A Pen And A Napkin

Both teams in the NBA Finals, the Pacers and the Thunder, have really built an identity on their aggressive defensive systems. In this week's pod, Tony and I discuss various methods and philosophies to attack defenses that are really aggressive, from both a program point of view to a daily expectation. In addition, we have our weekly trivia, a discussion of the Finals to this point and did the Kni...

It's tough taking over a new job, but it can be even tougher taking over for a legend, but that is what John Gianforte, the new GBB HC at Cedar Rapids Xavier (IA) is doing this spring! Coach graciously jumped on the pod with us this week to talk about a variety of topics, including his basketball journey, "re-recruiting" his players, adapting his system to a successful system, building a program f...

Tony and I are excited to have our first guest EVER for "The Coaching Staff" in Greg Berge, head boys basketball coach at Lake City (MN) and "culture guru"! We go through a bunch of topics during the podcast, including building a culture, building leaders and accountability within your program, battling for players attention in the "TikTok" generation, bringing joy back to the game for our players...

We had a great time chatting with Steve Smiley, Northern Colorado University Men's HC about a variety of topics for episode #278! In this episode, we talk about coaches journey through the JC ranks to a Division I AC to now the head man. In addition, we talk about NIL and the effects of the portal on mid-major programs like his, the influence of the legendary Don Meyer and his network of coaching...

Fremont Bergan (NE) Boys HC Ryan Mlnarik comes on the podcast this week, fresh off of an unlikely state championship run this spring, the first #8 seed to win a state championship in years! Coach Mlnarik discusses his journey as a basketball coach and his stops along the way, navigating the season with a very young team, hitting the tournament trail and the process they went through to win a title...

We spend alot of time during the season devoted to developing the team game, but many times at the end of the season it comes down to either getting a score or a stop in an isolation situation. This week, Tony and I break down the importance of one on one and why you should be working on it in practice. In addition, Tony and I will drop over a dozen drills that you can bring back to your program t...

Episode #276 features state champion GBB HC Kristina Danella of Glen Ridge (NJ) High School! Coach Danella has had a well traveled career at both the collegiate and high school level, and we dive into that, along with her successful playing career at the Division I level and how that has affected her coaching style, along with some transition offense, offensive sets, communicating with parents, he...

Although most of the topics that are discussed on this podcast deal with current coaching issues, one thing that we rarely think about until it happens is what life is like without coaching. This week, Tony and I break down the do's and don'ts of life without coaching, including prepping for the next stop, what we should look for in our next position, how to handle the situation if it wasn't your...

Four girls basketball coaches got together last week at Wine 121 here in Omaha to talk some hoops; Gretna East's Wade Coulter, Oakland-Craig's Scott Guzinski and APAAN's all around pinch hitter Marc Kruger got together to discuss their 2025 journey, of which each team played on the final day of the season. We talk about those journeys and look ahead to the summer of 2025 and how they plan on putti...

One of the elements that makes life difficult for many coaches is the parents of the kids that they coach. It's easy to put all of your difficult parents into one basket, but there are different kinds of difficult parents. In this epiosde, Tony and I break down those types of parents, along with our swan song for opening numbers. In addition, we have our trivia segment and our TWIB segment, includ...

Jared Blackwell took over the legendary Sandy Creek (NE) girls basketball program four years ago and has worked hard to put the Cougars back amongst the elite in the small school spectrum of Nebraska. In this fun podcast, Coach Blackwell talks about building the program back up after some down years, the influence of Russ Ninemire, the adjustments you make going from an assistant coach to a head c...

Every team needs to have players that are going to keep things together and do great things without the ball in their hand; hit their partners with a great pass, screen well, be a great help side defender, and on and on the list goes. The more that EVERY player on your roster buys into the elements of being a glue player, the better your team will be. Tony and I break down the elements that makes...

Coach Derek Sonderland is a veteran girls basketball coach in southwest Iowa, having coached almost a quarter of a century in various stops, including his current school, Tri-Center Neola, where he's on his second run as head coach. Coach Sonderland discusses those travels, along with some influences in his career, what his team needs to do to improve for next season, the Iowa Girls High School At...

Mr. Tony D. Vis is back, so "The Coaching Staff" is back! This week we talk about Don Meyer's "Five Stages of Coaching", which is a prominent topic this time of year as coaches take inventory of where they are at and what are they are looking to do in their next steps of their career. After we break that down, we've got trivia, a WNBA draft breakdown and a discussion of the NBA playoffs.. Great to...

Kris Freeland has been the long time boys head coach at Dundy County-Stratton (NE) and has built a very solid small school program year in and year out. In this pod, we talk about Coach Freeland's position as an administrator and how he balances that out with his coaching duties, along with the influence of Greg McDermott and Tom Kropp on his career. We also talk about his "Improvement Season" pla...

Tony and I had some scheduling conflicts this weekend, so we were unable to do our usual thing . . . but I still had some stuff that I wanted to throw out there, so here's a shorter, solo pod with just me (for better or worse). I'm really excited to announce that my second book will be available on July 1st, 2025! It's called "The Last Of The Cowboys: The Story of Snow Valley Basketball School",an...

Sidney (NE) Boys HC Austin Lewis comes on the pod this week to chat about a variety of topics, including working as an administrator and a coach to get people to work together, keeping kids invested in your program, some of his favorite drills, shell drill, breaking down practices into groups and swinging back and forth between two classifications. A really fun conversation with one of Nebraska's...

March Madness is upon us, and special situations, per usual, are at the forefront of the great games. It's alot about preparation and repetition to get the execution that you want and need in these clutch moments. Tony and I break down our thoughts on BLOB's, SLOB's and EOG situations, what we like to do to prepare our teams for these situations and how we put together our playbooks. Along with th...

Bennington (NE) Boys HC Luke Olson jumps on episode #270 this week to discuss a variety of topics! We chat about his family's coaching tree, being a mental skills coach, the growth of his community and how they've tried to adjust their program to it, developing their youth program, practice culture and much more! Coach Olson has done a great job in building up the Badger program and has them on th...

Tony and I are back with multiple references to The Beatles and Kip Dynamite to help explain the important qualities of what you should be looking for in an assistant coach and how you build out your staff. We go through a multitude of qualities that you should look for in your individual coaches and then how to put them all together as one unit. Along with that, we have our trivia, a discussion o...

A veteran of the game for over half a century, Dave Bollwinkel from the Chicago Bulls joins the pod this week! Coach Bollwinkel started out as a high school coach before moving his way up the ranks to becoming a Division I HC at St. Mary's (CA) before spending the last 25 years as an NBA scout. We also talk about the in's and out's of coaching, the draft process, changes that he's seen in the game...

It's the best weekend of the year! Love having so much basketball on, and I'm sure that many of you are like me in that it has been non-stop hoops the last four days! In this week's pod, Tony and I take a look at both tournaments and what are some of the things that we can learn from them, both on and off the floor. Along with that, we have trivia, and we have some new candidates to buy Tony and I...

We have a great episode with episode #268 with McCool Junction (NE) Boys HC Jabe Wurtz! Coach Wurtz has raised the level of the program at McCool, finishing with the third place trophy this year at the D1 state tournament this season! Coach Wurtz and I discuss some of his influences, making the climb to the state tournament, half court offensive principles, BLOB defense and working with your admin...

Tony and I are back after a week off, and we're here to talk about shooting. As we all know, the three point shot has never been as important to the game as it is now, and as we step into the off-season, it's imperative that we find shooters and improve them so that our offenses can be as efficient as possible. Tony and I discuss how we can help shooters develop, along with some trivia, a discussi...

We had alot of fun at the "Mellow Mushroom" with Coach Nate Wall, Centura GBB HC Laetheion Brown and Sidney GBB HC Tyler Shaw last Friday at the Nebraska Girls State Tournament! We talk about a variety of topics, including gardening and how that can play into developing your coaching skills. We also talk about the summer, finding the right camps for your team and looking forward into next season....