THANK GOD IT'S MONDAY

We showed this video to our team in our season closing meeting. Can't imagine a team or individual that wouldn't benefit from the message and passion of Inky Johnson.

THE SPURS VIDEO PHILOSOPHY

"With us, film is short and directed -- very specific on certain items.  You can't do a coaching clinic every time you do a film session or you lose them all.  But if something is directed, like pick-and-roll defense, transition defense or how the ball was shared or not shared and you get after it and do it, it makes most sense to most players. That's our way."

-Coach Gregg Popovich

TOP BLOG POSTS FOR PEYTON MANNING

In honor of his Super Bowl Championship, here are some of our best blog posts on Peyton Manning:

Peyton Manning's Advice to Rookies

Peyton Manning's System of Viewing Video

Peyton Manning: Sharing the Ball as a Motivational Tool

And my favorite:

Peyton Manning's Orange Folder

GREAT TEAMS & GREAT PLAYERS TALK

Courtesy of the NBA, Lebron James was mic'd up for game two of their playoff series vs. the Hawks.  This is a great video to show your team -- great teams talk -- great players talk.  I remember Coach Don Meyer saying don't talk your game -- yell your game...Lebron does just that.

BRAD STEVENS OFF-SEASON COMMITMENT

Over the next few weeks, will share some posts on what you can do during the off-season to improve your team.  I'm a big believer that championships are won in the off-season, as must would agree.  But many think this is only conducive to players.  In fact, what coaches do in the off-season is often more important in the improvement or decline of their program.

Thanks to Brooklyn Kohlheim's email newsletter (sign up for it here), we were able to read how important the off-season is even to NBA coaches with an inside look at Brad Stevens and last year's off-season did to support a 15 win improvement and how he is approaching this year's off-season.  The article was written by Adam Himmelsbach for the Boston Globe and you can read it in it's entirety here (Great Read).  But here are some of my take aways:

During an interview with the Globe last week, Stevens detailed how last summer laid the groundwork for the Celtics’ 15-win improvement and playoff appearance this season. Unsurprisingly, it was a thorough plan rooted in research. And as the Celtics enter another critical summer, clues could be gleaned from how Stevens handled the prior one.

“I just kind of think of things I’d like to know, and I embark on a project,” Stevens said. “Sometimes they end up being worthless, and sometimes they help you. But it’s important to analyze, work, and scrutinize. Be critical of yourself, and start there.”

Stevens keeps a pen and notepad next to his bed so he can scribble a new play or idea when it pops up. Most often, though, the concepts come during the long flights that can be both a blessing and a curse during a grueling NBA season.

When looking back at 2013-14, Stevens knew the Celtics had faltered late in close games. In the final five minutes of contests in which the score differential was 5 points or less, the Celtics had a net rating — offensive rating subtracted by defensive rating — of -25.4, 29th in the league. Furthermore, in those situations they were averaging 16.1 turnovers per 100 possessions, the 28th-worst mark in the NBA.

The Celtics had not executed down the stretch and Stevens wanted to know why. So he began analyzing every possession in the last five minutes of every Celtics game that year.

There are generally about 200 total possessions in an NBA game, and the rate typically increases in the last five minutes because of fouls, so Stevens probably analyzed well over 1,500 plays.

“I broke down every possession in the smallest of details,” he said. “It was the most arduous — well, maybe not arduous, because it’s not real work compared to what some people do for a living — but it was the most boring yet helpful thing I probably did last year. It helped me figure out a lot.

“When you’re not in the season, you detach emotionally and you can see what guys are and aren’t doing, what guys struggle with, what you could have done to help them be successful and how you can be better moving forward.”

At the start of this past season, Stevens presented his findings to his players. His message was simple: You’re closer than you might think.

“He put it to us in a way that gave us confidence, that if we do these few plays a little bit better, it could result in making the playoffs,” guard Evan Turner said. “It gave us an idea of how slim the difference is between having a successful season and not, and we realized they were fixable mistakes.”

This season, the Celtics improved their net rating in late-game clutch situations from -25.4 to -7.5, and they lowered their turnover ratio from 16.1 to 12.6.

Stevens’s offseason focus was not solely on his players. He also identified about 35 stars from around the league whose games he admired. Then he assigned groups of them to his staff — also taking five for himself — and asked his assistants to dig in.

“We studied them inside and out,” Stevens said. “What made them great? What were their flaws?”

Shrewsberry, for example, was tasked with analyzing guards Damian Lillard, Kyle Lowry, Tony Parker, and Ty Lawson. He said the project helped identify traits that they could pass on, and it also gave the Celtics a head start on individual scouting heading into the regular season. 

TIM CORBIN: "VIDEO IS A COACH IN ITSELF"

I've been a huge Tim Corbin fan since being introduced via Coach Don Meyer who never missed an opportunity to visit with Tim when getting back to Nashville.  I'm also a big believer in the utilization of visual including video to both teach and motivate athletes and found this article written by Adam Sparks of The Tennessean fascinating.  To follow are some excerpts of the article but you can read it in its entirety here.

Game film is not a typical baseball coaching tool. But then again, Vanderbilt's Tim Corbin is not a typical baseball coach.

"Video is a coach in itself to the kids," Corbin said. "These kids were born with a camera in their face. Whether it's Instagram or Facebook or Twitter, it's a visual moment for them. It incorporates a picture.

"So to see themselves in video, it's probably right up their alley."

The No. 1 ranked Commodores (27-6, 10-2 SEC) first utilized game film during a national championship run last season, and Corbin has expanded its use since then with upgraded high-tech equipment and access to SEC Network telecasts.

"Film study is more in the football coaching realm, but I like it," Corbin said. "It's a very visual world we live in, and you want to acquire as much as you can to help the kids."

About three times a week players gather in the team classroom for film study, but it's not a tiresome frame-by-frame lecture like one would expect.

Instead, each three-hour game is squeezed into a 15-minute condensed version. Only "result plays" are viewed, including outs, hits, the last pitch of a strikeout or walk, a stolen base, wild pitch or passed ball.

Film school
Corbin's team film sessions run at a frenetic pace, but they occasionally pause to replay a funny moment amid the action of the game.

On one occasion last week, Corbin broke away from reviewing the proper footwork on catching a fly ball to poke light-hearted fun at pitcher Tyler Ferguson, who was caught on video making an animated call for an out.

"So we are an umpire too, huh?" Corbin said to the laughter of the team.

The rest of the time Corbin spends racing through the condensed video, stopping at unexpected points. He shows rightfielder Rhett Wiseman where he made false steps on breaking on a fly ball. When Bryan Reynolds quickly fields a ball off the centerfield wall, Corbin puts the video into slow-motion.

"Young outfielders, watch closely how quick his exchange is off the wall, out of the glove and to the cut-off relay," Corbin said.

* * * * *

Corbin watches most condensed videos immediately after the game. He then pares them with audio notes he takes on a digital recorder from the dugout during each game. By the next morning, he has a concise presentation ready to roll out when his players arrive.

"This helps them visually rather than just a practice environment," Corbin said. "They see it in motion, and they can correct it. You have to continue to reach these kids in a way that's current. Video does that."

JIM BOONE WITH NEW PACK LINE DVD: ADVANCED TACTICS

One of the best teachers in the game, and a dear friend, is Jim Boone at Delta State.  A few years back, Jim put together a great teaching DVD outlining is Pack Line Defense.  Jim is constantly speaking at clinics and visiting with coaching staffs to outline how he plays and teaches the Pack Line.  His first DVD, "Pressure Pack Line Defense" was extremely successful.  It's a great DVD to have in your collection.  And if your response is "I don't play Pack Line."  My response would be that I guarantee that you are playing a few teams that do -- and you need to know the inner workings of the defense to better attack.

Last week Jim released a follow up: "Pressure Pack Line Defense: Advanced Tactics."  The video is an All-Access presentation that gives the viewer an opportunity to observe a team that has never ran the Pack being drilled to do so. 

Jim focuses on Four Key Areas:
1) Conversion Defense
2) Defending the Low Post
3) Defeating Screens
4) Defending Specific Offensive Movements

If you want information on either of the two DVD's (or Jim's DVD on Motion Offense), email him at JBoone@DeltaState.edu. He's got a couple of great PDFs that better explain the DVDs and give you great pricing options. 

 

PEYTON MANNING'S SYSTEM OF VIEWING VIDEO

I recently finished reading a book titled "The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks" by Bruce Feldman.  It was a fascinating read about what goes into a good quarterback these days through the eyes of development "coaches" that work individually with the athletes.  But the chapter "Manningland" was worth the cost of the book alone, taking a look at some of the things that makes Peyton Manning great.  Over the next few days I wanted to share a few outstanding passages from Feldman's book on Manning.  You can read the first part here which speaks to his attention to detail in everything -- especially the weight room. The second deals with Peyton's work ethic including watching practice video immediately after workouts and you can click here to read.  This one again shows great attention to detail with Peyton creating his own system of viewing video.  Viewing video in this manner allows his focus to be more channeled in one specific area:

Cody Fajardo, a quarterback at Nevada, who worked the camp in 2013, asked Peyton Manning, “How do you watch film?”

“The thing about that is, they’re full-time NFL guys, and I’m still a college student,” Fajardo later explained the rationale for his question. “My time management is a little tougher, but Peyton told me on Mondays, he will watch all third downs. On Tuesdays, he’ll watch first-and-tens and first-and-ten-plus. On Wednesdays, he’d watch all the blitz tape. On Thursdays, he’ll watch the complete game. On Fridays, he’ll watch the complete game again. On Saturdays, he’ll watch a bunch of cut-ups and what he wants to see in situational football. He’s got it all mapped out in increments, so it’s not boring. He’ll take notes. That’s what I’m gonna try to implement in my film study, so instead of watching an entire game in one sitting, you’re looking at stuff in increments and still getting good work in the film room.”

NOBODY WATCHED PRACTICE VIDEO RIGHT AFTER

I recently finished reading a book titled "The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks" by Bruce Feldman.  It was a fascinating read about what goes into a good quarterback these days through the eyes of development "coaches" that work individually with the athletes.  But the chapter "Manningland" was worth the cost of the book alone, taking a look at some of the things that makes Peyton Manning great.  Over the next few days I'm going to share a few outstanding passages from Feldman's book on Manning.  You can read the first part here. The second deals with Peyton's work ethic including watching practice video immediately after workouts:

Florida offensive coordinator Kurt Roper was a young assistant coach at Tennessee when Peyton was the Vols’ quarterback. Roper, himself the son of a coach, said the college kid taught him more about preparation that anyone he’d ever been around. “When I played at Rice, nobody watched practice right after and took notes like he did.”

“His work ethic, and his ability to be singularly focused on winning from week to week and controlling his mind and preparing for his moment was amazing. Nobody I’ve ever been around, coaches included, have the drive that he has to prepare. He is just different than anybody else.”

DEEP PRACTICE

Going over some old clinic notes and came across some great practice concepts from Del Harris:

Targeted, mistake-focused practice is essential to increased learning efficiency.  Daniel Coyle, in his book "The Talent Code" refers to this as "deep practice."

#1 The key is that when a mistake is made in execution of an action that you start from the positions everyone was in and show the correct action from the beginning point and complete the actions as opposed to starting all over again.

#2 It is important to isolate the error and do the correct movement.  Doing the correction is worth multiple times more than any demonstration or verbal correction.  "One real encounter is worth several hundred observations" is the mantra.  Important to understand that video is not the total package in correcting.

#3 Slow it down -- learning to do it over and over slowly allows perfection and the body and brain to correlate the activity.  Seeing oneself in slow motion also speeds up execution which is where video can play an important role.

#4 Repetitions -- must be attentive repetitions.  Fire the impulse, fix errors and hone the circuit.

#5 It is only repetition from "deep practice" that matters.  Work ethic is overrated because it always involves a time equation when one speaks of it.

#6 Spending more time is effective only when you are in the "sweet spot" of your effort, attentively honing your circuits.  Practice that is focused, passionate, even desperate is the ultimate state.  Keep it interesting and helpful.

PEYTON MANNING'S ORANGE FOLDER

I recently finished reading a book titled "The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks" by Bruce Feldman.  It was a fascinating read about what goes into a good quarterback these days through the eyes of development "coaches" that work individually with the athletes.  But the chapter "Manningland" was worth the cost of the book alone, taking a look at some of the things that makes Peyton Manning great.  Over the next few days I'm going to share a few outstanding passages from Feldman's book on Manning.  The first deals with Peyton's amazing grasp of details along with his desire to always do more than was originally required of him:

An hour before the eighteenth annual Manning Passing Academy began, ninety minutes north at LSU, Tommy Moffitt, with his barrel chest and Paris Island voice, was getting nostalgic. Asked about Peyton Manning, the Tigers strength coach took a big gulp of air before reaching into his desk and pulling out a bright orange folder with the name MANNING scribbled across the front. Moffitt, the strength coach at Tennessee when Manning was the Vols star QB in the mid-90’s, had shown all Tiger freshman when they reported to school this frayed old folder that contained pages of the workouts he’s prescribed for the quarterback during the summer going into his senior season. Inside, the printed sheets of paper were covered with notes Manning had jotted down, showing the player’s attention to detail and indefatigable level of preparation. There were some crossed-out poundages of prescribed workout routines where Manning pushed himself to do five or ten pounds more than Moffitt had anticipated. Everything was accounted for and documented with check marks and pluses along with margin notes such as “threw good on the outside 1 on 1… 7x Hills Threw… Agilities/Sand.”

Moffitt told all his newcomers at LSU that he had never-in twenty-five years-seen anybody as meticulous in their preparation as Peyton Manning. The weathered orange folder was Exhibit A, an artifact worthy of its place in Canton once Manning took his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“I tell them all, ‘Right now, you’re a better athlete than Peyton manning ever was or Peyton Manning ever will be,” Moffitt said. “But this-THIS!-is what makes him so special. His preparation and his attention to detail and the things he does that nobody else told him, that, ‘This is what you have to do to be great.’”

Moffitt’s favorite highlights of Manning’s career didn’t take place in Neyland Stadium. They happened around the Vols’ football complex at odd hours, when almost no one else was around. Such as the time Moffitt heard a tap on the window to his office. Manning was outside. He needed help. Said he had a bunch of VHS tapes in his SUV that needed to go upstairs. Moffitt came outside to Manning’s old black Oldsmobile Bravada and did a triple take when the senior quarterback opened the trunk.

It was jammed with tapes of every practice, every game, every opponent. Tight copies. Wide copies. End zone copies. Four years of film study. The ingredients to Manning’s secret sauce. They ended up with two full shopping carts and kept unloading and filling.

Or the time Moffitt watched from his office window a nineteen-year-old Peyton tying a surgical cord to a goalpost and the other end around his waist so he could work on his drops from center. Back and forth. Back and forth. For what seemed like hours. Moffitt had never seen any other quarterback dothat, and certainly not doing it on his own, without any coaches or teammates around.

“Nobody here told him to do that,” Moffitt said.

 

BUDENHOLZER USES FILM ROOM TO IMPRESS POPOVICH

As one of those coaches who enjoy watching video, I obviously enjoyed this article on the Atlanta Hawks Mike Budenholzer.  The story is written by Shaun Powell for NBA.com and tells the tale of Budenholzer's connection to Gregg Popovich and how it started in a film room:

In the summer of 1992, Popovich returned to California to join Don Nelson's staff with the Golden State Warriors. Budenholzer's time at Pomona came and went, and after a short stint playing professionally in Denmark, he returned to Arizona, jobless and anxious. Call Pop, said Vince. It couldn't hurt.

So Budenholzer dialed a man he'd never really met or knew and made a pitch. And Popovich was like: What does this kid want from me?

"He said he didn't have anything to do and that if I ever wanted help, he'd be available," said Popovich. "I figured he was someone else I'd have to bring in my office and talk to a bit and then get rid of him. I didn't have time for this stuff, but he did go to Pomona. So he comes in and I immediately liked him. Engaging young man. I talked to him and then said I had work to do and wished him good luck. Tried to get him out of my office. But he wouldn't leave. He said he'd do anything."

Popovich took Budenholzer to the Warriors film room and had him break down film and explain what he saw. Budenholzer, leaning on lessons from his father, surprised Popovich with his savvy for players and schemes. So Pop gave instructions: Come here every day, hand me film, don't say anything to me, don't ask me for tickets and definitely don't ask me for money.

And Budenholzer did exactly that.

"The whole time," said Popovich, "I don't think Nellie ever saw him, didn't know who he was or that he even worked for us."

During the next offseason, back in Arizona, Vince Budenholzer's phone rang. Popovich on the line.

"Where's Mike?" said Pop.

"I think he's out, but he'll be back soon."

"Well, if you can get ahold of him, I might just hire his ass."

Pop was on the move again, this time back to San Antonio in 1994 to be the Spurs' executive vice president of basketball operations/general manager and soon begin the tremendous run as coach that will someday put him in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

"When I left the Warriors," said Popovich, "I took only two people with me: R.C. Buford (now the Spurs' GM) to do scouting and Mike to do film work."

This is a lengthy column by Powell that also speaks to the role that Budenholzer's father played.  It's well worth the read and you can see it in it's entirety here.

PETE CARROLL -- WIN FOREVER PHILOSOPHY

A special thanks to my friend Lason Perkins for passing this on to me.  It's a interview session with Pete Carroll that includes a Q&A at the end.  Coach Carroll goes into great detail of his Win Forever philosophy.  The entire segment is two-hours and it's well worth the watch -- in fact, I guarantee you won't be able to not watch it in it's entirety.

PEYTON MANNING'S ADVICE TO ROOKIES

A big thanks to Joey Burton for passing on this article written by Peter King of SI about Peyton Manning who is the poster child for preparation.  Here is the advice he would give to rookies:

If I could give them a couple pieces of advice, I would start with this: ‘Don’t ever go to a meeting to watch a practice or a game without having already watched it by yourself.’ That’s one thing that I have always done. When the coach is controlling the remote control, he’s gonna rewind when he wants to rewind. He’s gonna skip certain plays. He’s not watching every single detail. When you can control the rewind button, you can go in there and you watch—first, you better watch your mechanics. Watch what you’re doing. Is your drop good? How’s your throw? OK, now rewind it again. Now you better watch your receivers. OK, looks like Demaryius Thomas ran a good route here. Not sure what Julius Thomas was doing here. Then you better rewind it again and watch what the defense is doing. So, there’s time in that deal. You have to know what they were doing so you can help them. So that has helped me. When I go in and watch it with the coach, I’m watching it for the third, fourth, fifth time. That’s when you start learning.

 

PLAYING AS A TEAM -- THE SPURS WAY

WHAT ARE OTHERS DOING TO BEAT YOU?

The mindset of improving your team is being able to step away and take a critical look at it.  The following comes from Kentucky's John Calipari and his book "Players First: Coaching From Inside Out."

"Thinking about how you would try to beat your own team goes with the job of being coach.  You put yourself into the mind of another coach as he looks at film of your games.  Where are we vulnerable? What defenses have we struggled against? At what speed don't we like to play?"

This is also a great process to go through in the off-season.  Take time and detail those games in which you struggled and look exactly at what areas you were deficient.  Then put together clips, take extensive notes and create an action plan to improve that area for next season.

COACH MEYER EVENING OF EXCELLENCE

As good a video piece on Coach Meyer as I have seen.  It captures him as I know him.

KEVIN DURRANT SHOWS HUMILITY AND WHAT BEING A GREAT TEAMMATE IS WITH HIS MVP ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

OFF-SEASON THOUGHTS -- DAY #3: UTILIZATION OF MOTIVATIONAL VIDEOS

OFF-SEASON THOUGHTS -- DAY #3: During this 10-day period, we are going to load up our blog on thoughts that are relevant to developing or improving your off-season program.  We will delve on off-season topics from player development and drill work to motivation and team building.  It will be our sincere wish that over the next 10 days we can provide you with at least one item or thought that will help you and your program.

We are big believers in the utilization of video.  For most, this means observing video of our own team and players of them performing well or poorly -- for corrective measures.  We also show video of other players and other teams correctly executing.  Another important part of the process is providing motivation.  We are continually showing our players video with an inspiring message and one of the best ways to do that is with players they admire.  We provide them passouts for their team notebooks but there is something about video for today's young people that grabs their attention more.  And we try to share things with them as much possible.  We will show them in team meetings, individual meetings, or we might email them a video clip or text one to them.  It needs to be constant.  One of my favorite Zig Ziglar quotes is: "People often say that motivation doesn't last.  Well, neither does bathing -- that's why we recommend it daily."

Where do we get these videos?  Everywhere.  Coach Don Meyer used to always preach about having a blank tape in the video recorder for such possibilities.  DVRs make it even easier.  The internet, specifically youtube are great resources as well.

An example? Here's one that we showed our team last spring before the semester was out.  It's on Kevin Durant and shows how one of the games absolute bests is still working hard in the off-season on his game.

 

RESPECT, TRUST, CHARACTER, PERSONALIZATION