Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Basketball: Third Rails

"Social Security is the third rail of American politics. Touch it, you're dead." 

What are the third rails of basketball? What areas are so toxic as to foster fatality? 

1. Politics. Nobody can isolate politics from policy. Carl Pierson's The Politics of Coaching belongs on every coach's bookshelf. Don't be undermined by what you don't know. 

2. Work-life balance. Finding a balance to maintain healthy family relationships challenges every coach. 

3. Isolation. Coaches need help. Whether it's formal like Coach Calipari's "Personal Board of Directors" or less so with mentors, assistants, or other confidants, hear other voices. Good ideas come from anywhere. 

4. Acrimony with parents. A state Coach of the Year coach told me a parent literally "bought out" his contract with a generous donation. Even a hired gun can get taken out by bigger munitions. 

5. Playing time. The Unholy Trinity of minutes, role, and recognition dominate perception. Even with the wisdom of Solomon, you will not be able to divide the three to everyone's satisfaction. A coach who won multiple state championships told me he got a phone call from a parent FIVE MINUTES into the season complaining about playing time. He turned the phone off from then on. 

6. Strategy. Unless your name is Krzyzewski or Summitt, you'll be second-guessed by people with only fractional basketball knowledge and experience. That doesn't account for game management. 

7. Lack of discipline. Players seldom work to undermine coaches through on-court actions. But all too often, off the court actions can be coaches' undoing. 

8. On-court player decisions. It's the math. Teams need a maximal number of winning possessions to succeed. Turnovers and bad shot selection are the undoing of too many well-meaning coaches. 

Lagniappe. Create advantage.   

Lagniappe 2. Rip it. 

Lagniappe 3. Urgency flows from coaches to players' situations.  


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