Basketball Coach Unplugged (A Basketball Coaching Podcast)

https://teachhoops.com/

CoachingYouthHoops.com/nuke: clean sports hydration made with coconut water. Use code youthhoops25 for 25% off
You're up three. Eight seconds left. Their ball. Do you foul or do you defend? Coach Collins figures a room full of coaches would split right down the middle, and honestly, he's done both. The real point of this episode isn't the answer. It's that you can't find the answer in the foxhole. If you haven't decided it before the game and repped it in practice, your players won't pull it off when the gym is shaking.
Last season Madison Memorial went 27 and 3. Six or seven games came down to the last two minutes, including a double overtime game and a four overtime game, and Memorial won every one of them. Coach Collins doesn't call that luck. He calls it a group that talked to each other, a staff with a plan, and a lot of reps.
What we cover

Foul or defend, and the variables that change the answer. Where's the ball? Has their best shooter fouled out? How many timeouts and fouls to give do you have? And have you actually practiced fouling?

"We need a three" versus "we can take a three." Every player hears the second one. Coach explains why you have to spell out the difference ahead of time.

The two points a minute rule. After 20 years of charting his league, Coach shows when a deficit moves from "stay the course" to "what are we doing now": down ten with six minutes left, down eight with four, down six with three, down four with two.

Game decision charts. Like the laminated card a football coach carries, Coach built last minute sheets for when you're up, down, on offense and on defense, then shrank it to a single card he can grab during a dead ball.

Coaching through noise. "In the biggest game of the year, you won't hear me. You won't hear your grandma." Sectional finals in a packed high school gym are louder than state in front of 17,000 people. If they can't hear you, they need to see you.

Colors, numbers and hand signals. Coach's stoplight system: red means don't you dare shoot it, yellow means think about what Coach would want, green means go. Numbers run the defense. A fist calls the offense.

Timeout cards and the "55" call. An assistant holds up timeouts left and possession as players walk out of the huddle. And 55? Say it out loud. It sounds like foul, without yelling "foul" in front of the official.

Who does what on the bench. One assistant on timeouts, bonus and the possession arrow. One on the signal cards. One on matchups and foul trouble. The head coach owns the final call.

How to foul, and who to foul. Everyone says foul. Nobody teaches it. Go for the ball with both hands, foul on the catch, and never foul a three point shooter. Coach shares a tournament win that came down to knowing which two players his team could not put on the line.

The intentional miss, and a timeout trick you've probably never thought about. Down two, four seconds left, no timeouts, the clock running while the other team just stands out of bounds. Coach calls a timeout he doesn't have, takes the technical, and stops the clock, because otherwise the game is already over.

Chapters

0:00 Coach Unplugged intro

0:59 Welcome and what this clinic covers

2:20 Coach Collins and the Madison Memorial story

5:15 Up three with eight seconds: foul or defend?

7:30 We need a three versus we can take a three

8:50 The two points a minute rule

9:40 The last minute game decision chart

10:45 Going seven for seven in close games

12:37 Communication when nobody can hear you

15:05 Colors, numbers and the stoplight system

17:23 Timeout cards and the 55 call

19:47 Who does what on the bench

22:09 How to foul and who to foul

23:49 Calling a timeout you don't have

Coach's challenge: Pick three end of game situations your team hasn't repped yet. Make the call as a staff this week, write it on one card, and practice it before your first game.
Resources: The game decision charts, timeout cards and all 112 special situations Coach mentions are available through TeachHoops. Practice plans, courses and clinics at https://teachhoops.com/. Questions? Email Coach at steve@teachhoops.com.
https://teachhoops.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

https://teachhoops.com/
Not all turnovers are the same, so sort the brave ones from the careless ones before you react.
Some of the best turnovers Coach Steve Collins ever saw his teams make, he would make again tomorrow. And some of the worst ones were the kind nobody in the gym even noticed. For years he went straight to the turnover column after every game, got mad before he reached the bus, and ran ball handling on Monday that was really punishment in disguise. The number went down, but so did the drives, the post feeds, and the extra passes. His team was not taking care of the ball. It was afraid of it.
In this deep dive for the first week of games, Steve explains why a turnover is not one thing but at least two. He walks through how to sort brave turnovers from careless ones in the moment, how to chart them by type so you fix the right problem, how to coach each kind differently, and how your own bench reactions can create more turnovers than any defense. If your box score already has a number that makes your stomach drop, this episode will help you read it the right way.
Part 1: Sorting and Counting

The surprising opener: why some turnovers are worth making again

How punishing every turnover made Steve's teams afraid of the ball, not careful with it

Brave turnovers versus careless turnovers, and the one question to ask before you react: right idea done poorly, or the wrong idea?

Charting turnovers by type, location, and player instead of staring at the total

The twenty one turnover game where eleven came on post entries, and the point guard who almost got blamed for all of them

Part 2: Fixing Them

Fixing careless turnovers with clear standards and a real cost in practice

Fixing brave turnovers with reps in shell, advantage, and decision making drills

Why pulling a kid right after a turnover makes him look at the bench instead of the defense

The aggressive junior who stopped attacking, the promise that brought him back, and the assists that doubled

Counting turnovers next to assists, paint touches, and shots at the rim, and tracking the trend through January

Chapters

00:00 Coach Unplugged intro

00:16 Opening: the turnovers worth making again

00:59 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com ball security drills and practice plans

01:22 Afraid of the ball

02:09 Takeaway 1: Sort before you react

03:51 Takeaway 2: Chart them by type, not by total

05:59 Takeaway 3: Fix careless with standards, brave with reps

07:18 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com advantage drills and charting sheets

07:42 Takeaway 4: Watch what your bench teaches

09:23 Takeaway 5: Count the good stuff right next to it

10:26 The weekly challenge

10:44 Post roll: TeachHoops.com

This week's challenge: After your next game, chart every turnover as brave or careless before you say one word about the total.
Format: Deep Dive, two parts.
Resources: Ball security drills, advantage drills, decision making progressions, turnover charting sheets, practice plans, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

https://teachhoops.com/
Pressure, fatigue, and a routine that holds up when the gym gets loud.
Coach Steve Collins once had a team that shot seventy six percent from the line in practice and fifty eight percent in games. The players were not the problem. The practice was. Ten in a row, fresh legs, a quiet gym, and nobody watching had trained a skill his players would never actually use on a Friday night.
In this deep dive, Steve rebuilds free throw practice from the ground up for the opening weeks of the season. He explains why the only free throws worth counting are the tired ones, why the first shot is the one that matters, how to build a routine short enough to survive an icing timeout, and how to bring real pressure into the gym without turning it into fear. He closes with the story of a point guard, an early career loss by one, and the lesson Steve took from it.
Part 1: Making Practice Look Like the Game

The seventy six to fifty eight percent gap, and why it is a practice problem, not a shooting problem

Shooting free throws right after your hardest segment, with no rest and no water

Why honest numbers are the only numbers you can coach

One shot, then back into the drill: training the cold first free throw instead of the groove

Tracking first shot percentage separately from everything else

Part 2: Routine and Pressure

Why long routines fall apart after an icing timeout

The three part routine: a breath, the same dribbles every time, and one word the player owns

Using the routine on every single practice free throw, so it looks the same in an empty gym and a packed one

Practicing getting iced: the fake timeout, thirty seconds on the bench, and starting the routine over

The end of practice team free throw game, where one make sends everybody home

Adding bench noise, towels, and loud music behind the basket

Pressure without shame: stepping in when teammates groan, and choosing which kid gets the shot

The point guard at the line with eight seconds left, and the lesson his coach took from it

Chapters

00:00 Coach Unplugged intro

00:16 Opening scenario: eight seconds left at the line

01:18 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com shooting drills and practice plans

01:39 Seventy six in practice, fifty eight in games

02:31 Takeaway 1: Shoot them tired

03:46 Takeaway 2: One shot, then walk away

05:50 Takeaway 3: A routine short enough to survive a timeout

07:44 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com pressure games and the coaching community

08:08 Takeaway 4: Put something on the line

09:48 The point guard, revisited

10:14 This week's challenge

10:26 Post roll: TeachHoops.com pressure free throw games

This week's challenge: Every free throw your team shoots in practice comes right after your hardest drill, one shot at a time, with the full routine.
Format: Deep Dive, two parts.
Resources: Free throw pressure games, shooting drills, end of game situation drills, practice plans, and courses at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

⁠https://teachhoops.com/⁠⁠

Some of the best coaching education never happens at a clinic. It happens in a hallway after practice, in a parking lot after a tough loss, or over a cup of coffee when two coaches finally stop talking about plays and start talking about the work.

That is what this episode is. Steve Collins sits down with Coach Sebert for a real conversation, coach to coach. There is no script and no agenda here. Just two people who have spent a lot of hours in a gym, comparing notes on what they have learned, what they got wrong, and what they would tell a younger version of themselves.

If you have ever wished you could just sit down and pick another coach’s brain for half an hour, this is that conversation.

What we cover:

How Coach Sebert got into coaching, and the people who shaped the way he does the job

The lessons that only came from mistakes, and the ones that still sting a little

What a good practice actually feels like from the inside

How he builds relationships with players, and how those relationships carry a team through hard stretches

The parts of the job nobody warns you about, and how he keeps his energy through a long season

What he would tell a coach who is just starting out this year

Why it matters: Coaching can be a lonely job. You make a hundred decisions a day and most of the time nobody sees the reasoning behind them. Hearing how another coach thinks, struggles, and keeps going is one of the fastest ways to get better, and one of the best reminders that you are not doing this alone.

This week’s challenge: Call one coach you respect this week. Not to ask for a play. Just ask them what they have learned lately, then listen.

Resources: Practice plans, drills, courses, on court clinics, and a community of coaches who love talking about this stuff at ⁠https://teachhoops.com/⁠

Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.

⁠https://teachhoops.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

⁠https://teachhoops.com/⁠⁠

Some of the best coaching education never happens at a clinic. It happens in a hallway after practice, in a parking lot after a tough loss, or over a cup of coffee when two coaches finally stop talking about plays and start talking about the work.

That is what this episode is. Steve Collins sits down with Coach Sebert for a real conversation, coach to coach. There is no script and no agenda here. Just two people who have spent a lot of hours in a gym, comparing notes on what they have learned, what they got wrong, and what they would tell a younger version of themselves.

If you have ever wished you could just sit down and pick another coach’s brain for half an hour, this is that conversation.

What we cover:

How Coach Sebert got into coaching, and the people who shaped the way he does the job

The lessons that only came from mistakes, and the ones that still sting a little

What a good practice actually feels like from the inside

How he builds relationships with players, and how those relationships carry a team through hard stretches

The parts of the job nobody warns you about, and how he keeps his energy through a long season

What he would tell a coach who is just starting out this year

Why it matters: Coaching can be a lonely job. You make a hundred decisions a day and most of the time nobody sees the reasoning behind them. Hearing how another coach thinks, struggles, and keeps going is one of the fastest ways to get better, and one of the best reminders that you are not doing this alone.

This week’s challenge: Call one coach you respect this week. Not to ask for a play. Just ask them what they have learned lately, then listen.

Resources: Practice plans, drills, courses, on court clinics, and a community of coaches who love talking about this stuff at ⁠https://teachhoops.com/⁠

Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.

⁠https://teachhoops.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices