Coaching 101- My Start, Scouting & Learning From Legends

 

Mike Owens- Galesburg

My first coaching experience was long before Hudl or Synergy came into play. My early coaching experience was before teams even filmed all of their games. So to scout your opponents, you had to actually go to their games and watch. It was an art- you had to get starting lineups, all the subs, get matchups, make notes on the team’s defense, and get any of their set plays. There was no video replay boards so you had to catch the plays or actions live, and go from there. 

Fresh out of college as a 22 year old, I was far from being a skilled scout. The expectation was that you came back with who started, who subbed, where did the make shots, basic defense, and any set plays. 

Don Morris- Alleman

Coach Owens always gave you 2-3 “details” to look for- did a certain player ever go left, defensively did a post player ever go away from the basket, did pressure effect a certain guard, etc. You knew Owens had seen the team and he was wanting you to confirm details. When we played Richwoods in the Regional in 1976, anytime you went to watch Richwoods, you had to keep track of what Mark Smith did everytme he touched the ball- where he caught, how tightly her was guarded, did he dribble right or left, did he leave his feet to pass. Owens was planning to put a shooter, quicker defender on him and wanted to verify that his plan would work.

Bill Chesbrough- Elgin

Without the ability to exchange films or to go film opponents, Coach Owens sent the varsity assistant or the soph assistant to go scout. Don Wright was the varsity assistant and I was the soph asssistant. Either both of us were gone each Friday from Galesburg games, or one of us was gone scouting. And then the same thing was true on Saturday nights. 

As an assistant coach, it was sometimes disappointing that you weren’t going to get to the Streaks play on a given night. I was getting about $450 as a coach, but I got a mileage check for each scouting trip- so it was really nice financially. In terms of long-term growth as a coach it was a fantastic experience. I got to see some great teams and some really good coaches every weekends. I wish I would have written a blog back then- I could have done a weekly report on the games I saw. 

Herb Thompson- Moline

When I started scouting, here is just a few of the teams and coaches who I got to scout-

Quincy- Sherrill Hanks

Rock Island- Jerry Leggett

Alleman- Don Morris

UTHS- Cliff Talley

Moline- Herb Thompson

Richwoods- Wayne Hammerton

Aurora East- Ernie Kivisto

Manual- Dick VanSyoc

Central- Bruce Boyle

Normal Community- Tom Cooper

Pekin- Marshall Stoner

Cliff Talley- East Moline

Think about all the things I got to see scouting-

1- Jerry Leggett’s 250 trick plays.

2- Cliff Talley’s 1-2-2 ball press and 1-2-2 zone.

3- Don Morris’ demeanor on the sideline.

4- Dick VanSyoc’s man to man defense.

5- Quincy’s pregame show and atmosphere.

6- Richwood’s Chris Williams, Mark Smith, and Derick Holcomb.

7- Ernie Kivisto’s fastbreak and pressure defense. 

I made my scouting reports to turn into Coach Owens, and I added to my own file. I had started in college making a file of all our scouting reports and notes. I figured if I went into coaching maybe I would want to use things like Carlton’s backdoor series- and I did. So as a high school coach getting to scout, I began to develop ideas of what I would want to do if I ever was a head coach. 

Ernie Kivisto- Aurora East

At Christmas time, it was definitely like “Christmas” for a basketball junky. One day I was sent to Pontiac (you can’t get there from here) to watch a morning game so I left at something like 6:00am. After that game, I drove to Pekin to watch a two afternoon game. I finished the day by scouting one game at Bloomington-Normal, and then watching the Streaks at Bloomington-Normal. I got home around 11pm- a full day of basketball. It was really a basketball clinic. 

During the State run in 1976, Don Wright and I scouted together. We got to go to the Streak’s first game of the Regional, first game of the Sectional, and the Elite 8 game. For the Regional champonshp vs Richwoods, we went to Manual to scout Manual and Central. The PR announcer announced GHS ahead at half-time. On the way back, we could get WGIL on the top of the overpass by Brimfield and listened to the overtime win over Richwoods. 

Jerry Leggett- Rock Island

For the Sectional championship game, we went to UTHS to watch Sterling and Moline. Moline pulled out a 1 point win. In that game, Sterling was assessed a technical for not having a player in the scorebook- that was the difference in the game. Later it proved out the player was in the Sterling scorebook but had not been copied by the official scorer. 

When I first started coaching, I hand wrote the lineup in the scorebook- so I read the scorebook to the team. I was scared to death that would happen to us. Later we had stickers with all the names so the pressure was off. Only once in 46 years did we start out with technicals because of our scorebook. It was when sophs were brought up to cover for juniors/seniors who had been dismissed- they wore different uniforms than I had thought they would. 

The points is that you learn from things you see scouting 

Chicago Amphithetre

During the Supersectional game, Don and I were in Chicago scouting. In the afternoon, we went to the Chicago Amphitheater for the Public League Championship between Morgan Park and Chicago Vocational. When we arrived, the Chicago Police had police cars separating MP fans on one side and Vocational on the other side in the lot. The CPD was not impressed with our little mimeographed card from George Lundeen labelling us as “Official Galesburg Scouts.” 

Dick VanSyoc

They had no programs and you could not hear the PA announcer. We got names of players from a Catholic Sister at half-time. After that game, we drove to Aurora East to watch Oak Park-River Forest (coached by Ray Meyer’s son- Tom) vs Elgin with legendary coach Bill Chesbrough. 

When I finally became the head girls coach at Galesburg, I had the opportunity to watch and learn from two of the best coaches ever in Mary Kay Hungate and John Gross. While I was watching their teams play with the hope that we would be able to beat their teams, it was a great opportunity to learn how to of the best coaches did things. 

I am convinced that my experience scouting made a huge difference in our teams. My first year, drove up to Dixon three days in a row to watch Limestone, who was a powerhouse coming off an Elite 8 finish the year before. I watched all four of their games in the tourney. I noticed that vs all zones, they ran a 1-3-1 offense with very little movement. When we played them a week later, we showed a 1-3-1 as they came down the floor- we had never played a 1-3-1 or ever worked on it. We didn’t play the 1-3-1, but showed it and played man to man. We pulled off the upset. Obviously the players executed but scouting helped.

Sherrill Hanks- Quincy

Thru the years, we usually played only on Thursdays and Saturdays. Fortunately many of the QC and Peoria schools played on Mondays and Tuesdays- so I usually went to a game on Mondays and Tuesdays. Before film access, some of the opponents were notorious for not scouting. One year in the Sectional, we got a lead vs a Peoria area team, and pulled the ball out to make them play man to man defense. Once they went to MM defense, we ran our favorite play 3 possessions in a row for layups- the game was over. It was obvious they had not scouted. Then in the same Sectional in the Championship game, we started the game by running our favorite backdoor set- we scored on 2 layups in a row. They called time out, one of our players coming off the floor said,”I guess they don’t scout.” 

Wayne Hammerton- Richwoods

Our best scouting stories were in prep for the State Tourney if we were good enough to make it. When you got to the Supers or the Elite 8, seldom was it a team you had ever played. We always tried to make sure we had seen each of them play a couple times in person. We drove to places like Crystal Lake, Harlem, Hononegah, Boylan, Dundee-Crown, Champaign, Maine West, and Belvidere to see opponents. 

My most infamous trip was when Coach Rux and i went to Hononegah to see a game. It was about a 2.5 hour trip. We arrived only to be told by the custodian that that game was played at Boylan and it had been played two hours earlier. 

Obviously I have many good memories hitting the road to scout. My wife was very tolerant of my taking off. Today it is so much more convenient on Hudl to look at game tape, but I really think we lost some of our advantage. Now everyone can sit at home, and if they don’t catch what a play was, they can do it again and again. It is easy for everyone to scout. 

One of the ironies of life- probably my most common spot to scout was Canton as many of the Peoria area teams played there. My favorite place to stop for a burger and an adult beverage was Joe’s Place in Norris. Years later, the new coach, Lexi Demott married Trystin Demott. Trystin’s grandpa owns Joe’s Place. If only had known- maybe there was a free burger. 

I picked up big things and little things. I learned how to accurately diagram plays- and today, it drives me nuts when I see someone diagram a play and they put X’s on offense, or they don’t use numbers to show who the players are. 

I will forever be grateful to Coach Owens for teaching me to scout and giving me the opportunity to see a lot of great games, great teams, and great coaches.