A Pen And A Napkin

Mike Hilmer, Head Boys Basketball Coach at North Linn High School (IA), jumps on the podcast this week to talk about coaching his kids, hosting the team hangout, getting your team ready to play in February and March, run and jump pressure defense, shot selection and more! Great conversation with a coach that has been to five straight state championship games!!

98-99% of our AAU programs do things the right way, both on and off the court. However, the incidents that happen at AAU and youth events continue to escalate in intensity and violence from all areas; players, coaches and even parents in the stands. This week, I'll share some experiences that have happened recently and some proposals to help bring this madness under control.

Doug Billman, Boys Basketball HC at Antwerp (OH) comes on the podcast this week to chat about a variety of topics, including half court offense and defense, coaching at his alma mater, taking a program to unprecedented heights, high standards and much more! Really good conversation with one of Ohio's best!

Many of us, in some way, shape or form, track our players progress in the summer. It is also important to reward our players and recognize the efforts that they put in, so we came up with a system for this summer and beyond that we call our "Wall of Honor", which is tangible, measurable and can be reached by EVERYONE in the program, but only if you are willing to put in the time!

Really excited to have Brendan Dittmer, GBB HC at Elkhorn Valley (NE) High School, on the podcast this week! In this episode, Coach Dittmer and I chat about building a great culture in a small community, as well as rebuilding a program from within. Along with that, we discuss transition offense and defense, statistical analysis and the Junior Falcon program. Great listen for our listeners this week!

Most of our programs are going to be active in the summer, but what is the purpose of our summer activities? Along with that, how do we evaluate and measure our summer activities, both in our individual players and as a team/program.? Here's some thoughts and ideas on how to take a look back on your summer or look ahead to what you have to accomplish this summer.

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!