Anson Dorrance Core Values

One of my favorite coaches to read on is Anson Dorrance.  He is the Head coach of UNC Women Soccer.  His book "A Man Watching" is one of the best books I have ever read.

Head Coach Anson Dorrance is now in his 31st season as the Tar Heel head coach. His teams have an all-time record of 673-33-21 (.940). Under Dorrance, UNC has won 20 national championships, including 19 NCAA crowns and one AIAW title, 19 regular-season ACC titles and 19 ACC Tournament championships. During his tenure, Dorrance's teams are 132-7-4 in ACC regular-season games, 54-0-3 in ACC Tournament matches and 100-7-1 in NCAA Tournament games.

From The Carolina Creed:
"I will excel athletically by committing myself to performance excellence, team success, and continual improvement."

1. We dont whine.  The individual can handle any situation and nver complain about anything on or off the field.  (The True Joy in life is to be a force of fortune instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy." George Bernard Shaw)
2. The truly extraordinary  do something every day.  They have remarkable self discipline and everyday has a plan to get better. 
3. We want these 4 years of college to be rich, valuable, and deep.  This is that the focused individual is here for the right reason to get  an education.  Life is led with proper balance and an orientation towards intellectual growth and against the highest public standards and most noble universal ideals.  
4. We work hard.  The individual embodies the "indefatigable human spirit" and never stops pushing.  Relentless in training. (The difference between 1 person and another, between the weak and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is energy- invisible determination...This quality will do anything that has to be done in the world, and no talents, no circumstances, no opportunities  will make you a great person without it." Thomas Buxton)
5. We don't freak out over rediculous issues or live in fragile states of emotional catharsis or create crises where none exist..  Be even keeled and unflappable.
6. We choose to be positive.  Nothing can depress or upset this powerful and positive life force.
7. We treat everyone with respect.  
8. We care about each other as teammates and as human beings.  Be non-judgemental, inclusive friend that never says a negative thing about anyone and embraces everyone because of their humanity, with no elitist speration.
9. When we dont play as much as we would like we are noble and still support the team and its mission.  This remarkably noble, self sacrificing, generous human being always places the team before themself.
10. We play for each other.
11. We are well led. This is the verbal leader on the field that is less concerned with popularity and more concerned about holding everyone to their highest standards and driving their teammates to their potential.
12. We want our lives to be never ending ascensions but for that to happen properly our fundamental attitude about life and our appreciation for it is critical.  This is that humble, gracious high achiever that is thankful for everything and has a contagious generosity and optimism.

Rick Majerus on Post Play

While looking at some more individual drills for our team next year, I came across some older Rick Majerus notes on Post Play.  I have had the chance to see him in a clinic and was blown away by the amount of technical and tactical knowledge the man has.  Here are some of his notes from the Don Meyer Coaching Academy.

• Transition
• 1st 3 steps are the most important
• Post players have to be strong and be able to run the floor (beat the defense)
• Post players have to be able to shoot free throws.  Being big is not a reason for missing
• 3 things to do everyday
• Transition defense
• skill development 20-40 minutes a day
• Mikan drill 
• Step heel-toe, release ball in between 1 & 12 o'clock, pull ball out of net
• Free throws
• 3 things to develop for post players
• Soft hands to catch
• strong hands
• soft touch when shooting
• Why post players miss shots
• Not low enough
• dont focus on target
• dont get the ball high enough
• Post Player philosophy 
• low-sit in stance
• slow-be patient
• under control
• need to have 1 go move and 1 counter move
• Working on seals
• Must work on them every day-cover situations
• jump hooks
• Keep contact on seal
• dont leave the pass
• keep body into the defense on the jump hook
• keep head up to hoop
• Essentials for post play
• Front th epost with heavy ball pressure
• pressure passer on P&R

1 of the first books I read was My life On a  Napkin, it is a book that I enjoyed at a young age and really gave an inside look into Majerus.

8 Must Haves of Defense- Kevin Eastman

From Kevin Eastmans newsletter.

1. Communication:...Intimidates opponent.
...Gives defense a head start.
...Gives man on ball more confidence.
...Wakes up a disengaged defender.
...Catches a mistake before it happens.
...Energizes team.

2. Trust:Teams that don’t trust, foul more. Teams that foul more, lose more!

3. Position:...Where are you supposed to be in relation to the ball.

4. Awareness:
...Ability to sniff things out.
...Gain awareness by repetition in practice or experience.

5. Alertness:
...Need to be ready the instant we need you.

6. Multiple weapons.
7. Rotation and scramble:
...Rotations are rehearsed and practiced everyday.
...Scrambles are not.

8. Resolve:
...Watch San Antonio Spurs (when they get scored on, they don’t let it affect their egos).

If You Dont Talk, You Dont Play

The quote above comes from the first chapter of the book Pursuit of Perfection from UConn Women's Basketball Coach Geno Auriemma. I have never met a coach who says that there team talks to much (On the court).  All of us are trying to get our kids to communicate to their teammates and be vocal.   There is a quote out there that says that with average teams you hear squeaking shoes, with great teams you hear constant communication.

Another good quote about communication would be from Buzz Williams: "If there was a blind man that came to your practice, what would he think of your team?"  Buzz has been known to show film to his team minus the visual part -- simply a black screen for them to hear practice. He said he even has practice dumped on CD at times so he can "listen" to it in the car on the way home.



 So why is communication important on Defense
 - Promotes Team Building - When teammates are communicating with each other it increases the sense of a common goal. Cohesive individuals make for a well-balanced team.
- Reduces Individual Errors - It's hard to think about making a mistake when you are constantly encouraging and supporting your teammates. Less worry means less anxiety. This means your body can relax and perform at it's optimal levels.
- No Mental Lapses - Communication helps players stay focused on the game. More focus means increased awareness. Plus with communication, if someone does have a mental lapse, the talk and directions from the other players on the court help guide this player to the correct spot lessening the chance that a lapse turns into a costly error.
-Talk intimidates
-Talk Energizes
-Talk Wakes up a disengaged defender

Leadership & Friendship Thoughts From Dick Bennett

I am stealing this blog post from Greg Brown at UCF.  There is a link to his blog on the bottom of my homepage. He has some great thoughts!

One of the challenges we face with our team in teaching leadership is the concept of holding each other accountable. Too many times our players know what to do, but hesitate in "calling someone out" for fear of how they might react.

I have been re-reading Dick Bennett's book and he spoke to this exact concept:

From Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay on “Friendship”

There are two elements that go to the composition of friendship. One is truth. A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. The other element is tenderness {love}. When a man becomes dear to me, I have touched the goal of fortune.

Dick Bennett to his Wisconsin team:

“It is amazing how close you guys are off the floor. You really like each other. But the thing you lack for one another is a real love. You do not love one another to the point where you will say the things that need to be said, because you do not want to ruffle each other’s feathers. Well, that is just not good enough…I do not wish to treat friendship daintily, but with roughest courage…If you truly loved one another, you would make each other do what has to be done. In this case, you would chase each other down if someone was going to be late for a meal. You can’t always be best buddies and look the other way. Sometimes love is not always kind, it is tough. Until you experience that, you will not come together for a single purpose.

Strategies For Leading Generation Y

Here is an article I found on Ken Blanchards twitter.  The article itself was written by Sarah Caverhill & Marta Brooks.  Here is a link to the full article:
http://www.diversity-executive.com/article.php?in=916

Before I get into the article itself here are some facts and characteristics of Generation Y.
-Although their are no official dates mostly this is a group that have birth date ranging from the mid 1970's to the year 2000
-That they have an increased use and familiarity with communications, media, and digital technologies.   Especially with instant communication (IMS, TEXTS, ETC)
-Also called Trophy Kids,Which is a term that reflects the trend in competitive sports, as well as many other aspects of life, where "no one loses" and everyone gets a "Thanks for Participating" trophy and symbolizing a perceived sense of entitlement
-Multitasking and not focusing (IE Driving, while talking on the cell phone, and drinking a soda)
-Personalities are mostly strong-willed, passionate, and optimistic
-The average Gen Y changes jobs an average of 29 times and the average time in one job is 1.1 years.

Now here are the 3 strategies for Leading Gen Y.
1. Align Gen Y employees’ goals with company goals.

• Many older workers assume Gen Y has a weak work ethic, but this generilzation is not always true
• Gen Y understands technoly and they know that technology is running all the time(so they can work on it, whenever it fits.)
• Gen Y does not work the way their managers work, they have different ways of doing things.
•  Most Gen Y professionals want to give their jobs their best efforts. But they have to see how their work fits with their own goals.

As a leader you should be aligning goals that helps them fit work to their personal development. Managers must paint vivid pictures of how the desired results will help them. If the boss does that, Gen Y will work relentlessly to achieve set goals.

2. Tap into Gen Y’s gifts.

• Gen Y hates it when their managers under appreciate their gifts. 
• Without appreciation and praise, they become unchallenged and bored, and their productivity will suffer accordingly. 
•  they call in sick, come in late or find unauthorized ways to entertain themselves on the job.

To cure this problem, managers need to talk with them to uncover their strengths, capabilities and ideas. These conversations can ignite interest, inspire passion and help the manager figure out how to tap into their gifts. Further, using their ideas compliments the Gen Y professional. They feel appreciated, and everyone wins.


3. Enhance leadership practices. 

• Gen Y employees will not put up with poor leadership. Instead, they will stand up to it. 
• This means they can expose costly leadership practices and they will demand correction. 
• Frustrations with poor leadership may end up on the Internet. These new grapevines can cause serious problems for companies, making it risky business to allow poor leadership — such as micromanaging, withholding praise, yelling and sabotaging employee efforts — to go unchecked.

Companies must uncover poor management practices, then fix them and create an environment that supports better practices. This does not mean conducting some sort of managerial witch hunt. Most managers try hard to manage well. When they fail, they often don’t know what they did wrong. Leadership development can help correct the problem. Also, managers are understandably reluctant to let newer people perform critical tasks unsupervised. And Gen Y employees may be too green to accurately self-assess their skill sets. Good managers help Gen Yers get the direction they need without micromanaging.

Hubie Brown offensive thoughts

Is the Offense for you or is the offense for the team?  Hubie Brown
Gospel of Offense

- Spacing - no one defender plays two guys
- Be able to reverse the ball
- Have a short pass and a long pass
- Leave an area and replace
- Be able to start the offence if they take away the first pass
- Have a backdoor game. 

• The difference between great teams is often the time it takes to advance the ball from top of the key to top of the key.
• The easiest place to post is on the dotted line in front of the rim. Why? Because everyone plays behind you!
• In your shooting drills do you practice the shots you are going to get in your offense and press breaks?
• 
  

Hubie Brown "How to WIn WIth Less Talent"

These notes are from an old Hubie Brown tape, that I happened to come across the other day.
Purpose of the tape: It all comes down to 2 things A)How well you teach and B) Do you have talent to make your philosophy work.

"I know you can win when you have all the talent, but can you compete and win when you have less talent." Hubie Brown

Keys to winning with less talent.

1. Control Defensive Boards (Pretty self explanatory but 3 reasons it helps)
1. Limit second shots
2. Less oportunites for the offense
3. A chance to start your offense
2. Get more shots--No excuse to say you have a bad shooting team
1. 2 ways to do this
1. Force Turnovers
2. Offensive rebounds
3. What are you shooting from the line? How many Free Throws are you getting?
1. You must have an inside game (Doesnt have to be a post up game). The goal is 3 point plays
2. Can you get to the line...9 out of 10 times the team that gets to the foul line most will win
3. Attacking the rim leads to fouls on the opponent, which helps to get into the other teams bench. (Your guy might have less talent then their guy, but more talent than their sub)
4. Get your best shooters High Percentage Shots.
1. 3 best players in the pros and 2 best in High School.  Run plays to get your best players the ball (especially late in games)
2. Think of your 2 best shooters- do they shoot a high % from both sides of the floor and from the center of the floor?
1. Chart your shooting drills and you will see that they shoot well from 2 of the 3 spots, but not all 3.
3. Is your offense getting your best shooters shots that they can make?

Ettore Messina on Being an Assistant

Here is a great blog post by Joey Burton, he has a great blog that I check daily. 
The link for his blog is
http://basketballinsights.blogspot.com/


Being my assistant is not so difficult, but at the same time it might be difficult. I don't disturb anybody past usual working hours. I'm not calling people in the night. After the game I'm so tired that I just watch the game myself to clarify my ideas, then I need to sleep. Even if I'm mad or stressed, I can't go all night long watching tapes. I need to rest as I wake up early every morning — 7.30 or maximum 8 am — even after the game. But I want them to suggest new ideas. During practices when we set up the teams I want them to create problems to the team I'm coaching. I want them to create situations that look like the real game. I want them to imagine how the opponent will play and try to recreate this kind of problem during practices. I want them to come up with new ideas and be ready to express and defend them, but at the same time to accept the fact that it will be my decision whether to use their ideas or not. The greatest quality of an assistant coach is unselfishness. Once you start being jealous that the coach used your idea that turned to be the key for the game and got all the credit without mentioning you, you're no longer a good assistant. I used to be an assistant. When I started thinking that I could do it my way, I was lucky that I had the chance.
At the same time head coach should never confuse loyalty with an ability to follow and agree. A good assistant should be able to tell the coach: “Look, we're heading into the wrong direction” and explain why. You have to tell, if you see the coach choosing the wrong direction. I had very few problems with my assistants during my career. And it happened only when I had a “master of the after” as an assistant. Those are the people who are good at saying “We should have done this” after the game and “Maybe, we should do something about it” when things are not going well. Do what? Make your suggestion.
We disagree with my assistants all the time, which I think is a good part of our job. In theory they call “organizational behavior”, they point out that group thinking (making decisions together that in most cases leads to thinking in almost the same way) might be a big problem. In group thinking, the one who disagree avoids expressing his opinion because of the fear of being criticized. It might be a disaster for the organization. So if there is a good thing I do as a coach, I don't encourage group thinking. I keep pushing my assistants to tell what is wrong in their opinion to create some kind of diversity. If we all think in the same way, I don't need assistants. On the other hand, we do a lot of brainstorming, on the bus, even on the bench during games. There is one reason I sit between my assistants from day one as a head coach. I want my assistants to talk and then it's my responsibility to pick up what I feel is good. During the game I never explain to them why I chose something over something else, because we don't have time for that. But I want to hear their voice.

Motion Ideas vs Different Types of Defense

Motion vs Sagging Defense
MOVE THE DEFENSE
PLAYER MOVEMENT

•  Use Flare Screens
• Screen in the Defense
• Quick Ball Reversals and Skip Passes= Closeout situations on the back side
• Penetration breaks down defenses and with 
• Penetrate and fill behind (G-G)
• Very popular in European basketball. 
• Man guarding the gap has to help on the drive and with the help, the shooter will be open
• Penetrate and Fill behind (Circle Behind G-F)
• As Guard drives to the basket, the post player circles behind for a jumpshot.

Motion Ideas vs Switching D 

• Recognize mismatches + arrange actions to exploit them
• IE Guard guarding a post player or big guarding a perimeter player
• No LIKE screens
• Guards screen for bigs and bigs screen for guards
• This eliminates most of the like switches 
• Set more flare screens then down screens
• Screener + passer always have eye contact (Easier to slip)
• Widen the floor-Put people in space
• Pairs- teammates work together on 1 side of floor
• Screen your own man
• Cutter rejecting the screen

Motion Ideas vs Pressure D

• Spread the floor
• Back Cuts Back Screens (early in possessions)
• Guards wont pressure the gaps as hard if they get knocked by a back screen)
• If denied- back cut, dont stand (Dont fight pressure)
• Open up the floor so the people behind you are not standing
• Low post player should stay on 1 side, Opens up the back side for back cuts
• Empty low post
• Backscreen the passer rule (UCLA Screens)
• Be confident to put the ball on the floor and attack pressure
• Have a pressure release for the pass and for the dribble.

Leadership Thoughts--Nick Saban

This past week I finished How Good Do You Want To Be by Nick Saban.  It is a book I really enjoyed and one that I would recommend.

One of the major themes throughout was focusing on the process instead of the results. It is not a new concept to me personally, but one that I find really interesting.  It is very easy to talk about conference championships, national tournaments, and national titles.  However, any competitive person in sports should not have to be motivated about these things.  Below I have some quotes and thoughts from the book.





-There 5 goals for the National Championship Season (At LSU)
1.Be a team-Together Everyone Accomplishes More
2.  Work to Dominate Your Opponents
3.  Positively affect our Teammates
4.Individual Responsibility for self Determination
5. Be Champions on and off the field

• It's not about having the best players--it's about being relentless in the pursuit of your goal and resilient in the face of bad luck and adversity.
• We simply focused on the process of being champions
• An opponent should never determine your level of competitive spirit (A new personal favorite of mine)
• We are responsible for what we create, not the other team.
• Do not look at the scoreboard--dominate for 60 minutes
• Champions take an attitude of dominance everywhere they go.
• Our commitment, character, conviction, and attitude allowed us to do what we needed to do as a team to achieve at the highest level.
• 3 foundations for building a championship team in sports and business: Developing a good product, knowing the competition, TEAMWORK.
• 5 core values: Discipline, commitment, Toughness, Effort, Pride
• Climb the mountain, but watch your step

where have they gone?

Over the past couple of days on Twitter, there has been some rumblings about things that are almost lost arts in basketball.  It got me to thinking about some of the things that are not as emphasized as they used to be, or things that people simply do not want to value.  It seems like a lot of times with young players they want to look cool.  Playing hard has almost become a bad thing to some. 
The 4 things I am going to focus on for this are: post entries, off the ball screening, boxing out, and the mid-range jump shot.

1.)  The simple idea of entering the ball in the post needs 2 things to be succesful.  First the ball handler must get a good angle.  Second,  the post player must establish position and maintain it.  Sounds pretty simple, but I cannot count how many times we had turnovers on this.  We had a rule at UW-Parkside that said we couldnt enter the ball in the post unless we got outside the volleyball lines.  Trying to throw it from the top is a tough pass.  The second problem with the passer is that they do not pass it away from the defense. The biggest problem with the reciever, is that they simply do not post hard and get pushed out to 15 feet. 


2. Off the ball screening is what makes good motion go.  However, the concept seems lost with so many dribble drive offenses and ball screening offenses.  Again it takes 2 people to set it up (The cutter and the screener).  Good off the ball movement helps to create great shots.  However, a lot of times the 2 players just simply interchange with each other and therefore have not gained any advantage on the defense.  Its not easy to run good motion and a lot of coaches seemed scared to put that much freedom in their players hands.

3.  Boxing Out:  As players have gotten more athletic, the trend has been to check and release.  At the higher levels I would agree with it.  However at the small college level and high schools it is a rarity to see a good box out.  Any successful team needs to be able to defensive rebound to win games on a consistent basis.

4.  The last one is the mid range jump shot:  Simply put, how many times do you see a sportcenter highlight of a mid range jump shot??  It is a very fundamental play that is tough to find in younger players, they all want to shoot the 3. 

These 4 things are all things that can be emphasized from a coaching standpoint and would instantly make your team better. 

WDYL- WHERE DO YOU LIVE

1 of my favorite coaches to read about has to be Buzz Williams.   I had the chance to watch a practice in his first year at Marquette.  The energy that he has on the court is something that I have never seen before.  However the thing that really gets me is that he invited me back to the video room and wanted my thoughts on the practice.  He is a guy that has not forgotten his roots at all.

I came across an aritcle on him by Luke Winn:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/ncaa/mens-tournament/blog/tag/buzz-williams/

Williams used an acronym of his own creation: WDYL.

It stands for “Where Do You Live?” — and Williams has gone as far as to have it printed on the Golden Eagles’ practice shorts. “In my opinion, old people live in the past, and love to talk about things when they were young,” Williams said. “Young people love to talk about the future. Every player here, they all think they’re going to the league. But I believe wise people live in the present.”

This quote is one that really jumped out to me.  One thing I have learned is that worrying about what has happened, gets you nowhere.  If you take care of the present everything will work out.  In coaching, it seems like a lot of guys are coaching for their next job.  You can usually spot the guys that are 100% invested in their current job and the guys that are there for now.  

There is a really good book out there called "The Precious Present" and its a short 80 page read.  I highly recommend it to anyone.

1st post & purpose of my blog

I have finally taken the plunge and decided to start blogging.  I have enjoyed reading other coaches blogs and think that those that have ideas should share them (Especially in coaching).  There are no secrets in this business, and with an abundance of information out there,I wanted a place I could store it and share it with others. 

Some things about my blog to know: Down at the bottom I will have a TOP BOOK LIST... This will have a list of some of my favorite books that I have read and enjoyed. I will try to have an abundance of clinic notes, articles, and personal thoughts. I also have





If there is something in my blog that you wold like to talk more about or question please email at kyle.brown@snc.edu