A Pen And A Napkin

Happy 4th of July everyone, and welcome to this week's episode! This week, we chat with Shana Gerberding, who is the GBB HC at Bruning-Davenport-Shickley (NE) High School. Coach Gerberding discusses coaching in a coop school, the MUDECAS tournament, growing as a program, her defensive philosophy, superstitions and much more! Alot of fun with Shana this week!!

As coaches, we're all competitive, and we're all coaching our teams for a reason; to win. However, there are people that we sometimes work with that make either your job or everyone else's job very difficult for a variety of reasons. In this pod, we talk about warning signs of tough co-workers, situations we should worry about and how to handle those situations.

The "Dean of the Big Ten", one of four active coaches with over 800 wins (joining Tara Vandeveer, Geno Auriemma and Gary Blair) and the 2019 National Coach of the Year are all ways you can describe Lisa Bluder, head women's basketball coach at the University of Iowa, and she is our guest this week! In this episode, Coach Bluder and I discuss starting small and going big, Title IX, coaching great players, offensive transition basketball and bouncing back from a disappointing end to a season. Great discussion with one of the nation's best!

A couple of days late on this, but hey, it's been busy!! When we put together our practice plan on a daily basis, we focus on drills, X's and O's and other entities, but we also should be reminding ourselves of what is important culturally to our program. In this podcast the cultural reminders that I have listed on my practice plan to help remind me of what I should be doing to properly teach and lead my program EVERY DAY!

We all have mentors in our life, but when's the last time you really thought about the influence of mentors and what they've exactly done for you and your development in your life and your coaching career? When's the last time you've told a mentor what they've taught you and what its meant to you? Here's a bonus (or make-up) Foundation Friday to make you think a bit more about where you're at in your career . . .

Really excited to have Mark Downey, the head men's basketball coach at Arkansas Tech University, on the podcast! Coach Downey has had a wide variety of experiences in his career, which he shares in the podcast. Along with that, he discusses his "High Standards of Excellence", "Building People", being part of the "Glory Road" cast, "Stingy Defense" and much more. Great conversation with a great coach!

Kassie Schuett, girls basketball head coach at Gothenburg (NE) is our guest this week! Coach Schuett discusses a variety of topics, including building trust and loyalty with her players, preparing a team for a state tournament, lessons learned from a deep post-season run, player development in a small town program and much more. A terrific conversation with one of the best young coaches in Nebraska!

Summer basketball is a great way to develop your program and your individual players. It's an exciting time with a feeling of new growth and opportunity, but you also have alot of different variables that you need to consider. In this podcast, we chat about some of the things that we do in the summer to help our program grow!

University of Nebraska Men's Assistant Coach Nate Loenser comes on the pod this week to discuss a variety of different topics. Coach Loenser talks about his basketball journey from high school to being an assistant coach with the Bulls, coaching in the G-League, different coaching styles, player development and other topics. Great discussion with one of the best assistant coaches in the country!

Many of us will be watching the NBA Finals over the next couple of weeks to satisfy our "basketball junkie" needs, but what can be learned from watching these games? How can we make ourselves better while we watch the best in the world, whether it is players, coaches or front offices, show us their craft? Here's some things to think about as you're watching these games, along with my (very amateur) prediction on who I think will win the series!

We had a blast taping a "Roundtable" pod in my hometown of Sheldon, Iowa last week with Kiley Yates, Boys HC at South O'Brien (IA), Boys HC Eric Maasen of Sheldon (IA) and GBB HC Jay Schuiteman of Unity Christian (IA). We chat about summer camps, Improvement Season concepts, mentoring coaches and much more. Great conversation; enjoy!!

If you do this job long enough (and often times you don't have to do this job very long before you are in this situation), you're going to find yourself in a situation where you have to make a choice. It's better to make the right choice than the popular choice. Always.

Ponca (NE) GBB HC Bob Hayes comes on the podcast this week to chat about a variety of topics. Coach Hayes, like myself, is a Briar Cliff (IA) graduate, so we discuss the influence of Ray Nacke, former MBB HC at Briar Cliff, along with his long time assistant Ron Schultz. We also talk about his role as Principal/AD/HC, man to man defense, transition offense and building a great culture. A really fun conversation; hope you like it!

Basketball is a game of momentum and runs, but how do you emphasize and build the concepts of "streaks" into your program? How do you educate your players and staff about what you're looking for and how to create streaks during competitions? In this "Foundation Friday", we take a look at streaks in basketball, how to emphasize, measure and practice them within your program!

You're really going to enjoy this podcast with Garrett Hickey, the head boys basketball coach at Norwalk (CT) HS and creator of the #sharethegame Twitter feed. In this pod, we go through a bunch of different topics, including networking, creating your own coaching portfolio, practice set up, teaching and communicating styles in practice and creating a program portfolio. We also go through a little Social Studies teacher trivia (I wonder who wins?), so enjoy this podcast!

In the second half of our two-part pod on preparing for special situations, this week we talk about two special situations that we're all going to be in at some point; the comeback game and the delay game. Thinking about what to do when you get to these situations long before they happen is really important to your teams' success! We wrap up with thinking about what to do in the last :05 when you are at the free throw line and need to miss.

South Dakota State University MBB HC Eric Henderson comes on the podcast this week to talk about a variety of different topics. Amongst many things, Coach Henderson talks about his background as an educator, learning from such great head coaches as TJ Otzelberger and Greg McDermott, SDSU's "Five Character Traits", situational basketball, the transfer portal and much more! Enjoy this conversation with one of America's up and coming coaches!

Pop open the champagne, it's a happy ending after all ( . . . at least for ALMOST everyone . . .)!!!! Casey Hall and I review the season finale of "Winning Time", entitled "Promised Land". At the end of the episode, both Casey and I put out our "wish list" for Season 2, so enjoy our review!

We all know that we're going to be in pressure situations when we get into our season, so why not use this time to start thinking about what you're going to do next season? In this week's "Foundation Friday", we take a look at the Special Situations chart that we've developed to help prepare our teams for these situations. Next week, we'll go over the 2nd half of the chart!

For episode #125, Ed Schilling, the men's assistant coach at Grand Canyon University, comes on the pod! Coach Schilling has one of the more unique resumes that we've ever had on "APAAN"; one of the few coaches who has coached at the high school, high Division I level and NBA level; success has followed him at every level. We chat about his journey, what he's learned along the way and we have a great discussion on player development and what to do with your players in the off-season. Truly a terrific conversation; enjoy!!

The first season of "Winning Time" is winding down and Casey Hall and I are here to continue to review every last episode. In this week's episode, "An Acceptable Loss", we discuss the individual battles that some of our characters face and attempt to overcome, along with discussions on Hollywood real estate. Enjoy!!

There's four major pillars to "Improvement Season" that could/should be addressed; your schemes, your analytics, your skill development and your culture. What are the keys to taking all of these things from bad to average, average to good or good to great? On this "Foundation Friday", we take a look at all of these concepts and how to address them.

Welcome to "California Dreamin'", Episode VIII of "Winning Time". Before we get to the episode itself, Casey and I chat about the headlines with the show and it's characterizations of Jerry West and other concepts of the series. After that, we dive into the episode itself and give our reviews in our various categories.

Heather Grafing, the GBB HC at Central Lyon (IA), comes on the podcast this week! Coach Grafing, who has built an impressive program, including a 2022 state runner-up, discusses important influences in her career, making a run to the state title game, playing an uptempo system, her "Pillars of Success" and much more. Great discussion on the intricacies of building a solid program from top to bottom!

Welcome to Episode #300 of "A Pen And A Napkin"! Last week, we discussed individual player improvement during "Improvement Season", but it is also important that we take this time to improve the team as well. Here's some thoughts on what you can do to improve your team from top to bottom throughout May, June and July!

Joe Hesse, the 3x state champion head coach at Humphery/ Lindsay-Holy Family (NE) comes on the podcast this week to chat about a variety of topics! We talk about his influences, the strength of basketball in his community, some of his favorite drills, his belief in zone defense and much more! Terrific conversation with one of Nebraska's greats!

Our latest review of HBO's "Winning Time" finally delves into the greatest rivalry of the 1980s; Celtics vs. Lakers, and Bird vs. Magic. In this episode, "The Invisible Man", we continue to break down the series, including the evolution of Paul Westhead as a coach, along with the evolution of the Lakers team. Enjoy the return of Casey Hall as we delve into one of our favorite episodes!

As we all start to dive in to the off-season, it's important that we have a system in place to tangible measure our players accomplishments and improvement in order to get the buy in we need. In this podcast, we discuss some of the strategies that we have used in order to get our players to put in the work necessary to have as good of season as possible NEXT season!

British Basketball League (BBL) pioneer and legend Vincent Macaulay comes on our podcast this week! In this great conversation, we chat about building and growing the game in a country where basketball is not a traditional sport, changes to American basketball, using the 3 point shot, influences in Coach Macaulay's career and much more. It's a great opportunity to learn about the game from a completely different perspective, so enjoy our conversation!

Our latest reviews are in . . . and they're not good for "Winning Time" Episode VI "Memento Moir". With Casey Hall out of town, Marc Kruger steps in as a guest commentator to help me break down this episode, including a question that probably needs to be asked; was Earvin "Magic" Johnson a good person?

Fundraising is one of the most important things that our programs can do to help build up your program; however, sometimes you're not sure as to what to spend those funds on or how to properly ask people for funds. In this pod, we explore topics where you can reinvest fundraising dollars, where to do it at and how to raise even more money for your program!

Welcome back to "Winning Time"!!! In this episode, which Casey and I subtitled "The Kareem Episode", we dive into, what some would now say is the under-rated career of the NBA"s all-time leading scorer, along with the other things we liked from this episode. Before our actual review, however, Casey and I took a few minutes to discuss mental health and how that has affected us in the last couple of weeks. It was important for us to talk about this subject; if you or someone you know needs help, don't hesitate to reach out to those that can help.

Rechelle Turner, the Head Women's Basketball Coach at Murray State University, comes on the podcast this week. Coach Turner chats about a variety of topics, including her jump from the high school ranks to being a Division I head coach, defending your players, inequity's that still exist in women's athletics, transition defense, running a quality summer camp and much more! Great conversation with an up and coming coach at the collegiate level!

Coaches are always emphasizing the details of the game, but how can you communicate and emphasize these intangibles that are necessary for success in a tangible way? One of the ways that you can do that is through a "Hustle Board", a way to measure your teams effectiveness and toughness, both as a team and on an individual basis. Here's some ideas on how to build this concept!

Josh Thompson, Boys HC at Bishop McGuinness (NC), jumps on the podcast this week to discuss a variety of topics, including the UNC-Duke Final 4 matchup, a unique school nickname, making that first deep post-season run, player development, delegating responsibilities to assistants, out of bounds plays and philosophy, and much more. Great conversation with one of North Carolina's best!

Casey Hall and I are back for our review of "Winning Time"! This week, we finally hit some serious basketball material with Episode IV "Who the F . . . is Jack McKinney?". The Lakers hit training camp, McKinney tries to become a head coach and Jerry West comes in to save the day! Enjoy our review!

We're all, to a degree, selfish and want what's best for our programs; however, we DO have to think about alot of factors as we put together our summer programs. In this "Foundation Friday", we talk about the factors that you need to consider as you put together your summer program, plus a big announcement about how things are going at "A Pen And A Napkin"!

Casey Hall and I take a deep dive on "Winning Time" Episode III, uniquely titled "The Best Is Yet to Come". This episode highlights the search for a new Lakers coach, with Dr. Buss adamant that Jerry Tarkanian is his guy. Other subplots include Earvin Johnson's acclimation to Los Angeles socially and Jerry West finding his way. It's our favorite episode so far, so enjoy!

Ever wonder what it's like to win a state championship? Ever wondered what needs to be done to win a state title, or wonder what were the intangibles that led to that championship? We have that handled right here with this podcast! Five state championship coaches, from the first one (Mohs, Martindale and Stoffel) along with a 12-timer (Flynn). We add in a repeat champion in Tim Cannon and the story of the state tournament, Fort Calhoun's TJ O'Connor and his description of their tremendous run and how the Pioneers captured the state's imagination. Enjoy this unique Quick Hitter format!!

The state tournament is a tremendous opportunity to network, to watch high level basketball and to learn from various situations that present themselves. In this pod, I've taken a look at some of the things that I saw last week at the Nebraska state tournament that a coaching staff should consider looking at and prepare for, especially as your season progresses.

Casey Hall and I breakdown Episode II of "Winning Time", HBO's new series on the 1980's Los Angeles Lakers. We chat about the overall episode, then dive into our categories and give our grades on the episode.

In the last of our four state tourney roundtables, Jerome Skrdla of Gretna (NE), Nate Wall of David City Aquinas (NE) and Jimmy Motz of Norris (NE) come on the pod to chat it up at the N-Zone in downtown Lincoln. We discuss timeout usage, developing community support and much more! Enjoy this great discussion, and when in downtown Lincoln, grab a bite to eat at either the Mellow Mushroom or the N-Zone!!

Another day, another roundtable!! Millard West's finest, Marc Kruger and Casey Hall, along with Paul Markley, jump on the pod at the N-Zone in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska. In this pod, we chat about what we look for when voting for postseason awards, how to make all of your players feel valued and much more, including a food review by Carter Plum!!

Another day, another roundtable! Tom Tvrdy returns to this roundtable, along with Sarah Goodwin, GBB AC at Bennington (NE) and Paul Markley, GBB HC at Ralston (NE). We chat about our own self improvement, communication with our players, helping our players balance out their summer activities and much more!

Dexter Goodner of Ord (NE), Tom Tvrdy of Omaha Marian and I sit together, eat some Mellow Mushroom pizza, and discuss a wide variety of topics, including lessons learned from this season, off season development, selection of summer camps and much more! Enjoy the first of many podcasts this week from the Nebraska state tournament!

Casey Hall and I get together to review "Winning Time", the new HBO series about the 1980's Showtime Lakers! We go through what we like and what we didn't like, including our favorite and least favorite scenes, the basketball realism of the episode and other awards. Hope you like it!!

Grant Cole, GBB HC at Auburn (NE), jumps on the podcast this week to discuss a variety of different topics. On the pod, we chat about returning home to coach, working with numerous family members, his half court offensive and defensive philosophy, scouting and breaking a 40 year state tournament drought. Alot of great thoughts shared; enjoy!

As we wrap up our seasons, it's easy to look back at the tangible entities, like wins and losses, as a way to evaluate our season. But what are some other things that you should be looking at other than wins and losses, and what are ways that you could or should be measuring yourself in those areas? Here are some thoughts on this in this extra "Foundation Friday"!

At the end of our seasons, we have given all that we have to give, but there should be a time of recovery, both mentally and physically. Some of this stress is self-induced, while much of it comes from outside sources. What are the warning signs that you should be looking for, and what are some things that you can do to help yourself? Here's some thoughts on this very important topic.

Almost every program is dependent on a strong youth program. The focus is, of course, on the development of skills, but what are the other things that you should worry about and consider as you get ready to move from one season to the next? This week, my youth coaches and I had our end of the season meeting, and here are the things that were at the top of our list!