There's a lot that goes into coaching basketball. I know this from coaching varsity ball for the past 16 or 17 years now, and watching my father coach varsity for 30+ years before that. Even before you step on the court for that first day of tryouts, you've put in many hours of planning. During the preseason, you are constantly evaluating your players, watching for them to demonstrate improvement, trying to figure out what you can do to fix their problems and magnify their strengths. And when the season begins, it is always a roller coaster ride, trying to stay one step ahead of your opponent while pushing to make the final tournament.
Every season will offer new challenges and require different adjustments. Some seasons your team will be a running team and you will need to develop a solid fast break; other seasons you may be blessed with a player with height, and want to work an offense around him. Some seasons you will have players who come to you already with great fundamental skills; other seasons you will feel like you are starting from scratch with a team that has no fundamental skills at all.
Regardless of the adjustments and focus your season may require, to be a successful basketball coach you must do these three essential things:
1. Be organized. Plan your preseason and season the same way you would any important goal - create a long term overview of what you need to accomplish and when it needs to be done by; then break down these long term goals into smaller stepping stone goals that you can accomplish in a short period of time. The accomplishment of each stepping stone goal leads to the next stepping stone goal, and eventually you reach your overall goal.
Coaches who cobble together a couple of drills and a play or two and call that a practice are completely at the mercy of the natural talents of their players. If you want your players to develop, both as individuals and as a team, you need to design a path for them to follow and keep drawing them down that path.
2. Team Before Individuals. We've all had exceptional players on our teams - players who are natural-born shooters, or big guys that are impossible for the other team to guard, or amazingly quick guards who can't be contained. Star players.
But star players don't win championships - strong teams do. Always treat your players as a team, not as one star and a bunch of supporting actors. Develop the team as a whole, and you develop a championship team that trusts each other and works well together. Focus solely on the star, and you develop animosity among the players.
3. Don't Forget the Big Picture. Winning games is important - nobody practices for months, plays dozens of games, pours blood, sweat and tears into developing a team in order to lose. So sometimes a coach can be forgiven for getting a little excited or stressed at practices or games when things don't go his way.
But the big picture is this: most of your players, maybe all of them, will finish playing high school basketball and go on to become teachers, or electricians, or maybe doctors or engineers. Very few will play university basketball, and even fewer will have a shot at the pros.
What we develop isn't NBA prospects. We develop people. There are more lessons to be learned on the basketball court than how to shoot or pass or play defense. Teach them to respect their opponents, their teammates, the game officials, themselves. Teach them to work hard at everything they do. Teach them to never give up. Because those lessons aren't just for the game of basketball. Keep in mind that how we act and how we teach our players to act on the court and off will have a lasting impression on them throughout their lives.
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