Building A Successful Division I Collegiate Basketball Program

Create relationships with open-communications and social support with the coaching staff, the school or organization, athletes and parents in an environment that cultivates

Coach Steve Rocker is one of the most successful high school basketball coaches in Kentucky’s history. Coach Rocker was very successful in previous years. Strangely, this year was very different for him. For the first time in his professional life, he is falling short of his expectations, the community expectations, and the team’s expectations. His team lost a lot of games, but most importantly the boys had no motivation or desire to bring the team out of the rut they found themselves. His players have lost their will to win, their love for their teammates, and their passion to play. Coach Rocker’s motivational methods that have always worked before and resulted in success are now failing, and he doesn’t know why. He argues that his players have become selfish and bored with winning because they have been so successful in previous years. “And there’s no question that my guys have lost their drive to win because they’ve won so much in the past. Now all they want is individual ‘wins’…which just doesn’t cut it on a team” (Gongwer, 2010, p. 17).

Coaching basketball is about strategizing and directing the movements and actions of a basketball team or individual player. Coaches strategize and scout opposing teams and find ways to defeat them as easily as possible. A successful basketball coach needs to now the understanding of how to play the game. A basketball coach must be able to manage the duties of the job by recruiting the top players, get them in shape, make a team, motivate players and teach them how to play the game of basketball. Coaching is usually done by a single person, with the help of one or more assistants. A coach is the face of the team, helping it achieve the public relations goals of the organization and build a positive image that will improve recruiting. (Edmunds). A coach is responsibiable for setting up and an environment so that the team can use its skills and abilities to their full potential. Therefor a coach has to make a game plan for each game, so that his team will be ready for the next opponent. A coach has to know his team and the opponent abilities to be able to match his team up with the opponent. A coach must know to mix the players who can start right away and players he can develop into starters. A coach may want to put 12-15 players on the roster just in case of injuries. To get ready for the season the coach starts putting in offensive and defensive plays the will run and teach the players situational plays to fit the team style and running practices. During a game a coach has

It all started with an email seeking freshman male in his coaching and administration program. The 2012 graduate of UConn’s Sport Administration and coaching program, William Aloia, says this future success as the Associate Athletic Director for The College of St. Rose started out by almost” falling into his lap”. The New Jersey native began his undergraduate experience with two Division-I parents, and like an abundance of people he knew that working in sport was something he wanted to do. Previously a part of the Kinesiology department under the late Joe Marrone, Will jumped on the opportunity posted through an email and started his freshman year as a basketball manager for the very successful UConn’s basketball program. He explains how this experience “opened his door up”. Will states; “once I started at UConn working with the women’s basketball program and being around collegiate athletics at such a high level it’s really something in itself, and unbelievable experience. I knew it was for me, I didn’t know which part for sure, but I knew this was something I wanted to do.” What Will realized very quickly realized about working in sport is that often times it is a thankless job. However, that did not stop him from finishing his undergraduate career as a four-year manager for the basketball team. The motivation for Will early in his career has been a two-dimensional illustration of success.

The first form of communication is between coaches and players. Coaches are the foundation of every team. They set-up, run, and manage every aspect of the organization. Coach’s help players learn different styles of play and help them learn and improve skills both in the field and at the plate. Coaches use many different forms of communication, not

In life, you encounter many situations and people that aid in molding you into the person you are meant to be. When these instances in time occur, we may not realize it, but looking back they made a huge impact on our lives. For the past four years, I have been a member of the Navarro Runnin’ Lady Panthers Basketball Team, and while the sport itself taught me many lessons and skills I can use to be successful, there was one coach that managed to do the same.

Putting a winning combination of special talent on the college hardwood is one thing. However, meshing a menagerie of especially gifted young basketball players to blend into a championship unit is the ultimate goal. In the world of NCAA Division I hoops, Yanni Hufnagel is known as the ‘wizard of recruitment’.

Coach Carter also displays transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is the ability of a leader to get people to do more than they originally expected to do in support of large scale innovation and change; the leader inspire and excite followers to high level of performance (Nelson & Quick, 2013). According to Marquis & Huston (1992), there are five key qualities of a transformational leader. One of the qualities is having the passion and ability to inspire. Transformational leaders show passion in their work and have the capacity to pass this passion on to others. Coach Carter is successful in achieving this through setting clear expectations and demonstrates passion when doing this. At their first team meeting, Carter hands each student a contract, setting out his expectations of the contracts. If they do not sign and follow it, they do not play. Coach Carter aims to pass on his passion to the players enabling them to succeed in playing sports and succeed in their education. Another quality transformational leaders possess is the ability to pass their values on to others. According to Marquis & Huston (1992), people admire leaders that support their own values and beliefs by enabling others to understand how their own values make them who they are. Coach Carter encourages a team ethic throughout. Carter ensures his team takes this on board by stopping everyone from playing – academic achiever or not. He’s teaching that successful teams succeed because of

As voted captain on Hampton-Dumont's athletic teams, I discovered the value of communication, unity, perseverance, and passion. Leaders are only successful if they have followers. I have come to know that every individual has a gift to contribute. Every role is vital. My teammates trust me because I value the individual and withhold judgement. I genuinely care about each and every girl, regardless of who she is or where she's come from. I seek and expect the best out of everyone, and when you do that, anything is possible. With this leadership style, each of our school athletic teams became cohesive and united. It became less about me and more about friends with true commitment to each other who focus on the big picture of teamwork.

“To this day, after being in this business … the best day on a college campus is graduation, When I see kids I had a relationship with … graduating, you feel like you had a part in that.” David Williams, Athletic Director of Vanderbilt Athletics. Being around sports my whole life and now currently coaching a basketball team, I have encountered a few athletic directors and their supporting cast, which in a high school, it’s the principal and the administration staff. In some circumstance, especially from most coaches’ point of view, it is always about the result of the team and how good the players are. For some athletic directors, it is the same, but at the school I coach, it is also about

During my senior year of high school I along with my friend, created our school's’ first ever cheer team. The administration gave us quite a run around trying to achieve it. We had to make sure it was approved by PSAL; we needed a teacher or a member of the administrative staff to sponsor us and then have it approved by our dean and principal. Nonetheless, I stuck to my choice of wanting to create the team. I felt that our school’s basketball team could really benefit from having a support system at every game.

One simple question changed my life. It was a scorching hot day in the middle of August in Wingate, North Carolina. My parents and I were sitting in coach Hancock's office in the basement of the admissions building. While sitting on the stiff black couch in coach Hancock's office, I could feel beads of sweat accumulated on my back. Never before had I sweat this much in my life, I knew I was nervous awaiting what coach Hancock was going to say next. Instead, I heard my mom begin to talk, I turned and looked at her with my eyes wide and a fake smile on my face. As I'm listening to my mom speak, I hear her ask me if I had any questions to ask the coach. Nonetheless, I started to ask coach Hancock various questions about her team chemistry and volunteering they may do. Even though, I thought I had asked all the questions I had previously rehearsed in the car on the way to Wingate University I was quickly reminded by my mom that I wanted to ask one more important question. “How does your team defend ball screens?”

We are both boys and girls travel basketball teams. Our home is in Spartanburg, SC. Our teams are built with played who are skilled, talented but most important are respectful to the game.

In the topic of communication and care, one will be the discussing the importance of having interpersonal skills and written communication in sports coaching. This essay will also include the variety of skills a coach will need to progress in their line of business. In this essay, we will also be reviewing the positives and negatives of these forms of communication and how they can affect the job as a sports coach. Most say that communication is key to success in both the sports and business society. European research actually shows that poor communication skills are the main reason businesses have reduced performance.

Having intramurals is an excellent way to begin your social network. However, just like every project, there can be steps taken to make it even better. After talking to a few current members, I have concluded that the three major changes you would like to see is the introduction of intramural basketball, new ways to make every player feel like a part of the team, and finally time slot changes.