North Dakota Preps

How do you judge if a coach is good?

Ask a parent. If you are one ask one smarter than you. They know everything.

A parents is a coaches worst nightmare, we usually do more harm than good as parents.

Flip wrote:Ask a parent. If you are one ask one smarter than you. They know everything.

Great answer! No others needed.

Amen!!!!

TheOneTheOnly wrote:How do you judge if a coach is good?

1. You look at what he/she is doing with what they have to work with
2. is he/she building a program for the future
3. a Coach is good IMO if later on in life, the kids that played for him/her, and didn't agree with everything.............. realize what he/she gave them to run with in life.

Flip wrote:Ask a parent. If you are one ask one smarter than you. They know everything.

Usually, the vocal parents (I agree with Flip, the ones that know everything) that are yelling from the stands fall under the philosophy that players win and coaches lose....those are the ones that will tell you if a coach is "good or not".

MNTwinsFan wrote:

Flip wrote:Ask a parent. If you are one ask one smarter than you. They know everything.

Usually, the vocal parents (I agree with Flip, the ones that know everything) that are yelling from the stands fall under the philosophy that players win and coaches lose....those are the ones that will tell you if a coach is "good or not".

This doesn't sound like they would have to tell you....it sounds like they already told you...
Oh yea you said.... Usually

straying way off the topic...

I think to many equate coach on the won loss scenario and I think there's way more than that to coaching.
I agree with winner within bench marks on grading a coach. Here's what I like to see if team is improving through out the season you can see they are getting better as season is going. Also if you see a team that is not improving fundamentally and cann't see a plan on how they are going to get better then you may have a coaching problem. I also like to see where a coach has team playing together and playing hard no matter talent level. I also like to see coaches fully committed looking at team and themselves on ways to improve themselves. A coach will make mistakes but what like to see is that they learn and don't make same mistake twice. The most successful coaches I seen over years were ones that coached and played their system and didn't fear of losing their job. If coach feared to coach his way and let parents and administration influenced them soon ended up becoming unsuccessful coach. I also think coaches that communicate well with their players have huge advantage not only during the game and practices but before and after the seasons. These coaches that can sit down tell kids what they did right and things they need improve on as well give positive encouragement seem to get best results. I also have seen this done at community level by some of best coaches telling community what they have done well and what is needed for coming year to get whole community on the same page. The bottom line is that your never going to please everyone and system in not always fair but nothing is and coaches are going to continue to be focal point of sports at what ever level and will be ones blamed.

I've always been a Tom Izzo fan...so here is his theory

“It is a little harder to motivate kids I guess because they’ve been pampered so much. We’re in the trophy generation, give ‘em a trophy for 23rd place, make ‘em feel good. Make mom and dad feel good.” Tom Izzo, Michigan State Basketball
The college coaches are starting to feel it.

God Bless Tom Izzo.

I would just as soon a coach hold my child accountable for their performance, attitude, behavior, how they treat others, etc than give them a trophy or anything else. This is what life has in store for them after all.

EHS1998 wrote:God Bless Tom Izzo.

I would just as soon a coach hold my child accountable for their performance, attitude, behavior, how they treat others, etc than give them a trophy or anything else. This is what life has in store for them after all.

I honestly dont think that in North Dakota, South Dakota, along with the rural areas of Minnesota that his theory applys heavily....there is an element of it here I'm sure, but overall we have some very hardworking, win lose understanding young athletes and I think in general most parents expect total commitment to the sport...

winner-within wrote:

EHS1998 wrote:God Bless Tom Izzo.

I would just as soon a coach hold my child accountable for their performance, attitude, behavior, how they treat others, etc than give them a trophy or anything else. This is what life has in store for them after all.

I honestly dont think that in North Dakota, South Dakota, along with the rural areas of Minnesota that his theory applys heavily....there is an element of it here I'm sure, but overall we have some very hardworking, win lose understanding young athletes and I think in general most parents expect total commitment to the sport...

As much as I wish I could agree with you, I would say that the majority is the other way.

good coaching to me is someone that preaches fundamentals. Rebounding,the lost art of boxing out, pick n rolls. Good coach is a coach that has his team game ready and is conditioned during tight hard fought battles and yes some battles are lost but a good coach will reorganize and have his team ready for the next game

It's hard to judge it at the Class "B" level because as anyone who coaches long enough or even follows it knows, you go through runs where you'll have a stretch where you have athletes and when you don't.

In region 2 for example there have been many teams that will go from having deep runs in regional/state tournaments to a few years later getting bounced from Districts on the second day. Did those coaches really get "worse" in that stretch? No. They can't force their players to practice outside of the 4 months of the season so it's on the kids to want to get better. It's not the coaches job or even the parents job, if you wanna play basketball, YOU have to put in the time and be a little organized.

It helps when parents/coaches encourage it and get them on the right path, but if the kids don't want to put in those hours in the summer and would rather be on the lake, that's what they're going to do. It takes a pretty selfless person to put up 500 shots in a hot gym in the middle of June with no one watching and that doesn't seem to happen anymore.

I judge a good coach as someone who has his team playing better at the end of the year than at the beginning, and those years you DO have athletes, you get the most out of them. One of the best coaching jobs I've seen recently is Brandy George in Thompson. Doesn't have a ton of talent or experience right now, but all those guys believe in his system and play hard for him. Once they get some of their younger talent at the junior high level playing for him, Thompson will be scary good.

Once I spoke to a coach who has 400 + wins in ND and he told me the year he felt he did the best job was when he took a team who had the talent to win 2-3 games and guided them to 12 wins.

Another sign of a good coach is when players still refer to them as "coach" years after playing for him/her.

and can coach more than one sport

With the sense of entitlement in society these days, a coach has their work cut out for them. A good coach will demand respect from his players, demand a work ethic like no other when walking thru the gym doors after class and the ability to control the Little Johnnys running to mom and dad crying that they got over worked in practice, or aren't getting the playing time because they decided to play an hour of video games in the evening every night instead of going out and handling a basketball during the summer. I might be a little old school, Im not even that old, but the star of the team making a bad pass then jogging down the court afterwards drives me nuts. Goes along the lines of not running out a ground ball. IMO, a good coach will sit said kid down and let him know that he needs to hustle after a mistake, and if not willing to listen, maybe make a statement and leave them on the bench for a period of time.

I wish we had "like" buttons here.

hsfootballfan wrote:With the sense of entitlement in society these days, a coach has their work cut out for them. A good coach will demand respect from his players, demand a work ethic like no other when walking thru the gym doors after class and the ability to control the Little Johnnys running to mom and dad crying that they got over worked in practice, or aren't getting the playing time because they decided to play an hour of video games in the evening every night instead of going out and handling a basketball during the summer. I might be a little old school, Im not even that old, but the star of the team making a bad pass then jogging down the court afterwards drives me nuts. Goes along the lines of not running out a ground ball. IMO, a good coach will sit said kid down and let him know that he needs to hustle after a mistake, and if not willing to listen, maybe make a statement and leave them on the bench for a period of time.

Yup you said it all right here. Kids raising kids these days. Video games.. The coach is always wrong attitude. (im not a coach btw).. A good coach can get kids thru this.

Yep, telling your kids who don't ever put any extra time or commitment in during the off-season that they're doing great and how everything they do is wonderful, when it's clearly not, doesn't help. You need to be willing to call them out on laziness. Everyone gets a shiny, brown participation ribbon now.

ndfootball4444 wrote:

hsfootballfan wrote:With the sense of entitlement in society these days, a coach has their work cut out for them. A good coach will demand respect from his players, demand a work ethic like no other when walking thru the gym doors after class and the ability to control the Little Johnnys running to mom and dad crying that they got over worked in practice, or aren't getting the playing time because they decided to play an hour of video games in the evening every night instead of going out and handling a basketball during the summer. I might be a little old school, Im not even that old, but the star of the team making a bad pass then jogging down the court afterwards drives me nuts. Goes along the lines of not running out a ground ball. IMO, a good coach will sit said kid down and let him know that he needs to hustle after a mistake, and if not willing to listen, maybe make a statement and leave them on the bench for a period of time.

Yup you said it all right here. Kids raising kids these days. Video games.. The coach is always wrong attitude. (im not a coach btw).. A good coach can get kids thru this.

maybe theis thread should be "Smart Coach"....a smart coach plays video games with them, then tells them to leave the smart phone at the gym door and then runs them through a well prepared practice...Discipline Discipline....coach has to have it first..along with the Parents..

Five years and a pile of state championships later, I think this was a pretty solid take.

BasketballMind wrote:It's hard to judge it at the Class "B" level because as anyone who coaches long enough or even follows it knows, you go through runs where you'll have a stretch where you have athletes and when you don't.

In region 2 for example there have been many teams that will go from having deep runs in regional/state tournaments to a few years later getting bounced from Districts on the second day. Did those coaches really get "worse" in that stretch? No. They can't force their players to practice outside of the 4 months of the season so it's on the kids to want to get better. It's not the coaches job or even the parents job, if you wanna play basketball, YOU have to put in the time and be a little organized.

It helps when parents/coaches encourage it and get them on the right path, but if the kids don't want to put in those hours in the summer and would rather be on the lake, that's what they're going to do. It takes a pretty selfless person to put up 500 shots in a hot gym in the middle of June with no one watching and that doesn't seem to happen anymore.

I judge a good coach as someone who has his team playing better at the end of the year than at the beginning, and those years you DO have athletes, you get the most out of them. One of the best coaching jobs I've seen recently is Brandy George in Thompson. Doesn't have a ton of talent or experience right now, but all those guys believe in his system and play hard for him. Once they get some of their younger talent at the junior high level playing for him, Thompson will be scary good.

Good Coach
1.Program builder(puts on skills clinics, camps, open gyms on his or her spare time)
2.Discipline (holds EVERYONE to the same standard and isn't afraid of hurting someone's feelings)
3.Accountability(hold EVERYONE accountable including himself)
4.Fairness (treats each athlete the same whether they have more skill or less and playing time is determined on work ethic, skill set, team first attitude and coachability)
5. Confident (makes decisions based on what's best for the team and doesn't fear parents)
6. Assistant coach ( Head coaches are only as good as their assistant, if they bring nothing to your program, cut them loose. Their job is equally important in the success of developing athletes.)
7. Leader
Bad Coach
1.Lazy this is obvious for most to see
2.Has different rules for different kids depending on how important they are for the team
3.Loses control of their program by allowing parents or admins to change the rules for their own benefit
4.Allows athletes to miss, skip or sit out of practice for any reason other than an injury or personal emergency. Allows athletes to go on vacations during season and doesn't hold them accountable when they return.
5.Not the leader of the team, this is obvious as well. If the parents or athletes are leading the team, you have lost control of your program.
6. Just collecting a paycheck (this is obvious as well)
IMO