A Pen And A Napkin

This week's interview series is of the "Quick HItter" style; we've got four coaches that worked the USA Gold Camp with me in Omaha a couple of weeks ago, and we're going to break down their clinics and what they did in their clinic. Brandon Henderson discusses rebounding, while Karen Self chats about finishing around the basket. Ras Vanderloo talks about 3 x 3, while James Bush comes on to talk ab...

Being the leader of your program means so much more than the X's and O's (although you have to be technically sound as a teacher as well). As the CEO of the program, you need to refine your leadership skills to benefit everyone in your program. This week, Tony and I were going to talk about all of these concepts, but our conversation was so good that we're going to split it into two weeks, so enjo...

USA Basketball Gold Medal winning coach Scott Fitch is our guest for episode #292! Coach Fitch led the U16's to another gold medal this summer, and he comes on this week's podcast to talk about relationships, things you canlearn from international basketball, his full time job as a social media speaker, organizing your game day, building a culture and much more! Coach Fitch comes from a family of...

Lute Olson is, at times, forgotten in the history of college basketball, but this week, Tony and I are here to make sure that Coach gets his flowers for his career. Starting out as a high school teacher and coach for 13 years, Coach Olson got his start at Long Beach CC before moving on to Long Beach State and the University of Iowa. After nine years in the Hawkeye state, Olson moved on to the Univ...

Omaha Westview (NE) GBB HC Jason Simons makes his maiden voyage on APAAN this week as he discusses a lot of great topics! We chat about his move from a smaller school to a bigger school, player development, starting a program from scratch at Westview, the importance of good administrators, favorite drills and much more! Coach Simons has taken his program to the state tournament by year 3, and this...

NEW PODCAST ALERT!!!!!!! The game of basketball has been around since December of 1891, but have we ever really settled this question . . . what team, at the game's highest levels, has been the most dominant single season team ever? We're not just talking about the NBA or college basketball, but the most dominant basketball team ever? In this new series, we're going to use math, the eye test and d...

Having multiple ball handlers is key to having a team that takes care of the basketball and doesn't turn it over consistently. In this week's podcast, Tony and I break down overall philosophies that we have when it comes to developing better ball handling practices, and we also go through a few of our favorite ball handling drills. In addition, we have trivia and also discuss some of the headlines...

John Thompson, the longtime men's HC at North Carolina Wesleyan, comes on the pod this week to discuss a variety of topics! Coach talks about his career, his influences, the importance of basketball to his state of North Carolina, how to be a leader for the entire institution, player development, offensive basketball and helping your players grow through your programs culture. This was a really fu...

Tony and I went to the wise Greg Berge once again to discuss eight issues that can prevent teams from achieveing their goals. From Energy Vampires to cliques to trust, all of these issues can derail any team at any level. Tony and I advise to really use this down time in August and September to address how you plan on working through this issues if they were to crop up within your team this year....

Really excited to have on the "Guru of the Post", Coach Brandon Henderson from Riverside Prep (CA) high school! Coach Henderson goes through alot of stuff in this podcast, including his journey as a coach, taking over this program late in the summer and how he plans on creating the culture and standards he wants to have in both the short and long term. In addition, we discuss moving from multiple...

Tony's back, and we're back with a new episode! This week, we're going to discuss how to develop floor generals and leaders on the floor. We chat about the qualities that are within a floor general, things you can do to develop them within practice, and some of the best ways you can communicate your expectations to those leaders. In addition, we also have our trivia, TWIB (with some Arby's) and mu...

Really excited to have Matt Thomas, the new boys HC at Highland (MO) high school! Coach Thomas is a veteran coach who is looking to get the Highland program back to where it was in the recent past, so we will discuss that, him coming back to the head coach's chair, non-negotiables, watching film from practice, "Desert Island" drills, packline defense, the influences of Don Meyer and Jim Boone, and...

Tony and I have come up with a new idea for "The Coaching Staff"; let us know what you think! We've talked about great coaches on the podcast before, so we've decided to feature and breakdown the career of a great coach once a month . . . unfortunately, Tony couldn't be on the maiden voyage of this concept, but I was able to recruit Jim Simons from Omaha Westside to help me out. We break down the...

I'm really excited to bring to the world episode #288, which features Derek Keizer, the head boys basketball coach at perhaps Iowa's most storied boys program, Western Christian (Hull). In this episode, Keizer details his basketball journey from coming to Western as an AC as Dordt College, going "back to back", 65Six Basketball, offensive transition, giving responsibilities to AC's and much more!...

It was a great night at Wine 121 with new Ralston boys HC Tom Krehbiel, Omaha Roncalli boys HC Chad Mustard and Elkhorn boys HC Nick Thompson to chat about a bunch of different topics, including summer goals, things that they learned this summer from other teams, what they have planned for the interim time and much more. Alot of fun at Wine 121!

Getting through the rush of June and early July is a gauntlet for most coaches, but now you're on the back half of the summer and your time is not as crunched with workouts, leagues and camps. For many coaches, there's a temptation to just completely unplug and getaway, and to a degree, that should be done, but you also should use this time to focus in on a few things before you hit the next seaso...

After almost a year of scheduling conflicts and 25 years after I tried to recruit her to Briar Cliff, Carrie Eighmey comes on episode #285 to discuss a variety of topics. Eighmey, who is entering her second year as head coach at South Dakota, discusses her journey, what she's learned as she's climbed the ladder, both from her experiences and from a couple of key mentors, the art of recruiting, get...

I had a great conversation with Jared Ronai, the head men's basketball coach at Mount Vernon Nazarene (OH), for episode #284. In this episode, we talk about a variety of topics, including his basketball journey, building a program through footwork and culture, "RULE", establishing standards of behavior, motion offense, pressure defense and much more! Coach Ronai is definitely one of the up and com...

There's a good chance that at some point in your career you're going to take over a program that is not only struggling on the floor, but it is struggling off the floor, lacking in energy and excitement. This week, Tony and i discuss a bunch of different ways to lift up a struggling program and how to make it stronger, from establishing an identity to building your youth program to attracting supp...

Rebuilding a once-proud program is not as easy as it seems, but Jory Collins, the head women's basketball coach at North Dakota State University, is well on track to getting the Bison back to the elite. In this episode, Coach Collins shares with us his journey from Kansas to North Dakota. He also discusses rebuilding the culture at NDSU, winning the BLOB game, :08 scores, offensive transition, get...

If you are going to maximize your abilities as a coach, I firmly believe that you need to be a voracious reader and to have the ability and drive to pick up on coaching tidbits through literature. This week, Tony and I break down and explain some of our favorite coaching books that we have applied to our coaching journeys, and if you haven't read some of these books, you need to get on it right no...

What a great morning talking with Herb Livsey and Don Showalter, the two men most responsible for Snow Valley Basketball School, which kicked off their 30th summer in Iowa this week! We take some time to discuss "Last Of The Cowboys", the history of Snow Valley, stories about the camp and much more! In addition, Wes Bruns of Cedar Rapids (IA) comes on for a short interview about working through ad...

Because of some travel complications, we're dropping "The Coaching Staff" a day early . . . Tony and I wanted to go through a list of things that a new coach (especially) needs to be aware of before the step onto the sideline or as they take over their new jobs. From adversity to organization to finding a higher meaning, here's a great starting point for any new coach who is wondering what to expe...

I was back at home last week visiting family and friends, and my friend Kiley Yates from South O'Brien (IA) HS helped me bring together Derek Keizer from Hull Western Christian (IA) and Loren DeJong of Siouxland Christian (IA) HS together at my buddy Chad Lang's restuarant "Langer's" in Sheldon for a great podcast! We discussed summer strategies, staying in coaching for an extended period of time,...

We've got a two-parter this week! We'll kick it off with NBA draft guru (and Omaha native) Rafael Barlowe breaking down the top end of the draft, discussing players with Omaha ties, some foreign players that may sneak up the draft board and other sleepers in the draft. In the second half of the pod, up and coming coach Jordon Klein discusses his rise up the coaching ranks, including his new posito...