Basketball Coach Unplugged (A Basketball Coaching Podcast)

https://teachhoops.com/
From a 24 hour drive for a Division II job to Dartmouth, Chicago State, and a study of 200 college coaches who did not know their own leadership style.
Dr. Matthew Raidbard did not have a relative in the business, a friend in the business, or a practical degree. He had a history major, a resume full of travel team experience, and a habit of following up one more time than anyone asked him to. That relentlessness got him a Division II assistant job in Silver City, New Mexico, and started a college coaching career that ran through Dartmouth, Florida Gulf Coast, and eight seasons at Chicago State before he moved into athletic administration.
In Part 1, Coach Steve Collins and Dr. Raidbard walk through that journey, what changes from Division II to the Ivy League to a traditional Division I program, and why he calls Chicago State the toughest job in the country. Then they get to the research behind his book, Lead Like a Pro: a study of more than 200 college basketball coaches, and the surprising gap between the leadership style coaches think they practice and the one they actually do.
In this episode

The games that hooked them both on basketball, from conference championship week to the old Wisconsin Field House

How coaching his younger brother's travel team turned into a career

Relentlessness as a separator: you only need one yes

Learning to do everything at a small Division II school, from game operations to driving the softball team

Dartmouth, the Ivy League experience, and going toe to toe with Jeremy Lin and Harvard

Florida Gulf Coast and the difference between Ivy recruiting and traditional Division I recruiting

Eight seasons building Chicago State, and why it may be the toughest job in college basketball

Earning a doctorate while coaching, and moving into compliance and administration

His current role as executive senior associate athletic director at the University of Hartford

The dissertation that became the book: do coaches know the leadership style they actually practice?

Why transformational leadership, paired with quick decision making, came out on top

The five leadership styles every coach should understand

Chapters

00:00 TeachHoops.com pre roll

00:28 Meet Dr. Matthew Raidbard

02:20 The games that hooked us on basketball

05:08 Coaching his brother's travel team

06:58 The 24 hour drive to Western New Mexico

07:46 Relentlessness and the one yes

08:52 Two years at Division II

09:48 Dartmouth and the Ivy League

11:12 TeachHoops.com mid roll

11:40 Florida Gulf Coast

12:08 Eight seasons at Chicago State

12:56 Obstacles from Division II to Division I

16:44 Why Chicago State is the toughest job in the country

18:40 Moving into administration

19:36 Hartford and life as an athletic director

20:32 How the book Lead Like a Pro came about

21:56 The gap between the leader you think you are and the leader you are

22:24 The best leadership style for coaches

23:20 The five leadership styles

23:48 Why coaches need real leadership training

24:16 Post roll

Coach challenge: Write down the leadership style you believe you practice. Then ask one assistant and one player to describe how you lead, and compare the answers.
Resources: Dr. Raidbard's book, Lead Like a Pro, is available wherever books are sold. Practice plans, leadership and culture resources, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/
Continue the conversation in Part 2.
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Teaching players to talk on defense, and why a quiet team is usually a confused team.
Walk into almost any gym during the second week of the season, close your eyes for one defensive possession, and listen. Sneakers. A dribble. Maybe a coach. Five kids guarding the ball and not one of them saying a word. For years Coach Steve Collins treated that silence as a toughness problem, stopping practice to yell "Talk!" and getting about two possessions of noise before the gym went quiet again.
What finally changed his thinking was simple: kids do not stay quiet because they are shy, they stay quiet because they are not sure. A quiet team is usually a confused team. In this two part deep dive, Steve walks through how to give players the words, how to give every spot on the floor a job that comes with a word, how to make talk count in practice, and why the coach sometimes has to get quieter so the players can get louder.
Part 1: Giving Them the Words

Why "Talk!" is a wish, not an instruction, and why getting louder as a coach does not fix it

The real reason teams go silent: kids are not sure where the ball is going, who has help, or what the word even is

A six word defensive vocabulary: ball, help, screen left, screen right, switch, shot

Giving every word exactly one meaning, and quizzing freshmen in the huddle until it sticks

Why timing matters as much as the word: early talk wins possessions, late talk just explains them

Assigning talk by position: the ball defender, the help defenders, the screener's defender, and the closest player to the rim on a shot

The quiet guard who got one job, the "ball" guy, and could be heard from the parking lot by November

Part 2: Making It Stick

Scoring the talk: in the shell drill, a stop with no talk is not a stop

Scrimmage rules that reward a five player talking stop and take away a point for an uncalled shot

The manager with a clicker counting every defensive call, and the number players started asking for before the score

The silent possession, and letting players discover for themselves what happens without communication

Why the coach yelling every rotation teaches players to wait for his voice instead of using their own

Getting the whole staff on board, because one quiet head coach and three loud assistants changes nothing

Coaching between possessions instead of during them, and the October day Steve folded his arms under the basket

Praising the talk out loud, not just the steal or the charge

Talk is information, not volume, and how a talking defense becomes a team that talks in timeouts, huddles, and hard January nights

Chapters

00:00 Coach Unplugged intro

00:16 Opening: the quiet gym

01:07 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com defensive drills and communication progressions

02:21 Why quiet teams are confused teams

02:29 Takeaway 1: Give them the words

04:09 Takeaway 2: Every job has a word, and the quiet guard

06:05 Takeaway 3: If it is not scored, it is not real

07:44 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com shell drill progressions and the coaching community

08:04 Takeaway 4: Sometimes the coach has to get quieter

09:58 Talk is information, not volume

10:34 The six word challenge and post roll

This week's challenge: Pick your six defensive words, teach them tomorrow, and do not count a stop in practice until you hear them.
Format: Deep Dive, two parts.
Resources: Defensive drills, shell drill progressions, communication teaching tools, practice plans, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
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Win or lose, why the postgame talk should be short, and what to save for tomorrow's practice.
The longest talk Coach Steve Collins ever gave a team came after a win. Twenty two minutes in a hot locker room, kids still in their jerseys, parents waiting in the hallway. He could not remember one thing he said, and when he asked, neither could his players. That night became the starting point for how he learned to handle the first five minutes after the horn.
With openers right around the corner, this two part deep dive is about the postgame talk, win or lose. Steve explains why those minutes are a feeling moment instead of a teaching moment, the simple three piece structure that replaced his long speeches, and why the real corrections belong in tomorrow's practice, after the film and after a night of sleep. He also covers the part most coaches never plan for: their own temperature walking through that door, and the one kid who is hurting on the way out.
Part 1: Short on Purpose

The twenty two minute postgame speech after a win that nobody, including Steve, could remember

Why right after a game you have the most emotion and the least clarity, and so do your players

Keeping the talk under five minutes, because long talks steal joy after wins and become punishment after losses

Avoiding the staff pile on: one voice in the room, with assistants giving their thoughts in the hallway first

The three piece talk: one truth, one thing to be proud of, one thing for tomorrow

Ending every postgame talk with the same ritual, win or lose

The twenty point loss, the assistant who said "Three sentences," and the hungry practice that followed

Why clarity, not softness, is what earns a team's trust after a hard night

Part 2: What to Save, and Who to Find

Why you remember the game wrong right after it ends, and what the next morning's film usually shows

No individual call outs and no whiteboard breakdowns in the postgame locker room

Why the late night text to your team never teaches anything

The folded sheet of paper in the jacket pocket that turned postgame frustration into the next practice plan

Closing the loop by opening the next practice with the topic you named after the game

Checking your own temperature: the walk in, the clipboard, the door, and ninety seconds with your staff first

The kicked water cooler after a road loss, and what it really taught the team

Letting a big win be loud without promising the world, because practice is eighteen hours away

Finding the kid who is hurting on the way out with one steady sentence

Chapters

00:00 Coach Unplugged intro

00:16 Opening confession: the twenty two minute talk

00:51 Welcome from the Fifth Quarter Studios

01:19 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com day after game outlines

02:21 Why the postgame talk goes sideways

02:26 Takeaway 1: Under five minutes, win or lose

04:06 Takeaway 2: The three piece talk

06:16 Picking back up

06:33 Takeaway 3: Save the fixes for tomorrow

08:31 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com day after game practice plans

08:53 Takeaway 4: Check your own temperature

10:09 Finding the kid who is hurting

10:53 The challenge

11:03 Post roll

This week's challenge: Keep your postgame talk under five minutes, and save every correction for tomorrow's practice.
Format: Deep Dive, two parts.
Resources: Day after game practice plans, film review templates, correction drills, practice plans, and courses at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
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Keeping the eighth through twelfth players locked in, ready, and part of the team, not a row of spectators in warmups.
Picture the third quarter of a close game. Your starters are grinding, and down the bench one kid is retying a shoe that does not need it, two are whispering, and your twelfth man is staring at the scoreboard. Then a starter turns an ankle and you have to call one of them in. Coach Steve Collins opens this episode with the moment every coach dreads, and the early career loss that taught him a bench player who has been watching like a fan is not ready to play.
In this two part deep dive, Steve walks through how to keep your eighth through twelfth players locked in during opening week and all season long. Every player gets a real job, the bench learns how to sit like it belongs in the game, and the cold check in becomes something you practice instead of something you hope for. And because some of these kids will not play much, Steve explains why their role in practice, in the locker room, and in your attention matters more than their minutes.
Part 1: Engaged, Not Spectating

The foul trouble loss where a sub checked in without knowing the score, the defense, or his man

Why "be ready" means nothing, and the specific bench jobs that do: tracking their best scorer, calling the defense, counting deflections, watching box outs, and scouting the other bench

Pulling a bench player aside at a timeout and getting a real answer

Writing bench jobs on the pregame board right under the starting lineup, same size letters

Teaching your bench how to sit like a drill: posture, eyes on the ball, standing for charges and extra passes, meeting every teammate who comes out

Why warmup tops come off in the second half

The junior who barely played but changed the temperature of the gym every night

Part 2: Ready to Go In, Part of the Team

Why we ask bench players to go from cold to perfect, and never practice it

The weekly scrimmage where a sitting group gets dropped into a late game situation with no warning

The five thing check in routine: score, time, fouls, who am I guarding, what are we in

Giving your bench its own coach, so nobody gets called in cold

Why practice reps matter more than game minutes for players at the end of the bench

Naming one bench player, out loud and specific, in the locker room after every win

Why a deflection from your eleventh man should get the loudest cheer of the night

Being honest about where a player stands, and what would earn more minutes

Why the kids at the end of the bench are the ones who come back years later

Chapters

00:00 Coach Unplugged intro

00:16 Opening hook: what your bench is really doing

00:52 Welcome from the Fifth Quarter Studios

01:20 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com bench role sheets and culture tools

01:41 The sub who watched the game like a fan

02:34 Takeaway 1: Every player gets a job

03:56 Takeaway 2: Teach them how to sit

05:56 Picking back up

06:13 Takeaway 3: Practice the cold check in

08:17 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com late game scrimmage formats

08:42 Takeaway 4: Small minutes, real role

10:50 The challenge

11:01 Post roll

This week's challenge: Before your first game, give every player on your bench one written job, and check it at your first timeout.
Format: Deep Dive, two parts.
Resources: Bench role sheets, late game scrimmage plans, substitution routines, practice plans, and culture tools at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
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When to burn one, what to say in thirty seconds, and why most timeouts send players back out knowing less than when they sat down.
Coach Steve Collins has a confession. For his first five years as a head coach, he called timeouts mostly for himself. He was frustrated, the gym was loud, and he needed it to stop. One night, down six in the third quarter, he talked fast and loud for a full minute about everything, and his point guard walked back onto the floor and asked, "Coach, what are we running?"
That was not a timeout. That was stopping the clock. In this deep dive, Steve breaks down how to decide when a timeout is worth spending, how to use the first ten seconds with your staff, what to actually say in the thirty seconds you have, and how to practice the timeout itself so it becomes calm, routine, and useful by opening night.
Part 1: Why and Who

The minute long timeout that left the most important player on the floor knowing nothing

The four jobs of a timeout: stop a run, fix one thing, set up a play, give tired legs a breath

Why timeouts are money, and the late game possession Steve watched helplessly after spending them early

Budgeting timeouts: one or two in the first half, and always two saved for the last three minutes

Giving your team one possession to answer a run before you stop it

Using the first ten seconds for a quick staff huddle, then speaking with one voice

Part 2: What Gets Said

The thirty second script: what is happening, what we do about it, and who does it

The clipboard trap, and why a timeout is the place to call a play you own, not teach a new one

Managing emotion before information, because upset players cannot hear X's and O's

The senior who needed a hand on his shoulder before he could hear the next assignment

Practicing real timeouts in the middle of a Tuesday scrimmage until they become routine

Rehearsing the late game timeout with the clock running, so February is not the first time

Keeping a postgame timeout log to learn how you coach in the hardest moments

Chapters

00:00 Coach Unplugged intro

00:16 Opening hook: calling timeouts for the coach

01:16 Preroll: TeachHoops.com special situations and end of game plans

01:39 The point guard who did not know the play

02:31 Takeaway 1: Know why before you call it

04:35 Takeaway 2: Staff first, then one voice

06:20 Takeaway 3: The thirty second script

07:39 Midroll: TeachHoops.com after timeout plays and community

08:01 Takeaway 4: Emotion first, then information

09:08 Takeaway 5: Practice your timeouts

10:45 The challenge

10:56 Postroll: TeachHoops.com

This week's challenge: Write down your four reasons to call a timeout, and do not call one this season unless you can name the reason.
Format: Deep Dive, two parts.
Resources: After timeout plays, end of game situations, special situations playbooks, practice plans, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
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