Episode 4 of the Dynamic Coaching Tools Podcast features Coach Greg White, the Head Coach of West High School (Northwest Arkansas). Coach White is also a speaker for USA Basketball, at their Coaches Academy. His topics include building a program, as well as offensive systems. Coach White also has a website, www.3fromthecorner.com
Coach White spent time talking to us about his ball screen offensive system, the foundations of building a program, establishing a culture, and the impact of AAU basketball on the future of our game. There were countless takeaways from our conversation, but here are a few of them.
3 C’s of a Program
- Community
- Classroom
- Court
Foundations of Building a Program
- CULTURE = Blueprint
- IMPACT = Thumb Print
- Must DEFINE SUCCESS
Program > Team > Player
You can reach Coach White via Twitter:
You can also find great resources at his website:
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20 & 10 CHALLENGE
Successful coaches are creatures of habit. They create systems and processes that allow them to attack each day in an organized way. While reading the book “The 5AM Club,” by Robin Sharma, we were introduced to the “20/20/20 Formula.” This formula offers a simple way to get a great start to your day. The 20/20/20 Formula includes:
20 minutes of exercise
20 minutes of meditation or in-depth reflection
20 minutes of learning or reading
We have been using this formula with our team. Our players receive off-season points, if they post their 20/20/20 Formula before 9:00AM. We made a couple of minor adjustments, so our program 20/20/20 includes:
20 minutes of exercise
20 minutes of reading or listening to a podcast
20 minutes of meditation or writing out a schedule for your day
Lastly, we are going to use this to start an exciting new Challenge for coaches! It is going to be the DCT 20 & 10 Challenge.
This challenge will be the 20/20/20 Formula, with a basketball twist, and it will last 10 days. The first group will go from August 12 – 21.
Dynamic Coaching Tools (DCT) 20 & 10 Challenge
- We will have 10 coaches in the initial group.
- Each morning, coaches will exercise for 20 minutes, read for 20 minutes, and will meet on a scheduled Zoom call for 20 minutes. We will meet at 6:30AM (CT) | 7:30AM (ET).
- The 20 minutes zoom call will be a web clinic. This short web clinics will be led by the coaches in the 20 & 10 challenge. Each day, a new coach will present, based on a schedule that will be shared with the group. Coaches can pick any topic that they want to present about, as long as they can present for 20 minutes.
- At the end of 10 days, every coach who completes the challenge, will have a chance to launch their own group.
Are you interested in joining us to create better habits, optimize your mornings, and network with other coaches?
Fill out the form HERE. We have limited spots. If you miss out on the first 20 & 10 Challenge, we will offer you an opportunity to join us when we “run it back” at the end of the August. -
Three Ideas from the Football Field
Coaches like Buzz Williams and Tom Izzo regularly reference the way that Football coaches do things. They also credit football coaches for making a positive impact on their programs. All basketball coaches should be looking around for great ideas, and other sports offer some opportunities to learn and grow. Below are three ideas, which basketball coaches should steal from their football programs.
1 – Script your first few possessions of the game
A great way to help your team find a rhythm offensively, is to script the first few half court possessions. The number of possessions is dependent on your teams ability to retain information and then execute. We like to script our first three possessions, as well as our first baseline out of bounds play. By scripting it, we are able to put our players into a comfortable position. We can select the set, based on something that we scouted on film. The players that are in a position to make a decision, or take a shot, have practiced that specific scenario the day before the game. This builds confidence. Furthermore, this is especially successful in hostile road environments, as you try to take the crowd out of the game.
2 – Put an Assistant Coach over both sides of the ball
As a Head Coach, one of the hardest things to do is to give up control. In reality, we need to recognize that we have all of the power, but no control at all. We can work on things, but it is up to our players to execute. We can ask our Assistant Coaches to be engaged, to buy in, and to help develop our team. Football coaches make the ultimate decisions, but they also hire an Offensive and Defensive Coordinator that they can trust. These Assistant Coaches play a major role in the success of the team. It also allows the Head Coach to focus on a specific side of the ball, without the other side feeling neglected. In practice, we might want to focus on the defensive side of the floor. Who is holding the offensive players accountable to do things the right way? Assigning an Assistant Coach to each side of the floor, will allow the Head Coach to focus on specific aspects of the team development, while also ensuring that nothing is neglected.
3 – Stress the importance of Special Teams
Football coaches make a huge deal about the impact the Special Teams have on the game. What are Special Teams in Basketball? We view Special Teams as baseline out of bounds plays and sideline out of bounds plays. Other coaches will add factors, such as points off of turnovers, second chance points, or free throws made. Simply using the out of bounds plays are very easy to track within the game. If your team is able to find an advantage within the “Special Teams,” it can be especially important in close games. Look back at last year’s numbers and see what impact the “Special Teams” had on your team.
For more ideas, feel free to contact us via e-mail INFO@dynamiccoachingtools.com
or on Social Media: @DynamicCoaching
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Instantly Improve Your Offense
Every off-season, coaches spent countless hours researching and studying different ways to improve. Too often, this leads to coaches completely hitting the reset button on their program’s offensive plans. Here are a few simple ways to instantly improve your offense!
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Offense starts the moment your team gains possession. TEACH the game this way.
- When teaching our half court offense, we stress things like spacing, player movement, ball movement, and we provide structure to help players read the game. Why not teach transition the same way?
- SPACING | There two ways to stretch the defense. Vertically and horizontally. If we can get multiple bodies in front of the ball, we will stretch the defense vertically. If we can get our wings to run wide, we are now stretching the defense horizontally. This should be an instant reaction, the moment your team gains possession of the ball.
- PLAYER MOVEMENT | Win the first three steps! If your players will sprint the first three steps, you will get players in front of the ball. When you throw the ball ahead, have you taught your team how and where to space around the ball? Do wings run to the corner and spot up or bounce off of the baseline and lift to free throw line extended? Transition offense includes player movement and should be taught.
- BALL MOVEMENT | One of our favorite phrases is that we want “two early shares” in transition. If we can get two direct passes in transition, we are likely to have tremendous flow and rhythm on that offensive possession.
- PROVIDING STRUCTURE | We want to provide spacing rules, simple secondary actions, and then teach our kids to flow seamlessly into our half court offense.
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REMOVE “set it up” from your vocabulary
- One of the most under taught parts of an offensive attack is “FLOW.”
- Teaching FLOW requires a coach to get creative in practice, abandon static starting points, and requires teaching players HOW TO PLAY.
- The benefit is that the defense is unable to use the “setup time,” to also get themselves organized.
- One of the most under taught parts of an offensive attack is “FLOW.”
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Create an ATTACKING mentality, with an understanding of IF/THEN responses.
- The easiest way to create an attacking mentality in your players is to view mistakes in practice as teachable moments.
- The best teams are confidently attacking, as opposed to having “paralysis by analysis.” In simple terms, they are too busy playing basketball, to stop and think about what is next.
- If you can create aggressive basketball players, you will see improvements in your offense.
- To learn more about IF/THEN responses, check out THIS BLOG POST.
Lastly, what does this look like? Here is a video of our team putting these three simple concepts on display.
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