A Pen And A Napkin

Basketball lifer and longtime NBA player development coach Dave Severns is our guest for this week's podcast! Coach has had a long career in the game, and currently serves as a scout for the Indiana Pacers. Coach discusses his career, his "Hoop Of The Day" tweets, some of the best coaches he's seen this year, being a great assistant, networking, building trust and some of his favorite skill work drills and concepts, with much, much more! A really fun conversation with a guy that just loves basketball!

February and March are when the microscopes really come out when it comes to your team's attention to detail and ability to execute under pressure. What are some of the things that you should be working on, and how should you be working on them? That's what Tony and I break down this week on "The Coaching Staff"! Along with that, Tony and I discuss a couple of big NBA trades, the Texas-South Carolina match up, Dickie V's return to the announcer's booth and much more!

Mid-American Nazarene MBB HC Adam Hepker is our guest for episode #262! Coach Hepker, after an outstanding playing career, has taken over at his alma mater and continued to build on the legacy of Rocky Lamar. Coach Hepker discusses Coach Lamar, how playing overseas influenced his coaches career, the ability to tell players the truth, practicing with great temp and much more. A really fun conversation with one of America's best young coaches!

Late January is a time period where we are stereotypically hit with numerous disruptions, from injuries to illness to discipline issues to transfers and players who unfortunately decide to quit. When these things inevitably happen, how do you navigate through the process and still keep your team moving in the right direction? That's the topic that Tony and I are breaking down this week. We do that, along with trivia, and then an in-depth discussion on the MASSIVE Luka for AD trade. We finish up with some WNBA signings and our "Who's Up?" and "Who's Down?" segment.

Brad Vaught, the head women's basketball coach at North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC), comes on "A Pen And A Napkin" for episode #261. Coach Vaught has built a strong program over the last five years at NIACC and his team is on the brink of a national tournament birth this season. Coach Vaught discusses some of his coaching influences, the advantages of going the JUCO route, how recruiting may change with new eligibility rules, his offensive philosophy, working with parents and much more! Great conversation for episode #261

It's late January, and we are in the proverbial "Dog Days" of basketball season. You still have to have the urgency to get better, but you also can't burn out your players and make practices so intense that they don't have the proper physical and mental rest that they should have, so how do you do that? That's what Tony and I discuss this week, along with our TWIB topics, Who's up and down and much more!!

Todd Hale, the veteran boys head coach at Atkinson West Holt (NE), comes on the podcast to discuss a variety of topics. Coach Hale discusses his influences, constantly adjusting your program, bringing in outside instructors to his program, some of his favorite drills, practice set up and much more! Coach Hale has built a solid program at West Holt and it shows in this interview!

Hey, just joking on that earlier post this morning! You got a preview of this week's interview podcast, but here's Tony and I from last night discussing thoughts and strategies on how to kickstart your team in January!

We are officially in the middle of January, and by now we have some teams that are really hitting their stride, while other programs are struggling. There are a variety of reasons why teams may be struggling, but the question we ask ourselves when we are in that situation is "How do we get ourselves out of this?" This week, Tony and I go through numerous scenarios and give out our advice to help coaches and programs who may be at a place that they didn't anticipate being at right now.

Along with that, we have our trivia, our TWIB segment and our "Up and. Down" segment; hope everyone enjoys our newest installment of "The Coaching Staff"!

How many times, as high school coaches, have we complained that our players and our parents really don't understand what Varsity athletics is truly all about? Well, here at "A Pen And A Napkin", we're going to do our best to help educate and change that!

May 3rd and 4th, 2025 at Omaha Marian High School will be our 1st Annual "Varsity Preparation Academy" basketball event! This will help both players and parents of girls going into grades 6th-9th for the 2025-26 school year prepare themselves for the opportunity to play Varsity basketball! Taking the best from USA Basketball, Snow Valley Basketball School, Point Guard College and my own camp experiences, this hybrid approach to player and parent development both on and off the floor can help either your players or your parents prepare for the Varsity basketball experience. Get signed up today!!