Bad coaching is real but not necessarily widespread. If we recognize "good" then we can reduce our "bad" moments. Dr. Fergus Connolly presents a framework of sport based upon:
Game Moments
- Offense
- Transition to Defense
- Defense
- Transition to Offense
Player 'Coactives'
- Technical (skill)
- Tactical (strategy)
- Physical
- Psychological
Good coaching optimizes individual and group performance of 'coactives' during game moments. For example offense involves skill, strategy, physical and psychological resources. We can put a player or team into good position with skill, tactics, and explosiveness, but fail psychologically with shot discipline, selfishness, or choking.
Poor coaching could fall among any of the above. With no hatchet job intended, I'll provide an overview.
Offense.
- Disorganization - as in no offensive plan... every team needs a specific plan to wear down and defeat opponents. Use the UCONN women example of wanting to score a third in transition, a third on threes, and a third on sets.
- Lack of preparation to handle pressure (e.g. half court/full court)... all excellent teams find ways to defeat pressure defense. In the worst case, failed pressure offense bleeds into defense with opponent transition scoring.
- Many high school and youth teams lack "early offense"
Defensive transition.
- No assigned responsibilities in transition. What do the guards do and how many players go to the boards?
- Lack of stopping or delaying the ball advance and protecting the basket. "Shape up."
Defense.
- Lack of fundamental structure (stance, containment, positioning). Even less talented players should grasp basic elements with EDIR5 (explanation, demonstration, imitation, and repetition x five)
- Mismatching strategy to personnel (I've chosen to press when we lacked the personnel/basketball IQ to play extended defenses. That was bad coaching and I apologized to our team for putting them at disadvantage.)
Transition to offense.
- Poor defensive rebounding into outlet pass
- Inability to create quality chances with numbers (e.g. 3 on 2 late attack, you attack, touch pass, or pull up for a shot). Doing nothing is not an option.
Technical training.
- Inadequate fundamentals ("Every day is player development day.") Often shows up with high turnover rate, poor shot selection, poor shooting
- Lack of improvement or regression during the season. Player development/progression is a sine qua non of effective coaching.
Tactical.
- Mismatching tempo to game situation (e.g. not playing faster when trailing with limited time, playing too fast when shortening the game appropriate)
- Changing strategy (e.g. defense) when defense is working well
- Not working to take away what opponents do best or execute what we do well
Physical.
- Overtraining, especially when recovery needed, resulting in fatigue, injury, or degraded performance in subsequent games (wearing out players)
- Lack of conditioning contributing to second half collapse
Psychological/Emotional.
- Demeaning, not demanding, coaching
- Players quitting the sport
- Players quitting on the coach or coaches quitting on the players
Poor communication, immaturity/loss of self-control, poor teaching, inappropriate behavior, misuse of resources, poor practices, lack of attention to detail, and other issues of omission or commission occur - too numerous to elaborate.
Many of us see "bad coaching" as the other guy's problem. Develop a non-ego threatening way to self-assess where we can do better across the board.
Lagniappe: Pete Newell taught that a coach's primary job was teaching players to SEE THE GAME. Gibson Pyper with a wonderful example:
