Basketball Coach Unplugged (A Basketball Coaching Podcast)

https://teachhoops.com/
Why the best game one scouting report fits on an index card, and what to do when last year's film lies to you.
The best scouting report Coach Steve Collins ever handed a team fit on an index card. The worst one was eleven pages long, stapled by hand, and built on film of three starters who were not even on the floor that night. His team spent the first quarter guarding ghosts and lost by nineteen.
That loss changed how he thought about game one. The opener is the hardest scout of the entire season. Rosters have turned over, your own rotation is still a guess, and last year's film is more rumor than report. In this three part deep dive, Steve walks through how to gather information that actually holds up in October, how to get it off the paper and into your players' bodies, and how to keep the scout from turning into a list of reasons to be nervous.
Part 1: Gathering the Scout

Why you scout yourself first, and the one hour of your own scrimmage film that is worth five hours of theirs

Scouting the coach instead of the roster, because players graduate but a coach's habits after a made basket, out of a timeout, and under two minutes almost never change

The ten minute phone call to a league coach who played them last February

Finding three things instead of thirty, and why a long scout usually protects the coach more than it prepares the team

Part 2: Getting It to Stick

Two scouting reports: the staff version with everything, and the index card version your players actually carry

The three lines that were on Steve's best card, and the fourteen point win that followed

Teaching the scout with bodies instead of a whiteboard, and why your scout team is the most important group in the gym during game week

The left handed sophomore who studied film on his own, became the opponent's best player for three days, and held the real one to seven

Preparing principles instead of predictions, so your team has an answer ready for a press, a zone, or a switch it never saw on film

How to split game week: Monday is about us, ten to fifteen minutes of them on Tuesday and Wednesday, a calm walkthrough Thursday

Why nothing new gets installed for game one: a new set on Wednesday is a turnover on Friday

Part 3: Game Night

Why the first four minutes of the game are the real scout, and the one job to give somebody on your bench

The senior manager with a spiral notebook who caught a timeout set in a sectional final and won a game without scoring a point

Halftime as your second scout: two minutes with your staff, then one or two adjustments, never five

Scouting yourself again on Saturday morning, because your next opponent is already watching that film

How an overbuilt scout sent a team out of the locker room tight, quiet, and playing scared

The ratio Steve landed on: for every thing you tell them about the opponent, tell them one thing about us

Why your last words before tip should be about who you are, not who they are

Chapters

00:00 Coach Unplugged intro

00:15 The eleven page scout and the index card

01:04 Pre-roll: TeachHoops.com scouting templates and game week plans

01:25 Guarding ghosts: why game one is the hardest scout of the year

02:20 Takeaway 1: Scout yourself first

03:09 Takeaway 2: Scout the coach, not the roster

04:22 Takeaway 3: Three things, not thirty

06:08 Takeaway 4: The staff knows everything, the players get the card

07:15 Takeaway 5: Teach it with bodies, and the left handed sophomore

09:08 Mid-roll: TeachHoops.com scout team drills and the coaching community

09:31 Takeaway 6: Principles, not predictions

11:35 Takeaway 7: The real scout starts at tip off, halftime, and Saturday film

13:41 Takeaway 8: Do not let the scout scare them

16:11 Scouting can sharpen a team. It cannot replace one.

16:17 The index card challenge and post-roll

This week's challenge: Write your game one scouting report on a single index card. Three lines. If it does not fit, it does not go. Hand the card to your players and keep the rest for yourself.
Format: Deep Dive, three parts.
Resources: Scouting templates, game week plans, scout team drills, practice plans, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
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Simplicity at Practice

https://teachhoops.com/ · https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ · https://heysammi.com/

TITLE
What Would Happen If You Cut Your Practice Plan in Half?

SUBTITLE
Subtraction is the most underrated move in coaching, and almost nobody is willing to try it.

SHOW NOTES

Every year the plan gets longer. Another drill, another wrinkle, another coverage, and somehow the team looks less sure of itself in February than it did in December. Coach Collins argues for going the other direction: fewer drills, fewer words, one teaching point at a time, and the confidence that comes from a team that knows exactly what it is supposed to do.

What we cover:

Why practice plans grow every season and never shrink

One teaching point per drill, and what happens when you stack three

Cutting your own talking down and coaching more with a whistle

The difference between a team that knows a lot and a team that is sure

What to remove first when you finally decide to cut

This week's challenge: Take your next practice plan and delete one thing without replacing it.

Resources: Practice plans, drills, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/

https://teachhoops.com/ · https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ · https://heysammi.com/
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https://teachhoops.com/

A retired coach on the difference
between the November version of you and the February version, and how to keep
them closer together.

SHOW NOTES

After thirty seven years, Coach
Steve Collins can finally see the thing he could not see while he was inside it:
he planned five months of conditioning for his players and nothing at all for
himself. This episode is an honest look at what actually empties a coach's
tank, which is almost never the games, plus a practical energy plan for a long
season and the one signal that tells you you are running on empty.

What we cover:

•
The November coach and the February coach are different
people, and your team can feel it

•
What really drains you: the email, the scheduling, the
conflict, the paperwork on a Sunday

•
Building recovery into the week, including one day you
do not talk about basketball

•
Handing assistants real work instead of hoarding it out
of fear

•
Sleep, eating at the gym, keeping one non basketball
person, and no film at two in the morning

This week's challenge: Block one day on your calendar
where basketball is not allowed, and protect it like you protect a game night.

Resources: Practice plans, drills, courses, and on
court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/

Recorded at the Fifth Quarter
Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.

EPISODE DETAILS

Runtime: 4 minutes 45
seconds

Audio file: 10_coach_energy.mp3

LINKS

https://teachhoops.com/

https://coachingyouthhoops.com/

https://heysammi.com/

You Built a
Conditioning Plan for Them, So Where Is Yours?

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https://teachhoops.com/ · https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ · https://heysammi.com/

TITLE
What Are Coaches Actually Asking When Nobody Else Is Listening?

SUBTITLE
A look inside a Teach Hoops member call, where real coaches bring the problems they are living with this week.

SHOW NOTES

This one is a recording of a Teach Hoops member call. No prepared topic, no script, just coaches bringing what is actually going on in their gyms and working through it together. If you have ever wondered whether the thing you are dealing with is normal, this is the episode that answers it.

What we cover:

Questions straight from coaches in the middle of their season

Problems that come up in almost every program, whatever the level

Where coaches disagree with each other, and why both answers can work

The value of hearing somebody else describe your exact situation

How the member calls work and who is in the room

This week's challenge: Write down the one question you would ask if you were on the call, then go find somebody to ask it.

Resources: Member calls, practice plans, drills, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/

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

https://teachhoops.com/ · https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ · https://heysammi.com/

TITLE
What Are Coaches Actually Asking When Nobody Else Is Listening?

SUBTITLE
A look inside a Teach Hoops member call, where real coaches bring the problems they are living with this week.

SHOW NOTES

This one is a recording of a Teach Hoops member call. No prepared topic, no script, just coaches bringing what is actually going on in their gyms and working through it together. If you have ever wondered whether the thing you are dealing with is normal, this is the episode that answers it.

What we cover:

Questions straight from coaches in the middle of their season

Problems that come up in almost every program, whatever the level

Where coaches disagree with each other, and why both answers can work

The value of hearing somebody else describe your exact situation

How the member calls work and who is in the room

This week's challenge: Write down the one question you would ask if you were on the call, then go find somebody to ask it.

Resources: Member calls, practice plans, drills, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/

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