Your team finished the season and things aren’t looking up. Your best player was out with an injury most of the year and your other players just didn’t have the talent to compete in the conference you’re in. It was an all around tough season.
Worst of all, the school and the community are blaming you!
Does this sound familiar? If so, here are 3 ways to make yourself shine even when the program is not.
- Get aggressive
- Have an upbeat altitude
- Be more than just a coach
Working for a basketball technology company, I have the privilege to speak with hundreds of coaches across the country. One of the biggest differences I see between great coaches and poor ones is their ability to push blame.
I’ve had many conversations like this…
Basketball Coach: My team can’t shoot for squat and we are losing because of it!
Me: Have you considered getting a basketball shooting machine to get in more reps?
Basketball Coach: No, that will never fly. My Athletic Director won’t allocate the money to my program and the community only supports the football team.
If you’re facing similar problems with your program, use these 3 keys and turn your program around!
Get Aggressive
I hear this all of the time and I’ve seen first-hand that the best coaches don’t sit on their hands and blame others. They get aggressive and campaign their AD for a larger budget. They lean on their community and rally support for their team and its players to fundraise for as much as possible. They get creative. They don’t take no for an answer and do everything in their power to provide their players with the best possible resources to turn the program around.
Great basketball coaches get aggressive and stop shifting blame!
Have an Upbeat Attitude
Winston Churchill said: “The pessimist sees issues in every challenge but the optimist sees opportunity in every challenge.”
Your community needs to see you’re upbeat about the future of the program and that you’re putting in the effort to make the program successful in the future. This can be done by fundraising for better basketball training equipment and implementing a feeder program. Throughout this, it can get stressful. But remember why you are coaching in the first place – it should be fun! Keep that upbeat attitude and it will spread throughout your program and eventually can translate into wins .
Great basketball coaches always have an upbeat and optimistic attitude!
Be More Than Just a Coach
If you have kids playing for you that don’t have the athleticism needed, use the sport of basketball to give them skills they can use in life. Teach them that hard work pays off. Give them praise when you know they’ve worked really hard in practice to get a play right and they finally pulled it off in last night’s game. This may seem small, but it shows the athlete that you’ve noticed the hard work they put in and it’s paying off. You might not be able to coach them to be professional players, but you can make it your job to make them model students and citizens.
Great basketball coaches are more than just great coaches, but great teachers and mentors!
Start implementing these ideas today and your community and program will have no choice but to take notice. And before you know it, the W column may be rising next year.
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