Basketball Statistics Blog

Basketball Statistician's Digest: Basketball Coaching Philosophy

From The Coaches Clipboard By Dr. James A. Gels
Download source here: ' Basketball Coaching Philosophy '

"... Each coach must develop his/her own coaching philosophy, or system of beliefs and ideas. When interviewing for a coaching position, the question almost always comes up, "What is your coaching philosophy?" This article discusses a number of thoughts relating to this topic. ..."

"... Whatever your style, be agreeable and, without compromising your principles, be someone that is easy to work with. As a coach, you have to interact and deal with a lot of people... players, administration, faculty, parents, assistants, opposing coaches and players, officials, fans, etc. We all like working with someone who is agreeable and easy to work with, and someone who follows the rules and is respectful of others. ..."

"... Communicate with your players as a group and one-on-one, and maintain an "open door" policy. Before the season starts, meet with each player individually about goals, expectations, etc. Have occasional team meetings to discuss "issues". Ask players for their input at halftime. ..."

"... Flexibility is key here. Some years, you may have race horses and you can use the running game. Other years, you may have mules and bulls and will find the slower paced, inside power game better. Even if you are a coach that structures your entire program on one style of play, you may find that you will need to be flexible in some game situations. For example, we like to press and run. But when we have a couple of our slower players in the game, we may have to drop the press in favor of good half-court defense. ..."

"... Team goals could vary from year to year. A team goal might be to win the state championship, or the conference title, or maybe to finish above .500 with a winning record. With a team lacking in talent or experience, it might be to just be a better team by the end of the season, in preparation for next year. Individual player goals might be developing a post player's moves and strength, or a guard's dribbling, ball-handling, and shooting. But personal character goals are even more important... developing priorities, commitment, work ethic, trust, loyalty, etc. ..."

Read more in The Coaches Clipboard

To read Today's 'Press Clippings' in Spanish, click this week above on the 'Español' tab or afterwards click here: 'Proceso de Toma de Decisiones en Baloncesto' por Damián Iglesias Gallego y otros

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