Advertise on podcast: 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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? 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

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

Do you have three defenses or one really good one? https://teachhoops.com/ Why most preseason defensive installs try to cover everything and end up covering nothing. SHOW NOTES Somewhere in your league there is a team with almost no defensive scheme at all that is going to beat somebody good this winter, because they guard the ball. Meanwhile most of us are carrying three or four defenses and are not actually good at any of them. Steve walks through the order of operations for installing defense in preseason, starting with the only question that matters before any scheme decision: can we guard the ball? What we cover: •   Why ball pressure and stance have to get real practice time before anything else •   Help, recovery, and why the second closeout is where most threes come from •   Teaching one ball screen coverage instead of three your kids will forget •   Why a press is a reward a team earns and never a starting point •   Identical vocabulary October through February, guarding without fouling, and the honest test of whether your defense is really installed This week's challenge: Drop your weakest defense and give those minutes to guarding the ball. 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: 11 minutes 47 seconds Audio file: 05_defense_install.mp3 LINKS https://teachhoops.com/ https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ https://heysammi.com/ Do You Have Three Defenses, or One Really Good One? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Making Practice Better https://teachhoops.com/ · https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ · https://heysammi.com/ TITLE How Many Reps Did Your Players Actually Get Yesterday? SUBTITLE Practice quality is a number you can count, and most coaches have never once counted it. SHOW NOTES Coaches judge practice on how it felt. Felt sharp, felt flat. Coach Collins makes the case for judging it on something harder and more honest: how many real repetitions each player got, how much of the gym was moving at any moment, and how much of your two hours went to things that were not basketball. Small structural changes here are worth more than any new drill. What we cover: Counting touches instead of trusting how practice felt Where the minutes actually go, and the parts nobody notices losing Running two things at once instead of everybody watching one Adding a score to a drill and what it does to effort Ending practice on something that tells you whether it worked This week's challenge: Pick one player and count his actual repetitions for a twenty minute stretch of your next practice. Resources: 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/ Why the team vote usually crowns the most popular kid, and what to ask of a captain once you have actually named the job. SHOW NOTES The best captain Coach Steve Collins ever had averaged three points a game and never started. In this three part episode, Steve gets into how he stopped letting the team vote, why your leading scorer is often the wrong choice, and the three specific things he asks a captain to do. He also handles the part nobody plans for, which is what you do in November when the kid with the title is not leading. What we cover: •   Why a team vote is a popularity contest, and what to hand out instead •   Why your best player is frequently your worst captain •   Naming the job out loud so a captain knows what the role requires •   The three asks: the first five minutes, the truth, praise loud and correct quiet •   Handling a captain who is not leading without humiliating him This week's challenge: Before your first game, sit your captains down alone and say out loud the three things you need from them. 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: 10 minutes 38 seconds Audio file: 04_captains.mp3 LINKS https://teachhoops.com/ https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ https://heysammi.com/ Are You Picking Captains or Just Holding an Election? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Teach Hoops One-on-One Call https://teachhoops.com/ · https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ · https://heysammi.com/ TITLE What Happens When One Coach Gets an Hour on His Own Program? SUBTITLE A Teach Hoops one on one call, where a single coach brings his actual situation and we work through it out loud. SHOW NOTES This is a recording of a Teach Hoops one on one call. Different from the group member calls: one coach, one program, and enough time to get past the surface of the problem to whatever is actually causing it. Names and details are shared with permission, and the value for you is that the underlying issue is almost never unique to him. What we cover: One coach's real situation, described in his own words Getting underneath the stated problem to the actual one Working the solution in real time instead of offering general advice Where his instincts were right and where they were leading him wrong What a coach can act on the very next day This week's challenge: Write down the problem in your program you have been avoiding, in one sentence, and notice how much clearer it gets on paper. Resources: One on one calls, member calls, practice plans, drills, and courses 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/⁠ What Should You Actually Be Watching in Your First Scrimmage? The score is the least useful number in the gym, so here are the three you should write on your card instead. SHOW NOTESYour first scrimmage is the best information you will get all preseason, and most coaches throw it away by watching the ball and worrying about the score. Coach Steve Collins walks through how to decide what you are hunting for before tip, why you should let your team drown through a bad stretch instead of bailing them out, and how one quarter of complete silence can teach you more than a month of practice. What we cover: - Why a preseason score is built out of things that will not exist in January- Picking three things before the ball goes up and writing them on your card- Watching habits instead of results, starting with who sprints back without being told- The bench and the huddle are half your information and they are sitting right next to you- Fix, do not add: turning scrimmage notes into one twelve minute Monday segment This week's challenge: Write your three things on your card before tip, then coach one full quarter with your mouth closed. Resources: Practice plans, drills, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/ Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin. Runtime: 5 minutes 32 secondsAudio file: 09_first_scrimmage.mp3 LINKS https://teachhoops.com/ https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ https://heysammi.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if you built your first two weeks backwards from opening night? https://teachhoops.com/ Most coaches plan practice forwards and run out of calendar, so here is how to start at game one and work your way back. SHOW NOTES Ask most coaches how many practices they have before their first game and you get a guess. That guess is exactly why the Thursday before the opener turns into a panic session where you cram four installs into ninety minutes. In this two part episode, Coach Steve Collins builds the first two weeks in reverse, starting with the date of game one and working back to what has to be true by then. What we cover: •   Counting your real practices instead of your calendar days •   The difference between your install list and your functional list •   Using "what will beat us in game one" to organize everything •   Why habits and sequencing come before any play you love •   The day ten test that tells you if you are ahead or behind This week's challenge: Write the date of your first game on a page, count the practices you actually have, and cross one thing off your install list. 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: 10 minutes 6 seconds Audio file: 03_first_two_weeks.mp3 LINKS https://teachhoops.com/ https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ https://heysammi.com/ What If You Built Your First Two Weeks Backwards From Opening Night? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Being an Assistant Coach https://teachhoops.com/ · https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ · https://heysammi.com/ TITLE What Does a Great Assistant Coach Actually Do? SUBTITLE Nobody hands you a job description, most head coaches never write one, and the assistants who figure it out become impossible to replace. SHOW NOTES Being an assistant is its own craft, not a waiting room for a head job. Coach Collins talks through what the role really asks of you: how to disagree with your head coach the right way and at the right time, how to be the voice a struggling player can actually go to, and how to add value in the areas nobody else has claimed. Useful whether this is your career or your first season holding a clipboard. What we cover: Finding the job nobody assigned you and owning it completely Disagreeing with your head coach in private and backing him in public Being the assistant players come to, without becoming a shortcut around the head coach Earning responsibility instead of waiting to be handed it Preparing for a head job while doing this one well This week's challenge: Ask your head coach what he wishes somebody on staff would take off his plate, then take it. Resources: 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

Do you have standards, or do you just have a lot of rules? https://teachhoops.com/ Why three things you will stop practice for beat twenty things nobody enforces after Thanksgiving. SHOW NOTES Most programs walk into the first week of practice with a handbook full of rules and not one real standard. Coach Steve Collins breaks down the difference between a line you cannot cross and a level you hold, and why the long list actually teaches your team that you do not mean what you say. This one is meant to be used before your first whistle, not after your first problem. What we cover: •   Rules stop behavior, standards set a level, and most gyms are drowning in the first •   Why twenty rules is a bluff and three standards is a program •   A standard only exists if you stop practice for it, including when you are winning •   How to tell a standard from a slogan on the wall •   Letting your players help write them, and what happens the first time you let one slide This week's challenge: Write down three things you will stop the gym for every single time, and find out this Tuesday whether you meant them. 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: 5 minutes 25 seconds Audio file: 07_standards_vs_rules.mp3 LINKS https://teachhoops.com/ https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ https://heysammi.com/ Do You Have Standards, or Do You Just Have a Lot of Rules? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Teach Hoops Member Call 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/ How do you cut a kid without cutting him badly? The roster number is a philosophy, the conversation is a skill, and neither one gets easier after thirty seven years. SHOW NOTES Twenty two kids in the gym, fourteen spots, and four of the five kids on the bubble are basically the same player. Steve has been in that room more times than he can count, and he never once slept well the night before cuts. This episode is not about evaluating. It is about the human cost of the decision, what you actually say when you deliver it, and how you carry it afterward. What we cover: •   Why the number you keep is a philosophy decision, not a gym capacity decision •   The difference between a kid going home disappointed and a kid going home humiliated •   Why you never hand the cut to an assistant or a list on a door •   The sentence Steve used for twenty five years: here is the one thing that would change my answer next year •   What you owe the parents, what you do not, and how to leave a door open without making a promise This week's challenge: Pick the kid you are dreading most and write out his one sentence now, while you are still calm. 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: 10 minutes 32 seconds Audio file: 02_cutting_players.mp3 LINKS https://teachhoops.com/ https://coachingyouthhoops.com/ https://heysammi.com/ How Do You Cut a Kid Without Cutting Him Badly? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices