Mike Dunlap is the Associate Head Coach at St. John’s University and has taken a much larger role in all aspects of the program as Head Coach Steve Lavin recovers from prostate cancer. He has won two NCAA Divsion II National Championships at Metro State and has also coached at Arizona, Oregon,  and with the Denver Nuggets. The following is a list of 10 items that Coach Dunlap feels are often neglected or overloooked by many coaches:

1. Take time to explain what we want from our players.
We must strive for clarity first.

2. Demonstration after we tell our players what we want; there must be a demonstration each time.
We need to give our players a picture demonstration before we get into repetition.

3. Building blocks are the only way to develop a player.
For example, if we do not address a players feet and be specific about how we want him to pivot then it will cost us down the road. Do not rush your teaching. We should do one thing at a time.

4. Teaching your team to be physical takes technique, sequential instruction, and patience.
It is easy to call a player a “nutless wonder” without considering that most players have never been taught the finer points of hand to hand combat. If we would spend a little more time with football coaches we would figure out how to teach our team to be physical.

5. Be objective about an all out effort.
We demand that a player go at 100% effort. What is 100% effort and has there ever been a player who knew what that meant. Probably not? For instance, put a heart monitor on a player and measure their heart rate. The instructor can be more objective about individual effort this way. Yet, we talk and sometimes yell at our players about going “all out” all the time. What a stupid statement when you really think about it. How can a player read and think? For example, a good offensive player must learn how to changespeeds with cutting and ballhandling. This requires that the offensive player control his body and NOT play at 100%. Too many times we buy into the myth of the 100% effort and forget about going after a player’s intellect before asking for a quality effort.

6. Demanding perfection.
What a bunch of crap! The more a person chases perfection the less they can enjoy each act. How can a perfectionist be happy with anything? The least enjoyable person to be around is the perfectionist; I find a lazy dog to be just as unpleasant. Demand that people do the right thing, yet do not fall into the trap that nothing is ever good enough. If you are always chasing perfection then how can you teach a player to enjoy a job well done? As Coach Wooden stated, “A man must find balance, be it emotional, physical, spiritual, or intellectual.” Why is it that certain coaches will say that they were devastated by the loss at the end of a 33-1 season? If you believe in your preparation and teaching process then how can any loss devastate you? In other words, losing is part of sports; you learn from it and move on. A disciplined mind comes in many different forms and being mentally tough also requires that you must accept the brutal reality that no one is perfect and a quality effort is a joy in and of itself regardless of outcome.

7. Follow through.
If you want discipline in your organization then follow through with consequences for actions. Our discipline breaks down when we do not quickly punish the transgression. How come so many coaches fall prey to this area? Because it could hurt the outcome of your season if you lose a certain player. My experience tells me just the opposite. For example, George Gwoldecky, head hockey coach at Denver University, benched his best player for the national championship game. Coach Gwoldecky made a statement for all time- period.

8. Take care of ourselves first.
Whether it is our mental and physical health (i.e eating, exercise, prayer, reading, etc) daily schedule, finances, family, and other personal matters, we need to address those things first. Why? Because if you are not in order how can you fully give to your team, staff, and school? You cannot.

9. Apologize.
We demand so much from others and we want them to see their mistakes and fix them. In short, we set ourselves above our own vulnerabilities; we should openly admit our errors. Once you have done this in front of your team it will be much easier for them to acknowledge their mistakes. This is an imperative act by the head coach if you want quality communication.

10. Allow for failure.
Part of learning is the margin of failure and sometimes you just have to let the players fall flat on their rumps. This is difficult but necessary.

We all know that basketball is a great vehicle to teach and reinforce impoortant life skills but it can also provide an opportunity to identify some personal qualities and charactersistics. In his book Values of the Game, Senator Bill Bradley, a former NBA star and champion with the New York Knicks, shares a great example of this truth in action.

I can learn more about people by playing three on three with them for 20 minutes than I can by talking with them for a week. I once hired a new director for my US Senate offices. I liked him but it wasn’t until I played basketball with him that I knew I’d made the right choice. I found out that he was a hard worker (he went for rebounds), competitive with a fierce desire to win (he played tight defense), and unselfish (he screened away from the ball).

Just think about your own team for a second. The players who work the hard on the court generally work hard off the court as well.  Players who are selfish on the court also seem to be selfish off the court. Motivated self starters in the gym are usually motivated self starters in other areas of their life too. I guess whoever said Basketball doesn’t always build character but it most certainly reveals it was exactly right!

I read somewhere that NBA legend Larry Bird once said that he worked so hard because he was convinced that somewhere, there was someone who was working out at that very moment. And If they were to ever meet on the court, Bird didn’t want that “someone” to have an advantage over him.

Along that same line of thinking, the following comes from Alan Stein of DeMatha High School.

He got up early. You slept in. He trained with purpose. You did a few push-ups. He made 500 shots a day. You played H-O-R-S-E.

He watched his diet. You went to Burger King. He worked on his weaknesses. You ignored yours. He studied film. You watched Family Guy.

He went to bed early. You stayed up all night. He took notes. You just doodled. He craved the uncomfortable. You enjoyed the warm & fuzzy.

He put his heart into everything he did. You just did enough to get by. He dreamed of success. You feared failure. He wanted it. You didn’t

He won. You lost. He is a champion. You are not. He left a legacy. You are left with regret

I sure hope this doesn’t describe YOU! You have to DESERVE success and EARN success to HAVE success. Winning doesn’t happen by accident.

You can choose between the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Which will YOU choose? Don’t let ‘him’ beat you!

Being a competitor is a lot more than just battling the guys in different uniforms on game night. Sometimes being a competitor means battling guys you can’t even see. Sometimes being a competitor means battling yourself.

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Merry Christmas from your friends at HoopSkills!!

The Famous, Former GE CEO Jack Welch once offered his “Six Rules for Successful Leadership” and they CERTAINLY apply to basketball coaches:

1. Face reality as it is; not as it was or as you wish it were

2. Be candid with everyone

3. Don’t manage, lead.

4. Change before you have to.

5. If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.

6. Control your destiny, or someone else will.

Now there may be some who think “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete,” means to shy away from competition but I don’t think that‘s what it means at all. To me this means two things. One, don’t get in over your head. If you’re David you can take on Goliath now and then but not 25 times a season! Pick an opponent slightly better than you are and set that as your standard. Once you are able to compete with them pick another team – again slightly better until you can methodically improve your program to the point where you are now Goliath.

The second thing this means to me is the most important. It means that you need to find, or possibly even create, a competitive advantage
for your team. Is it your speed, your size, your work ethic, or your depth? What about your level of coaching? Can that give you a competitive advantage? Whatever it is, develop and nurture it to the point where you have something in place that no one else can match and always remember an advantage is just that – an advantage – not a guarantee!

To get more leadership advice from Mr. Welch we suggest reading his highly acclaimed book “Winning“.

Watching the Green Bay Packers’ historic winning streak finally come to an end last Sunday got me thinking about other great teams, their coaches, and the qualities that set them apart from all of their competition. I went back and read through my files hoping to find some clues and I fould something that seemed extra appropriate since it had a distinct Packer connection.

In Iacocca: an Autobiography, former Chrysler CEO talks about a conversation he once had with legendary coach Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers. The advice that Lombardi gave Lee Iacocca certainly applies to basketball teams as well:

If you’re going to play together as a team, you’ve got to care for one another. You’ve got to love each other. Each player has to be thinking about the next guy and saying to himself, ‘If I don’t block that man, Paul is going to get his leg broken. I have to do my job well in order that he can do his.” The difference between mediocrity and greatness is the feeling these guys have for each other. Most people call it team spirit. When the players are imbued with that special feeling, you know you’ve got yourself a winning team.

My own personal experience has taught me that team spirit or team chemistry comes first and then the rise to greatness follows. As coaches and players we sometimes spend so much time perfecting our physical skills that we neglect the one area that could be the difference between mediocrity and greatness.

Here are some very useful coaching coaching nuggets that I received from Alan Stein, Assistant Basketball Coach at legendary Dematha High School.

1. Give players a Quote of the Day
2. Communicate the goals for that day’s practice.
3. Remind players of what the team needs to be good at in order to reach its goals.
4. Work your perimeter players in the post. Helps create scoring opportunities and teaches how to feed the post.
5. Incorporate the specific movements that you must defend in games into your drill and 5-on-5 work.
6. Stress the principles within your offense.
7. Practice Special Situations regularly.
8. Reinforce to your players how the team approaches each offensive and defensive possession.
9. Always end practice on some positive note. Keep players hungry for the next practice.
10. Have scheduled Team Dinners to help team building.
11. If your players feel they are a part of something that is special, they will take pride in being a member.

Kevin Eastman of the Boston Celtics has long been recognized as one of the best teachers of the game and always has extremely useful things to say, The following 9 ideas from Coach Eastman should give even the most experienced coach some food for thought. In their written form, these ideas were borrowed from Bob Starkey, an Assistant Women’s Coach at the University of Central Florida.

1. Every now and then we should just sit and think. Never know what you will come up with.

2. Success has a price and players have to know that they have to pay it just as much as you and your staff have to.

3. Success does have down payments: work ethic, discipline, preparation, consistency.

4. We are the sum total of the experiences we’ve had and the people we’ve met. What have you done? Who have you associated with?

5. Preparation is so important because it can help eliminate fear and
doubt.

6. Before we can eliminate excuses that keep us from improving we have to recognize what those excuses are. Write down your top three excuses and then eliminate them for the next month. This will create a habit of not using them any more!

7. It’s very important to take a close look at your locker room. Whose voices are being heard? Are these the messages that you would want being sent?

8. What messages are on your locker room wall? May seem corny but it’s something that players will see — and probably read — almost every day!

9. Never be concerned about repeating a message; repetitive verbal teaching is a great form of teaching. Teaching doesn’t always have to be physical.

The following 5 things didn’t make Winning Hoops Top 10 list but they all showed up on enough surveys to merit mentioning. Still interesting to note that not one item in the top 15 deals with offenses, defenses, press breaks, league standings, state rankings, being the underdog, or trying to slow down a star opponent. Maybe it’s because those kinds of stresses are just taken for granted in the world of coaching!

1. Officiating
2. Administration
3. Player’s Grades
4. Substance Abuse
5. Non Basketball Problems

I’ll admit it – I don’t sleep well during basketball season. There’s always game tape to watch, scouting reports to organize, practices to plan out, and game plans to create. In January 2010, Winning Hoops magazine published an article on the Top 10 Things That Keep Coaches Awake at Night. The interesting thing to me is that they are not really related to coaching the game itself  but are all “necessary evils.” I know they come with the job – but I sure wish they didn’t!

10. Transfers/Recruiting

9. Players Don’t Work Hard Enough

8. Time Commitment

7. Salary

6. Budget

5. Specialization

4. Travel / Club / AAU

3. Contact Time With Players

2. Commitment of Players & Distractions

1. PARENTS