In light of Gregg Popovich’s decision to step down as head coach of the Spurs, this week TJ and Sam discuss the impact he’s had on the game and specifically 5 learnings from his leadership you can apply to your own coaching.

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This week TJ and Sam are joined by PGC Basketball Owner and President, Mano Watsa, along with Better Basketball founder Rick Torbett, first to discuss how relationships are foundational to everything we do as coaches, and how to build them and grow your network. They’re also excited to share an important announcement with everyone about PGC Coaching and Better Basketball once again coming together to deliver resources and build community with coaches.

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This week we’re excited to be joined by Coach Jamon Copeland, head men’s basketball coach at Ave Maria University. This past season he led his team to a conference tournament championship and a win in the NAIA national tournament. With 15 years of head coaching experience, in this episode Jamon shares the ins and outs of how he implemented an aggressive style and fast paced system.

Show Notes:
• Having an identity as a coach
• Switching Styles, 'touch the wall' drill, and marrying offense & defense
• Winning possession battle: turnovers and rebounding
• Full court defensive pressure concepts & decision making
• Starting Aggressive then pulling back
• Ability to make adjustments
• Dictating the pace and fast paced principles
• Half-court principles
• Selling your system to your players
• How it looks in practice and manipulating load
• Different defensive looks and teaching points
• Personnel implications
• Advantages of playing fast
• Match your coaching style with your personality

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This week Sam and TJ dive into how important it is for coaches to be great teachers and we can level up in this area.

Show Notes:
• What is master teaching
• Finding teachable moments
• Being intentional about what you're focusing on
• Opportunities to coach the mental side of the game
• Priming the environment and priming the mind
• Using constraints in drills to emphasize what you're teaching
• Coaching habits
• Paying attention during practice
• Two common teaching errors
• Having a common language
• Early season practice musts and tapering off
• Having a team identity
• Humility as a teacher
• Increasing efficiency and improving over time
• Progressing and layering in teaching
• Challenge yourself and apply

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This week we’re joined by Coach Raul Placeres from Maryville College. He's led his program to 5 straight regular season championships and won 3 out of the last 5 tournament championships. As the quickest coach in program history to 100 wins, we're honored to have him share with listeners what he's learned throughout his coaching journey, especially now as a head coach, and how he's defined his own success.

Show Notes:
• Following a hall of fame coach
• Transitioning from assistant to head coach
• Making the decision - fatigue, pressure, and time
• Listening to and talking with your players
• Working through the mental side of the game
• Listening to your players
• Coach Raul's practice setup
• Focused on the most important boxscore
• How do you know you're getting it right
• Leadership examples
• Culture examples and player to player mentorship
• Player development
• Empowering your players
• Growth mindset
• Knowing your team

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Whether it’s parents, recruiting, or analytics the game is changing, and this week TJ and Sam discuss how it’s affecting coaching at all levels.

Show Notes:
• More changes more rapid then before 
• Coaches staying and going 
• Players skill level 
• Parents investing in athletic careers
• AAU basketball a waste? 
• Recruiting today 
• Freedom and transfer dilemma 
• Emotional investment in coaching 
• Officials - Who wants that job... 
• Women’s hoops 
• Analytics

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Sam is joined by Coach Graham Maxwell to discuss in-game and late-game coaching tactics that we often see in March or tournament time with our teams.

Show Notes:

• Inbounds underneath / BLOBs
• Shot selection
• Using timeouts
• Late clock 
• Fouling up 3
• Stopping their best player
• Having a non-free throw shooter in the game

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This week Sam is joined by Josh Merkel, Head Men’s Coach at Randolph-Macon to discuss end of season evaluations, off-season plans, and ways to continue improving your program.

Show Notes:
• Postseason feelings
• Locker room after your last game
• Finding 1%ers
• How do you talk about championship goals
• Value of player IQ
• Getting better during the season
• Getting player feedback
• Off-season goals
• Leadership lessons
• Evaluating and implementing changes
• Josh's off-season plan
• Implementing shooting challenges
• Sam's practice shooting routines
• Evaluating offensive and defensive systems
• Finding the curve ball
• Taking notes from March Madness
• The hedgehog concept
• Knowing your strengths and who you are
• Focusing on the most important things

More about Head Coach Josh Merkel and his program.

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Having just finished their seasons, TJ and Sam discuss how they process that end of season feeling we all have as coaches.

Show Notes:
• The feeling of it being over
• Approach to the locker room 
• Expressing gratitude
• Modeling for your players
• Approaching individual players
• Adapting to the new reality
• How recruiting has changed
• Transitioning to a new routine
• Turning the page to growth
• Finding shortcuts and mentors
• Post season evaluations and exit interviews
• How to helpful feedback
• Committing to telling the truth
• Putting yourself out there
• The opportunity to impact

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This week we’re joined by Coach Charli Turner Thorne winningest coach in Arizona State program history and now assistant coach with the Phoenix Mercury. In this episode she shares both successes and learnings from her long coaching career.

Show Notes:
• What's changing in the game
• Everyday fundamentals
• Characteristics of the best teams
• Investing in your culture
• Role of rest and recovery
• Creatively holding your team accountable
• How to build toughness
• EFT 
• Helping your players perform
• Investing in relationships with players
• Fatigue in coaching
• Leading yourself well
• Being a learner
• Book recommendations
• What it takes to develop leaders

About Coach Charli Turner Thorne:

• 2024 Arizona Sports Hall of Fame Inductee
• WNBA Phoenix Mercury Assistant Coach
• The winningest head coach in ASU women’s basketball history and No. 2 all-time in career wins (488) by a Pac-12 coach, Two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year, 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, 3 Pac-12 championships (two regular season titles and the league’s first tournament title in 2002) and the program’s only two NCAA Elite Eight appearances
• Past president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s (WBCA) Executive Committee
• During the summer of 2009 Turner Thorne served as the head coach of the USA Women’s World University Games Team which went undefeated (7-0) and captured the gold medal at the 2009 World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia. In the summer of 2007 Turner Thorne served as an assistant coach on USA Basketball’s U21 World Championship Team which won the gold medal at the FIBA U21 World Championship in Moscow, Russia.
• As a player, Turner Thorne lettered four years at Stanford where she played three years under Tara VanDerveer. She graduated from Stanford in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and later earned her master’s degree in education from Washington in 1990.

Credit: Sun Devil Athletics webpage

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