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!!!

As coaches, we all know that everyone within our program has to have a well defined role. What we need to do as coaches is clearly communicate and define those roles, but we also need to take a look at the bigger picture as we construct our rosters. Tony and I bounce off a bunch of ideas to help you with your development of roles, along with having some fun rating the best role players in the NBA. We also have trivia, Arby's, TWIB and a couple of disagreements as to how the NBA"s Southeast Division will fall . . . Enjoy!

We had alot of fun recording this roundtable podcast before the first night of the MBCA Fall Clinics this past week! Jim Simons of Omaha Westside, Steve Klein of Bellevue West and Jake Nannen of Elkhorn South jump on the pod to discuss their build up towards the 2024-25 season, including their fall activities and how they plan to build up their play books on both sides of the ball. Along with that, we chat about breaking down the season into manageable parts, fundraising, and the importance of attending clinics like the MBCA. A terrific, free flowing conversation with a little teaser at the end to whom may be the five year anniversary guest next week! Enjoy!

I got up this morning feeling like I hadn't talked sufficiently about the potentially great WNBA playoffs that are upon us, so I decided to invite on the most knowledgable WNBA fan I know . . . our son Carter!! Carter breaks down the four playoff series, who he doesn't want his beloved NY Liberty to play, and A'ja Wilson as a unanimous MVP. Enjoy a little bonus material!

We're all here to win, right? Most of us are not going to sell our souls for it, but we're competitive and we want to win. But how do you get yourself and your program in the right mental frame of mind to win, and what are some of the best practices that you can have to win? Tony and I break down numerous things you should be practicing and teaching your program in order to find that mental mindset necessary for sustained success. We also have trivia, our Arby's winner, TWIB and a preview of the NBA's Central Division. Enjoy!

Legendary Nebraska hoops coach John Miller comes on the podcast this week to chat about a variety of topics. Coach Miller is a Nebraska Hall of Famer with multiple state championships under his belt at both Chambers (on the girls side) and Southern Valley (boys). We discuss coaching perhaps the greatest player to come out of the state, building a consistent winner in a small community, playing uptempo basketball, player development and much more. A really fun conversation with one of the best coaches in the state!

EPISODE #100!!!!! Holy cow, we made it!!! What a great ride it's been, and Tony and I hope you will stick around for the next 100 . . .

Roles are so important to any program, and role definition is vital to your program. Although we often associate role definition to our players, this week Tony and I expand that thought to other areas of your program; your parents, your assistant coaches and your administration. We try to give you ideas on what to ask, what to do and how to structure things for your program to help everyone know how they can contribute to the success of the program!

Thanks so much to everyone who has supported us, from our listeners to Ruiz Auto! We definitely appreciate it!

Episode #242 features Steve Spiehs, the new HC for boys basketball at Heartland Lutheran (NE). Coach Spies was a long time assistant for 27 years who is now getting his first crack as a head coach, so we discuss that transition. We also discuss Butler basketball, BLOBs, defensive philosophy and a bunch of other topics. Coach Spiehs is going to do a great job at Heartland, so let's get a preview of what type of program he plans on building!

This week, Tony and I break down our favorite coaching phrases that we have used with either our players or in the building of our programs. We go through things that we've used with our players to try to establish a common language, as well as different phrases we've used to build our programs. Along with that, we have trivia, an Arby's winner (and Olympic hero), along with discussing the WBNA playoff picture and Cooper Flagg's new shoe deal. Tony also gives a 90 page synopsis of "Kings Of Their Court" and, somehow, we find a way to bring up "The Golden Girls" multiple times . . . yep, it's what we do on "The Coaching Staff" . . .

Very excited to bring on Nick LoGalbo, the head boys basketball coach from Lane Tech (IL) High School for this week's pod! We go through a variety of different topics, including social justice issues, stoicism and Marcus Aurelius, fundamental development, Nick's experience with international basketball and 3 on 3, balance in life and much more! We also take a segment to combine our passion for basketball and our shared love of "The Office" (trust me, it works!)! Enjoy this podcast, because we sure did!