COACH DON MEYER CLINIC NOTES - 2005

These are my complete notes from listening to Coach Don Meyer at the Baden Coaching Clinic in Coral Springs, Florida in 2005.  For those who have read Buster Olney's outstanding book on Coach Meyer, "How Lucky Can I Be," this was the clinic that Coach attempted to drive me off my diet with a pack or Oreos. 

Everything in RED is mine and highlighted as such because it struck a chord with me that day.

Get all the good ideas but you can’t use them.

Keep philosophy simple...Majerus says this is a difficult thing.

Tarkanian: “The more they think, the slower they get.”

Search for the teachable moment:

              -Loss

              -Big Win

What you say after loss or big win is tremendously important.

Why I Coach (Coach Meyer’s list) - make my list

Teach toughness (life skill)

Teach team attitude (everyday)

Teach fundamentals

Teach life skills

Bus ride — team bonding.

We need to collect our player notebooks and review them...periodically check them make sure “they get it.”

Jerry Krause

Be yourself

Find your unique talent or gift

Give your gift away

Real coaching is the test of time.

Wooden: “I miss the smell of the practice floor.”

Practice...one of the things you can control...not looking for pretty—looking to get better.

  

Hank Iba: “You must practice the game in the manner in which it is played.”

Joe Paterno: “It’s a coaches job to replicated game situations in practice.

7 C’s of Coaching

              Conditioning...to play hard you must be in shape

              Communication...early, often, loud

              Concentration...never saw a confident team that was quiet

              Compete...drills must be competitive

              Consistency...result of doing it everyday

              Chaos...must have it in practice because you have it in games

              Coach

John Wooden: “We might not be the most conditioned team but they think they are.”

Lon Krueger: “Prepare, practice and play like you just lost your last game.”

Morgan Wooten: “Leadership starts at the top.”

Good leaders make the team think they did it.

Got to have internal leaders.  We must develop

“An army of lions lead by an ass will be defeated by an army of asses lead by a lion.”

-sign on Doug Collins office

Wooden philosophy on helping kids: “It is better to go too far than not far enough.”

Points of Contact

Attraction: people feel attractive by you make them see themselves.

Somewhere we need to meet someone who expects greatness of you.

Listen to your leaders as a coach.

Got to have a couple of kids that know the game.

Coaching Energy—

Rest...if you are fatigued you can’t be consistent

Exercise

Relax...from your work

Enjoy the fruits of your labor

Enjoy the relationships with your kids and your friendships with coaches.

No down time if you coach right.

Savor the success of your work...journey’s a lot better than the end.

Thoughtfully reflect on what you learn in order to improve

Coach Meyer keeps 3 journals

              -Things I learned today

              -Basketball

              -Wife (will give to her as a present)

One minute assessments (Develop this in my coaching style)

              1 thing YOU did well and WHY

1 thing WE can do better and HOW

Coach Meyer: “What motivates me?  Being around coaches who care and love to teach.”

3 Stages of coaching:

Blind enthusiasm

Sophisticated complexity

Mature simplicity

Coaching...Passion...Burden

No job too small, no sacrifice to big.

Leaders must be accessible to kids (give this quote to our kids)

5 Stages of coaching:

     Survival

     Striving for Success

     Satisfaction

     Significant State (dangerous level = jealousy)

     Spent (have burnt the candle all the way down)

You should feel your program is the “front porch to the university” (Mark Emmert)

Demotivational Factors:

Fear

Doubt (yourself/system)

Worry

Worst reason to take a job is for the money.

MATTHEW 6:25-:34

Do Not Worry

    ²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^[a]?

    ²⁸"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

5 “F” Words

              Faith...believe in something not yet seen

              Family...have to have a family with your team

              Friends...have to have them for balance

              Fitness...lifetime goal

              Finances...talk to your kids about

America keeps score by dollars — lousy way.

Money is a terrible master, an excellent servant

Not what you have but what has you.

Money has yet to make a man rich.

Nothing drains your energy more than a non-responsive player.

Life is too short to spend with losers.

Never be afraid to tell a coach, players, or team that you love them.

Coach Meyer’s Morning Routing (I need to develop one for off-season)

Meditate

List of people to pray for

Goals to achieve that day

Plannerpads.com

Dictaphone (do a better job of using mine)

Coaching pitfalls...

Pressure...Parents...Problems...Administration

On dealing with administrators: “Don’t wrestle in the mud with the pig because the pig likes it.”

Pressure is good...stress is bad.

A diamond is a hunk of coal made under pressure.

You’re a poor specimen if you can’t handle the pressure of adversity.

Cozy up to pressure.

A good enemy is often better than a good friend.

Coach Meyer will talk to parents about anything but playing time.

Coaches must learn to deal with parents.  Kids don’t pick their parents.

Can we win with you on the floor?

Can we win with you on the bench?

Body carriage

Passion

Aura

X Factor

Charisma

“They knew he was going to be great long before they called him ‘Bear.’”

It’s OK to make a mistake...not OK to mope, pout or quit...this applied to players and coaches (coaches first).

Learn from your kids...they’ll surprise you...if not, you’re a bad teacher.

Key to a great program...Look for ways to win!

Are you a victor or a victim?

NBA...Next Best Action

Greatest strength...greatest weakness — be balanced.

Only thing that can keep us safe is humility — lifetime learned.

Coach today the way you want 10 years from now.

Knight is into the common denominator of wins and loses.

Why did we win?

Why did we lose?

Dean Lockwood talking to Pat Summit on plane ride back from Michigan State loss…

...was Michigan State better conditioned...Summit: “No”

...did Michigan State have better athletes...Summit: “No”

...was Michigan State tougher...Summit: “No”

...was Michigan State more skilled...Summit: “Yes”

Team Building

Physically touch 1/3 of your players every day.

LaRussa—red fungo bat — converse with players at batting practice

Northern has daily sign-in sheet with space for comments.

Bulletin board is important but less is more on it.

“Waterhole”

Water fountain outside of Coach Meyer’s office

Players always stop and get a drink of water

Allows Coach Meyer to have a conversation with them

Sign on fountain: “No true wolf passes by without taking a drink.”

Team building: informal time...informal things together.

Scouting Sheet

              Seniors go over with others

              Watch video together the night before

             

Team goes to high school games together (community support/recruiting)

Team works concessions for other sports

Coach Meyer takes team on retreat.

“What are you going to give your team everyday?”

Player notebooks...do a better job of checking them!

Camp/Team (3 things everyone does)

Everyone takes notes (including coaches)

“Please”  “Thank You”  “Yes sir”  “No Sir”  “Yes mam”  “No mam”

Pick up trash

Teach Each Other!!!

Northern sometimes lifts after a game.

Stretch before and after practice

Recover procedure

Bananas/Gatorade

Redshirt workouts

We need to do this with redshirts or little used subs

Keeps them in shape...improves their skill...gives them value

Wolf Dog Festival

Great for community

have face-to-face with team before they leave for summer

Books:

“Getting Things Done”  - David Allen

Anything by Bruce Brown

Juggling — add to our 2 ball routine.

Coach Meyer look to use Swing Offense

Coach Meyer inbounding the ball on the left side to allow point to use right hand to cross main street.

PITFALLS OF POOR PLANNING

Type, laminate and keep copy on desk and in planner

#1 Allowing “to-dos” to rule day instead of prioritizing

#2 Setting unrealistic number of things to do each day

#3 Failing to have your planning system with you at all times

#4 Forgetting to allow time between schedule appointments

#5 Failing to allow 1 1/2 hours a day for the unexpected

#6 Not having an effective system for capturing and retrieving information

#7 Failing to have a personal management system

#8 Retaining unnecessary information

#9 Failing to plan for “big rocks” weekly, “small rocks” daily

#10 Failing to allow time for advanced planning

A GREAT COMMUNICATION QUESTION VIA CHUCK DAILY

We often thank of communication as what we say. Sometimes the art of coaching and teaching is learning when not to say anything.  I loved this piece from the book "The Difference You Make" by Pat Williams.  Williams talks about Chuck Daly sharing what he had learned as an assistant to Vic Bubas years earlier at Duke.

"Vic taught me to bite my tongue.  He said, 'You have to know when to talk to players and when to keep your peace.'  Vic taught me to always ask myself: 'Will this player benefit from what I say?  Or will he just become less coachable?'  Sometimes I would literally jam my knuckles in my mouth or look someplace else -- anything to keep from saying what I was thinking."

HOW THE PATRIOTS COACH THEMSEVLES

One of my favorite concepts from Tom Izzo is "the best coached teams are player coached teams."  In other words, they are the custodians of their own program.  The police each other and hold each other accountable.  It creates a special culture of ownership that that great teams show.  And by great teams, I mean those teams that are consistently competitive year in and year out and are driving by their culture.  Here is a short piece on the New England Patriots.

"In the biggest games, in any situations and on a weekly basis, his production was phenomenal," Belichick wrote.  "Rodney Harrison embodies all the attributes coaches seek and appreciate: toughness, competitiveness, leadership, selflessness, hard work, intensity, professionalism -- and coming from Rodney, they are contagious.

After all, there were many "normal" things in the locker room that weren't necessarily normal in other places.  Harrison was among those who were there for the installation of things that were not taken for granted.  The players, for example, were coachable, maybe because some of their toughest coaches were their peers.  All of their competitions were based around improving team performance.

They gave out that mental error belt to prevent mistakes in the game.  They challenged one another to get to work early and interrogated players who tried to leave early.  They took the punitive nature of being late for meetings away from he coaches and handled it themselves; if you were the last one sitting down, no matter what time it was, you were late.  In fact, Harrison learned that lesson when he first arrived from San Diego. He and others became enforcers of that rule and many more.  They checked one another's plate for fatty foods.

Fried chicken again today, huh?  No wonder you're making so many mistakes in the game.

From the book "Belichick and Brady" by Michael Holley

'WHAT DID I GIVE AWAY?"

The following comes from the book "Belichick and Brady" by Michael Holley and gives a glimpse at the drive to improve that makes Tom Brady great:

Ty Law's team had been miserable: the Jets were 2-10 after a 16-3 loss to the Patriots.  The two teams played again, the day after Christmas, and the Patriots walked away with a 10-point victory.  One fo the few highlights in the game for the Jets was Law picking off Brady and running seventy-four yards for a touchdown.  

A couple of days after the game, Law got a phone call.He recognized the number, the voice, and the question.

"Hey Ty," Brady said.  "What did you see on the interception?  What did I give away."

Three titles and two MVPs later, he was still searching the way he had when he was trying to take the job from Bledsoe.

"Tom, I played with you longer than anybody over there, right?"  Law explained.  "It's obvious what you do:   You do this exaggerated throwing motion and I knew you were coming back the other way.  I played with you long enough to know that.  As soon as I saw that motion, it's not a real throwing motion, I just stopped.  You threw it right there."

The flaw would be corrected for the play-offs.

THE LAST THING TO COME ARE THE WINS

What men's basketball coach Chris Collins says he learned from Chicago Cubs manager Joe Madden:

“He was really helpful, especially (by saying) that when you are trying to build something, pretty much the last thing that comes are the wins. You have to build the winning culture and the winning environment. And sometimes you have to learn how to celebrate some of the small victories … guys coming in early (to practice), guys coming in at night doing extra work like strength and conditioning, how hard we practice, how the guys hold each other accountable.”

Via PickAndPop.net

PAT SUMMITT PRACTICE THOUGHTS

The following come from some of my notes of listening to Pat Summitt speak at Don Meyer's 1998 Coaching Academy:

Love practice -- love to teach
Whole - Part - Whole Method
Practice Plan -- prepare and compete
Offense or Defense first? Whichever you want to emphasize
Not what we teach but what we emphasize
Prefer not to be predictable
Drills should be breakdown of your offense and defense
Explain purpose
Name drills
What a Coach rewards is key
Shoot free throws when you are tired
Keep stats in practice
     Record all shots
     Record all post feeds
     Record contested and uncontested shots
     Record box outs
Practice at game tempo
Practice game situations
Use officials, clocks, scores when possible

LESSONS LEARNED FROM LOSING AND WINNING

"I've never bought the idea that you learned much from losing.  In my experience, you learn far more from winning, which also makes your players more receptive to criticism.  All losing does is reinforce the things that cause you to lose, and I already know what they are.  When you're out-prepared, out-coached, out-motivated, out-conditioned, outsmarted -- can you tell me something positive you can get out of that?"

From "Finding A Way To Win" by Bill Parcells

THE NATURE OF THE COACHING BUSINESS

I'm sorry to say I can't recall where I got this.  I found it in a stack of motivational passouts from my days as a men's assistant at LSU but it is certainly worth sharing.

In 1952, Ohio State pulled upset wins over Illinois and archrival Michigan by identical 27-7 scores.  

Woody Hayes, the head coach at Ohio State, bumped into a lady and had the following conversation:

"This nice lady came up to me," said Hayes, "and asked, 'What was the score of your Illinois game?'"

"I said, '27-7.'"

Then she asked, "What was the score of your Michigan game?"

"I replied, '27-7.'"

She responded, "You aren't making much improvement, are you?"

TEACHING PLAYERS TO FIGURE IT OUT FOR THEMSELVES

It's been a while back, but I posted briefly about a concept that I hold dear to my coaching philosophy -- the ability to teach your players to figure things out on their own.

There are three things that I think coaches should stress, teach and demand on a daily basis regardless of what their philosophy is in regard to X & Os, discipline and team building.  I believe you should be teaching players to Talk, to be Tough, and to Think.  Figuring things out is a major component to thinking.

One of the most underrated things that the best coaches teach, in any sport on any level, is that of educating their players how to think on their own.  Few were better than Coach Newell.

“I wanted players with initiative, guys who could control a difficult situation on their own.  People may not realize that years ago, you couldn’t bring a player over to the sideline to talk to him.  Players had to stand out in the middle of the court during your timeout.  They changed that rule during my second year in coaching (1947) and I was madder than hell.  I felt my team could always interpret what I was teaching; we didn’t need all these damn meetings.  I didn’t want my players depending on me.  I figured I’d teach ‘em during the week, and when the game comes along, it’s up to them.  That’s one reason I didn’t like to call timeouts.  I didn’t want the players thinking that every time they got in a little jam, I’d bail them out.  I wanted to make them figure it out.”

-Pete Newell

Not surprisingly an article on Geno Auriemma written by Paul Doyle of the Hartford Currant points the same feature out in the UConn coach: 

It goes back to the practices. Yes, Auriemma and Dailey recruit mentally tough players. But Auriemma challenges them every day. He'll run "break the press" drills with six practice players facing his players and tell them to figure it out.

"He just tests your will, he tests your mind and your heart, every day in practice," Lobo said. "So you are prepared in moments to be able to make those shots because you've been in mentally challenging situations before."

LaChina Robinson noted: "When you talk to Sue [Bird] and Swin [Cash] and those guys, obviously they played on great teams, but they talk about how he would put them in situations where it was almost impossible to succeed. Every day in practice. So he made it impossible so that in the games it would be easy."