"Ideas are the currency of the future." Coach Collins recently reminded us that "every great coach keeps an idea file."
We decide on the organization and content. Here are some personal thoughts on getting started.
Suggestions on organization
Player development
Strategy
Physicality (strength and conditioning)
Psychology (mental toughness, psychology, resilience)
Building a Toolbox
- Spreadsheets (Google Drive is free)
- Drill book
- Playbook
- Video teaching collection
- Websites/Links
- Personal journal (Blog, Commonplace book, note book)
Miscellaneous
"Jar of Awesome." Keep a jar of awesome recording 'great stuff' that happens on slips of paper.
Basketball Design Matrix or "Creative Matrix Template"
Okay, this is the antithesis of the McKinsey "three-second" rule where in three-seconds you get the takeaway.
Life Lessons
Learn AI
We don't need to understand language models or how to code to get something from AI. Like the "Centaur" chessmaster, become the better version of man and machine.
Teach players daily lessons about how basketball teaches us "character and competence" - how to be a better human.
Learn to integrate and filter the firehose of daily information. And teach players to do the same.
Lagniappe. Brad Stevens told my wife (the rocket scientist), "Basketball is not rocket science." At the same time, simplifying complexity is an art.
Computer scientist Sara Hooker on underestimating difficulty: pic.twitter.com/8OlJ2Kk9tg
— Reads with Ravi (@readswithravi) September 6, 2026
Lagniappe 2. An unusual version of a screen-the-screener action.
Have never seen this version of a BLOB screen the screener before pic.twitter.com/68uI5ygi2X
— Matt Hackenberg (@CoachHackGO) September 5, 2026
