A Pen And A Napkin

One of the greatest challenges that we face as coaches is the fine line between under coaching and over coaching. This week, Tony and I break down some doe's and don'ts when managing your team and how to coach them as the season goes on. Along with that, Tony and I give our Sweet 16 predictions for both the men's and women's brackets, and we also discuss turning down postseason bids. Enjoy!

It's hard to take over any position as a head coach, but it's even harder to take over a job when you're stepping into the shoes of one of the most successful head coaches in the history of Nebraska. Steve Klein did that and more, going 27-1 and winning a state championship this past season for Bellevue West. Coach Klein and I discuss moving into his job, the things that he learned, the journey of...

As we get around to the spring time, it is a time of renewal. For some folks, they are going to be looking on to other jobs, which is a complicated process. In this episode, Tony and I break down what you should be looking for in a job, the red flags that may crop up and how you should attack going after a job. We also have our trivia segment and our TWIB discussion, including "March Madness" and...

Scott Guzinski, the highly successful head coach at Oakland-Craig (NE) High School, jumps on the podcast this week to talk about a variety of topics. We chat about coaching in small towns, the opportunity to have "trial and error" in your coaching development, the chance to take over a successful program, transition offense and ALOT of defensive principles. Really fun chat!

This week, Tony and I discuss ways that you can bond with your coaching staff and bring them closer together, from team activities to concepts that you can do together off the field or floor. Along with that we have our usual trivia and TWIB segment. In the opening, I discuss some of the reasons why I stepped away from my coaching job, what coaches should be thinking and the future of APAAN.

This week, Tony and I discuss how to create a bond with your staff and how to make it as close as you possibly can. We have alot of different strategies and ideas to help you bring your staff closer together. Along with that, we have trivia and our TWIB segment, but in the opening, I discuss some of my thought process about my resignation from my coaching job and the future of APAAN.

In our first state tournament roundtable, Britt Ehlers of Crete (NE) GBB, Dexter Goodner of Hastings College (NE) WBB and the legend himself, TK of Boys Town (NE) comes on the podcast at the Mellow Mushroom in "The RailYard" in downtown Lincoln to discuss a variety of topics, including the shot clock, calming your team down in big games, how to handle the end of the season and much more! Enjoy the...

Episode #212 features Laethion Brown, the girls basketball HC at Centura (NE) High School. Coach Brown is coming off of a state championship run last season and has his squad back at the state tournament this season! In our episode, Coach Brown talks about building his program, being asked to be harder on his players, his influences, defensive philosophy, how he sets up practice and much more! Enj...

As we end our seasons, it's always a tough situation. We're tired and exhausted, having been on a three to five month sprint, so what do you need to prioritize and what should you be doing? What should you expect to happen? Tony and I talk about these topics, along with our usual trivia and "TWIB" segment. Enjoy this week's "Coaching Staff"!

Episode #211 features Kevin "Q" White of Portage Northern (MI) High School. As the boys coach, he has started a rebuild in Kalamazoo and has things rolling in the right direction. In this podcast, we discuss his rebuild, interviewing for a job and the preparation that you should put into it, the importance of networking and working camps, transition offense, favorite drills and much more! Enjoy th...

Tyler Byrd is a therapist and sports psychologist based out of Omaha, and I've known Tyler for a few years. Tyler dives into his background and discusses a wide variety of topics to help coaches out in today's world. We chat about the biggest challenges that our young people face today, common mistakes that are made by coaches, how to build leaders in your program, parents and much more! You're go...

It's February, and that means that each team is preparing itself to win on the margins, both on and off the court, as we head into post-season play. This week, Tony and I discuss the things that you can control as a coach to help put your team in the best place possible. We also have our trivia segment, and we chat all new things in the world of hoops. Enjoy!

Really excited to have Jim McLaughlin, the head boys basketball coach at Freeman (NE) on for this week's podcast. Coach McLaughlin has built an impressive program at Freeman over the last two decades, and we discuss a variety of topics, including being a young head coach, developing a youth program, building a great defense, the mental game, networking and players development. Enjoy this conversat...

On episode #208, we're excited to host the boys basketball coach from Doniphan-Trumbull (NE), Kelan Buhr!! Coach Buhr has done a great job in building a great, small-school program, and he discusses their youth program, off-season development, what to try to do to get over the hump this season at the state tournament, communicating with parents and much more! Enjoy this terrific conversation!

Tony and I break down a bunch of stuff this week, including how to prepare and coach big games. As we get closer to the end of the season and the importance of games only heightens, you need to have certain strategies and mindsets in place in order to give yourself a chance to succeed. Tony and I break down a bunch of different things on that topic, along with trivia, Adrian Griffin getting let go...

As we celebrate episode #500, we decide to sit down and have a little breakfast with two of "The Committee" members, Tom Krehbiel and Marc Kruger, to discuss a bunch of different topics. We chat about the Nebraska Prep Classic, our teams and where we're at at this point of the season, what we want and should be working on, and discussing our approval rating of the new foul system. Words cannot exp...

In the last week, we've seen the resignations or retirements of three legendary football coaches; Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick and Nick Saban. These three legendary coaches are intertwined in so many ways, so in this episode, Tony and I break down what made each one of these coaches great, why it's important to learn from other sports and much more!

On the Keith Olberman/ Dan Patrick/ halfway to Danny Darwin (if you get all of this, you're my kind of people) episode, we welcome in Trevor Mickelson from ADM (IA) high school. In this episode, we discuss building a system, being an offensive coordinator and how they made it work at Waukee, along with implementing a system and much more. Plus, a tribute to Charlie, my four legged son . . .

@gb1121 (Greg Berge) has some great stuff on Twitter, and this week we dive into some of the major elements that could destroy a team. Early to mid-January is the time of the season that players (and parents) can become frustrated with various issues, so what are some steps that you can take to try to prevent this issues from escalating? Tony and I discuss that, along with trivia, the return of Dr...

We're back with our interview series this week with Amherst (NE) Boys HC Eric Rippen. Coach Rippen has had a great run recently at Amherst, but not without its challenges. Coach Rippen discusses coaching his program through great tragedy, special situations, lessons learned as an AC, scouting philosophy, pressbreaks and much more. Great discussion with one of Nebraska's up and coming coaches!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and I wanted to update everyone on a few things, including why I haven't been posting pods and Twitter postings, a retrospective on one of Nebraska's greats, Brad Feeken, who recently lost his battle with cancer and announcing the date for our 4th Annual "A Pen And A Napkin" Coaches Clinic!!

The winter moratorium is a great time to make adjustments to your team, whether that's line up adjustments, schematic adjustments, cultural adjustments or how you structure your practices. This week, Tony and I discuss what you should be looking at when it comes to adjustments, how to implement them, and we also discuss some of the adjustments that we've made with our own teams. Along with trivia,...

Kasey Krager, the GBB HC at Sioux Central (IA), is our guest this week! Coach Krager is back at his alma mater and has built a very solid program. We discuss his career path, building off of a disappointing ending to last season and how that has benefitted this team, playing a tough early season schedule, BLOB's, practice setup and much more. Enjoy this terrific conversation!

"Rebounding wins Rings" is a popular slogan amongst teams, and there's alot of truth to it! This week, Tony and I break down the importance of rebounding, methods that we have used to teach rebounding, and some of our favorite drills . Along with that, we have trivia and our TWIB segment, so enjoy!!

Brandon Schwab, the GBB HC at Algona Biship Garrigan (IA) comes on the podcast to discuss a wide variety of topics on the pod this week. We discuss being a farmer while being a basketball coach, his influences, learning how to win a state championship, coaching a Top 50 national recruit, offensive and defensive philosophy in the half court and much more! Great conversation with one of Iowa's best!