Hall of Fame Insights: 5 Tips for Coaches

 

Question of the Week: What are 5 tips you would give to coaches to help them and their teams have a positive experience? 

Greg King- Sterling

1.  Know your sport - This seems obvious, but very important. How are you going to teach your skills, fundamentals, and schemes to your assistants, and more importantly, your players.  What drills are you going use?  What equipment do you need for those drills?  How are you going to teach the drill so you do not waste valuable practice time?  The key to being a great coach is to be a great teacher.  Teach your assistants.  Make sure your assistants are great teachers as well.  The players will be the beneficiary of that knowledge.  

2.  Be a Leader.  You are the who listens, is consistent, holds athletes accountable and is willing to change. You must avoid becoming “one of the guys.”  As a coach you set the tone for your team. If you are loose and disorganized your team will follow the example and will also be disorganized. If you fail to be punctual you can expect your team members to be late. If you look and dress professionally you team will learn the importance of looking fit. If your practices are structured and challenging your team will learn to be disciplined and to work hard. The bottom line is, your team will learn from you. How you set the tone will determine if they learn good or poor habits.

3.  Polish your people skills.  You are going to have to deal with all kinds of different people.  You will have people from all different backgrounds and beliefs.  You are going to have to mold these into a team by motivating and disciplining them.  

4. Use your time wisely - This is important on and off your fields of competition.  One of the common complaints I hear from coaches is “there just isn’t enough time.” Whether it is time to get prepared for a game, time to scout opponents, time to watch video, or time away from family and other obligations, there is one bottom line. To be an effective coach and to build a competitive program TAKES LOTS AND LOTS OF TIME. 

-  Plan everything in detail – Use the practice plan and stay with it.  John Wooden said if you put it on the plan it must be important.   

        - Take time to be positive – In a highly competitive setting like high school athletics it is easy to be critical. Coaches and kids make mistakes;  they are not always going to do things the way you want them to be done. Errors should not be overlooked, but need to be handled in such a  way as to encourage improvement while maintaining the commitment that they want to be there. 

5.  Know your team - Teams are never alike.  What worked one year…may not work the next.  Remember these are HS kids.  They are out there for many different reasons.  They will not take the losses as hard as you may.  Help them love the game like you do, not only for the X’s and O’s but for what the game teaches.  Things like working with others, hard work, giving themselves up for the betterment of the team.  Make sure they understand the ultimate scoreboard is later in life when you win as a husband, wife, father or mother.

Diane Lichtenberg- Bettendorf

Prepare as much as you can ahead of time.  Weight lifting program, conditioning, try out plans, player handbook, parent handbook, etc.  Once you start with your players, your time is very limited.

 

Have a pre-season meeting with your coaching staff.  Go over responsibilities, expectations for the season, coaches individual roles, techniques that will be used when teaching skills, etc.  If you are at the high school level, you should be meeting with your coaches from 9th –Varsity coaches.

 

Communicate with players and parents about dates and times of try- outs.  Include everything they will need to start the first day.  Physicals, attire, parent permission slips, and whatever else is needed.

 

Be organized for practice each day.  Have a copy of your practice plan for your assistant coaches.  Let them know ahead of time what parts of practice they will be in charge of so they are prepared.  It’s nice to have a rough weekly plan made from input from coaches.  This can be done after your last game or match of the week.  The finer details will be drawn out in your daily plans.

 

Once your team has been selected, meet with your players individually, in the first week, to go over individual goals for the season, expectations, and where you see them playing at the start of the season.  I found over the years that this is very helpful.  They can set a goal of where they would be like to be by midseason as well.  Journaling is also another thing that I felt was a useful tool to keep the lines of communication open.

 

Game day-  make sure the players know the warm up format, how to substitute properly, rules they should be aware of, bench expectations, etc.

 

Evan Massey- Galesburg

1- Be a student of your game. Whether it is reading, studying film, or attending clinics- keep growing as a coach. 

2- Develop a coaching network to use to learn from and to be able to turn to during tough times. This can be coaches in your school who coach your sport or another sport, and it can be coaches at other schools. 

3- Learn to prioritize what wins and what loses games. Study the game to understand what impacts winning and losing, and then plan your practices and game strategy to focus on what is most important. 

4- Work to be an effective public speaker. You may have a good message for your players, your assistants, your parents, your fans- but if you are not effective giving the message, the message is lost. Part of becoming effective as a speaker is to learn to be concise. Part of the process is to train your players to be effective listeners. 

5- Know technology. Learn the resources that are available to better analyze and teach the game. Technology changes rapidly, keep up with it. 

Bob Anderson- Williamsfield

1- On offense we always felt that reversing the ball and getting a paint touch would help us get a great shot most of the time. 

2- Defensively, I think you’ve got to have solid fundamental approach to close out. I’m not saying how to close out, but if you think about it, most every pass the offense makes ends with a defensive close out. This makes the close out pretty important. 

3- Transition wise, we felt that sending our point guard or one of your guards back on defense when you shoot the ball to guard against the opponents layups.

4- When it comes to special situations we know you can’t cover them all, but you need to cover all you can because a lot of games are won and lost in this area.

5- Lastly, I would have a solid approach to out of bounds players both on offense and defense. I would also be able to get a look at a three point shot from out of bounds late whether you have any time outs or not.  

Bob Anderson- Williamsfield HS

Bob is retired as boys basketball coach at Williamsfield. At a school of only 89 students, in 45 years, his teams won 732 games along with numerous tourney and conference championships. His 1997 team made it to the Elite 8. 

Greg Bennett- Lewistown

Greg coached many sports at Lewistown. He had teams go to State in girls basketball and football. He is in the Illinois Football HOF as well as being in the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame. He is know for his commitment as a coach and his high energy level. 

Kathy Bresnahan- Iowa City West

Kathy coached volleyball at Iowa City West from 1987-2000 and 2005-2013. Her teams made 7 State apprearances and won the State Championship in 2010 and 2011. She wrote a book, “The Miracle Season” about the 2011 season, which was made into a movie. She was National COY in 2011, State COY 2010, 2011. She is in both the Iowa Volleyball HOF and UW-Platteville HOF. 

Mike Cooper- Ottawa HS

Mike is the retired Athletic Director at Ottawa HS. He was varsity girls basketball coach for 22 years, as well as sophomore football coach for many years. He was inducted in the the IBCA HOF.

Tim Engebretson- United HS

He was varsity head football coach for many years at United HS. He also has coached basketball at different levels. His 2005 team won the Illinois State Title, and Tim is in the Illinois Football Coaches' HOF as well as the United HOF.

Greg King- Sterling HS

In his head coaching career at Sterling, his football teams went 78-28, and had 10 straight play-off appearances and 5 conference titles. In addition to his success as a football coach, he was inducted in the Illinois Athletic Director's Association HOF. 

Diane Lichtenberg- Bettendorf HS

Diane coached volleyball at Bettendorf for 34 years. During that time, her teams had only one losing season while winning two State championships. She has been selected to both the National Coaches HOF and to the Iowa Volleyball HOF. 

Jeff Parsons- Wethersfeild, Fulton

Jeff was a highly successful baseball and basketball coach at Kewanee Wethersfield. He was inducted into the IBCA HOF. Presently he is the Athletic Director at Fulton

Mark Massey- Clinton HS

Mark was the head volleyball coach at Clinton for 38 years. His teams won 818 games, and twice took second in State. He is in the Iowa Volleyball HOF and Clinton HS HOF.

Thom Sigel- Rock Falls/Rock Island HS

Thom coached basketball for 32 years. His teams won 502 games, and he has the distinction of winning the State Title at both Rock Falls and Rock Island. Thom is in the IBCA HOF.

Mike Tracey- Alleman, UTHS, Moline HS

Mike coached football at Alleman, UT, and Moline for over 20 years. He is considered the premier football coach in WB6 history. His teams won 140 games, and twice finished second in State. Mike is in the Alleman HS HOF and the Illinois Football HOF. He was also selected Illinois AD of the Year. I