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Telltale signs of bad basketball coaching

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Smallpotatoes, Jan 13, 2016.

  1. Dog8Cats

    Dog8Cats Well-Known Member

    I wouldn't judge a coach on his or her strategy. I might judge a coach on how competently the players implement a tactic. So, in baseball, I wouldn't question a decision whether or not to execute a squeeze bunt. But if one is executed, do the players do it correctly?

    Freshman/JV success (like Little League success) means nothing.

    Does the coach instruct/teach/coach players or just yell? Can the coach anticipate things at crucial parts of the game (when pressure on an inbound play will be ratcheted up, when the opponent might foul).

    You might learn more about a coach's ability at a practice than at a game. Are practices organized, with crisp transitions from one activity to another? Does the coach command the players' attention? Does the coach have a plan for how to use this time?

    I used to have a coach in my coverage area who seemed always to have one more timeout than I thought he did. I can't quantify that, but I took that as a sign of good coaching.
     
  2. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    If they take more than 15 seconds to shoot, the coach sucks. /Starman
     
  3. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Don't have basic plays for zone/man defense. Players and coach do not know when to use them.

    Don't have an inbounds play.

    Disrespecting of players/coaches during game.

    Their version of "pressing" is players just running after the ball over the entire court.

    They cannot fill out an accurate score book. Players are wearing wrong numbers.

    If you want to dig a little deeper, the successful coaches are growing players for years with elementary school programs and middle school programs. If you expect great players to show up at your door in high school, you are not going to be very successful.
     
    sgreenwell likes this.
  4. awriter

    awriter Active Member

    The fact that the coach in question has won elsewhere leads me to believe she is at least reasonably competent. I would also echo what others have said -- Does the coach make adjustments? Do the players respect her? Does she treat them with respect? Does the team appear to be organized and know what it's supposed to be doing, or does confusion reign?
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2016
    sgreenwell likes this.
  5. sgreenwell

    sgreenwell Well-Known Member

    My knee-jerk reaction - It sounds like they might have gotten really lucky with a stellar class one year, and since then, expectations might be unrealistically high. Unless they're a private school that can soft recruit players with the benefit of free schooling, you can't always guarantee the continued strength of your talent base. Youth programs can help instill fundamentals, in a best-case scenario, but obviously they can't guarantee that you're going to get the roster balance and height you need, depending on the competition level.

    Also, obviously, eight girls' sports for the winter sounds like a lot. It wouldn't surprise me if the programs are unintentionally cannibalizing from the basketball program. The school I do scoreboard stuff for, if football is winning, boys' soccer is usually bad. If boys' soccer is bad, then football is usually winning. Sometimes, they're both .500, but AFIAK, they both haven't had great years at the same time.
     
  6. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    You might be a bad basketball coach if you think the last words of the Star Spangled Banner are, "Play ball!"'
     
    Doc Holliday likes this.
  7. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    Yes, the talent can vary greatly, but I'm not sure it can "very" quite like you say.
     
  8. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    Good catch.
     
    Doc Holliday likes this.
  9. If you wanted to go a different route with this, maybe a feature - with heavy input from the league's great coaches - on what separates good coaching from bad coaching. I'm thinking about doing that, myself, after reading this thread and being a bit confused on what the difference is.
     
  10. albert77

    albert77 Well-Known Member

    One of the best coaches I covered made one of the great coaching moves I ever saw in a pressure situation. His team was playing in a state semifinal late in a see-saw game. His team scored to go up by 1 with about 1:05 to play, and opposing team ran a few seconds off then called time out. My guy told his team that if the other team scored to not call time out, even though they had one left, because he didn't want the other team to set its defense. Sure enough, the other team scored with about 3.5 seconds to play, but while they were celebrating, his team ran the ball in without calling time out. Kid took about three long strides then threw up a 65-foot shot that banked off the glass and through the net to win the game. Now, obviously, you can't game-plan for a 65-foot buzzer beater, but because he knew his opponent, this coach figured they wouldn't be ready to defend immediately, and his guy was unimpeded as he took three dribbles and was in rhythm for a two-handed shot. They ended up winning state two days later.
     
    sgreenwell and britwrit like this.
  11. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    One of the best coaching jobs I've ever seen played out over the course of a season.
    Guy in our area had a championship-caliber team, but there was another team (call them Shelbyville) that was obviously head and shoulders above everyone else. They had the best player in the state, two other D-I players in the starting five and another who played D-I football, and had won the last two state titles. They were also in the coach's district.
    So, beginning in January, the coach started tinkering. He had a guard-oriented roster that was at its best when it ran, but he knew he couldn't beat Shelbyville that way. So for three or four games he had them deliberately slow the ball down and play half court. He got his guards to pound the ball to their one inside scoring threat. He mixed and matched styles.
    All of this was solely in preparation for having to play Shelbyville in the playoffs, which they did three times (district tournament, state championship game, and once in the middle rounds when the top two from each side of the bracket advanced). He knew they'd need to do several different things within the course of a game as Shelbyville adjusted and countered them, so he was preparing his team for it.

    Seeing him play the long game, and realizing what he was doing and why, was amazing. So was the fact that every single one of his players understood why they were suddenly changing a successful formula. He got them to grasp the big picture.
    Unfortunately, none of it worked in the end.
    Podunk's point guard got hurt early and none of the tricks the coach had spent three months implementing paid off. Shelbyville was just too good and won by about 15, and it wasn't even that close. Podunk ended up losing nine games that year, and five of them were to Shelbyville.
    Still a great coaching job, though. By the end they were better than every other team except one, which just so happened to be one of the best in state history.
     
  12. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    That's a good idea. Might also consider asking coaches what they remember learning from others that they used. Would be a good breakout.
     
    Kayaugstin Kott likes this.
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