John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
Larry Eustachy:
THOUGHTS ON THE PROFESSION | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
The hardest part of not having a coaching job is the Unknown.
If you coach long enough, you will: win the league, finish in last place, get a better job, and get fired.
“I forgot where I came from, and wanted to re-live a collegiate lifestyle as a coach.” Coaches need to be able to handle success. Has a lot of admiration for Jay Wright and they way he remained the same during his ascension in the coaching profession.
COMPONANTS OF HIS COACHING METHODOLOGY | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
Use breakdown chart to grade player performance in practice and games. Got the chart from Rick Majerus – his team’s are traditionally the best prepared in the game.
Chart example – When a shot goes up: 3,4,5, to O-Boards with “Reckless Abandon” and the 1&2 get back on defense. The staff utilizes game film to calculate scores for each player.
Charting helps to truly hold players accountable for the things you are demanding that they do
The chart doesn’t lie. A player with less breakdowns that minutes played has inevitably played very well.
You must teach your players learn to “think while they are playing” and take pride in being held accountable for their responsibilities on the court.
Great teams have the ability to play on any court without any change in performance level (home, road, etc).
Coach Bob Boyd always said that you must find a way to take something from the chalkboard to the floor in order for it to show up in a game.
A problem for us as college coaches is that many high school coaches don’t actually “mean what they say,” to athletes. For example, the might say “I will take you out of the game if you don’t…” Then when the player doesn’t complete that task, the coach does not take him out. There is no accountability. This season they have a lot of new players at Southern Mississippi and as a result are working hard to change the mentality of players who came from places where this type of culture was the norm.
Larry Brown:
OBSERVATIONS OF JAY WRIGHT AND HIS VILLANOVA PROGRAM | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
Coach Wright respects his players in such a way on a daily basis that in return they will do whatever he asks of them.
Coach Wright as a great ability to assess the best way for his team to succeed.
Jay Wright:
THOUGHTS ON THE PROFESSION | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
As a young coach he used to work summer camp at Pitt when Coach Calipari was on the staff there. Coach Cal has always been a person that would share thoughts to help others become better in the profession. He had made a very impressive book that chronicled his daily recruiting activities to show Pitt alumni exactly what it took for them to be involved with the type of players they needed to be successful. Coach Cal gave Coach Wright a copy of this book.
Upon taking the Hofstra job, Coach Cal’s advice was simply “get players.” Don’t be overly concerned with size, position, etc. Just get good players and figure it out. This was the formula that he then used at Hofstra.
Respected veteran coaches have the power to positively influence the profession if they so choose. Larry Brown “anointed” the Villanova program through his presence and positive comments over the past year.
Don’t be afraid to have outside people come in and evaluate your program. They have a unbiased perspective.
What’s the most important part of your day? Practice! I started doing practice plans at home so I won’t be distracted. My favorite place to be is on the court.
Thought on scorers: always wants them to have an aggressive mentality regardless of the last shot. Terminology : Shoot’em up or sleep in the streets.
BUILDING THE VILLANOVA DEFENSE | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
Starts with basic man principals of ball-you-man.
Win or lose – make sure you played “your way.” No one ever likes to lose, but when you watch game film, you always want to see that you played “your way,” win or lose.
The trapping and switching nature of their defense is based on “Calculated Risk.” They don’t want to miss an opportunity to “Blitz and Step-Up.”
Situations where Calculated Risks are appropriate for Blitzing include: 1) anytime the ball is dribbled toward you as a defender. 2) Your man brings you to the ball. 3) The ball is dribbled to the baseline setting up a trap from behind.
They want to Blitz all ball screens or dribble hand-offs when defenders react to the Calculated Risk situations. Teaching point is that the trappers should never foul or get steals. Trappers are deflectors.
When a 2-man game occurs, the other three players “load” to the 2-man game.
Man guarding the screener calls the “Blitz” or “Switch.” If you are guarding the ball-handler, always assume “Blitz” and he must step over the top to trap, or to be put in a ball-you-man position on the roll man if a switch occurs. If a big switches on to a small, the other three defenders should “load to the iso.”
Never want to switch for convenience, would always prefer to “Blitz” if they can.
These rules are all applicable in the scoring area, approximately three feet beyond the three-line and in.
Coach Del Harris commented that it is an effective technique to teach someone going over a ball screen to do so by crowding the man with the ball and then throwing his leg and arm over the top in one motion.
VILLANOVA ATTITUDE CLUB AND SPECIAL SITUATIONS | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
Attitude Club is a way to reward players who are doing they ritical things that they put a premium on. A good play per minute ratio is .8 or above. Catagories include: pass to the assist (hockey concept of 2 assists), screen assist, loose ball retrieval, paint pass, o-board, tap-back on FT, quick outlet, paint catches, deflections, shot contest to change shot.
They like to practice Base OB, Side OB, Endline OB, with specific situations based on clock ( 0-3 seconds, 4-7 seconds). Can run their regular stuff in 8 seconds or more.
Shawn Miller:
THOUGHTS ON TEAM IDENTITY AND ZONE OFFENSE | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
It is so important to a have an identity that defines your team. This should be in-line with the bigger image that you create for the culture of your program.
Like to use terminology that reinforces the way you want to play, and have the players be able to identify with it because they here the same language all the time.
A lot of his terminology comes from Larry Brown (ie. “Run with the Dribble.”)
They want to have a zone offense which enables them to have the same priorities as in their man offense. They want to get the ball inside against a zone just as much as they want to against a man defense.
Versus a 1-3-1 zone they use the same alignment and set play counters but spread their spacing a bit wider.
The “Xavier Way” is a practice chart that is very similar to the “Villanova Attitude Club.” Each week the winner gets to wear a gold jersey in practice. Try to instill pride in your players for doing the little things that help your team win.
Bruiser Flint:
PHILOSOPHY ON STYLE AND DEFENSE DRILL WORK | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
Wants his team to be one that always plays hard and plays tough. Simple concepts but must work hard and always be trying to develop this in practice.
Likes a lot of transition work in practice because it is game like and builds conditioning. Uses a lot of drills which enable his team to go up and down in practice.
Goal of their half court defense is to contain and contest. Not concerned with getting steals.
Terminology for closeouts is “Close-downs” Don’t give an angle to the basket.
Close-down by getting to the offensive player and force difficult shots over the top.
Guarding the ball: man-to-man position terminology they use is “square up your man” which means the primary goal is simply stay in front of your man.
Good defenders use their arms when guard the ball, can play further away from the ball-handler while still applying pressure with active hands.
In many of their defensive transition drills, the design of the drill has the last defensive player trailing into the play. This makes things tougher on the defense. Forces them to communicate and help.
Larry Brown:
FURTHER THOUGHTS ON DEFENSE BASED ON BRUISER’S TALK | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
We must find ways to teach players how to guard 1-on-1 everyday in practice.
“Guard the Yard” means never allow straight line drives. Must cover the territory one stride in either direction.
Always take a fake on the back foot.
Bob Boyd:
THOUGHTS ON DEALING WITH PLAYERS AND TEACHING DEFENSE | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
“Players need to be coached.”
Some players are more receptive to coaching than others. If Tiger Woods needs a coach, then you need a coach!
Trend in the game is that guys are having a tougher time of guarding dribble penetration.
What do you want to prevent. For example, Ralph Miller didn’t consider point to wing a penetrating pass. Ball is the same distance from the basket and you can establish your help side position.
Boyd Grant stressed “trace the ball” as opposed to reaching.
A really important defensive teaching point on the ball is “Don’t lose your gap and understand maintaining your distance from the ball-handler.”
Too often as coaches we fall victim to the path of least resistance when structuring drills that are not game like.
How much game “slippage” does your team have?
The coach whose team has less slippage has a definitely advantage.
Players too often interpret being taught/corrected as someone being on their ass. This is usually reflected by poor body language and eye contact when these situations occur.
Eric Musselman:
THOUGHTS ON FAMILY, ENVIRONMENT, TEAM BUILDING | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
It is important to try and incorporate as many ways to have family around as often as possible. Enables you to be a better family member (father, husband, etc.) and also is beneficial as a personal support system to deal with the nature of our business. This also applies to incorporating the families of assistant coaches and players. Felt this really benefited his relationship with Mike Bibby.
Great web site to sign up for: WWW.AllProDad.com – NFL sponsored.
Set goals which lead to the establishment of an identity for your team.
Utilize a “Balance Card” to monitor the amount of time you spend on Offense and Defense on a daily and weekly basis.
If you set goals and address them on a daily basis, they soon become more attainable. This helps the team take ownership in your goals. First year with the Warriors the goal was to lead the NBA in scoring and they finished 2nd. Next year wanted to be the most improved defensive team in the league and were 9 points better than the previous year.
“Career Year” booklet for players. Statistical goal setting, other teams scouting report data about that player, journal to record practice time, personal notes.
It is advantageous to study other those in other sports and how they operate. Has learned a lot from watching Pro Football Practices and the Baseball Draft. Football practices are incredibly efficient. Good way to have a game day shoot-around.
Football Special Teams are a lot like Basketball Special Situations. Use an opposing team’s Free Throw as a time to utilize special teams.
It is wise to recruit / draft players that have been well-coached. Was something his father strongly believed in. He liked to coach four studs and a bunch of coaches’ sons.
A good football concept is to name your play calls something the helps trigger the players to understand what you want to accomplish when you run it.
Chuck Daly always said it takes 50 games in the NBA season to learn about the true makeup of your team.
To grow as a coach, it is important to try and work for those people you view as the best head coach. Once you are a head coach, you need to hire a veteran assistant who can “coach” you. Made a huge mistake in Sacramento by not hiring someone of this background. Lastly, you must have good staff made up of loyal assistants. Loyalty is the key.
Mike Fratello:
IDEAS ON THINGS TO TEACH, THINGS THAT CAN HELP YOU | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
Pays major dividends defensively for your on-ball defense to work on tracing the ball on a regular basis. A great time to work on this is during Side OB’s and Baseline OB’s.
Practice pressing situations a have your man on the ball work to get as many deflections as possible.
Have guys guarding the OB man practice jumping, and fake jumping or staggered jumping to confusion the in-bounder and get more deflections.
Test your team and find out who can throw a baseball pass. Need to know who can do it when it becomes necessary from Sideline, and Baseline.
Playbook should be done in a way that it is a valuable tool for players and coaches.
Great to have a Drillbook as well. Drills must be all encompassing in what that teach because of limited practice time. Makes practices more efficient.
Teach close-out technique using the phrase “hand to ball.” Get guys to truly contest the shot, not just run at the shooter.
Del Harris:
THOUGHTS ON DEFENSIVE SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND PRACTICES | John Calipari / Larry Brown 2007 Coaching Clinic Retreat Notes
Playing Hard, Running the Floor, Setting Screens are all Developed Skils.
Likes guys who screens with arms across chest, not at their waist. More physical and in better position to slip and have hands ready to catch.
When jabbed at : think about teaching small hop back as compared to step back on back foot.
Good defenders take away one step. Great defenders take away first two steps. Must make the dribbler break angle and force him to arc.
When trying to beat a ballpick, backpack, crosspick, or downpick – use a common concept. When being screened, move up into your man’s body. The will put you in a good initial position to beat the screen in concert to where the help will be coming from the man guarding the screener.
Good practices replicate game conditions. He likes to use four possession games and six possession games. This is very similar to the typical length of action in a game. Try not to teach until the end of the segment, don’t disrupt flow.
ODO game – offense/defense/offense. Start the first possession with a situation (ie. Side out with 6 seconds left on shot clock). Scoring is 3 points per sequence. Someone must with either 2-1 or 3-0. Total game score is 1 point for each sequence win. Sequence winner starts the next one with the ball first.
“9-possession game.” A great way to get players thinking about different situations, and even good on lighter days with no defense. Possessions: 1) Man Press, 2) Zone Press, 3) 3-qtr. ct. press, 4) Side Out Man, 5) Side Out Zone, 6) Baseline Length of court Man, 7) Baseline Length of court Zone, 8) Need Play Man 9) Need Play Zone
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