Basketball Coach Unplugged (A Basketball Coaching Podcast)

https://teachhoops.com/
How to give your assistants real in season jobs, ownership they can feel, and a voice that actually changes how your team plays.
The most underused resource in most high school gyms is not a drill or a piece of equipment. It is the assistant coach standing under the far basket with a whistle, waiting to be told what to do. Coach Steve Collins admits that for a few years, that described his own staff, and it was his fault. His assistants helped with everything, which meant they owned nothing.
A few weeks into the season, Steve explains how to turn assistants into real coaches. In this Teaching Mode episode, he covers giving every assistant an area they own, assigning a specific job for game night, and building a staff culture where assistants speak first and are backed up in front of the players.
Part 1: Ownership

Why assistants who help with everything end up owning nothing

Why Steve held on to everything himself, and what that fear of handing things off really was

The difference between giving an assistant a task and giving them an area

What ownership looks like: planning that part of practice, tracking it in games, and bringing the fixes

The young assistant who built a rebounding chart and a box out award and turned a weakness into a strength

Choosing areas by what each assistant already loves, writing it on one page, and giving part time volunteers something small to own

Part 2: Game Night and a Real Voice

Assigning bench jobs: fouls and timeouts, the opponent's offense, and your own team's numbers

Thirty seconds per assistant at halftime, before the head coach talks to the team

The assistant who spotted the point guard always going left and earned the game ball

Asking assistants to speak first in staff meetings

Never interrupting an assistant in front of players, and giving notes privately

Backing up an assistant's call in the moment and talking about it later

Growing future head coaches by letting assistants run a light practice or a pregame talk

Chapters

00:00 Coach Unplugged intro

00:15 Opening hook: the assistant under the far basket

01:05 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com courses and clinics for your staff

01:27 Takeaway 1: Something that is theirs

04:30 Takeaway 2: A game night job

05:45 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com program and staff tools

06:03 Takeaway 3: A real voice

07:34 The challenge

07:43 Post roll: TeachHoops.com

This week's challenge: Give each assistant one area to own and one game night job before your next game.
Format: Teaching Mode, two parts.
Resources: Courses, on court clinics, drill libraries, stat sheets, scouting templates, and program tools at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
https://teachhoops.com/
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A mentoring call with a prep school coach whose team has real size, a star freshman guard, and an offense that goes dry against good teams. Transition, scripted plays, and high low.
A coach from an independent prep school in Tennessee brings Coach Steve Collins a good problem and a hard one. The good problem is size: a six seven forward who has only played two years of organized basketball, a six eight center, and a freshman guard who already has more than a thousand career points. The hard problem is that every other guard is a freshman or sophomore, and when the ball leaves the star's hands, turnovers go through the roof. Against the teams they should beat, they win. Against the good ones, an offensive drought shows up every time.
This is a real mentoring call, the way it actually happens, with ideas bouncing back and forth. Steve asks about transition points, rebounding, and defense, then pushes for more pressure to create easy baskets, a Midwest style grind for a national tournament in Ohio, scripted quick hitters and lockdowns, and a simple high low attack that uses the team's size. It closes with clear rules for young guards about when to put the ball on the floor.
The Problem

A star freshman guard and a lot of size up front

A six seven forward from the Congo who thought basketball was all isolation

Young guards who can space the floor but turn it over against pressure

Inverting the offense: can the bigs handle it?

Why it is hard to win when freshmen and sophomores are primary players

Beating the teams you should, then going dry against the good ones

The Plan

How many transition points you get against good teams versus bad ones

Using a three quarter court 1 2 2, or a trapping 1 3 1, to create transition

Playing like a Midwest team: defend, rebound, take care of it, execute

Scripting the first plays like a football coach, and going back to the script in a drought

Lockdowns: three stops in a row

Continuity versus set plays, and why zoom action is hard with little guards

High low with the bigs and 1 3 1 sets

Rules for guards: dribble to relieve pressure, to make a pass, or to get to the rim

Chapters

00:00 Coach Unplugged intro

00:14 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com

01:10 Pre call chat: film and stats

02:06 The roster: a star freshman and a lot of size

03:30 The problem: young guards and turnovers

05:50 Can the bigs handle it?

06:46 Winning with freshmen and sophomores

08:19 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com free trial

09:26 Transition points against good teams

11:26 Pressure to create easy baskets

14:13 Playing like a Midwest team

15:10 Scripted plays, quick hitters, and lockdowns

17:02 Little guards, big men, and zoom action

18:26 High low and 1 3 1 sets

19:22 Rules for young guards

19:54 Post roll: TeachHoops.com

This week's challenge: Script your first four possessions for your next game, and practice going back to that script when you hit a drought.
Format: Live mentoring call.
Resources: Offensive systems, press and zone defense courses, practice plans, and mentoring at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
https://teachhoops.com/
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Why practice has to get shorter and sharper once games start, how to build a game to practice loop, and what to do with the Monday after a game.
Put yesterday's practice plan next to one from the second week of tryouts. If they look the same, same length, same drills, same order, Coach Steve Collins says we need to talk. Early in his career, Steve ran the same two and a half hour practice in January that he ran in November, every single day, and called it toughness. By late January his team was flat, and an older coach he respected watched a practice and told him, "Your kids are leaving their best basketball in this gym."
In this deep dive, Steve explains how and why in season practice has to look different. He covers cutting time without cutting intensity, giving the Monday after a game a clear script, building a game to practice loop with your staff, protecting a daily player development block, and keeping opponent scouting in small doses so your team can still be itself.
Part 1: Shorter, Sharper, and Monday

The side by side practice plan test that shows whether you have adjusted for the season

The January slump and the one sentence from an older coach that changed Steve's practices

Moving from two and a half hours to ninety or seventy five minutes without getting softer

Counting how long your best player stands still in practice, and why the number was embarrassing

Ending practice with something short and competitive so players leave feeling good

The Monday script: ten minutes of film, two fixes on the floor, then fundamentals

Running the same Monday script after a win or a loss so practice never becomes punishment

Managing legs for heavy minute players and giving live reps to the players who did not play

Part 2: The Loop, Development, and Scouting

Planning from the last game instead of the calendar

The staff habit of writing down what hurt us, what helped us, and what we did not see coming

Why the real problem after a loss is usually smaller than effort

Closing the loop: game, practice, game, check

Keeping a season long notebook of the lists to see which problems keep coming back

Protecting a ten to fifteen minute development block every day

The sophomore who could not finish left handed in November and won a sectional final with her left hand

Rotating the development focus by day so no time is lost explaining

Scouting in small doses: two or three things, ninety percent us, ten percent them

The half speed walkthrough the day before a game

Chapters

00:00 Coach Unplugged intro

00:15 Opening hook: the side by side practice plan test

01:01 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com in season practice plans

01:22 The January slump and the older coach's sentence

02:09 Takeaway 1: Cut the time, not the intensity

03:45 Takeaway 2: A script for Monday

05:41 Takeaway 3: The game to practice loop

07:22 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com drill libraries

07:48 Takeaway 4: Keep developing players

09:13 Takeaway 5: Scout in small doses

10:53 The challenge

11:05 Post roll: TeachHoops.com

This week's challenge: Cut fifteen minutes from your next practice, and make the last game decide what fills the rest of it.
Format: Deep Dive, two parts.
Resources: In season practice plans, drill libraries, planning templates, player development workouts, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
https://teachhoops.com/
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https://teachhoops.com/

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Two weeks into the season, a player who was in the rotation is now on the end of the bench. Here is how to have that conversation honestly, and keep the kid.
Coach Steve Collins still remembers a junior who started the first two games of the season and, by game four, did not get off the bench. After that game, the player slowed down at Steve's office door, looked in, and kept walking. Steve let him go. He figured the player would ask if he wanted to know. That was a mistake, because a sixteen year old who just lost his spot rarely walks into the head coach's office, and he goes home and fills in the blanks himself.
Two or three weeks into the season, rotations settle and someone's minutes disappear. In this Teaching Mode episode, Steve explains how to go to that player first, how to be honest and specific about why the role changed, and how to send him out of the room with both a path back and a job that matters right now.
Part 1: Go to Him First

The junior who walked past the office door, and why waiting for him was a mistake

How silence lets a player invent his own explanation

Talking within a day or two, before practice, in a quiet spot, never right after a game

The simple opening line that lets a player relax

The dinner table question, and why the player should hear it before his parents do

Why a clumsy conversation on Tuesday beats a perfect one that never happens

Part 2: What to Say and What Comes Next

Why "just keep working hard" tells a player nothing

Giving the real reason, kindly and clearly, then letting him respond

What not to say: turning it into a contest with a teammate, or promising minutes you cannot guarantee

Pairing honesty with a path: one or two things you need to see in practice

Giving the player a job right now: scout team leader, bench energy, deflection charting

The senior who became the scout team point guard and fought his way back by February

The thirty second follow up a week later that proves the first talk was real

Chapters

00:00 Coach Unplugged intro

00:15 Opening hook: the junior at the office door

01:03 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com evaluation tools and role guides

01:23 Takeaway 1: Go to him first

04:18 Takeaway 2: Honest and specific

05:34 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com skill development plans

05:56 Takeaway 3: A path and a job

07:30 The challenge

07:41 Post roll: TeachHoops.com

This week's challenge: Find the player whose minutes dropped the most this month and talk to him before your next game.
Format: Teaching Mode, two parts.
Resources: Role conversation guides, player evaluation tools, skill development plans, practice plans, and courses at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
https://teachhoops.com/
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There are two types of players, coaches and teams: those who are humble and those who are about to be. Why the great ones prepare like they lost their last game.
A guest coach has an AAU team that has been overachieving and winning a lot. So what is his message to them right now? There are two types of players, two types of coaches, and two types of teams: those that are humble, and those that are about to be.
In this short episode, Coach Steve Collins and his guest talk about the edge that great teams carry into the gym every day, the way you prepare after a loss, and how hard it is to keep that edge after a win. Steve adds a reminder he has learned over thirty years: you are never as good as you think you are, and never as bad as you think you are either. They close with self reflection for young coaches, and Steve's favorite tease: there are two types of coaches, coaches with players and ex coaches.
The Big Ideas

Humble, or about to be

Preparing every day like you lost your last game

Why coaches are at their best after a loss

Human nature: the urge to let up after a sloppy win

You are never as good, or as bad, as you think

What you learn after you know it all

Self reflection for young coaches

Coaches with players and ex coaches: develop your kids, and make them good people

Chapters

00:00 Coach Unplugged intro

00:14 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com

01:10 A tip for your younger self

01:38 Humble, or about to be

02:01 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com free trial

02:29 Keeping the edge after a win

03:06 Never as good, never as bad

03:42 Two types of coaches

04:05 Post roll: TeachHoops.com

This week's challenge: After your next win, run practice like you lost. Watch how your players respond.
Format: Guest coach conversation.
Resources: Culture and team building resources, practice plans, and courses at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
https://teachhoops.com/
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