A Pen And A Napkin

Really excited to have on Ryan Coenen, the GBB HC at Woodbine (IA) for episode #249! Coach Coenen has "built" a dormant program at Woodbine into a consistent winner, including a 2023 state tournament run, the first for the town since 1974. In this pod, Coach Coenen discusses his "competitive cauldron", his RRP philosophy, developing high standards, zigging and zagging, his emphasis on defensive transition, building a great practice and much more! Really enjoyable podcast with Coach!

Ever wondered what your spouse was really thinking or what it was like to be in their shoes? Parents, have you ever really thought about the effect that you have on a coaches family? Coaches, do you know what your spouse needs from you? We try to answer these and more questions as we met up at Wine 121 with Scott Wragge, husband of Jennifer Wragge of Elkhorn (NE) GBB HC, Jodi Scheef, wife of Kevin Scheef of Wahoo (NE) BBB HC and my wife, Carla Plum, as we go through a bunch of different topics related to coaches and their families. I hope you enjoy this unique look into the lifestyle of being involved in coaching!

Last week, Tony and I made a plethora of suggestions as to how you could/should start your practices, so this week it only makes sense to discuss what you could be doing to end your practices. We throw out a bunch of ideas, including shooting drills, scrimmage ideas, cultural exercises and much, much more! We also have trivia and an extended TWIB segment, where we discuss the shocking resignation of Tony Bennett, along with the WNBA finals, college basketball preseason rankings and much more! Enjoy!

Paul Dwyer has built a terrific small school girls basketball program at Elmwood-Murdoch (NE) high school, and he's our guest for episode #247! Coach Dwyer discusses his basketball journey, including building his program and garnering community support, unifying his program through slogans, cooperating and work with AAU programs, defensive philosophy and much more! Enjoy this week's pod!!

As we gear up for the season, one of the most important segments of practice is the start of practice; getting your practice started off strongly is vitally important to your team's consistent improvement and performance. This week Tony and I give out some of our favorite drills to start practice, as well as thoughts about what makes a strong start to practice. Along with that, we have trivia (which I nailed!), an Arby's winner, TWIB and a preview of the NBA's Southwest Division, which may be its most competitive division this season! Enjoy!

Our middle child Carter Plum is BACK with his analysis of the WNBA Finals that tip off tonight! Carter and I break down the matchups, who has the momentum, advantages and disadvantages for both teams, and Carter gives his prediction as to whom he thinks is going to win the title!

It's that time of year once again . . . my childhood and lifelong friend Dick Jungers from Newell-Fonda (IA) comes back on the pod for the 6th time to discuss a whole bunch of coaching topics. We discuss raising kids that are involved in activities and athletics, Dick's national coach of the year nomination, the psychology of coaching, reloading, playing alot of kids, shooting, game prep and much, much more! These are always special pods for both Dick and I, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as we did!

Failure is inevitable. That's just a fact of life. How we handle failure, however, is 100% in our control. This week, Tony and I discuss failure from a variety of different angles, from anticipating it to how to communicate it to how to actually use failure to our advantage. Along with that, we discuss the WNBA playoffs, the Knicks/Timberwolves trade and the passing of the legendary Dikembe Mutombo. We wrap things up with our preview of the Northwest Division of the NBA. Enjoy!!

Tuesday, October 1st is a great day! We have the release of "Kings Of Their Court" happening today, and to give you a taste, here is a (very) amateur reading of parts of Chapter 1 of the book to help give you an idea of what the rest of the book is all about! Hope you enjoy it!

Wow, what a day!!! FIVE YEARS AGO this week I started this little venture and it has been an AMAZING experience! To celebrate, I've been fortunate to ask Stan Van Gundy, former NBA head coach and current announcer, onto the pod to celebrate. Coach Van Gundy and I discuss a variety of topics, including NBA questions, growing up in a basketball family, late game situations, organizing a bench, organizing a season and much more!

I am so thankful for all of the loyal listeners and everyone that has invested any time and effort into "A Pen And A Napkin"! With no team to coach this season, APAAN has become "my full time team", so I hope to help as many coaches out as I can this season to help you get better! Thanks so much!!!