Coaching in essence is taking raw skills in athletes or players and adding fundamentals, basics of the game, to achieve a goal of success. To do this you have to first obtain the basics of basketball and develop your own philosophy of the game. When you become a coach you make a commitment to teach and also learn daily about the sport that you love so much. No matter what you are when it comes to the game you are always a student or learner of the great game of basketball. With coaching come responsibility to teach not only skills and fundamentals of the sport, but you also teach sportsmanship, leadership, and how to become a better person than what you were.
It takes a lot of time and determination to coach. For that you have to love the game, otherwise it is not worth wasting your time. I love the game and have loved it since a young age. I often wish I could play in the league but I would rather past down my knowledge to younger players and teach them what I have learned about the game overtime.
The reason I decided I wanted to become a coach is for the simple fact it is what I like to do and I love basketball with a passion, and I want to rub my knowledge off to the next person. I have been around basketball all my life; it is all I basically know. There are many different ranks of coaching and you just have to decide which you would like to do for the rest of your life and I would like, well love to be a college coach. This is the stage where you groom young men into actual adults. I would be fine with being a high school coach and teaching fundamentals and the basics of the game and grooming raw talent into a good maybe even great basketball player, possibly sending him off to college.
There are different ways of trying to become a collegiate coach. I often think of becoming a student assistant and just moving up the ranks from there. This could be a great way of becoming a known name and meeting people in the process. I have already talked to the coach and made a door for myself. This could ultimately lead to me landing a major job in life on down the road.
I sometimes have doubts about doing what I love for the simple fact of the economy. I often think is coaching what I really want to do, because I think this will be enough money to provide for my family when I one day have one. The thought of financial stability sometimes makes me think that doing what I love may not be best for me. High school coaches don’t make much for coaching, but if the coach is an instructor then he may possibly make a decent amount of money. College coaches are often paid well no matter where they coach. The bigger the college or the program the more the coach makes. Salaries for coaches in college range from hundreds of thousands to millions. This is where I plan to be for my coaching career. I would love to land a major university or mid-major university job. Accomplishing this feat would set me up for life, and I would be able to make my name known through the coaching ranks and hopefully good enough to be a household name around the nation maybe even the world.
My inspiration to coach is my grandfather he has been a coach for forty five years going on forty six. He is what some would call an unsung hero. He is historic but not many know of his feats besides those he has had the privilege of coaching or those who have opposed him. At the age of four he began taking me to his college games and giving me a glimpse of what the coaching lifestyle goes. He is the first African American coach to win a state championship in Mississippi; he has won over 600 games within his coaching tenure and is steadily going. He has coached and numerous high schools and colleges. He was a part of the Jackson State Girls team that made it to the NCAA tournament. They are the only SWAC team to ever make it pass the first round of the tournament and the only team to be ranked within the top 25 in the nation. This feat along is historical. We have talks almost every day learning new things; I am truly blessed to have had that opportunity. He has passed so much knowledge of the game down to me. I am very lucky to have learned the game from someone of his stature. I did not only have the knowledge passed down but I also had the logic passed down. This means that I would make sense with the decisions that I would have to make during a game. Which means that I know to follow my head and not my heart during a game and do what is correct or knowledgeable.
I can remember ever since I was a little boy my grandfather carried me to all his games and let me hang with the team. I can remember my first game I went to, it was crazy. There were so many college students and I was only little child around 5 years old. I was able to do certain things at a young age that most little children didn’t get to do. I was able to travel on away games with the team, I also had chances to sit on the bench and get within the huddle to see what is really said and is going on during a timeout. These experiences taught me about the game and also made me love the game so much.
My grandfather is known by many historical players and coaches locally and nationally his influence has even helped some within the ranks of the NBA. He once mentored former player/coach of the Dallas Mavericks, Avery Johnson. His philosophy of the game and understanding helped Avery throughout his tenure as a player and coach. Locally he has influenced coaches such as; Coach Billiups of Lanier, Coach Stewart of Forest Hill, and former Coach Bob Frith of Murrah.
I would really love to start off as a college coach. I really don’t have a desire to coach in high school, but more than likely this is where my profession will begin. To be able to coach I will have to be a teacher, so I will possibly major in math to be a math teacher and have a minor in coaching. This will ensure me a job in high school of my choice because male math teachers are a limited commodity within the society today. I do not dislike grooming boys into young men but I would prefer to groom young male athletes into fully skilled basketball players. The thought of me just passing my knowledge of the game on down to another is great. This is what most would call coaching and that is what I love and want to do.
My philosophy of the game would be similar to my grandfather’s which is run your players into perfectly good shape so that they should be capable of playing forty minutes none stop. I would do this by giving my players two miles a day before practice and afterwards they would run wind sprints. This ensures me that I have good conditioned players which can run the whole game. I love to fast break and get easy points, and play man to man defense. If we are to do this I know that we could very well control the tempo of any basketball game.
My practice would consist of first starting off with stretching. This allows your players to prevent injury and allow my athletes to move with all possible flexibility. Next would be the practice drills and shooting drills. This is the things that make your practice when you actually get into your plays and shooting.
Most high school kids have to be taught the fundamentals and basics of man to man defense, while on the contrary most college players should know how to run man to man. Man to man is basically you having a player on the opposing team which is closest to you in skills and size and you having him the whole game no matter what. My philosophy of man to man is putting pressure on the man having the ball while others play of their player, players hedging on screen roles not switching out unless needed. I also would preach the collapsing of the defense when a man penetrates. When this happens if he is to kick the ball out I would like rotation, which is finding the closest player around forcing him to pass or take a bad shot.
My philosophy on offense is simple our base man offense comes from a stack in man and a 1-3-1 in zone. These are efficient and useful base offenses to get the shots you want. My offense consists of getting easy shots and lay-ups I don’t prefer anything else. Bad shots within my system don’t cut it.
I have given you my reasons for coaching as well as what it takes to become a coach. I hope that I am able to do what I planned, possibly even exceed my expectations, hopes, and dreams. One of my favorite quotes that keeps my mind focused on coaching is, “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best,” stated by the great Tim Duncan. This makes me that I can develop good players into better ones, and once they are better I can develop them into the best player they can be.
