A Pen And A Napkin

Episode #140 features Jeremy Rickertsen, the Head Boys Basketball Coach at Cedar Rapids Prairie (IA)! Coach Rickertsen talks about his evolution as a coach, including coaching on the same sideline with his best friend, being the high school HC of an NBA lottery pick (Keegan Murray), communicating effectively with parents, practice set up and execution and much more! Great conversation with one of Iowa's best!

Welcome to "The Coaching Staff"! One of my oldest friends in coaching, Tony Vis, was wrangled into this weekly series on coaching advice. This week, we're going to talk about your coaching inventory; what are your programs needs and what are your wants when it comes to putting a quality program together? At the end, we have a little basketball trivia and some other information, so enjoy!!

Ever seen a 5'5" point guard with a 56" vertical leap? Probably not, unless you've witnessed Michael J. Fox in his classic 80's film "Teen Wolf"! One of my oldest friends, Ryan Meyer, comes on the pod to discuss the ins and outs of this movie, including observations that most basketball coaches may not notice. We had a great time recording this, so enjoy the same banter we've had for almost forty years!

GBB HC of Holy Innocents (GA) and my Snow Valley Basketball School camp friend Nichole Dixon jumps on the podcast with me this week! On this week's pod, we chat about coaching multiple sports, embracing AAU as a HS HC, "Wisdom Wednesdays", "Truth Tuesdays" and the "Tradition Board", among many other things. Great conversation with one of the best from the state of Georgia!

Reading is the lifeblood to the brain, and we, as coaches, must have a solid foundation of reading to keep ourselves sharp and also have the ability to share the most pertinent information to our players to make them better. This week, I'm going to discuss some of my favorite coaching books, then, in the second half of the pod, we have a major announcement about "A Pen And A Napkin"

Episode #2 in our "Film Room" limited series features myself and my (awesome, beautiful, wonderful) daughter Genevieve Plum breaking down the ESPN 30 for 30 "The Bad Boys". We go through our father/daughter basketball documentary history, the legacy of this edition of the Detroit Pistons, the very complicated legacy of Isiah Thomas, basketball lessons learned and much, much more; sit back and enjoy!!!

We're starting a new feature this week on APAAN; we're going to review five Hollywood features and five documentaries where some/most/all of the focus of the film is on basketball and how these films can help you become a better coach! This week's feature is the Nick Nolte/Shaquille O'Neal classic from 1994 "Blue Chips"!! I break this movie down with Scott Polacek, head girls basketball coach at Howells-Dodge (NE). Let me know what you think and enjoy!!

One of the major aspects of "special teams" in basketball is baseline and sideline out of bounds execution on both sides of the ball. On this week's "Foundation Friday" we discuss the importance of BLOB and SLOB execution, when to implement, how to implement and different thoughts on one of the most important aspects of "winning on the margins"!

Boys Basketball Head Coach of Waukee Northwest (IA), Brett Watson has done a great job of taking a first year school and got them to the state tournament. In this podcast, we talk about "The Process", stepping into a championship level program, his "Core Values", "Marginal Gains" and many other aspects of the mental game. Alot of great information, especially on some non-traditional coaching concepts!

Usually we have a pretty good idea of how our teams work behind the scenes, but sometimes you need to drill down a little deeper with your teams. Here are three "team tests" that we have used in the past to help you and your coaching staff figure out what your team is REALLY like and what they really think about themselves and their teammates.