Slappin' Glass Podcast

Ross Hodge joins Slappin’ Glass to discuss defensive adaptability, teaching defensive decision making, and adjusting a no middle defense against modern basketball offenses. The trio explores how to prepare players for scramble situations, develop defensive feel, and defend the flat ball screens that challenge paint protection.
During Start, Sub, or Sit?!, the trio dives into offensive player development, including rim finishing, shot selection, passing, and drawing fouls. Hodge explains how better decisions create better finishes, why footwork and spacing matter for bigs, and how to help secondary playmakers avoid situations that demand difficult passes.
The trio also discusses zone offense, using step up ball screens and weak side screening to create advantages, and building practice plans that expose your offense to different defensive coverages. Hodge closes with his thoughts on investing in players, staff, and the people around your program.

Time Topic 
 |02:28  | Ross Hodge joins the conversation
 | 02:49  | Defensive adaptability and playing in the gray
 | 05:49  | Teaching through scrambles and disadvantaged situations
 | 08:25  | Personnel, peel switching, and defensive feel
 | 12:57  | Building habits before adding freedom
 | 17:38  | How North Texas protected the paint and limited threes
 | 20:19  | Adapting no middle against middle third attacks
 | 23:37  | Defending flat screens and adjusting the pickup point
 | 26:45  | Start, Sub, or Sit?!
 | 27:11  | Offensive puzzles: passing, finishing, and drawing fouls
 | 30:12  | Guard finishing and shot selection
 | 33:37  | Developing a big’s base, balance, and spacing
 | 36:56  | Helping secondary players become better passers
 | 39:24  | What defensive coaches learn from watching offense
 | 41:22  | Ranking screening actions against zones
 | 44:35  | Adjusting the offense to different zones
 | 46:38  | Practicing against other defenses
 | 49:38  | Using “punch” segments early in practice
 | 51:24  | Foul line playmakers and driving against zones
 | 53:49  | Best career investment: investing in people
 | 55:57  | Dan and Pat’s takeaways
To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

Brooks Savage has changed his offense several times since becoming a head coach. In this episode, the East Tennessee State coach explains how personnel, team strengths, and defensive identity shaped those decisions—and why he became more effective once he stopped trying to be different for its own sake.
Savage also shares how he builds a clear team identity through standards, recruiting, and consistent language; why he prefers short, repetitive practices built around a few priorities; and how his approach to offensive rebounding has shifted from tagging up to more selective crashing. He discusses the decision to play without a traditional center, how he attacks a late-game deficit, and why coaches should use timeouts when the game calls for it instead of saving them for an imagined final moment.
What You’ll Learn
How personnel and team strengths should shape an offense
Why a program’s identity starts with standards and informs recruiting
How to build culture through repeated language and daily expectations
Why Savage favors short, focused practices with consistent priorities
What his team learned by shifting from tagging up to crashing
Why ETSU chose to play without a traditional center
How he approaches pressing, lineups, and timeouts when trailing late
Timestamps
02:42 The evolution of Savage’s offense
07:54 Finding an edge through fundamentals
09:59 Choosing sets and preparing for opponents
12:03 How a set-heavy offense changes practice
15:02 Building practice around a team’s capacity
20:37 Moving from tagging up to crashing
24:29 Start, Sub, or Sit: identity and standards
28:58 Making culture real through language and behavior
32:00 Matching team identity to the university and community
33:52 Coaching players who fall below the standard
36:31 Creating a comeback by changing the game
40:02 Why ETSU plays without a traditional center
42:49 When to use timeouts
44:38 The best investment of Savage’s coaching career
To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

Tennessee Women’s Basketball Head Coach Kim Caldwell joins the podcast to detail the connected system behind her high-possession style of play.
Caldwell explains how her teams pursue a 20-shot advantage through forced turnovers, offensive rebounding, limiting their own turnovers, and getting to the foul line. She breaks down the habits that must be unlearned to play fast, how shot selection connects to floor balance, and why crashing four naturally establishes matchups for the press.
She also discusses subbing for fatigue rather than mistakes, giving defenders freedom within the run-and-jump, and the danger of introducing a Plan B that contradicts the team’s identity.
In Start, Sub, or Sit, Caldwell ranks communication, decision-making, and execution when players reach their physical limit. The conversation closes with her approach to full-court practices, eight-minute drills, conditioning, and choosing coaching jobs where winning is possible.
Timestamps
2:20 – Kim Caldwell joins the show
2:34 – The goal of creating 20 more shots
4:29 – Adjusting the shot-margin target by competition level
5:13 – Unteaching habits and training with a 12-second clock
6:33 – Defining a good shot within the system
7:41 – Preferred opponent shot profile
9:12 – Using defense to regain pace and momentum
10:47 – Substitution patterns and playing in short bursts
12:55 – Attacking teams that try to slow the game
14:36 – What Caldwell tracks during timeouts
16:49 – Crashing four and “building a house”
18:37 – Matching up and flowing into the run-and-jump
19:45 – Giving defenders freedom to err toward aggression
20:26 – Conviction, adaptation, and the danger of Plan B
23:04 – Protecting leads without abandoning pace
25:14 – Late-game shot selection and pressure adjustments
26:12 – Caldwell’s philosophy on calling timeouts
28:02 – Start, Sub, or Sit: Practice tipping points
30:12 – Player-to-player communication under fatigue
31:51 – Keeping chaos within the right boundaries
33:14 – Full-court practice and conditioning
35:03 – The eight-minute drill limit
36:46 – Finishing the final conversion of a drill
38:19 – Building practice plans with the staff
40:04 – Caldwell’s best career investment
41:39 – Slappin’ Glass takeaways
To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

UC Davis Head Coach Jim Les joins the Slappin’ Glass Podcast to discuss the daily habits behind elite performance, building trust before asking for hard truth, and creating a team environment where productive conflict can be handled quickly. Coach Les explains why urgency starts with what a staff is willing to tolerate, how written player goals can sharpen accountability, and why “the game knows” has become a central teaching idea in his program.
On the tactical side, he breaks down UC Davis’s use of Princeton and chin action, the value of a dynamic catch before the pick and roll, teaching split cuts through clear order of operations, and using multiple offensive modes during a game. The conversation closes with ball-screen coverage complexity, deciding whether to fix or cover a team weakness, and the coaching investment that has kept him learning for more than two decades.
Episodes Chapters
02:51  The traits of elite players and teams
03:22  Urgency habits and editing your life
08:40  How Coach Les changed as a communicator
11:17  Protecting the head coach’s voice
13:40  The game knows
15:47  Building a pre-practice habit system
18:17  Teaching passing off the dribble
19:36  Productive conflict inside a team
22:27  Staff communication and alignment
25:06  Investing in relationships with players
28:51  "Start Sub or Sit" Princeton into pick and roll
30:15  Dynamic catches and sprinting into the screen
32:03  Why Princeton punishes good defensive principles
34:55  Teaching split cuts and the feeder is the leader
36:36  Attacking the closeout before the ball screen
38:12  Using multiple offensive modes
40:02  "Start Sub or Sit" changes in coaching philosophy
41:41  Scaling ball-screen coverage complexity
45:19  Fixing a weakness or covering it
47:05  Coach Les’s best career investment
49:07  Slappin’ Glass recap
To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

Siena University head coach Nevada Smith joins the Slappin’ Glass Podcast to discuss the difference between speed and pace, the details behind “25 Speed,” and how his teams work to create advantages within the first five seconds of a possession.
Smith breaks down one-handed passing, finishing development, empty-side pick-and-rolls, high-slot spacing, attacking defensive absolutes, and creating “confusion zones” through guard-to-guard actions.
During “Start, Sub, or Sit,” he shares his approach to offensive rebounding, reading ball flight, crashing five, training disadvantaged transition situations, and developing point guards who can commit a second defender.
What You’ll Learn
 Why Smith separates speed from pace—and how he defines “25 Speed.” 
 How finishing work and one-handed passing support a faster offense. 
 Why high-slot spacing and empty-side pick-and-rolls create downhill attacks. 
 How Siena identifies and attacks defensive absolutes. 
 Why guard-to-guard actions create “confusion zones” against switching defenses. 
 How shot selection and ball-flight recognition shape offensive rebounding. 
 Why committing a second defender is Smith’s top point-guard skill. 
 How the first 36 minutes inform Siena’s offense during the final four.
To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!