In this episode of the Culture of the Game Podcast Series, Matt and Edward sit down with three former Men's Basketball All-Americans to gather secrets about their preparation and mindset.

Show Notes:

00:14 - Ingredients for success

4:35 - Influences on your game

8:15 - Approach to the game

10:50 - Advice to younger self

15:08 - Playing through mistakes

16:36 - Being in the zone

24:00 - Players creating the culture

25:10 - Doing the mental/emotional work

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See below for each All-American's accolades:

Micah Elan, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges/Worcester Wolves (British Basketball League)

- Program All-Time Leader in points scored (1,700) , assists, and 3s made

- 2nd Team All-American

- Conference Player of the Year

- 16 3s in a 2-game stretch

Marcos Echevarria, Nichols College

- Program and Conference All-Time Leader in points (2,500) and 3s made

- 2nd team All-American

- Holds NCAA record for consecutive games with a 3pt make (105)

- 3rd in NCAA history in total 3s made

- Holds school record with 11 3s made in a game

- 16th All-Time in NCAA D3 points scored

- 2 time Conference Player Of the Year

DeAnte Bruton, Nichols College

- 2,000 point club

- 4th team All-American

- Scored 38, 40, 38 in 3 straight games in the conference playoffs

- 1st Team All Northeast Region

The Culture of the Game is proud to partner with CourtSessions Basketball.  With this new partnership for Season 2, the Culture of the Game will expand from podcast audio into youtube and video formats as well. 

This brief episode features new Culture of the Game Co-Hose, Edward LeBlanc, and touches on CourtSessions' pillars, values, and goal for changing the way basketball is taught and learned.

Coach Donnie Marsh currently serves as the Associate Head Coach for Men's Basketball at Florida Gulf Coast University. He has amassed over 40 years of college coaching experience at the Division I and III levels.

College Coaching Experience:

Franklin & Marshall (Assistant Coach) -- Elizabethtown (Head Coach) -- TCNJ (HC) --Florida State (AC) -- Virginia Tech (AC) -- FIU (HC) -- Indiana (AC) -- UAB (AC) -- Texas Southern (AC) -- South Florida (AC) -- Alabama A&M (HC)

Coach Marsh was an inaugural participant in school integration following Brown vs Board of Education in the late 60s.  He is also founder of the HBCU Coaches Retreat powered by Athletes in Action. 

Show Notes:

3:15 - Maintaining the family nucleus in a nomadic profession

7:30 - Raising a son in the game

10:20 - Lessons from starting as a college baseball coach

17:40 - Defining roles early, expanding roles

22:50 - Take aways from a decade coaching in Division III

26:20 - Social Justice conversations with student-athletes

31:30 - Participating in school integration, 1967

37:20 - The role of sports in continuing the conversation of equality

41:30 - Helping lead necessary conversations

47:00 - Growth from COVID 19 situation

49:15 - Evolving as an Assistant Coach

55:30 - Transitioning from Head Coach to Assistant Coach

58:00 - 3 most important qualities of a Coach

1:06:04 - HBCU Retreat via Athletes in Action

"If we educate ourselves, and aren't afraid to ask the tough questions, we have a really good chance of getting this movement in a really good place."

Social Media:

Twitter: @Marsh9Donnie

Coach Alex Lloyd is currently a member of the Memphis Grizzlies organization as an Assistant Coach on the staff for their G-League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle.

Show Notes

2:20 - Current state of the Hustle player development

8:40 - Developing players in partnership with the Grizzlies

12:10 - Conversations about roles with G-League players

17:30 - How the G-League helps you find a role

20:35 - Choosing which skills to develop

"In the game, in the future, or too late"

25:30 - Developing skills for the future

29:45: Balancing 1 on 0 training with live game settings

33:00 - Philosophical shifts in development

36:30 - Midrange jumpers

42:30 - Role acceptance is tied to value of winning

46:30 - Commonalities of star players

52:00 - Mental development 

57:00 - 3 important qualities of a coach

Quotes:

45:30 - "Guys will search for the voice that will fill the vacuum of their own ambition or uncertainties within the game"

49:56 - "Part of developing a player is developing one that is comfortable communicating -- standing up and communicating an idea."

Coach Alex Lloyd is currently a member of the Memphis Grizzlies organization as an Assistant Coach on the staff for their GLeague Affiliate, the Memphis Hustle.

Coach Lloyd, a Pomona College 2006 alumnus, is a former SCIAC Men's Basketball Player of the Year for Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball.

He has also spent time coaching overseas for the Belize National team and in China, as well as stops with the San Antonio Spurs organization and Texas A&M University.

Show Notes:

2:30 - Role of coaches in climate of social and racial inequality 

7:00 - The role of sports

14:50 - Coach Lloyd’s international coaching experiences

15:00 - Belize

21:00 - China 

24:40 - Choosing Pomona College

29:00 - Advice for high schoolers when choosing a college to attend

32:45 - How the Claremont Colleges prepares you for life after college

38:20 - How Pomona Pitzer basketball prepares him for life as a coach 

43:40 - Returning to Pomona with the hustle 

45:30 - The Back Abbey

45:45 - Heroes, The Press

46:30 - Commitment to individual improvement at the Division 3 level 

Quotes:

“Value the people where ever you go”

German Srulovich is an American basketball coach that has spent time working in the NBA, EuroCup, and Division 1.  In this conversation, we talk extensively about his time in Israel, as well as some non-traditional FIBA Concepts on both sides of the ball that are likely to make their way to the American game in the near future.

Coach Finnie is the Head Women's Basketball Coach at Houston Baptist University.  When she assumed the position in 2013, she made history as the first international ever to become a head coach in NCAA Division 1 College Basketball.

2:50 - Navigating Covid-19 with international students

5:30 - How school location/fit effects international recruiting

10:50 - Assimilation process from Day 1

14:50 - Making everybody feel valued

18:00 - Speaking "the same language"

23:30 - The prospecting process

25:00 - Recommendations for coaches who want to start recruiting internationally

27:30 - Making dreams come true

32:20 - Pros and Cons of recruiting international student athletes

34:00 - On court and skill level translation to the college game

39:00 - Societal context of the club model internationally

45:45 - Coaching the Scottish National Team

53:30 - Using visualization

52:15 - 3 necessary qualities of a coach

54:30 - WBCA International Chapter

Tim Pederson is the Senior Director for College Partnerships at Opendorse. Opendorse is a Digital Marketing Company based in Lincoln, Nebraska that is currently partnered with over 10,000 students, major institutions, and professional sports entities all over the USA. 

In this educational conversation, we talk about the examples of ways student athletes at all levels will profit using social media, what schools are doing to prepare for NIL, and how they can support their student athletes through the process. 

Show Notes:

3:27 - The beginning of Opendorse

6:36 - Tim's role, relationship with schools and athletes

8:10 - Social media platforms used/benefits of Linkedin

10:40 - Defining Name, Image, and Likeness

13:08 - Examples of ways students will make $$

15:44 - Educating, preparing schools and SAs

18:30 - Opendorse Ready Program

23:52 - How often should athletes be posting?

26:00 - Potential advantage for female athletes

27:10 - How to capitalize if you aren't the D1 "star quarterback"

32:10 - What are universities doing to get ready?

35:42 - The recruiting battle of the next decade

39:22 - Building a foundation/adjusting standards now

44:44 - Deciding factor for recruits?

46:30 - Tools/systems schools should have in place

47:58 - Compliance involvement

52:30 - Agent's involvment

57:37 - Coaches and Admin getting up to speed

Links and Resources:

opendorse.com

@opendorse (Instagram and Twitter)

@Timdpederson (Twitter)

Coach Scott Faucher is the Head Coach of Men's Basketball at Assumption University in Massachusetts.  In 2019, he was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches 30 Under 30 List, while also leading the Nichols College Bison to their first ever Elite 8 Appearance.

Empowering players to have a voice and ownership of their development/success has never been more vital to create buy in than in the culture of 2020. Scott is one of the best I have been around at organically creating that environment. This conversation is a deep dive into his philosophy and approach in that arena.

Show Notes:

3:20 - Player development during quarantine

9:00 - Player creativity in the gym

10:30 - Refining coaching philosophy

14:10 - Balancing live play w/ skill work in practice

17:40 - Competitive development and decision making

19:00 - Perspective from growing up in basketball family

22:30 - Fostering relationships as a young head coach

24:20 - Using trust to fuel honest conversation

26:30 - Player ownership of the program

30:30 - Addressing a player who is having a tough time

32:50 - Challenges in developing relationships

34:00 - Creating the environment organically

37:30 - Peer to peer assessments

42:00 - Growth from friction

43:10 - Scott's 3 most important qualities of a coach

45:15 - Practicing patience

47:00 - Teaching younger age groups

48:25 - Book/Podcast Recommendations (Basketball Immersion, Culture Code, Leading with the Heart, Inner Game of Coaching)

Quotes:

17:57 - "You're trying to establish a winning mindset with it where you are keeping score with every that you are doing, so you want everything to matter."

22:47 - "At the end of the day, no matter what you do, it has to be about your players. As a young head coach, that's magnified. If you make it about yourself, the players wont buy into that. You have to develop that trust with them."

25:40 - "I think its about giving the players a voice in your program first where sometimes you don't even need to be the one addressing certain issues...that's the ideal situation."

34:00 - "That ownership piece is not only for the players, but for everybody involved in the program..that could be the manager, assistant coaches, athletic trainers, strength staff...they have to know how important they are and feel like they have a voice in the program as well."

35:00 - "As much as possible, have things come from them. We hardly want to go into any meeting simply talking at the team."

Social Media:

Twitter: @CoachScoFaucher

Coach Scott Waterman is the Head Coach at Academy of Art University in Downtown San Francisco. Scott spent 17 years as an Assistant Coach at the Division 1,2, and 3 levels before assuming his current position in 2019. This conversation is a reflection of his first year as a Head Coach.

3:00 - Morning runs for sanity and energy 6:45 - Proceeding during quarantine 8:30 - Take aways from coaching journey 10:30 - Becoming the ultimate decision maker 13:50 - Prepared vs over prepared 18:00 - Building relationships and recruiting to bring a new culture 23:00 - Using your players as a resource to evaluate a recruit 24:45 - Creating buy in with new faces 32:35 - Scott's 3 most important qualities of a coach

Quotes: 5:40 - "the biggest thing I learned this year is as a head coach you cant have a bad day, you can't take a minute off" 11:20 - "that was the hardest thing, going from the assistant with all the answers to the guy with the ultimate answer" 28:00 - "they spend so much time with a basketball, doing stuff without a basketball, even for five minutes...is huge"