All of us have an idea as to what we want our teams and our programs to look like, but sometimes we need a little help in laying out the road map to get there. Directly borrowing and inspired by Pete Carroll's "Win Forever", this is something that I put together to help me figure out my philosophy, my priorities and what I wanted to emphasize when I would get back into coaching. Enjoy!!

Myself, Tom Krehbiel, Doug Woodard and Marc Kruger sit down at Wine 121 in Omaha to chat about a bunch of different basketball subjects, including playing an underclassman above an upperclassman, fundraising, what you're doing to get ready for the season, organizing your staff on game night and much more! Great conversation with a great group of coaches and guys!!

After a couple of days at the Nebraska Coaches Association Clinic, there were quite a few things that I took from the discussions. Here's some things that I learned from Tim Cannon, Kelly Flynn, John Larsen, Jeff Ritz and Craig Doty. Enjoy the odds and ends from the last couple of days!

Last week, I FINALLY took the time to head out to Snow Valley Basketball School in Waverly, Iowa, and it did not disappoint!!! Dropping a "Foundation Friday" on a Monday, here are some things that I took away from Snow Valley, including skill development, camp design and other things. Thanks to everyone who I got to work the camp with!

In our latest episode, Dave Bollish, the girls basketball coach at Scottsbluff (NE), dives into his coaching career and philosophy. We discuss jumping from being an assistant to being a head coach in the same program, the slow build of a program, representing the western part of the state, pressure defense, attacking offense and much more!

Just a few updates for the coming week or two for "A Pen And A Napkin", including this week's interview pod, working Snow Valley, the Nebraska Coaches Association clinics and APAAN "University"

You can run all the plays you want, but if you don't finish the shot at the end of it, it doesn't matter. In order to become a great shooter, you have to have a routine that is practical and well-rounded, but also active and will get your players ready for practice. In this Foundation Friday, we go through our "33 Shot" Warmup; feel free to tweak to fit your program or your philosophy.

University of Illinois-Chicago MBB HC Luke Yaklich comes on the pod to discuss his career, starting as a high school coach before moving on to college ball. We also discuss the influence of Dan Muller, John Beilein, and Shaka Smart, as well as practice planning and the importance of preparation. Great conversation with one of America's best coaches!

Every coach, every off-season, looks at their schedule and their team, and it's human nature to try to anticipate what your record is going to be the next season. However, we often look at things from the perspective of "everything's going to go right" perspective instead of a realistic, analytical perspective. Here's a formula that I've used that gives you a pretty accurate predictor of where your team could/should end up this winter.

Here's our first week of APAAN "University"; let's get the party started!! As a bonus to everyone who has followed "A Pen And A Napkin", we're going to open up our first week, "Communication with Your Players", to ANYONE who wants to jump on for free! Here's a quick preview of the week!