along with Magic Johnson’s 1979 squad (trust me, that one is also on the list). Although one of the most discussed teams in college basketball history, was it truly a great team? Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and I had our opinions, but you tell us . . .

Subscribe now

Get signed up TODAY for the 6th Annual “A Pen And A Napkin” Spring Coaches Clinic!

THE “COACHES CORNER”: This Year’s Best In Action . . .

Let’s take a look at five of the best coaches in college basketball this season and some of the X’s and O’s that make them elite . . . All five of these coaches are finalists for the Jim Phelan Award, given to the nation’s best coach. Enjoy!

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974 by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer

In this time period of daily headlines blasting out battles between the right and left over foreign policy, environmental issues and culture wars, it’s important to understand how we got to this point in the last half century. Fault Lines does a great job of breaking down the important events that has shaped our nation into what it is today.

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Mindgames by Roland Lazenby

Phil Jackson is one of the best, if not the best, basketball coach of all time. He has also written numerous books on the game, both about himself and about the game in general, but in Lazenby’s Mindgames, Jackson is not in charge of the narrative of his career. Jackson, like all of us, has his strengths and weaknesses, and Lazenby gives us an unabashed look at Jackson at both his best and worst.

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Constructing Your Off-Season

Subscribe now

1. “Row The Boat” in the same direction to the very end

It’s tournament time, and through “The Notebook: Volume IX” podcast, I’ve shared alot of thoughts on what you could or should be doing to ensure you’re doing all you can to make your season last as long as possible. But with apologies to PJ Fleck, one of the more underestimated things is to ensure that your team remains aligned during the postseason. Much of your focus as the head coach or being part of your coaching staff is on the floor; special situations, substitution patterns, expanding or shrinking your rotation and implementing your scouting report are some of the things that you wanting to focus on, and all of those are important. But don’t forget about your players, both in their spirit and well-being.

In fact, it’s the most important time for these issues during the entire season.

Keeping the team aligned late in the season can make or break a deep run. We all know that players today face issues that most of us did not face, including a larger media presence, either though social media or other outlets, parental pressure to perform and their own concerns about playing time. In other cases, you’ve probably got players in your locker room who have perhaps enjoyed their experience with the team, but are also ready to move on from this season; this is both sad and true and the same time.

As you prepare for your tournament run and alot of your on-court attention goes toward your top six to nine players, don’t forget about the necessity to continually communicate and engage your entire roster. You’re going to need everyone “rowing the boat” in the same direction to get to your preferred port of call, and oftentimes that can be determined by factors that have nothing to do with the five players on the floor.

Subscribe now

2. Take Care of Yourself

There was an interesting article on ESPN.com this week about Bill Self and the stress that he has been under this season, some of which has been self-induced. Much of that stress has also come from the status of Darryn Petersen on a daily basis, the uber-talented freshman swing player (think Dwayne Wade but 6’6”) whose availability from game to game has gotten the most attention in the Sunflower State since Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign.

As we all know, regardless of how hard we work to eliminate stress from coaching, there’s going to be stress. Self, famous for being highly-strung, has dealt with health issues this season, missing a game after being hospitalized with an ailment. During the season, we all push ourselves to extremes, both mentally and physically. After the season concluded, I would often suffer from what I called “The Crash”. Within two to four days at the conclusion of the season, I’d get sick for 48 hours; my body literally had nothing more to give. Late nights and bad meals had finally caught up to me.

As you get towards the end of the season, it’s important to take steps to protect your mental and physical health. We are concerned with our players well-being, but we often push ourselves beyond what we should be doing, which can diminish our effectiveness as a coach. If you’re not at 100%, you’re actually hurting the team in the same way that a player would be out on the floor.

Here’s four suggestions for taking care of yourself during “March Madness”:

*Breathe: It’s easy to allow things to escalate. Do all you can to slow things down and don’t let the emotions of the moment get to you. Taking deep breaths, even for a few moments before a big game, can help with that.

*Keep perspective: Whether you win or lose, the sun is going to come up the next morning (although there were a couple of times that I doubted that . . . ). It’s a basketball game, and although it’s important in the moment, remember that there are many other things in your life that are more important.

*Keep finding joy: Too often, the pressure of the season, whether that is self-induced or from outside influences, puts us in a mindset in which we lose track of why we are doing what we do. Every step that you take is a privilege, so continue to find joy in everything that you’re doing. If you project true joy during this difficult journey, so will your team.

*Don’t let your happiness be determined by 14-18 year olds: As adults, we sometimes hold on to wins and loses a lot longer than our players. Your self-worth is not based upon teenagers, and if you allow it to happen, you’re going to be riding the same roller coasters that your players do. Do all you can to put your players in a place of success, let the chips fall where they may, then release yourself from it. Easier said than done, but do your best.

3. Tourney time

By and large, you shouldn’t be changing a lot of things this late in the season unless it is necessary because of a player absence via injury, illness or eligibility. If it’s worked for this long, it is best to keep riding the horse that brought you there. However, it is good to add a wrinkle or two somewhere within your playbook. If you can add a simple BLOB or SLOB, or perhaps add an extra, late game pressbreak to get the ball inbounds, I would do it, especially if you have three or four days to implement it. Your players should know what you’re doing with your base scheme, so adding small things, especially for special situations. It’s better to have something and not use it than to need something and not have it . . .

Subscribe now

In addition, in our last newsletter, I talked about shortening practice times. The phrase we would often use was “rest over reps”. Get your work done, get after it and be really efficient with what you do and then get your team off the floor, especially in either full contact or reps involving going up and down the floor.

Good luck coaches.

Go get your nets!

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XIV: The 1996-97 Arizona Wildcats

The great Lute Olson’s national championship team was perhaps his most unlikely one, which came off an up and down regular season to be the first team to defeat three #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament. A team that perhaps peaked a season early, Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and I debate the run that the 1997 Wildcats went on over three magical weekends in March. We had our opinions on this team, but you tell us . . .

Get signed up TODAY for the 6th Annual “A Pen And A Napkin” Spring Coaches Clinic!

THE “COACHES CORNER”: Coaching Special Situations

Oftentimes, late season and post season games are either won or lost during late game special situations. Let’s take a look at some advice that coaches have for gaining an edge during these high tension moments.

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Shadow Play: The Unsolved Murder of Robert F. Kennedy by William Klaber and Philip Melanson

In my history classes, we are smack dab in the middle of the 1960s, one of the most turbulent decades in our nation’s history. In the middle of that were not only the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Robert F. Kennedy, but conspiracies about each death. Klaber’s Shadow Play is a really interesting read about RFK’s death in June, 1968!

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Championship Formula: How to Transform Your Team Into a Dynasty by Jack Stark

Dr. Tom Osborne (yes, he had a PhD. in psychology) was on the forefront of team building and culture with the Nebraska teams of the 1970s, 80s and 90s. One of the most important people that Osborne leaned on was Jack Stark, who helped shape the championship culture of the program. A great read to help you build a championship culture.

Subscribe now

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Special Situations

It’s that time of the year once again . . .

Post-season basketball.

The greatest thing (among all of the great things about our sport) is our postseason. In most states and in every level of collegiate basketball, it comes down to either 32 or 40 minutes of basketball to decide whether or not you get to go to practice or play another game. Not five games. Not seven games.

One game.

It’s the most magical thing about our sport. It’s what gives us all of these great moments . . .

Not everyone is going to have a long post-season run. By simple math, half of the teams in any tournament are eliminated after the first round of games, so don’t take it for granted when you even win one game. I would always tell my teams that winning even one postseason game usually requires the effort of two or even three games, so be grateful for every postseason game you come out on the right side of the scoreboard.

Subscribe now

Preparing for tournament time is one of the great double-edged swords of sport. If you get caught looking too far ahead, you’re setting yourself up for failure. At the same time, you do have to have some forward-thinking in order to really set yourself up for success. Without a doubt, it is one of the many ways that coaching is not a science, but an art.

Here are some things that you should think about as you prepare for your postseason run.

1. Make lay-ups and free throws. Seems simple, but if you want to make an extended playoff run, get hot on the most basic shots of the game. Force your opponent to beat you by being extraordinary from the same areas or from the perimeter. If you get beat by that, learn to live with it.

2. Finalize your playbook. Know exactly where your strengths lay at, what you want to execute and how you want it executed. You’re going to need a diverse playbook if you want to make an extended run, which should include:

   1. Three half court defense; your base man to man defense, your base zone defense and a junk defense. If you run into an opponent that carves all three of those up, you’re probably cooked regardless.

   2. At least one pressure defense to get you back into a game or turn the tide of the game.

   3. 5-7 baseline out of bounds plays that you can execute at a high level

   4. 2-3 sideline out of bounds plays that you can execute at a high level

   5. One press break that you can execute consistently

   6. One late game press break that you have in your hip pocket to control possession late in the game.

   7. 6-8 set plays that you can execute at a high level, with hopefully the majority of those sets that can be ran against both man and zone defenses. Of those sets, three of them should be for your best player to get a good shot.

3. Delegate to your assistant coaches. You don’t have to do all of this yourself, so don’t take the entire burden onto yourself. Delegate some scouting responsibilities to your coaches as well as in practice coaching. Use your energy and voice wisely for the most important times of your run.

   

4. Subtlely prepare for future opponents. If you feel like you’re on a collision course with a certain opponent, start working on one or two things in practice without telling your team why you’re working on it to get yourself ready. As an example, if you feel like you’re going to play West High in the district final, and they’ve struggled against zones all season. You’re a man to man team, but a couple of weeks before the district final, start emphasizing for 5-10 minutes a day some zone concepts. When you get to the district title tilt, your team will be ready to use it if they need to.

5. Keep your team fresh. Pull back on practice length and physicality. Focus on skill development and execution. Watch extra film and do some team bonding or culture building exercises. Your team needs to be at its best on the floor on game night, so gear everything towards that.

6. Now it’s winning time. This time of year, it’s all about winning. You’re going to narrow your rotation, so clearly communicate the evolution of roles to this point, and if there is a player or two that is going to receive diminished minutes, don’t surprise them with it. It’s going to be a tough conversation, but for the good of the team, you have to let them know what their role is going to be to put the team in the best situation.

7. Play your game. If you’re a pressing team, attack the ball and do what you do. If you shoot alot of threes, let it fly. If you’re going to go down (and most teams will eventually go down and end their season with a loss), do it by doing what you’re best at. Coach and play with no regrets.

8. Mindset is vital. Usually the team that plays the loosest and most relaxed is the team that ends up winning. Work with your team on embracing the moment and enjoying the journey that you’re on. With that being said, also don’t let your team get distracted. The deeper the postseason run, the more distractions you have. Build a cocoon around your team and protect them from as many outside influences as you can. They’ll be plenty of time to celebrate with everyone after it’s done, but your job is to do all you can to make the run last as long as you can.

All of this leads to the greatest tradition in sports; the cutting down of the nets. I’ve been fortunate enough to do this multiple times in my career, and as a basketball junkie, it’s the best feeling in the world.

Good luck coaches.

Go get your nets.

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XIII: The 1985-86 Boston Celtics

Bird. McHale. Parish. Eight current or future Hall of Famers, combining players, coaches and executives. 50-1 at home. Perhaps not one, but two of the most dominant playoff performances of all time. Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and I discuss early Valentine’s morning on the greatness of the 1985-86 Boston Celtics. As always, we have our opinions, but you tell us . . .

Get signed up TODAY for the 6th Annual “A Pen And A Napkin” Spring Coaches Clinic!

THE “COACHES CORNER”: Enjoying Greatness

Let’s be honest . . . we all know that the 1985-86 are one of the greatest basketball teams of all time, so let’s just take a few moments to drink deeply in the excellence of this team forty years later. As Coach Brindle said, one of the most aesthically pleasing teams in basketball history, so let’s just watch them cook.

Subscribe now

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: A Traitor to His Class by H.W. Brands

Got enough time for 825 pages on the 32nd President of the United States? I did over the last month, and it was a really fun read (even it if it was 825 pages). Roosevelt’s story is fascinating, growing as an only child and fighting personal demons and a battle with polio to become one of the most important Americans ever. If you’re a history nerd, get a copy!

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Maverick Leadership from Kris Yagel and Stefan Junaeus

As featured in one of our latest podcasts with Babe Kwasniak, Maverick Leadership is a great study of how people outside of basketball develop and execute their leadership plan. Twenty different stories from twenty drastically different people will help you develop your own leadership style!

Subscribe now

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Coaching Through an Administrator’s Eyes by Lucus Dalinghaus of Johnson-Brock (NE)

The definition of insanity, for most people, is doing the same thing in the same manner and expecting a different result. There’s alot of truth to that.

But when you’re leading a team and creating positive habits to achieve goals for a large group of people, you have to have some repetitiveness to it. At the same time, you can’t become so routine that you lose the group because of too much repetition.

“January Season” is the biggest challenge for that. You’re not quite to playoff time, but the season is no longer new nor fresh. In many cases, the weather is pretty awful (at the time that I’m writing this, we’re just coming off a -30 F wind chill less than two days ago) and you’re players are pretty beat up. Yellow bus rides have lost a bit of their appeal; in short, you kind of feel like this . . .

By all means, I’m not saying that it’s time to re-invent the wheel, especially if things are going well, but this is a great time of year to throw your team a change of pace in practice. Even if it’s something as simple as moving your shell drill segment to the start of practice and following that up with some scrimmaging instead of waiting until the end of practice, that can be a pleasant change to your players.

Subscribe now

If you want to go deeper than that, here’s some ideas that I’ve used in my career to change some things up to get some positive things accomplished for that particular team while also giving our players a bit of a mental and/or physical reset for the season. Most of the time, this went over really, really well, and it was a nice little spark to give our teams a boost going down the stretch.

1. Shooting Practice: The most important skill (in my opinion) in the game is scoring the basketball and hitting open shots; you can never shoot enough. Take a day where all you do is shoot for 90-120 minutes to reiterate the importance of hitting big shots at important times. Most extended tournament runs are keyed by hitting key shots, so take a day to focus on this skill.

2. Special Teams Practice: Work on every critical situation you can think of; sideline out of bounds sets, baseline out of bounds sets, last minute and second execution, end of the shot clock execution, playing from ahead, playing from behind and everything else in between. It’s a great way to prepare for situations that either could end or extend your post-season run.

3. Surprise Day: One of my favorites (and almost a seasonal requirement)! Bowling, movie day, Dave and Buster’s, etc . . . anything you can do that’s really, really nice for your team and you can get out of the gym but still do something together.

4. Culture Day: Take a day and reemphasize your cultural themes for your program and for this season by creating some activities outside of the gym. Mix your team up and have some fun while also having a higher purpose in mind.

5. Change up your practice structure: Most practices consistent of alot of the same basic segments: offensive fundamentals, defensive fundamentals, team half court offense and defense, shooting and scrimmaging. Whatever your structure is, think about shaking some things up; you’re still accomplishing the same thing, you’re just doing it differently.

6. Player-designed practice: Give your players, especially if you have a good number of experienced players, the chance to design their own practice plan. Tell them we need “X” amount of rebounding drills or shooting drills, and then turn it over to them. It will also give you a bit of an insight of what they like to do.

7. Competition practice (Olympics): Design a practice to where there are a series of drills that you have your team competing against one another in a best of five or seven scenario. It will be fun, it will be competitive and it will break up the monotony of January while also making your players better.

8. Furman Practice: I (stunningly) got this idea from Don Meyer, who got it from Furman University. Essentially, after some fundamental work, tell your team that they will be scrimmaging for the remainder of practice. As soon as you and your stay see perfection for “X” amount of possessions on both sides of the ball, practice is over. You can be really, really picky and demand alot from your players, or they can really execute and end practice quickly!

Being smart with your practice structure is important to your teams’s growth and closing out the season on the highest note you possibly can. You’re not going to be able to control everything with your team’s journey, but practice structure and the occasional change to the structure can help get you to where you want to go.

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XII: The 1992-93 Texas Tech Women’s Basketball Team

One of the greatest individual performances on the biggest stage was Sheryl Swoopes scoring 47 points in the 1993 national championship game to lead Texas Tech over THE Ohio State University. Without a doubt, Swoopes’ performance was seminal and game changing, but was her team one of the greatest teams of all time? Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and I have our opinions, but you tell us . . .

Subscribe now

Get signed up TODAY for the 6th Annual “A Pen And A Napkin” Spring Coaches Clinic!

THE “COACHES CORNER”: Structuring Great Practices

Al McGuire once said “You’ve got to have great practices”. Well, I agree, and here are some of the best coaches, past and present, discussing their philosophies of how they structure their practices. Enjoy!

The Problem: Coaches have no visibility into what players do outside of practice

The Solution: HoopLog.app

Players will log any basketball activity (individual workouts, pickup games, AAU/HS games, practice) and track makes/attempts by shot type (free throws, mid-range, threes) and court location. Included in the app are 21+ built-in shooting drills and gamification concepts like extra points, achievement levels, streaks and leaderboards

Coaches will see all logged activities, view shot charts, auto-flags players who haven’t logged in a while, team leaderboards, AI-generated talking points for player meetings and weekly email digest

Yearly pricing options for any basketball team, including Varsity teams, entire high school programs, AAU Club teams or large-scale AAU organizations!

Have Questions? Contact nate@hooplog.app

HoopLog. The Work Speaks.

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

If you are a fan of suspense and drama, The Da Vinci Code is a classic for you! Brown and his Symboligist hero Robert Langdon follow the clues to try and figure out who is after the Holy Grail while also being trailed by the police for a murder he did not commit. There’s a reason why millions of copies were sold!

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The 21st Century Basketball Practice by Brian McCormick, Ph. D.

A short, but simple “how-to” manual of putting together a quality basketball practice. From building a proper environment to designing the optimal practice plan and executing it, this is a great way if you are a newer coach to designing the best practice plan possible!

Subscribe now

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Practice Planning and Execution

“That’s a terrible call!”

“What are you looking at out there?!”

“Don’t quit your day job!”

No, these are not things that have been said to me as a coach (at least not to my face . . .), but they are common phrases used during almost every competition towards the least glamorous, least appreciated but most difficult job in the gym . . .

The officials.

It’s a hard sport to officiate, perhaps the most difficult. There is constant action to our sport, sometimes two to three minutes of continous action without a break. There are more judgment decisions that effect the game than in most sports, and every official is going to call certain aspects of the game, like hand checking, differently than the next.

Subscribe now

One of the easiest things that you can do is blame the officials for any issues that occur during a ballgame, regardless of which sport it is. “If they would have called it this way instead of that” is a statement often used by coaches, especially if there is a controversial call at the end of a game, when in reality, there were hundreds of situations that occured long before the last ten seconds of a game that would have changed the outcome of the contest.

Unfortunately for Michael Gary Scott, with no officials, the outcome could not be changed . . .

But here’s some dirty little secrets about officiating, whether it’s in the opening minute of the game, the last ten seconds of the game and every second in between . . .

1. Most of the time, they get it right. As someone who hasn’t coached a game in almost two years and is no longer as emotionally invested into a particular game (unless it’s my son’s game), most officials get the correct call (or no call). And when they do make a mistake, it bothers them just as much as when we make a mistake as a coach. We’re all human.

2. Most officials take alot of pride in their job. Like coaches, they study the game, they study their performance, their positioning and more than anything else, they want to be great at their job, just like us. I had instant respect for any official who would call or text me a day or two after one of our games asking for me to share our game film with them so they could watch it and get better. It happens alot more than what you think.

3. They are not there for the coaches; they’re there for the kids. In a perfect world, a lot of coaches would love to coach games withour parents in the stands. Many officials would love to officiate games without coaches on the sideline. Most officials are there to make some extra money, of course, but they’re driving force is usually to be there for the kids.

4. They don’t care who wins. They legitimately don’t care . . . all they’re there to do is to call the game as they see it. Whomever wins is almost always irrelevant. They have their job, just like coaches, and they do it to the best of their ability.

5. There is constant communication before, during and after games. Officials try to get on the same page to make the officiating as consistent as it can be. Like a coaching staff, they want to be in synch and “on message” as much as they possibly can be. And, oh, by the way, the officials talk about us as well. An unwarranted confrontation in your game Tuesday night may have some effect on the crew you have Friday night, so be smart about how you treat people.

As you move through “January Season” and into February and the post-season, here’s some things that I would recommend that you remind yourself of and/or be aware of as you head down the stretch of the season.

Subscribe now

1. Just like you and your players, the officials are tired. Officials are human as well, and they’re tired of hearing players and coaches chirp at them, so their fuses generally become shorter during this stretch of the season. This is the time of year that there are more technicals are handed out per capita, so be smart about your conversations with the officials and how far you push things. Don’t get a silly technical that may cost your team a game. Of course, no one can get a technical foul like the legendary Pete Bell . . .

2. Communicate in an efficient and smart manner. As an example, one thing I was really guilty of was making blanket statements, like “You’ve got to start calling the hand checks on them!” Instead, I should have asked questions like “What are you seeing with their hand checks on defense?” It comes across much better and creates conversation instead of tension. I got better at it, but I wasn’t nearly as good at is as I wanted to be.

3. Keep your focus on what is most important. When you are focused on the officiating, you are NOT focused on doing what your job is, which is to coach your team. I’m not saying that a conversation or two isn’t warranted from time to time to get something interpretted, but if you become too involved with the officiating, you cannot coach your team to the best of your ability. Again, lesson learned from experience . . .

4. There is one thing you can be critical of officials on. As long as the officials are consistent with their interpretation of the ebbs and flows of the game, whether it’s good or bad, physical or finesse, you shouldn’t be saying alot, and neither should your players. You might not like it, but as long as you know how the deck is going to be dealt, play the cards you have in your hand; you can’t control anything else.

5. Be respectful. Seems simple, but in the heat of the moment, we tend to make mistakes. Keep things professional, like trying your best to learn and remember the officials names (another thing that I was not good at). One thing that I tried to do towards the end of every game, especially when the outcome was decided, was to tell the officials “thank you” and compliment them on their performance. Things like that go a long ways in building respect and relationships with officials, so when you do have a disagreement with an official, they’re more apt to be patient and listen to your point of view.

We are facing an officiating shortage in our game, just like we’re facing a coaching shortage, as least ones that are willing to do more than coach from the stands or the dinner table. We’re having more and more verbal and physical confrontations between coaches and officials or spectators and officials. Last year, I was at a game where I personally saw one fan get into the face of an official in the middle of the game, and the fan was removed. No more than two minutes of game time went by when anothe spectator did the same thing, going so far as throwing an empty beverage bottle at the official.

And we wonder why good people don’t want to officiate?

We all need to do our part in breaking the cycle of this type of behaviors. Not only do we need to focus on our team, but let’s help the officials do their jobs to the best of their abilities as we dive deeper into “January Season”.

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME XI: The 2017-18 Villanova Wildcats Men’s Basketball Team

In one of our earlier podcasts, we covered “The Beautiful Game” San Antonio Spurs, and this team may be the collegiate equivalent of that team. The national champions from the 2017-18 season went on a tear in the postseason, winning all six NCAA tournament games by double figures, but is that enough to truly put them in the upper echelon of teams on our list? Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and I came up with our judgment, but you tell us what you think . . .

Get signed up TODAY for the 6th Annual “A Pen And A Napkin” Spring Coaches Clinic!

Subscribe now

THE COACHES CORNER: Jay Wright

As we discussed in “The Greatest Teams” pod, Jay Wright may be the most influential coach in the game during the 2010's. Let’s take a look at some of the best stuff that Coach Wright has out there!

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Murder in Brentwood by Mark Fuhrman

The “Trial of the Century” has many central and controversial characters, no more so than Mark Fuhrman, who was at the epicenter of the epicenter of the issue of race during his testimony. Nonetheless, Fuhrman weaves together a great read in Murder in Brentwood about the examination of evidence and events of the O.J. Simpson trial. A fun read for a true crime fan!

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Soup by Jon Gordon

Jon Gordon, famous for weaving allegories about leadership and personal growth, does this with Soup. A new CEO of a once proud soup company takes over and needs to turn around the direction of the company in a short amount of time; how is she going to do it? I have first hand experience with this one, as we used it for our preseason reading for our team one season; you’ll get better because of it!

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Shooting Drills and Sets by Dexter Goodner, Assistant Women’s Coach, Hastings College (NE)

Subscribe now

It’s January 1st, 2026; congratulations, you’ve made it to another calendar year!

It’s also an important month for you and your program. The newness of the season has worn off, but hopefully both you and your players are refreshed from the holiday break, both physically and mentally. Players have started to settle into their roles, which is both a positive and a negative; some players are going to really like and enjoy their roles, while others are going be disappointed and possibly derogatory towards your team’s goals for the next couple of months. The great teams are starting to separate themselves from the good teams, the good teams from the average teams, and on down the line.

Regardless of where your team was at coming into the holidays, you have to keep the focus on moving forward and growing in the toughest month of the season to keep that focus. What will separate teams in February is how much they grow in January, and February kick starts either March or the off-season. Just like the turning of the calendar from 2025 to 2026, don’t take it for granted; the best make themselves better every day, because tomorrow is not promised to any of us.

Subscribe now

To help simplify your January, break it down into a mini-season unto itself. The schools that I coached at started off with a holiday tournament soon after our return from break, and towards the end of the month, we would have our in-season conference tournament. As a coaching staff, this was an easy way to use our calendar to break down this part of our season into it’s own separate segment. The focus and mission were simple; how much better are we from one tournament to the next, around three and a half to four weeks apart?

This was our “January Season”.

Not every calendar is like that, so you might have to get creative with yours, but instead of looking at mid to late February and tournament play as a far off place, narrow your journey down to the next few steps. The more you focus on making the most out of the next steps, the better the final steps of your journey will become.

What are some things that you should be looking at? Here’s some things that we considered, depending on the season:

• Do we need to narrow our playbook on either side of the ball, or can we expand it?

• How have our roles developed? Are some players over-performing? Are others underperforming? Most importantly, have we discussed roles recently with our players?

• What players are okay and don’t need alot of personal “maintenance”? Who needs more “maintenance”?

• Do we need to expand our rotation, narrow it, or keep it as is?

• Are we starting games or halves strong?

• Are we executing out of timeouts effectively?

• Are we continually emphasizing our cultural themes that we had so carefully crafted coming into the season?

• Are our player’s in a good place academically?

• How are we spending our time in practice? What do we need to emphasize more in practice? If there is something that we need to emphasize more than we have previously, with what do we take that time away from?

• What is the one or two things that we want to be markedly better at by the end of our January “season”?

• Here’s the most important question you need to ask: Are the coaches, players and managers still finding joy in what we’re doing? Are we having fun? Are we looking forward to coming to the gym on a daily basis?

Everyone is going to have approximately the same amount of practice time and competitions during this stretch. The playing field is about as even as it ever is during the season, so emphasize effort and efficiency to your players and coaches. The teams that have the most focus and attention to detail during the “January Season” set themselves up best for February, March and the following season.

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

Subscribe now

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME X: The 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers Men’s Basketball

It’s hard to believe that this year will be the 50th anniversary of the last Division I men’s basketball team, but Bob Knight’s 1975-76 Hoosiers were the last to accomplish the feat. In this pod, Jacob Brindle (an avowed Hoosier fan) and Nate Wall help me break down just how good this team was . . . were they an all-time great team, or where they great for this era? We all had our opinions, but you tell us . . .

PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDARS!

THE SIXTH ANNUAL A PEN AND A NAPKIN SPRING COACHES CLINIC

SATURDAY, APRIL 11TH, 2026

OMAHA, NEBRASKA

More details to come!

THE COACHES CORNER: THE GENERAL

Whether you liked or disliked Bobby Knight, you have to respect the basketball mind of Coach Knight. Here’s some of the best of Coach Knight and how he taught the game!

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Our players face numerous challenges not only on the floor, but also off the floor. Recommended by my daughter Genevieve, The Hate U Give dives into police violence, racial issues and personal relationships that teens face in our modern world. A great read for you to try to understand the social climate that many of our players live in daily.

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Rhythm Boys of Omaha Central by Steve Marantz

In the middle of the chaotic year of 1968, one of the best teams in the history of Nebraska high school basketball dreams of a state championship were threatened by politics, civil rights and youthful indiscretions in March of 1968, days before the state tournament. Read how basketball and politics collided in the heartland of America.

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Post Play by Andy Foster, former boys basketball coach, Sioux City Heelan

Subscribe now

“Boys win at home. Men win on the road,” was the quote this week from Fred Hoiberg before his undefeated Cornhuskers went out and won in a barnburner at one of the toughest places in the Big Ten, Illinois’ State Farm Arena. As more and more program’s invest in their arena experience and student body involvement, it has become more and more difficult to go to any gymnasium and get a win.

We’re knee-deep into the season, which means that the challenges are building for our teams. One challenge that every team faces (unless you’re on the Shawshank softball team with Andy and Red) is playing on the road. Similar to the Griswold’s loading up “The Family Truckster”, you’re going want to prepare yourself for the strange roads in front of you; you don’t want to end up like this . . .

Before you take your squad out on the road, prepare for the experience and know what you need to do to make the trip successful. Here’s some things to do before you head out on the road to prepare your team before you face the challenge of getting a win in an unwelcoming place:

*Build your team’s mental toughness: Focus on the details on everything that you do. Everything is important, and it’s that much more important on the road. There’s no such thing as “big things” and “little things”; they’re all “things”. We tried to focus on the “details”, and by taking care of the details every day, it put us in the best place possible to achieve success.

Subscribe now

*Stay in a routine: Try to do the same thing when you’re leaving the gym on every road trip. Have a routine for road trips that happen on school days, and have another routine for weekend games. Try to arrive at the opponent’s facility at approximately the same time so that they’re body clocks are as ready as they can be.

*Don’t make a big deal out of going on the road: One of the worst things that you can do is making too big of a deal about going into an opponent’s facility; you don’t want to get them so worried about the ancillary stuff that they are more worried about that than the task at hand. Play your game, control what you can control, and don’t worry about the crowd or the environment. Of course, if you have time, do this . . .

*Keep your focus on winning one possession at a time: There’s going to be good possessions and bad possessions, so keep the focus on the task at hand, which is this possession. When you make a good play, move on to the next play. Same thing for a bad play. That one is over, and the next possession isn’t there yet, so win this one. Stack together a bunch of really good possessions and you’re going to be in the best place you can be.

*Win key statistcal categories: The two biggest statistical categories you should look to control on the road are turnover margin and rebounding margin. Control one and you’ve given yourself a chance to win. Control both and you’ve got a great chance to win. By proxy, the more you take care of these two areas, the more you prevent the following from happening . . .

*Don’t allow the home team to make a run: Most good teams at home are going to make one big run at you, so you need to prepare for it; that’s why they’re a good team and they’re hard to beat at home. By controlling the turnover battle and the glass, it helps slow down momentum shifting plays, which keeps the crowd out of the game. You can survive one run, but don’t allow them to make two.

*Don’t change your style, but adjust it: On the road, you may want to limit possessions a bit more or call a few more sets to get the ball into specific hands. You also might want to be ready to use a timeout or two sooner than you’d normally would. It’s the art of coaching, so read the situation and your team accordingly.

*Gauge your success and react accordingly: Every win should be celebrated, because winning is hard! However, depending on your team, you can and probably should react to a big road win differently. If you’re a veteran team looking to do great things, keep the focus on the big picture and, while enjoying the win, remind your team that this is another step in your journey. For a young team looking to win, it’s appropriate to get really excited and use the momentum of the big win to propel your team and program forward!

Remember, winning is really hard, and winning on the road is really, really hard! Never take moments like winning a big game on the road for granted, so when something big happens (like this), celebrate it!

(Sorry, I had to do it . . .)

Every team is going to face the challenge of going out on the road; just like with everything else that you do, much of this comes down to your daily practices. If you have great practices, then everything, including going out on the road, will take care of itself!

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME IX: The 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers

Before the Chicago Bulls of the mid-1990s or the Warriors teams of the mid-2010s, there was the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers. Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and I examine one of the forgotten great teams in basketball history, whose roster and achievements were unbelievable. We also get an “on the ground” perspective from my dad, who absolutely loved this team. We all agreed that this was an all-time great team, but do you believe that this a great team? You tell us . . .

Subscribe now

THE COACHES CORNER: HIT THE GLASS!

As we said earlier, controlling the boards is one of the biggest keys that you have to win on the road. Here’s some great rebounding drills that you can implement to your practice plans to help your team be the best they can be on the glass!

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Conrad’s legendary work about one man’s obsession with finding a strange Mr. Kurtz in the jungles of Africa served as the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. An allegory for going on a long journey searching for something that, if even found, will not answer all of our questions, Conrad’s work is timeless.

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday

On a daily basis, both personally and professionally, we’re going to run into things that make it more difficult to reach our goals. How do we handle these obstacles? More importantly, shouldn’t we actually embrace these obstacles that will actually benefit us and make us better? Ryan Holiday’s best seller is a great in-season read to help remind you that nothing is easy on any journey!

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Shell Drill Options, Rebounding and Transition Defense Jen Wragge, Head Girls Basketball Coach, Elkhorn (NE) High School

I love to read, but I’m really picky about buying new books. Truth be told, I hate having to pay full price for a new book. One of my favorite haunts (and my families as well) is either Half-Priced Books in West Omaha or the used book sale from the Omaha Public Library on the first Saturday of each month.

It’s nirvana for this book nerd.

So it had to be a pretty big deal for me to drop full price on Never Stop: Life, Leadership And What it Takes To Be Great, Dan Hurley’s autobiography/inspirational/leadership book that recently came out. Hurley’s a fascinating guy; winner of back to back national championships and part of the direct lineage of one of America’s preeminent basketball families. Dad Bob Sr. is one of a handful of high school coaches in the Naismith Hall of Fame, while brother Bobby won back to back national championships at Duke in the early 1990s and is the current head coach at Arizona State.

Although Bob Sr. was undoubtedly a great coach and Bob Jr. (whether you want to admit it or not, especially if you were not a Duke fan in the early 1990s) was undoubtedly a great player, it was Dan who struggled with his place in the family hierarchy. And that’s where the appreciation for this book starts.

The first thing that I’ll say about the book is that it is unabashedly honest, perhaps one of the most honest autobiographies I’ve ever read. If Coach Hurley held anything back, I can’t imagine what it would be. Over the last three or four years, the coaching Twitter handles and websites are filled with the X’s and O’s that Hurley and his staff has ran at UConn, and deservedly so. But the greatest lesson that he may be giving us in this book is the human story, the struggle behind the greatness.

Subscribe now

The struggles to measure up to others expectations. The struggle to meet your own expectations. The ups and downs of life. The periods of self-doubt. Of personal foibles. The darkest moments that, as both humans and coaches, we almost universally experience, even if we don’t admit it. Dan Hurley has been and continues to go through these experiences, and the most teachable moments this book has to offer has nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with accepting who were are and, more importantly, who we are not. It’s to understand that perfection is unachievable and we’re all works in progress, that there’s more to learn about ourselves and life and who we truly are.

It’s real.

It’s raw.

And it’s inspirational.

When it comes to the actual basketball philosophy of Coach Hurley, the best part of the book is at the end, aptly titled “And One”. Here’s some excerpts and quotes from my favorite parts of this part":

*Late bloomers need love too . . . I’m fifty-two and I didn’t reach my personal mountaintop until the last few years.

*Regret’s an empty illusion, and everyone, leaders especially, needs to remember that.

*You can’t appreciate your success until you realize it’s built on a foundation of failure.

*All I’m trying to do at UConn is be a great motivator, a surrogate father figure, an inspiring leader, a consistent winner and the best coach in basketball . . . while also being a good father and husband at home. Is that so much to ask of myself?

*If you told one of my first coaches that you had mental health issues, he’d tell you to shut the hell up. And he’d think he was doing the exact right thing-the best thing for you.

*How do you reach Gen Z? My answer is simple: with love . . . Young coaches need to hear that. In an increasingly cynical age, they need permission to coach with that kind of totality-and love.

*So much of coaching is just sitting-being around them (your players) a lot.

*I’m not treating Gen Z any differently . . . Work hard, be accountable, be responsible, be disciplined, don’t ever make yourself bigger than the team-period. What’s that got to do with which generation you come from?

*You tell your brain who’s the boss, not the other way around.

*I don’t want TikTokers; I want ball players.

*I don’t over-promise and then under-deliver . . . I want them to see me at my worst, and if they’re committed to that, then we’ve got something to work with.

*Laughter is such a great and underappreciated tool for learning.

*You have to make kids believe in themselves. You have to leave the losses in the film room. If your kids aren’t confident, you’ve got no shot.

*I see people lowering their expectations and standards, then complaining about the quality of kid they’re getting . . . you can’t be afraid of conflict. If you ignore it, it’s going to multiply.

Subscribe now

*When I think back on the darkest times of my life, they’re united by one common theme: Either I didn’t have clearly defined standards for myself, or else I wasn’t living up to my own standards.

*You have to be willing to lose a game during the season to teach discipline or to uphold your culture. Lose a battle to win the war.”

I get it that there’s not a lot of gray area when it comes to Dan Hurley; most people are either passionately for or against him. Wherever you lie on this spectrum, I whole-heartedly encourage you to pick up a copy of Never Stop. You’re going to learn a lot about basketball, but you’re going to learn a lot more about yourself and life.

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME VIII: The 2015-16 Connecticut Women’s Team

Our second women’s college team that we’re covering in our “Greatest Teams” podcast series is the 2015-16 UConn Huskies. Lead by Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck, with future pros Naphessa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson coming in as freshman, this may have been Geno Auriemma’s crowning team. The three of us believed that this was an all-time great team, but do you believe that this a great team? You tell us . . .

Subscribe now

THE COACHES CORNER: JIM CALHOUN

Are you sensing a certain theme right now (Honestly, we decide on the next pod right after we tape the previous one; that part is just coincidence . . . or is it fate?)??? Regardless, we’re here to talk about one of the most underrated coaches of the last fifty years in Jim Calhoun (how a guy can be underrated with three national championships is beyond me . . .) and what made him a great coach!

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain

We’re all in on “The Constitution State” on this edition of the newsletter, aren’t we? The Mark Twain classic, which I read my junior year of high school, highlights the story of Hank Morgan, who is mysteriously transported back to the time of King Arthur. He brings the modern world to the Arthurian landscape, baffles Merlin, wins jousts and much more! A legendary American novel for anyone at any age!

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Geno: In Pursuit of Perfection by Geno Auriemma and Jackie MacMullan

When Geno wrote this book, he had only five of his now twelve national championship trophies in Storrs with him. Nonetheless, it is a great read of what drives a winner and how they look to find any edge possible to help both themselves and their teams. A great read for any coach!

APAAN EXTRA: Interview Episode #200 with Bob Hurley Sr.!

https://rss.com/podcasts/apenandanapkin/1232494/

Here’s a little backstory about this episode . . .

I was able to reach Coach Hurley’s daughter, Melissa, whom arranged things with Coach and I. She did tell me that he wanted to talk to me the day before about what I wanted to talk about on the pod, which was no problem.

We arranged to talk during my free period at school the day before. I was a little nervous, and I figured we’d chat for five minutes, go through the rundown and that would be that.

Wrong.

Coach Hurley and I ended up talking for 45 minutes about life, basketball, challenges of coaching and everything inbetween. I literally had to kick him off the phone so I could teach my 8th period history class! The next night, when we recorded, we talked another 15 minutes before recording and another 20-30 minutes afterward.

Genuine. Honest. Good people. Driven by integrity.

That’s the Hurley family.

Enjoy!

Subscribe now

Many coaches have started their season, and others will begin their season shortly. We have spent countless hours and days the last few months preparing for this moment. We’ve watched game film from last year, both on ourselves and our opponents. We’ve worked on fundamentals with our players. We’ve tried to cultivate the next generation of our players. We’ve read books (hopefully two or three by a certain author who shall remain nameless . . .) to help us build our culture and our standards. All of that hard work has led to this moment, where we’re going to apply it and create the best possible environment and the best possible team for this season.

All of that is great, and it’s what you should be doing. You’ve prepared for all of these things, but there is one more thing you should be preparing for . . .

What happens when something goes wrong?

Subscribe now

One of the things that we blind ourselves to is anticipating that our best laid plans are always going to work out and nothing bad is going to happen. Instead, what we should be doing is anticipating that bad things could and probably will happen. In doing so, we should then have a plan as to how we’re going to react to them.

In Stoic philosophy, this is called premeditatio malorum, or “negative visualization”. These are things that we don’t really have any control over, and in many cases, we have literally no control over, but we must deal with them anyway. These are the things that happen during the season that will define our season and the obstacles that we must overcome to get to where we want to go. These are the challenges that arise, often out of nowhere, and we must figure out how to achieve our goals despite these events.

Here are ten things that happened to me throughout my career that would fall into the category of premeditatro malorum. Some of them are pretty common, while others are not as common; regardless, all of these were unforseen challenges that we had to overcome to achieve our goals.

1. A chatastrophic injury to a key player.

2. A long term illness to a key player.

3. An unhappy parent or administrator.

4. A discipline situation, whether that’s a classroom or team related situation.

5. Weather negates practice or game time.

6. The sharing of facilities becomes difficult and you lack the practice time that you would like to have.

7. A key player decides to quit or not participate.

8. Losing an emotional game.

9. Winning an emotional game (yes, that can become a problem as well).

10. A lack of ownership or leadership from your players.

    Subscribe now

Although most of the possibilities on this list are fairly common occurances, we are still blindsided by and struggle to react when these events happen. As leaders, when these events happen, the infrastructure of our program is looking at us to solve the problem, and usually sooner rather than later. You can’t prepare for the exact moment when adversity hits, as it often arrives unannounced. What you can do is prepare for its inevitable arrival every day.

Here are some tips for solving these problems:

1. Change your mindset to where you see the situation as having to solve the problem, you get to solve the problem. This is why you have been selected as a leader, so don’t run away from it. It’s up to you to embrace the issue, find a solution and then sell the solution to your constituents.

2. Do your best to anticipate problems before they happen. Before a big game, predetermine without emotion what you’re going to say in the locker room if you win or lose. Construct a depth chart where, instead of anticipating injuries or illness, anticipate what you’ll do if player X gets into foul trouble. Discuss with your administration before the season the players or parents whose attitude you are concerned with and how you plan on dealing with it. By putting in some of this work beforehand, you’ll minimize reacting to the event because you’ve thought it out already.

3. Take it slow. You don’t have to make a decision right now. Eventually, you do have to make a decision, but normally you’re going to have 24-48 hours to digest the event before you have to respond, so take advantage of every minute possible. Remember, you don’t have to show your cards until you absolutely have to.

4. Consult with the people you trust. Even if you’ve got a good idea as to what you’re going to do, get your staff involved and get their perspective, as it helps them back your decision when they feel like they have had a chance to contribute to the solutions to the events. Also, don’t be afraid to ask other coaches what they might do, especially if it is off the court stuff. As coaches, we must stay strong and stick together!

5. Once you’ve created your course of action, don’t look back. The events have happened and you’ve made your decision as to how you’re going to move forward. Therein lies the key; you’ve got to move forward. Don’t secondguess yourself until the season is over, then reflect on what you could have done better or differently.

   It’s time to move forward!

When it comes to making decisions, perhaps Ma Joad from The Grapes of Wrath put it best . . .

Subscribe now

Want to learn how to be the CEO of your program? Who are coaches you should study or books you should read? How can I build a great culture in our program?

All of those questions and more will be answered if you decide to invest in “Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO”! “Hoops 365” features 365 separate topics related to building your skill set to run your program with knowledge and efficiency! Each topic gives you space to answer questions, reflect and dive into how you want to build. your program!!

“Hoops 365: A One Year Guide To Becoming a Basketball CEO” is avialable for purchase via Amazon.com for $26.99. Don’t miss out on your chance to enhance your skill set as the CEO of your program one day at a time!

BASKETBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS PODCAST VOLUME VII: The 1995 North Carolina Tar Heels

Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and I take a look at one of the best teams that didn’t win a national championship, the 1995 North Carolina Tar Heels. Headlined by two All-Americans in Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, Dean Smith’s ninth Final Four squad played in a loaded ACC and battled its share of blue bloods before losing to Arkansas in the Final Four. An uber talented team for sure, but was this a great team? You tell us . . .

THE “COACHES CORNER”: Dean Smith

One of the legends of the game, Coach Smith was not just a coach, he was a leader and mentor of men. Here’s a wide variety of clips on Coach Smith, from his “Sportscentury” biography to him teaching both offense and defense. If you haven’t studied Coach Smith, start diving in TODAY!

Subscribe now

“OFF THE SHELF” NON-BASKETBALL BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The 100 Best Selling Albums of the 1980s by Peter Dodd, Justin Cawthorne and others

As many of you know, I’m Gen X through and through, and going through this small book was a great trip down memory lane! The first album I ever owned was Michael Jackson’s Thriller for having good grades on my report card in third grade, and away I went into my pop culture obsession . . . from U2 (my favorite band) to The Boss and Born In The USA to many others, this is a great book to relive many of our childhoods!

“OFF THE SHELF” BASKETBALL/LEADERSHIP BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Last Banner: The Story of the 1985-86 Boston Celtics by Peter May

Dr. J, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird all revitalized the NBA in the 1980s, and all have a claim to being the leader on some of the greatest teams ever to play the game. Bird may have the last laugh with the 1985-86 Celtics squad that won the title in convincing fashion against an overmatched Houston Rockets squad in the finals. Learn all of the stories of what made this one of the greatest teams of all time (and a future Greatest Teams podcast subject)!

APAAN “UNIVERSITY” VIDEO: Dexter Goodner, Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach at Hastings College (NE) Shooting Drills and Sets