Basketball Coach Unplugged (A Basketball Coaching Podcast)

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.
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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

⁠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/

Making practice better. Can high school coaches and youth coaches make practices better? Let us know at steve@teachroops.com about what you need or what you're looking for in terms of practices, practice planning, and practice drills.

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