Why Coaching Basketball and Being a Federal Reserve Governor Are Alike

Use analogies across disciplines. 

Coaches are economists. Economics informs allocation of limited resources. The dual mandates of the Federal Reserve are to 1) maximize employment (have a robust economy) and 2) maintain acceptable inflation (price stability). 

The Federal Reserve has a variety of "levers" to achieve policy goals including interest rate policy, purchasing government debt, the "repo" market, and jawboning the markets. 

Coaches who were economics majors included Bill Belichick, Steve Kerr, Brad Stevens, and Taylor Jenkins (Grizzlies). 

Youth basketball coaches 1) seek a robust team (teach players individual and team skills) and 2) to get everyone involved (dampen the complaint department). 

What policy "levers" do youth basketball coaches have in our arsenal? 

• Clear basketball philosophy. The initial meeting with families and players and later communications (progress reports) share guidelines and expectations.
• Tone. Do we radiate energy and positivity or something else? 
• Practice repetitions. Have clear goals for shots and repetitions that each player gets in drills and scrimmages. 
• Minutes. Playing time balances "everyone is equal" and recognition that skill and commitment differs. Just as students have "gifted and talented" tracks, the best players earn extra opportunity. 
• Recognition. Praise not only the dominant players and scorers, but players who add value that wasn't always visible in the boxscore. 
• Awards. We deemphasized the MVP approach. Players voted for the "best teammate." In one of Kevin Sivils' books, he remarked how he gave out the TEAM award, a model for us. 

Limfac (limiting factors) build dissatisfaction.

• Practice time. When we attend school, it's the daily classwork and homework that make the student, not just test scores. Yet in basketball, some view tests (games) as the primary goal. I don't see it that way. My goal is getting players ready for competition at the next levels. 
• Individual instruction. I twice-weekly conducted offseason workouts (weather permitting) for years. The players who participated, did the hard work, separated themselves from their peers. They got more details, reps, and coaching. Having assistants becomes a "force multiplier" for instruction and I'm grateful to them over the years. 
• Roles. Kevin Eastman reminds us, "you earn your paycheck." Your role expands with your production and production expands your role. 

What brutal facts face the youth coach? The biggest reality is cognitive bias, that is "endowment bias." We see a coffee mug on a counter and assign a value to it. Then, we are told that it is our coffee mug to sell. Our ownership of the mug revalues it to a higher level. The same principle applies to our children, our hometown professional sports stars. We struggle with that reality. 

I can't emphasize Chuck Daly's "48" enough, that players want 48 million, 48 minutes, 48 shots. Rescale it to youth basketball and it's economics - recognition, minutes, and role. 

Lagniappe (extras). Set Play. SLOB pass away, backscreen, handoff (from Adam Spinella)

Drill. They called it Ohio State. It's mini-Argentina drill.