A Pen And A Napkin

"Rebounding wins Rings" is a popular saying, but what is your rebounding philosophy on the offensive glass, and how are you going to progressively teach rebounding to reach a crescendo and create chaos in practice? Here are some things to think about when it comes to building your program's philosophy as to how best clean the glass.

Creighton Assistant Women's Basketball Coach Carli (Tritz) Berger jumps on the podcast to discuss a variety of topics, including how being a great player has affected her coaching career, women in coaching, recruiting multi-sport athletes, teaching Creighton's highly effective motion offense and building a great culture at Creighton! Great podcast with one of the best young female coaches in the g...

Ryan Reeder, the Boys HC at Waverly High School and co-director of the Lincoln Supreme Court AAU program, jumps on the pod to discuss executing a wedding in the time of Covid-19, organizing his staff, teaching an effective 2-3 match-up zone, using timeouts and scouting opponents, along with thoughts and concepts on developing players.

In the second half of our look at Hugh Blane's "The Seven Principles of Transformational Leadership", we look at the highlights of the last four priniciples, the key components to them, and how you can implement them into your program. Also included are tips on how to not only look at your program, but looking at yourself and how to put yourself in a transformational mindset!

One of the reasons the vast majority of high school coaches get into the profession to help young people grow and flourish in whatever it is they do, using sports as a way to teach life lessons. But how do you build a process of doing that with everyone one of your players? "The 7 Principles of Transformational Leadership" is a great read to help you not only be a better coach, but to be the leade...

Basketball has changed rapidly in the last decade, and analytics have much to do with that. "Basketball Analytics: Spatial Tracking" was one of the first books to look at NBA data to make analytics understandable to the laymen basketball fan. Here are some findings by A Pen And A Napkin that can correllate to the high school game and help your program achieve more wins by breaking down the game ev...

Coaches and players are going to get sick and miss practices and competitions, but what are some things that we can do to protect our programs from the growing trend of players missing time because of club sports? Here are some ideas for coaches to hold your players and parents accountable and to protect your program.

OSA Director Connor O'Neill, Millard West HC Marc Kruger and Papillion-LaVista HC Josh Siske hang out in my hotel room for an hour and we discuss four big topics; defensive transition, offensive transition, scrimmage concepts and free throw drills and games that you can run in your practices and make them more effective. Alot of great ideas bounced off of one another over this hour!

During the grind of the season, we sometimes forget that EVERY practice should contain certain elements of growth by both the players and the coaching stafff. Here is a simple way where you can look at yourself and your program every day to make sure that your practices and how you execute them stay consistent and aligned with the vision of what you want.

In our latest edition of Headlines!, Casey Hall and I break down the biggest headlines in hoops, including the return of high school basketball, the effect of Covid-19 both in the present and what could happen in the future, the return of the NBA, games we're looking forward to in the bubble and our NBA title favorites!

Long time HS HC Bruce Chubick of Omaha South High School comes on the podcast to discuss a variety of topics, including his unique journey, health scares, an important discussion on the civil unrest in our nation right now and how he has rebuilt numerous programs.

2020 has been a crazy year, and many historians have compared it to the seminal year of 1968. A little known basketball story of this time period is the narrative of the 1968 Omaha Central High School boys basketball team, who saw its dreams of a state championship interrupted by the ugliness of racism and chaos of the presidential race of 1968. A powerful, true story of how race is everpresent in...

2020 has been a crazy year, and many historians have compared it to the seminal year of 1968. A little known basketball story of this time period is the narrative of the 1968 Omaha Central High School boys basketball team, who saw its dreams of a state championship interrupted by the ugliness of racism and chaos of the presidential race of 1968. A powerful, true story of how race is everpresent in...

Papillion-LaVista Activities Director Jason Ryan comes on the pod to discuss something we haven't talked about on this pod; how to get a job! He includes what he's looking for in a candidate, what he's looking for in a resume, the importance of networking, the future of high school sports this coming school year, and much more! A lot of good information for coaches looking for a new job!

We all talk about changing or evolving our culture, but what are the concrete steps and potential pitfalls that go into the process of creating or refining your culture? "Change the Culture, Change the Game" gives you the step by step process of changing or refining your culture to put it in the place you want it to be!

As we come back to action, it's a great time to reset your team and your philosophy. Building your defense step by step is important, but what are the steps that need to be implemented? Here are some ideas and things you can take with your own defensive philosophy, along with thinking about how to streamline communication with your team to "know your no's".

Coaches are coaches, no matter what sport they coach. Former NFL GM and 3x Super Bowl Champion Michael Lombardi takes us into the minds of three of the greatest NFL coaches (Al Davis, Bill Walsh and Bill Belichick) to understand what makes them great, how they built their organizations, how they organize practices and everything else under the sun to help coaches hone their craft and make themselv...

With our society slowly but surely moving back to a state of normalcy, organized basketball is springing back into action. Most everyone is anxious to get started again, but what are some things that we need to think about as we get our players back into the gymnasium with a basketball in their hands? Here are some thoughts and ideas to consider.

The Director of the Girls Basketball Program at the Omaha Sports Academy, Connor O'Neill, comes on the pod to discuss the process of reopening summer basketball, steps that have been taken by AAU programs to ensure safety and when real basketball will begin again. We also discuss player development, good team drills and the importance of not pigeon-holing players.

One of the most respected coaches and speakers in the nation today, Super Bowl champion HC Tony Dungy has helped tens of thousands of people find direction while also holding people accountable for their actions. In his book "The One Year Uncommon Life Daily Challenge", Dungy gives a thought to all 365 days of the year, using Bibilical teachings, life experiences and common sense to help the reade...

We all want to have a great staff, but what should we look for and how should we structure it? In this podcast, we discuss the qualities that we should look for in assistant coaches, how we communicate with our staff, what assistant coaches should be looking to do for their head coach, things assistant coaches should be doing to become head coaches and more!

Dan Hughes, the 2x WNBA Coach of the Year and the head coach of the 2018 WNBA champion Seattle Storm, comes on the pod to discuss challenges of the Covid-19 crisis on the sport, building a great culture, important analytics, working with Gregg Poppovich, international basketball and developing an entire roster.

It is important to be organized going into a competition. We've all scouted and prepped our teams, but have we prepped ourselves for any situation? Having a game sheet with the important information for as many scenarios as you can imagine can be the difference in commanding a huddle and getting your team ready to win as opposed to be confused and ill-prepared. Here are some tips to prep your own...

Steve Selk, the GBB HC of perhaps the premier program historically in the state of Nebraska, South Sioux City, is our guest for today's pod. In this pod, we discuss stepping into such an established program, adjustments of a first year HC, offensive and defensive philosophy, scouting, crossover from baseball and a discussion on communicating with parents.

"Mental is to physical as 4 is to 1," legendary coach Bobby Knight once said. So how do we get our athletes to become mentally tougher? Here are some tips that may help out at least some of your athletes grow mentally and to help you, as their coach, understand why some players behave the way that they do.