Basketball - Seven Reasons Not to Hire Me As Your Next Coach

When seeking a coaching job, most applicants choose the "default" approach, explaining why the community should hire them.

Another approach can be explaining why they shouldn't hire you. Here are some credible reasons:

1. Politics

I have no interest in the politics of the job. If you want a "yes man" who will do the bidding of the Mayor or a School Committee Chair whose daughter is on the team, you don't want me.

If you want a political hire, the best friend of so-and-so, then give the "friends and family discount" and make the political hire. 

2. Qualifications

The only time that I've coached high school basketball is during low stakes summer league games or during summer tournaments where players were sharpening their skills.

Don't count the twenty or so years of coaching pre-adolescents or the player development that spawned State Champions (at other schools), a Boston Globe and Boston Herald dream teamer, or players in the Melrose High School Athletic Hall of Fame. 

3. Lack of Commitment

"You never applied before." In addition to about twenty years of volunteer coaching and a busy local medical practice (including heading the Intensive Care Unit), I also helped raise four children. My wife might take issue with that. 

4. Paper Trail

"How can we assess your basketball knowledge and experience?" In addition to having played serious high school basketball (Captain of the top division Sectional Champion), you really can't know my basketball philosophy. 

As I said earlier, it's NOT to please the parents and their understandable need to have their needs met - their child's playing time, role, and recognition. My basketball blog lays out my beliefs.  

5. Leadership

The only organization I was in with any clarity of leadership was ten years as a Naval Officer in the United States Navy. The answer to any question had specificity and clarity, "whatever is in the best interests of the Navy." 

Respect for authority starts at the Naval Academy (I did not attend), where the five answers every Middie knows are:

• "Yes, Sir."
• "No, Sir."
• "Aye, Aye, Sir."
• "Right away, Sir."
• "I don't know but I'll find out, Sir." 

Former players haven't accomplished as much as I'd like. Two played Division I Women's college basketball, one is a veterinarian, many are teachers with Masters' Degrees, and a few have been executives in Fortune 500 companies. 

6. Age

I'm practically as old as Methuselah. Plus, I've only coached girls, so I'm effectively older as I've witnessed some drama close up. I've heard, "Oh, Dad" so many times, I wondered if I should legally change my name. 

There's a lot to be said for youth and for women coaches who might be able to relate to players better. 

And if you want secrecy, I'm not your person. I believed in transparency as parents could come to practice, pre- and post-game meetings to hear my ramblings about my expectations and interpretation of what happened. 

7. Other Limitations

I have too much experience as in, "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want." 

I'm a pain. When the Rec Department informed me that I could have two one-hour practices a week, I explained that if the girls couldn't have at least three hours a week (some communities had eight), then I'd move on. 

If you're looking for someone who believes basketball exists to serve children rather than adults, who values truth over convenience, standards over popularity, and improvement over excuses - then perhaps we should have a conversation.

Lagniappe. Footwork is power. 

The Kobe pivot ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/BfcTlJ5UNq

— Anthony Pugh (@Anthony_Pugh2) July 1, 2026

Basketball - Patience and Performance*

*Adapted from my volleyball blog

We live in an era of I want what I want, and I want it now. Overcoming that demands a different kind of strength, one that doesn't announce itself.

The word patience evolved from the Latin patentia, meaning suffering. Not passive waiting, but the willingness to endure the work and the time necessary to achieve a desired end. 

The Chinese character for patience captures this beautifully: it depicts an enduring heart. Two cultures, a thousand years apart, pointing at the same thing.

History and Patience

Aristotle framed patience as a balancing act - the mean between apathy and impetuousness, between too little and too much. Benjamin Franklin sharpened that: "He that can have patience can have what he will." For Franklin, patience wasn't resignation. It was leverage, the leverage of a nine-year printing apprenticeship.

The Stanford marshmallow experiments gave us data to match the philosophy. Follow-up studies found that children who delayed gratification - who waited for the second marshmallow - earned higher SAT scores, better grades, stronger social skills, and showed less substance abuse. The ability to endure the moment predicted the future quality of life.

John Wooden understood this instinctively. Patience flanks competitive greatness at the very top of his Pyramid of Success. He won his first national title at UCLA in his 16th season. Sixteen years. The Pyramid wasn't decoration - it was his operating system, and patience was load-bearing.

Patience as Emotional Discipline

In Stoic philosophy, patience isn't passivity; it's emotional discipline. And that discipline quietly opens something else: compassion. When you're not ruled by impulse, you can see another person clearly. You can see not just who they are, but who they might become.

For coaches, that combination is gold.

The player who can't get out of her own way right now. The point guard who panics under pressure. The shooting guard with skill but doesn't understand shot selection yet and needs work putting the ball on the floor. Patience lets you hold the vision of what's possible for them, even when they can't hold it themselves - and help them navigate the time and commitment it takes to get there.

Patience in Sports

The applications run from the physiological to the tactical:

Maturity and physical development. Pre-adolescent athletes are genuinely limited - neurologically, physically, emotionally. Rushing that timeline doesn't accelerate development. 

Player development. There's a pyramid to climb, and the steps don't rearrange themselves. Fundamentals precede execution, on the court, in the dojo (sand the floor), in the pool. 

Team development. Collaboration is built, not declared. Trust accumulates through repetition, conflict, resolution, and time. The team that competes in November is not the team that gathered in August. Honor the process.

Waiting for the scoring moment. This is patience made visible in real time. The cut that opens late. The through-pass that reveals itself one beat after you expect it. The changeup that requires the hitter to hold just a split-second longer. Elite players don't rush the moment. They read it and let it arrive.

Summary

Patience adds value. And it's trainable.

It shows up in etymology, in philosophy, in experimental psychology, in Wooden's sixteen-year climb to a championship. It shows up in the athlete who waits for the cut, in the coach who holds the vision longer than the player can, in the team that trusts the process when no championships have appeared on a banner.

The enduring heart isn't passive. It's disciplined. It's the water that carves canyons and the coaches who craft championships. 

Lagniappe. Anchors. 

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A post shared by Dr. Jordan Smith | Mental Skills Training (@thepodiummindset) 

Basketball - Take It or Leave It

"For a miserable existence, I recommend ignoring not only other people's feeling, but also their opinions, ideas, and ways of thinking." - Rolf Dobelli in "The Not to Do List"

When you've written over 10,000 blog posts, you'll likely weary of your own voice. Which is why reading and listening to others becomes crucial.

First, filter the firehose of daily voices in our heads.

Second, seek wisdom, the needle in the needlestack. 

Speaking or writing, we learn nothing. That's copy and paste from our personal repository of knowledge and dreck.  

Reading and listening are like stock options, the opportunity but not the obligation to buy (or sell) at a future time at a given price. Read about Dean Smith's approach to timeouts. Then decide whether you want to have three for the final four minutes.

When we focus and listen attentively, others may make a decision for us. A patient was admitted with a potentially life-threatening problem occurring after a stay at another hospital. A family member literally grabbed me by the shirt, pleading "don't let my ______ die." 

First, "you have to let go of my shirt. That is not okay."

Second, "we will do everything possible to transfer your _______ back ASAP to the hospital that treated him." The situation dictated what I call the "Woolworth's policy" (Colin Powell called it Pottery Barn)... "you broke it, you bought it." 

What does this mean for basketball? 

If a player or their entourage (including family) are toxic, don't hang onto 'radioactivity'. Just don't. A skunk in our living room never makes life better, regardless of the reason the skunk got there. 

Where does one go on a journey for basketball and life advice? 

• Read Charlie Munger. "Self-serving bias is a critical psychological trap that distorts judgment, advising that "if you don’t allow for self-serving bias in the conduct of others, you are, again, a fool.""
• Chris Oliver podcasts. Chris has conversations with basketball thinkers across the spectrum. Learn something or a lot of somethings. 
• The Wide World of experience. For example FIBA videos, youtube videos, Netflix coaching series, "The Playbook." 
• MasterClass with video series from Coach K, Geno Auriemma, Steph Curry, and many others. 

Be curious.

Be open to new ideas.

Be humble. 

"Be a learning machine." 

The more we know, the more we can apply...and remove. 

Lagniappe. One lesson at a time... 

3 Off-ball habits every player should master:

🏀 Ball driving toward you → DRIFT
⬆️ Ball driving away from you → LIFT
✂️ Ball stops → CUT

Don’t be a spectator. Create space. Create passing angles. Create opportunities.

— 𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 🅿️𝐚𝐭 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐨𝐧 (@Bucket_Giver) June 25, 2026

Basketball - Mantras

"The term mantra originates from ancient Sanskrit, derived from the root man ("to think") and the suffix -tra ("instrument"), literally translating to "instrument of thought." - Brave AI

Think of mantra as another form of "self-talk." We become what we think. 

In 10-Minute Toughness, Jason Selk promotes an "identity statement" and a "performance statement." This reduces to:

• "This is who we are."
• "That is what we do."

We were the second place team in a tough league that had won the lion's share of the State Championships over the prior twenty years. Before our first playoff game, Coach Ellis Lane told us, "These guys are good; they can give you a game." Players looked at each other in disbelief. We led 45-10 at halftime. 

"I'll make it" was rooted in practice. 

“Great moments are born from great opportunity.” - from Miracle (Coach Herb Brooks)

"Being perfect is not about the scoreboard." - from "Friday Night Lights"

"Own the possession." Games are a sum of individual possessions. Success in individual possessions creates a high probability of success. 

"Play through contact." Basketball is not a contact sport. It is a collision sport. 

"Scoreboard not scorebook" Commit to playing for the team not individual statistics. This restates playing for the name on the front of the uniform not the back. 

"The ball has energy." Sharing the ball energizes the team and creates opportunities for everyone. 

Players have the opportunity and obligation to put themselves and their team in a position to succeed. As Coach Wooden remarked, "Happiness begins where selfishness ends."

Lagniappe. The best players 1) make everyone around them better, 2) find solutions to complex problems, and 3) do so in the moment. 

Billy Donovan said, "Mistakes are going to happen."

"But it's how you collectively respond to overcome what it's in front of you."

Success is never mistake-free. It's about your response to those setbacks.
• Respond > React
• Accountability > Blame
• Growth > Shame pic.twitter.com/lhsEkwqIcG

— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) June 10, 2026

Basketball - The High Value Person

You may not know of Ernie Adams, the man called "Belichick's Belichick." Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's partner, was "Buffett's Buffet."

Munger who recently passed at age 99, emphasized character and decision-making. Steve Burns wrote a lengthy piece on Munger which I've shortened.

Munger's principles work for basketball and life. 

1. You Focus on Deserving What You Want

Success is a choice and work is the entry fee on that path. You get what you earn. 

Basketball: Michael Jordan's and Kobe Bryant's practice work ethic... practice hard so games are easy. 

2. You Are a “Learning Machine”

Become a lifelong learner. Munger says that he has never seen anyone succeed who doesn't read. 

Readers: George Raveling, Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr, Mike Neighbors, Brad Stevens 

3. You Actively Try to Destroy Your Own Ideas

Why am I wrong? What am I missing? Self-assessment of both our creative and critical selves can only help. 

Open to change: Steve Kerr in the 2015 NBA Finals going small with Andre Iguodala

4. You Prioritize “Not Being Stupid” Over Being Brilliant

“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.” — Charlie Munger.

Avoiding stupidity - Jayson Tatum sat in Game 7 against Philadelphia. Tatum was hurt and perhaps the Celtics saw the writing on the wall. 

5. You Know the Exact Edge of Your Competence

Know our "Circle of Competence." Increase it. Leverage it. And avoid straying from it. In life, we need a plumber, an electrician, a "car guy" and other specialists for projects outside our circle. 

Basketball - find coaches that complement our skills

6. You Guard Your Integrity Above Everything Else

Buffett said that success intersects with energy, intelligence, and integrity. And without integrity, the other two are dangerous. 

Basketball - In the Donald Sterling affair in the NBA, Doc Rivers was a true professional and explained that his parents taught him not to be a victim. 

7. You Refuse to Work For or With People You Don’t Respect

Reputation is what people think we are. Character is who we are. If we work with people we don't respect, what could possibly go wrong? 

Basketball - When evaluating a new position, learn about the ecosystem, community, and existing leadership.

8. You Have a Long Attention Span

Part of success is the ability to sit in a chair and do the work. Flitting from project to project never works well. Focus is a superpower. 

Basketball - Coach Dave Smart says that strong teams play "harder for longer."

9. You Actively Filter Out Intense Ideology

Think about "inversion," the opposite of an idea. Intense ideology limits flexibility, critical thinking, and active questioning of alternatives. 

Basketball - The game evolves. "Never be the first to add or the last to delete." The Knicks ran "Flex" in the playoffs. 

10. You Reject Envy, Self-Pity, and the Victim Mindset

If being a high value person is about what we bring to a team or a group, how could envy, victimhood, or feeling sorry for ourselves benefit others? 

Basketball - Model excellence as a help to others. 

Lagniappe. Teach skills and decision-making. 

DECISION MAKING IN TRAINING 1v1+1

This drill works on 2 levels for the offense.
1. the offense has to read how their defender is navigating the screen (over or under)
2. on the attack they have to read the help defender and find space for their shot

We want quick decisions and… pic.twitter.com/D66vNhOW1o

— Steve Dagostino (@DagsBasketball) June 25, 2026

 

Equations for Basketball and Life

                                                                            

Part of education is "memorizing" equations and concepts like the Pythagorean Theorem. What equations might work for basketball and life? 

The Achievement Equation

Achievement = Performance x Time 

Great careers inform a "standard of performance" over an extended time. Sometimes a performance is so noteworthy, like Roger Bannister's eclipsing the four-minute mile barrier that a single event becomes iconic. The record evolved from years of performance and training. 

The Outcome Equation

E + R = O

The event plus the response equals the outcome. 

Urban Meyer promoted the Outcome Equation in his Above the Line. Whatever our opinion of Coach Meyer and his struggles, his book is excellent. Preparation drives response. 

The Compounding Equation

Here’s the expanded 365-day compounding graph with both curves.

What the math says

• 1% better each day:

  $${1.01}^{365}\approx 37.8$$

  → Nearly 38× improvement over a year.

Leverage the benefits of incremental gains. Tiny improvements over extended periods have powerful consequences. 

Gladwell's Achievement Equation

ACHIEVEMENT = TALENT + PREPARATION

"The magic is in the work." 

Thomas Keller's Cooking Equation

Cooking = Time + Temperature

Time is self-explanatory. Temperature is intensity. Have the discipline to bring intensity to our arena. As Coach Dave Smart says, "Excellent teams play harder for longer. There's also a "cook through" effect, as some 'cooking' continues after the dish is removed from the heat. 

Escape Velocity

Basketball coaches seldom come with a physics background. However, the "escape velocity" equation has basketball relevance.

Excellence requires attaining escape velocity from the distractions that defeat us. And escape requires direction and fuel. Think about MASS and DISTANCE. Mass increases escape velocity and DISTANCE reduces it. 

Examine three players who applied this formula to achieve greatness.

Michael Jordan told North Carolina assistant coach Roy Williams that he would work as hard as any player ever had to be the best Tarheel ever. Williams responded that he had to work HARDER than anyone had to become the best. 

Bill Walton was a free spirit at UCLA. But Coach John Wooden explained that Walton never tired of repeating what was necessary to achieve elite footwork that propelled him to a magnificent college career. 

A banker's son, Bill Bradley wasn't the most elite athlete. But at age twelve he embarked on full time training, three hours daily and eight hours on Saturday to hone his basketball skills. The Princeton phenom led his team to the Final Four, set a scoring record in the NCAA consolation game, won two NBA Championship with the Knicks, and became a Rhodes Scholar and US Senator. 

Lagniappe. Mastery

Lagniappe 2. Coaching analogies are everywhere. Coaches don't treat everyone equally and need to treat everyone fairly. Players see everything. 

The Miami Marlins had “Bring Your Pup to the Park” day and one dog got caught on TV casually enjoying a hot dog, while the dog behind him stared like he was witnessing the greatest injustice of his life pic.twitter.com/81nnVaWZBM

— Dudes Posting Their W’s (@DudespostingWs) June 23, 2026

Lagniappe 3. Pep talks. 

Favorite Horns Actions

Sets have a place to complement transition, motion offense, and zone offense. 

Including hard-to-defend actions creates defensive challenges. 

Why Horns? 

• Opens the lane 
• Fills corners
• No "natural weak side" 
• Puts pressure on corner 'help' defenders
• Simplicity

Elbow Get

Locate players to take advantage of strengths. Multiple options. 

Duke Elbow series...clear and attack 

Empty a side and create action from the elbow. Ideal for a big who can put the ball on the deck in an iso. 

Complex Screening 

Iverson action out of horns

Horns down

Favorite action, double downscreens sets up curls, flare lifts, or a drive for proficient point guards.

Take advantage of having a penetrating point guard or "iso big" who can attack the basket while both defensive sides are occupied. 

Off ball simple and complex screens

UCONN women ran some Horns sets. Simple works with urgent cutting and talent as UCONN hammered Duke.

Left, staggered screen. Right, I call this "Bucks action" because Jason Kidd ran it some coaching the Bucks. 

Horns is versatile but the setup is like lines on a sheet of paper. They work better with Hemingway writing than thirteen year-olds. Urgent cutting, solid screening, on-time and on-target passing, and finishing matter regardless of the offense. 

Lagniappe. Emphasize our key concepts to our players. For example, ball pressure, deny penetration, challenge shots without fouling, and rebound. 

Across every generation and level, great defensive teams have 4 universal traits:

1. Ball pressure/deflections

2. Blow up PNR a high % of the time vs using coverages

3. Stay out of rotation/offense is attacking small/neutral advantage vs big advantage spots

4. Collect…

— Chris Steed (@csteed) June 23, 2026

Basketball - Acronyms for Performance

"What has not been learned has not been taught."

As coaches, we don't always know what information "sticks." Everyone learns differently, so teaching with various methods might help. Regardless of how we teach, seek "performance-focused, feedback-rich" approaches.

Acronyms and equations always appealed to me. 

"An acronym is a type of abbreviation formed from the initial letters or syllables of a multi-word phrase, which is pronounced as a single word rather than as individual letters." - Brave AI

Here are some of my favorites, in search of a "Magnificent Seven"

1. SUCCESS 
2. OODA
3. EDIR x 5
4. WIN
5. PDCA
6. AAR
7. THINK

They span:

• Learning
• Decision-making
• Communication
• Leadership
• Improvement

SUCCESS from the Heath Brothers "Made to Stick" 

• Simple 
• Unexpected
• Concrete 
• Credible
• Emotional 
• Stories 

Spencer Haywood went to Detroit seeking a scholarship. The coach told him, "Make 15 free throws in a row and you got it." Haywood did and is the basketball Hall of Fame. 

Larry Bird shot 500 free throws before school. 

Kobe Bryant made 1,000 shots a day over the summer. 

OODA Loops 

Colonel John Boyd taught dogfighting using the OODA loop...

• Observe
• Orient
• Decide 
• Act 

Top players have a learned ability to 'see the game' and anticipate the next action. A LeBron example.

EDIRx5

A Wooden acronym EDIRx5 sequenced teaching 

• Explain
• Demonstrate
• Imitate
• Repeat x 5 

Wooden emphasized that the greatness of Bill Walton arose from his willingness never to tire of working on fundamentals (like footwork). 

WIN

"What's important now?" Brad Stevens asked a slightly longer version, "What does my team need now?

A parallel acronym comes from the NFL - "Not for long." Successful teams and players continually make adjustments. They build skill, athleticism, and basketball IQ. 

PDCA

• Plan
• Do
• Check 
• Act

This acronym is taught across sports, business, medicine. 2,500 years ago in The Art of War, Sun Tzu wrote that "every battle is won before it is fought." Bob Knight said that it's not about "the will to win but the will to prepare to win." 

AAR 

AAR represents "After Action Review." In basketball it's post-game video study, where Joe Mazzulla says to look for the 10-15 plays that 'on the margin' decide most wins and losses. In the NFL, it's Mondays where coaches break down what separated victory or defeat. In medicine, we have "postmortem examinations" and "morbidity and mortality" case review where doctors and trainees learn from bad outcome. Sometimes that means, "good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment." 

THINK 

THINK informs a powerful communication acronym. It reminds us to "think" before we speak and "stop and take a breath."

• True - is it true? 
• Helpful - is it helpful?
• Inspiring - does it inspire?
• Necessary - is it important?
• Kind - is it kind? 

Everyone violates some of these. If a leader violates them much of the time, their leadership comes under more scrutiny. 

There are more. ROB shots (in range-open-balanced). SSPP - skill, strategy, physicality, psychology. TTP - trust the process. 

Find out what works for you? 

Lagniappe. Spurs shooting workout. 

“Spurs 100” shooting workout ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/OwrXfCQo0x

— Anthony Pugh (@Anthony_Pugh2) June 13, 2026

Lagniappe 2. For "Magnificent Seven" fans...the movie and its remake were inspired by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and his "Seven Samurai." 

Basketball - "Dopamine List"

Dopamine is a key bodily chemical, intimately involved in the reward and pleasure center. More accurately, "dopamine is the chemical of anticipation, motivation, and pursuit. It is the drive to get the reward, not the joy of experiencing it."

Analyzing our basketball experience, choose joy over grim, pedestrian existence. 

Positivity and optimism are force multipliers. "Nothing great is ever accomplished without enthusiasm. 

Lexington (after Rollie Massimino and Ron Lee) was the dragon that needed to be slain. Bottom left corner, the author is Peter Gammons. 

Winning as a team meant everything. 

As Brad Stevens said, "Coaches get more than we give." 

"Damning with faint praise." Never be a humorless dweeb. 

A tiny, legacy plaque endured...will it be found in the new Wakefield High School.

You only have to win once to etch an indelible memory (via Boston Globe, 1973) 

The last team I coached...Cecilia Kay will be a junior at St. Joseph's of Philadelphia and the A-10. 

Our twin daughters helped to create their own basketball legacy. 

Our daughters, like their old man, got to play in Boston Garden twice. 

My 'suppressed desire' in high school was to write a book. E-books didn't exist then. Maybe I should have followed the advice to Jose Canseco, "maybe you should read a book before you write one."

Basketball has given me a lot more than I have given it. These snapshots explain why it leaves marks. 

What's on your basketball "dopamine list?"

Lagniappe. Coach K reminds us, "Basketball is about making plays, not running plays."  

Offensive systems can act as rate limiters in their own right by preventing players from becoming more skillful. pic.twitter.com/rWHISyF27g

— Transforming Basketball (@transformbball) June 20, 2026

Lagniappe 2. I loved practice. Get every player 150 or more shots in a practice. "Repetitions make reputations." Yes, games are where "the rubber meets the road." And practice is where we build the cars. 

One of the biggest myths in youth basketball is that more games = more development.

The research on skill acquisition suggests otherwise. Learning happens through quality repetitions, immediate feedback, and solving game-like problems.

If a player touches the ball 15 times in a…

— Adam Barnes (@CoachBarnes1) June 16, 2026