From the Bench
Learning and mastering new skills
As a coach in any sport, one of the many responsibilities you have is with player development. This more often than not requires your athletes to lear... more »
Gene Keady’s 5 tips to make your program stronger
As a seven-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, Gene Keady had more than his share of success at Purdue University. Keady, a former president of the Nat... more »
Give your team something to rally behind
Prior to each season, coaches typically call a team meeting to get their players fired up for the upcoming year. You can shout words of encouragement ... more »
Creating a summer open-gym regimen that gets results
Offseason open-gym workouts — in which specific skill areas are focused on — have proven critical in preparing our teams for the following season.... more »
Player surveys take your program forward
As the season draws to a close, a coaching staff’s first job is to assess how it wants to improve the program before next year. But you can’t do t... more »
Building genuine relationships with athletes
Genuine relationship building takes time, and coaches today have to make a conscious decision to forge these relationships with their players. The ... more »
Setting expectations on and off the court
The accomplishments of your players on the basketball court only represent half the battle. Part of a coach’s job is to help players develop charact... more »
How varsity coaches can help their junior high counterparts
Great Expectations is a novel written by Charles Dickens. Expectations — great or otherwise — are what every high school varsity basketball coach ... more »
The 12 attributes of elite point guards
Great point guard play is easy to recognize, but can be difficult to define. You can talk about John Stockton, Magic Johnson and Chris Paul, and every... more »
Making time for skill development in practice
At the beginning of the season, you have many different things you must implement into your basketball practices, and unless you are fortunate enough ... more »