Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Basketball - Practical Principles from Memorable Military Figures

Basketball is not war, yet presents metaphorical battles and concepts available to us. More than ten years of Navy service taught valuable lessons. History teaches more. 

"I can learn." 

Bowdoin Professor turned Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain explained how an untrained Rhetoric professor became a hero at Gettysburg. 

Basketball - Promote a learning culture. 

"Always forward."  

General Alexander Suvorov was the "General who never lost." He treated his mean well, was committed to training, and never retreated. 

Basketball - Earn the right to confidence via high performance.

"Every battle is won before it is fought."

Sun Tzu's The Art of War is a timeless classic from over 2500 years ago. He believed that preparation and a host of principles set strategic standards. 

Basketball - Preparation, practice, and performance follow intent. 

"We will fight in the shade."

According to the historian Herodotus, a native of Trachis warned Dienekes that the Persian arrows were so numerous they would blot out the sun. Dienekes answered, "Good; then we will fight in the shade."

Basketball - Think "Whatever it takes."

"Duty. Honor. Country."

MacArthur's legendary "Address to Graduates" (West Point) emphasized the core values of the service academy. 

Basketball - Distill standards and values. Character. Sportsmanship. Community. 

 "Find one more thing." 

General Hal Moore argued that there was always "one more thing" that could be done to help earn victory. Include that concept into your philosophy and teach it to our players. 

Basketball - Our basketball training and experience can shape us to become more when we're willing to apply what we know and sometimes to think "outside of the box." 

"You can’t help when or what you were born, you may not be able to help how you die; but you can—and you should—try to pass the days between as a good man.” - Sam Damon in "Once an Eagle"

We can't choose our size, our biological limitations, or our upbringing. We can choose our attitude, our choices, and our effort to grow our character and competence.

Basketball - Everyone can't become an exceptional player. We can choose to become an exceptional teammate and the best leader we can be.

Lagniappe. Authentic likability is a skill.  

Lagniappe 2. Believe that by modeling excellence that we can help young people develop both character and competence. Most of us do. 

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Tuesday, September 1, 2026

What Coaches All Want - Establishing "Sustainable Competitive Advantage"

"The wind blows hardest at the top of the mountain." 

Winning is hard. That's why it's valued. 

NBA regular season win leaders for the past ten seasons:

RankTeamWinsGamesWin %
1Boston Celtics530800.663
2Denver Nuggets495801.618
3Milwaukee Bucks486801.607
4LA Clippers466800.583
5Golden State Warriors464793.585

Of course, NBA regular season wins don't necessarily translate to NBA titles, profits, or fan satisfaction. 

An owner's North Star could be profits, publicity, winning or some combination. 

Other levels lack the resources of professional sport. At these levels, coaches apply their own meaning. Winning matters in varsity sports and beyond. Nobody will convince me that winning is the Holy Grail if you coach U14s or U12s. That's the stuff of Springsteen's "Glory Days." 

What is sustainable competitive advantage?

It's consistent winning, not necessarily championships. Wooden didn't win a National Title at UCLA until his 16th season. Dean Smith won a championship in his 21st season at UNC. He said that even without having won a national title that he never felt like a loser. 

How do you get it?

There's an evolution underway. Our local girls' program won ten consecutive league titles including five undefeated regular seasons. That benefited from a coaching stability, a solid youth program, two players from the METCO program, health, and luck. 

Top players left the system for the Prep or Private school world. Wins have become much harder to come by. The strength of the volleyball program attracting elite athletes also mattered.  

Friction

Friction shows up amidst 'the discipline of execution' - the triad of people (coaches and players), strategy, and operations. 

Replacing coaches, changes in the youth program, and improvements in other programs also create friction.  

For years, Coach Ralph Labella and I offered off-season (May to September) twice weekly development sessions. That's history.  

Overcoming Friction

What are some ideas for returning a program to prominence? This is 'spitballing' not proven success.

  • A local coaching summit getting the best ideas from stakeholders, especially coaches in the system.
  • That could only take place in a "safe space" with no blame game attached, just curiosity and openness. 
  • A "campaign" to attract and retain players starting at a young age. 
  • Return to offseason development (who's invested?)
  • A couple of free coaching clinics with paid coaches brought in with booster club funds. 

The Pushback 

Ego is the enemy. Solving a problem requires diagnosis and treatment with "a starting over" approach without a postmortem examination on the past. Almost invariably, bruised feelings emerge, regardless of the intent. 

Without repeating the "talking dog" story, I don't see any of this happening. Happiness is being wrong. 

Lagniappe. Everyone loves a great back door cut. 

Lagniappe 2. What's on your checklist?  

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