Basketball Coaches – Grade Yourself in These 11 Areas
As coaches we should constantly be grading ourselves and measuring our own performance levels. As much turnover as there is in the coaching profession, you can bet that others are watching and grading almost our every move. Here are some areas where we should know exactly how we are doing:
- Recruiting (Obviously this only applies to college and club coaches but if you recruit well you can usually be an average coach and still keep your job)
- Staff organization and your ability to delegate, lead, and motivate your lower level coaches
- Team chemistry including players and players, players and coaches, coaches and coaches
- Public relations. How is your team perceived in the community?
- Practice organization
- Knowledge of X’s and O’s
- Bench coaching and game management
- Individual and team improvement throughout the season
- Program growth and development. Now that you are in charge is your entire program better off than it was before you started?
- Wins, losses, and playoff appearances
- Are you keeping the people who hired you happy? For example, some administrations care about winning more than others. At some places you can coach forever if your players are outstanding citizens and maintain good grades. I know a very successful coach who was fired because of his reluctance to participate in athletic department fund raising activities and I currently know a newly hired volleyball coach who may lose his job because of his language even though his team may make the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Be true to yourself and to your players but keep the people who hired you happy.
How do you measure up in each of these areas? If you want to keep “playing” and stay in the game you have to play to your strengths and improve your weaknesses. If that advice is good enough for oor players it is good enough for us.
If you feel like you can improve in any of these areas, we highly recommend you check out the “Coach the Coach” program available at Basketball Classroom. It is a tremendous resource for coaches looking to improve themselves in every facet of the profession.
