Coaching Your Coaches
Successful techniques for the head coach to help develop productive relationships and get the most out of assistant coaches.
By: Tony Alfonso
Communication is quite possibly the most important head coach-assistant coach dynamic. If you want a solid working relationship, the lines of communication need to always be open. It is also imperative to build respect and trust between one another. From my experiences and observations, the most successful and effective head coaches include their assistants in most, if not all, day-to-day operations of the basketball program. They work to include them in decisions, discussions, the sharing of ideas ... and all other areas that affect the entire program.
In this article, I will discuss the head coach / assistant coach relationship and hopefully offer some techniques and ideas to help you and your staff become great. You've heard it said that you will only be as good as your players; well, the same holds true when talking about your assistants. You will only be as good as your assistant coaches.
A Unified Staff
As mentioned above, communication is key to having a great basketball coaching staff. If you don't communicate well with your coaches, how effective are allowing them to be? How will they know the program direction or what is going on in practice today, etc... If you have the opportunity, have a pre- and/or post-practice staff meeting with your coaches. Discuss what you will be doing, what you have just done, what went right, what went wrong...anything that is important to developing the program.
If your staff is on site with you all day (college staff, high school staff where all coaches teach at the same school, for example), have a breakfast meeting at least once a week. Bring in some juice, coffee, and rolls and talk basketball. This is a great way to talk about your program and it is also a laid-back atmosphere to get to know each other away from the court.
If it's difficult to get all of your assistants together outside of practice time, be sure to keep in contact with all of your coaches via email and cell phone. Also, utilize the time you do have everyone together, such as while the team warms up. For high school and college level teams, the captains and/or seniors should be fully capable of leading the team at this time. Take these 10-15 minutes to meet with your staff.
As a final thought regarding the development of communication between the head coach and assistants, I am reminded of a former head coach of mine when I was a young assistant. Several times throughout the season (and even during the offseason months) he made sure to take me out to dinner after practice. It might have been just me or it might have been the entire staff; either way it was a valuable time together with the head coach. We talked not only basketball, but anything else that came up. We got to know each better, kept the lines of communication open, and built up a trust and respect of one another. As an assistant, it also made me feel important. This tip, and the other techniques above are simple, yet effective ways to build communication between you and your staff.
Let Them Coach
To further develop your entire staff, let your coaches coach. Once you have developed effective communication and learned to trust and respect one another, give your assistant coaches the opportunity to coach. As the head coach, you do run the show. However, there must be some aspect of the game in which your assistants can work with the team and players. If you want your staff to be effective, give each assistant specific responsibilities. By giving them responsibility, you are demonstrating to them that you have confidence in their abilities. You are also making sure they keep working hard to improve, help the program, and not let anyone down.
There are certain areas which, as the head coach, you must take control of yourself. Program aspects such as scheduling, overall philosophy, and team goals will ultimately affect the entire program. These should be handled by the head coach. Areas such as individual skill development, offense, defense, and athletic development can be handled by assistants. Find out the strengths of all your assistants. Utilize the skills and knowledge they have and use it to improve your program.
As a young assistant coach, I had some experience in the areas of strength and speed training. Every day, I was given the first part of practice to warm the team up properly and help them improve and develop their athleticism. I certainly had my role as the JV coach, but we rarely practiced with the varsity. By giving me this opportunity, the head coach allowed me to work with the varsity more frequently, and again, it made me feel important.
When I was head coach, one of my assistants had a great deal of knowledge and experience in a specific fullcourt pressing defense. I handed over our pressure defense to him and allowed him to teach it and incorporate it into our overall defensive philosophy.
You may find coaches on your staff have a better understanding or greater knowledge than you in certain areas. Do not be so jealous or competitive that you won't allow them to demonstrate their skills and knowledge. Ideally, you want assistants to be smarter than you ... so let them run with it!
The Inevitable Disagreement
At one point or another (and most often many times throughout the season) your assistant coaches will disagree with you. The smart head coach expects this and knows that all of the differing opinions will ultimately produce greater results. The head coach that already thinks he or she knows everything, knows nothing.
When disagreements and differing of opinions occur, the ultimate decision must come down to the head coach. The head coach must know this and be prepared to make tough decisions. Many times your assistant will be right or his/her opinion shall prevail...and you must let that happen. Other times, you will have to overrule an assistant. The main thing here, is that your assistants should know this from the beginning. That way, when disagreements arise, they know you will fall back on your philosophy as needed.
Obviously you can't accept every opinion an assistant gives you, but do remember that they do know basketball. When quick decisions must be made during basketball games, don't hesitate to listen to an assistants idea. Your assistant may see something on the court that you aren't noticing...therefore, be sure to listen. If their idea makes sense, utilize it. The same hold true during practices and in program development.
The smart and successful coach knows that an assistant may have a better way of dealing with something. If his or her idea is better, be smart enough to acknowledge it and go with it. They will respect you for it.
Help Them Learn and Help Them Grow
If you desire to have a strong basketball coaching staff, discover ways to help your assistants improve and hone their skills. Give them the opportunity to learn and watch other coaches. Help them develop by having them scout upcoming opponents, both individually and as a staff. Sit around and talk basketball...discuss other programs, coaches, nuances, techniques, rules, etc... If you offer camps or clinics at your school or community, give your assistants the opportunity to present a topic or teach a skill.
At the high school level, your assistants probably also coach the JV, freshman, and B teams. Be sure to talk to them about their practices and games. Chances are, they want to discuss many aspects of the game they are witnessing and dealing with...be a good listener and help guide them along the way.
Going back to the 'letting your coaches coach' idea, but if they have the knowledge, work ethic and ability, give them an area in which they can lead. Have an assistant that is great with defensive concepts? Give him or her the defense; sort of a like being a defensive coordinator in football. One of your assistants is great teaching individual skills? Allow time for that assistant to teach the skills and to lead that portion of practice. Letting them coach, helps them grow as coaches.
If your assistants aspire to be head coaches, help them, mentor them and guide them as best you can. The more you can help them, the more they will work for you and your program. And, face it, the better your assistants become, the better your basketball program will become.
Give Your Assistants the Glory
Maybe you are the head coach of an extremely successful team. Do you think you would be as successful with poor assistant coaches? If your assistants work hard, share the glory with them. Give them the credit they are due. There are many ways to do this -- some mentioned here and many that I probably cannot even think of right now.
I can recall watching Duke University play on TV (yeah, they are always on right!!). Anyhow, on many TV broadcasts, the courtside reporter will talk to the coach at halftime. Coach K will almost always give one of his assistants the opportunity to talk to the reporter. Coach K could take the 'face time', but he allows his assistants the enjoy the experience. It gives his assistant the chance to share the glory, but it also helps him grow and learn one more aspect of being a head coach; dealing with the media. You may not have TV at your games, but you probably have either radio or newspaper. They may only want the head coach to speak to them, but if the opportunity presents itself, give your assistants the chance to be seen and heard. They get to share the glory, but they also get their name out there. You are helping them grow and maybe even helping them reach the next step on their coaching ladder.
When you congratulate and thank your team -- be it on tv, radio, in print, or at the end-of-year banquet -- be sure to thank your coaches. This may be a no-brainer, but don't hold back on your thankfulness and gratitude; meaning, please do say more than "thanks for helping out this year". They helped you achieve all of your success; make sure they know it!
Final Thoughts
As the head coach, I know you are taken in many directions, both physically and mentally. You have to organize practices, schedule opponents, teach X's and O's, deal with players, parents, media, administration...this list could go on and on. As busy as you get and as crazy as things get, do not forsake the time and effort required to develop a deep and meaningful bond with your assistant coaches. Be not only their 'head coach', but also become their mentor and friend. These techniques, and the many others you can come up with, will help you become a better coach. It will also strengthen your staff. And the strength of your coaching staff will determine how strong a team and program you have.
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As the head basketball coach, every little thing stops and starts with you -- you are the ultimate decision-maker when it comes to basketball matters. Yet, as head coaches, we do have assistant coaches to help us out. How many responsibilities do you give your assistant coaches? Do you allow them to teach aspects of the game? Do you desire their input? Do you give your assistants advice and help them grow as basketball coaches?
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