A Pen And A Napkin

This week's podcast features Kevin Janata, the head boys basketball coach at Howells-Dodge (NE). Coach Janata has built a consistent winner at Howells-Dodge, and we discuss his half-court offensive and defensive philosophy, along with coming home to coach, helping players through personal lost and tragedy and much, much more. Great discussion!

Coaching is very hard, very difficult to do, and you have to have a certain degree of toughness to make it in your career. Coach Mike Neighbors from the University of Arkansas came out with a great article on areas and circumstances where coaches need to be tough, so over the next two weeks Tony and I are going to break down that list and discuss the topics listed in Coach Neighbors's article. We...

Casey Hall and I are back to discuss our favorite basketball show! This week, we finally see the transition from Paul Westhead to Pat Riley, and in turn, the transformation from "The System" to "Showtime". We break down all the categories, including a great discussion on the importance of having a presence as a head coach. Enjoy!

One of the greatest compliments that someone can get is that they are consistent, and the goal of every program is to be consistently good. Tony and I discuss the things that you should be doing to "Max Out" your program on a yearly basis, from player development to "The Process". We have trivia and also our TWIB notes!

Casey Hall and I are back and ready to talk about "Winning Time" once again, and boy did we love this episode!! We break it down from start to finish, including a debate on who was more responsible for the issues for the Lakers, Magic or Westhead? Along with that, we talk a little bit about Casey's traveling exploits and much more!

It's about that time of year when Dick Jungers, my childhood friend and classmate, comes on the pod for his annual appearance, but then Dick had a great idea; why not invite on a couple of classmates? So, that's what we did! Along with Coach Jungers, we have Jay Huff, the former wrestling coach at Burlington (IA) and Ben Haugen, the baseball coach for the 2023 state champion Esko (MN) program. We...

It's Tony and I's anniversary, so we interrupted our dinner at Arby's to put together this pod for everyone. Since it's our anniversary, we thought we'd bite off the big one this week and discuss what can be done to fix youth basketball, both on the floor and off the floor. In addition, we also have trivia and our TWIB segment. Enjoy the anniversary special!!!!

It's time once again for "Winning Time"!! My co-host Casey Hall and I break down the 3rd episode of the 2nd season this week, where leadership voids are being filled while others are becoming more confusing. All that, plus the Larry Bird backstory and (unfortunately) more Honey . . . enjoy the episode!!

We're really excited to have Jason Dasinger, the boys HC at Etowah (GA) high school on the pod this week. Despite the host mispronouncing "Etowah" around 35-40 times throughout the pod, we have a great discussion on a multitude of topics. We discuss his growth as a coach, the mission of his program, understanding his own weaknesses, delegating and trusting his assistant coaches, feeder programs an...

For any team to be successful, it is vitally important that everyone know what is expected of them and how they fit into the team structure. It's hard to be good if roles are not clearly defined, so Tony and I break down our ideas on how we build out our roles within our programs and what you can do to apply these techniques to your program. We also have our trivia segment, along with "TWIB" notes...

I am THRILLED to announce the 1st Annual "A Pen And A Napkin" Fall Coaches Retreat for the weekend of October 14-15 in Omaha! 26 hours of non-stop coaching information coming your way, including: A live practice at the College of St. Mary Presenters Discussion Groups Large group discussions where ALL attendees will participate A coaches social Listen to the pod and get signed up today!!!

"Winning Time" is back this week with its 12th episode, "The Magic Is Back" as Magic comes back from his knee injury and the Lakers try to repeat. Casey Hall and I break down the entire episode and fill in the categories, including a rant by yours truly on late game huddles at the end of basketball games and how they're portrayed in media.

We haven't used this format for a while, but this week we're back with our "Quick Hitter" format! We're excited to have the following folks on this week discussing the following topics:John Carrier on his "Communication Log" and how he keeps track of his interactions with his playersJyusef Larry discusses his unique deep dive on analytics and how he uses it to build his lineupsLinndy Frieden on hi...

WE'RE 50!!!!!!! Hard to believe that Tony and I started this pod almost a year ago, but here we are; thank you so much for all of your support! This week, we are talking about leadership styles a.k.a. old school leadership vs. new school leadership. Included in this week's pod is a great exercise that I encourage all coaches to do. Of course, we'll have trivia and our "TWIB" segment, so enjoy!

SHOWTIME!!! Casey Hall and I are back to discuss Max's 2nd season of "Winning Time", based on the Jeff Pearlman book "Showtime". As the Lakers try to repeat from their 1980 championship, Casey and I discuss our favorite aspects of the episode, including favorite scenes, quotes, interesting characters, new characters and much more! We'll be here every Tuesday morning to discuss Sunday night's episo...

This week's guest is Rusty Elmore, the Men's Head Coach at Garden City Community College (KS) of the famed JayHawk Conference. Coach Elmore discusses his unique journey as a coach who started in business to his influences, the difficulties of taking over a successful program, the "Peel" defense, building a staff and much more!

Really excited to have Rex Walters, the former 1st round NBA draft pick and member of the 1993 Kansas Final Four team, on the podcast this week! Rex is now an assistant coach with the Charlotte Hornets, and we unpack his coaching career, from playing for and coaching with some of the legends of the game, to his stint at the University of San Francisco to his current job. Along with that, we discus...

If you do this job long enough, you're going to have a player or two along your journey that, for whatever reason, you have trouble fitting into your team dynamic. This week, Tony and I break down some of the things that you should be looking for when it comes to red flags for this type of player, along with some solutions and how to address the issue to make it better for everyone. Along with tha...

We had time to sneak in one more roundtable at Snow Valley this week, so I'm really happy to have Liz Kay from "The Commonwealth of Massachusetts", Ryan McAdams from Arkansas-Fort Smith and Tim Leuschen from Millard South (NE) discuss analytics, changes to practice schedules and things to consider when putting together your game schedule. Great discussion with four REALLY tired coaches!

It's always great to be at Snow Valley, and it's always great to have the opportunity to have a roundtable, so let's do both! Jeff Steines (Ames, IA), Austin Godfrey (St. Louis, MO) and the always awesome Tony Vis come together to talk giving the game back to the players, building trust in a short amount of time, being at Snow Valley and more. Enjoy!

We all want our players to get better in the summer, but how do you measure whether or not your summer was a success after it's all done? Tony and I break down a bunch of different ways to evaluate both individual and team success in the summer, along with trivia (which I nailed!), "TWIB" and some scheduling updates . . . enjoy!

This week we have one of Nebraska's best small school coaches in Traci Berg, the GBB HC at O"Neill St. Mary's. We discuss coaching at a small school with limited numbers, how to run practices with less than 10 players, offensive and defensive transition philosophy and much more. We also touch on Traci's husband's cancer diagnosis and how that has changed some of her perspectives on coaching. A gre...

Former Xavier and current Miami (OH) Men's HC Travis Steele comes on the podcast this week to discuss a variety of different topics. Some of the things that Coach Steele discusses includes his progression as a Division I coach, things he learned being a young HC at the Division I level, rebuilding the Miami program, defensive transition and player development. Great discussion with one of the best...

As we get into the thick of AAU season, we have our players, especially our seniors, really starting to think ahead for their college of choice and where they want to play. As a high school coach, there are three major things to consider; 1) What is your role as their coach? 2) What do you need to communicate to an interested college coach? and 3) What can you do to help your players get recruited...

Back home visiting my dad and step-mom, so I thought we'd have a road show podcast while I was back home! Really excited to have on Heather Graffing from Central Lyon, Ryan Brasser from West Lyon and Kiley Yates from South O'Brien to discuss a wide range of topics, including off-season improvement, off-season adjustments, building community support and much more!