My Rules Changes

Every year they come up with new rules changes. Some are good, some are not. Usually coaches are initially not happy with change- it requires new strategy and adjustments.

I am not very good at figuring out how the new rules will impact the game. When they added the three point arc, I said in the newspaper that it would not effect the high school girls game- "the only time it will be used will be when a player throws up a prayer at the end of a quarter."

This year they have expanded the coaching box to go to the baseline. This is probably good but it won't really impact the game. This year they added a rule that refs can issue a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct to a coach. While I am not coming out in support of unsportsmanlike conduct, I don't like this rule. Anything that promotes refs and coaches communicating is good. I think this rule will reduce communication between refs and coaches. It will be too easy for a ref to just issue a warning, in effect "embarrass" the coach, and not ever stop to talk with the coach. If it makes us as coaches more civil and gets us to talk to refs differently- and refs differently, then that would be good. But I see it as a rule that will make coaches and refs even more adversaries.

If I were in charge, here are some rules changes I would make. Some would make a difference and some would not matter.

My Dad

This is written for me, not for you. Today is my dad's birthday. I have been looking at some pictures and thinking about my dad. Someone asked me how long does it take to get over your parents passing away. My answer is that- you don't ever get over it. I am not saying that I wake up sad everyday or that I even think about my dad everyday. 

There are times when Allen does something wonderful and as a parent you want to brag. I wish you could share it with your parents. Brother Mark and I talk about our childhood, and there seem to be 100 questions that we wish we could ask now. There are so many neat memories and happy memories. But there are times when I think about my dad that I can't help but get emotional and watering eyed. It still hurts.

Today my dad would be 118 years old. But to me, he is still 64 like he was when he died. He was 52 years old when I was born. He had not gotten married until he was 49 years old. My mother was younger and she claimed she didn't know how old my dad was until they went for the marriage license.

Good Chemistry

The greater the team chemistry- the greater the joy from victory!

Basketball practices start next week. At the start of the season, there seems to be so many things to try to “get in” before the first game. As a coach, I think there are three obvious area to focus on during the first two weeks:

1)    Reviewing basic fundaments and cleaning up some of the individual skills.

2)    Putting in team offense and defense. This can mean putting in plays on offense, and developing particular defenses.

3)    Working to try to get into playing shape without creating injuries in players who may not be in the best of shape.

But the most important area of focus in the first two weeks is establishing your team culture. It doesn’t matter if you return many of the players from the year before. It doesn’t matter if you have practiced and played games in the summer. It is always a NEW team and it is a fresh start. In the first two weeks as coaches and as players, you establish what your culture as a team.

·      How will you practice?

·      How do you compete?

·      How do you treat each other?

·      How do you respond to coaching?

Eric Smith- Coach's Kid

Eric Smith is presently the head boys coach at Alton High School. He grew up in Iowa as a coach’s son. He was a long-time assistant at Galesburg HS and also at Monmouth College. He was good at what he did, and he seemed to be comfortable as an assistant coach.

Years ago, when I was looking at a different job, my mother commented that every time she took a new job, it had been a good decision. I didn’t follow her advice, I guess I am not a risk taker.

After Eric had been in this area for fifteen years, I assumed he would retire here. I was surprised when I found out he was leaving to become the head coach at Alton. But while I was surprised, it made total sense. He was invested in coaching and he was good at what he did. And it would appear that again my mother was right about change- it has been a good decision for Eric.

The best coaches that I know, when you talk to them, you quickly realize there aren’t many things they haven’t thought about ahead of time. The really good coaches seem to be prepared for everything. Eric is one of those coaches. He always has a reason for what he has his team do. When you talk to him, it is obvious he grew up around basketball- he has seen a lot of basketball and talked a lot of basketball. He is prepared and his teams are prepared.

It is obvious as you read Eric’s answers, he is not in this alone. His wife is a big part of the team. The average person has no idea the energy and sacrifice needed to be a coach’s wife.  

Rob Huizenga- Career Promoting Athletes and Coaches

Rob Huizenga is a GHS grad, and Knox College grad. He served as a manager for the boys basketball program starting in 6^th grade, and then did double duty as a senior for both the boys and girls basketball teams. At Knox, he was Student Assistant in Sports Information. While working on his Masters in Sports Management at Illinois State, he served as Grad Assistant in Athletic’s Media Relations.

Rob became the full-time SID at Saint Xavier University in Chicago in 2003. In 2011 he was promoted to Assistant Athletics Director for Sports Information. He was named the inaugural NAIA National SID of the Year in 2014. Just this year, Rob has become Assistant Athletics Director for Sports Information, Marketing, and Event Management at Purdue Northwest.

I first knew Rob when he was a manager for the GHS basketball teams. It takes someone with a good work ethic and a low ego to be able to succeed as a manager. It is unlikely you are going to get your name or picture in the newspaper. You are going to do a dozen things every practice that players either don’t even notice, or don’t express appreciation for. When Rob was managing, it was never about him. He was willing to do whatever job needed to be done. He was in it to serve others.

Tanner Carlson- Young Coach & AD

I had the opportunity to supervise Tanner Carlson during his student teaching, while he was at Knox College. Through the years, I had many student teachers. Tanner was among the very best or was the best student teacher that I had. He had that rare ability to make the class informal but yet to remain respected and have discipline.

Every class, every day, he was totally engaged with the kids. Before class started, he was interacting with kids. He got to know them. During class, he worked to always come up with some special activity. It was not surprising that he used a “basketball review” exercise- complete with nerf ball and mini-hoop.

It quickly became apparent that I had it good having him as a student teacher. He required very little supervision, and he showed he could solve his own problems.

At the time, he was the starting point guard on the Knox men’s basketball team. His energy and his work ethic in the classroom for me, was exactly how he approached things on the basketball court.

It was all great except for one thing- Tanner told me from the beginning that he didn’t think he wanted to go into teaching. He thought he would prefer to become a college basketball coach. While I have no doubt that Tanner would be successful in whatever he chose to do- I thought he was too good in the classroom not to become a teacher.

Harley Knosher's Medalist Camps

Starting in the late 1980's thru the early 2000's- most major colleges had "team camps" for both boys and girls basketball. For Galesburg girls, we went first to University of Michigan. Their team camp was in late July or early August for 6 days of basketball. Later we went to University of North Carolina, Notre Dame, Purdue, Wisconsin, and Missouri. 

In the 1990's most of these were 5-6 days long. And usually the schools would offer multiple sessions- you could choose what dates you wanted to go. But over time, the team camps have faded at many schools. Fewer schools offer camps, and usually the camps now are only 2-3 days. 

But before the major universities got started up with team camps. Knox College and Coach Harley Knosher hosted the Medalist Basketball Camps. Medalist ran camps throughout the midwest at small colleges in the late '70's and early '80's. If you were a serious basketball player, this is where you wanted to go to play basketball. Knox had one week sessions, and often a couple boys and a couple girls sessions. 

Exploring Our Limits

This picture from 1981 is one of my favorite sports pictures.

In December of 1980, we had lost at East Moline 73-37. And truthfully, the game was not as close as the score might indicate. It was a game that started badly, and just got worse! At this time, only the first game vs conference teams counted, so East Moline had won the WB6 with a perfect 5-0 record when we played them again in January of 1981. We entered the game with an undistinguished 5-5 record.

After our first game, some quotes by players and the coach in the Quad City paper were not very complimentary of our team. One quote that stood out was a statement by the coach,"When they came out and tried to play us man to man, my jaw dropped." He went on to basically say he could not believe looking at their talent and our talent that we would even think we could guard them man to man.