Coaching Clinic

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Our team went up to Murfreesboro this past weekend to be demonstrators for the Basketball Coaches Association of Tennessee Coaching Clinic. It was very interesting to see our guys working with different coaches and doing things differently than the way we do them. Some of the guys they got to work with were Dave Loos from Austin Peay, Seth Greenburg from Virginia Tech, Brian Gregory from University of Dayton, Kevin O'Neill from the Memphis Grizzlies, Kellie Jolly Harper from Western Carolina, Lenny Acuff from University of Alabama Huntsville, and Gary Van Atta from Trevecca Nazarene University. They all really enjoyed it and as soon as each session was over they would come to me or Coach Shelton and wanted to talk about how we could implement some of the things they had just done. It was a very neat experience and we have already volunteered for next year.

Talked with Andre Whitehead from TNprephoops.com and he said he already had some people signing up for the showcase. If you have not already signed up go to his website and preregister.

Best of luck this week and I hope to see you all soon.

Thought for the day 9/25

Joy in life comes from being part of something bigger than yourself.

You Can't Fake The Harvest

Basically this means that you must put in the work to see the results. It references a farmer's harvest and to actually have a harvest you must plant the crop and then tend to it to make it grow. We relate this to basketball by saying if you do not put in the work in the gym and weight room, you will not get the results on the court that you want. But you can relate this really to anything in life, because nothing is going to be given to you, you must do the work and then you can enjoy the benefits.

Thought for the day 9/22

A teammate is someone who can look right through you and still enjoy the view. - John Miller

I have gotten one response to the Harvest quote and it was correct. I am going to wait a couple of more days and see if anyone else wants to give it a shot before I explain it. Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Thought for the day 9/19

John Wooden's Two sets of Threes

My father had what he called his "Two sets of threes." They were direct and Simple Rules aimed at how he felt we should conduct ourselves in life.

The first set was about honesty:
1. Never Lie
2. Never Cheat
3. Never Steal

It required no explanation. My brothers and I knew what it meant and that he expected us to abide by it.

The second set of threes was about dealing with adversity:
1. Don't Whine
2. Don't Complain
3. Don't Make Excuses

Some people today may think these are naive or kind of corny. But Think a moment about what they mean and who you become if you abide by them. That isn't naive. You don't become corny.

Dad's two sets of threes were a compass for me in trying to do the right thing and behaving in a prpoer manner.

Taken from the book: Wooden: A lifetime of Observation and reflections on and off the court. ( I highly recommend this book to everyone, not just basketball people)

Thought for the day 9/18

You can't fake the harvest.

This is one that we say to our guys all the time. If any of you think you know what it means let me know. If not I will explain it next week.

Thought for the day 9/17

You can play with all the intensity of a mad dog in a meat house but if you aren’t smart, sooner or later you’ll get a bullet between your eyes. - Don Meyer

I would like to ask everyone to keep Coach Meyer in your thoughts and prayers as he is recovering from a very serious car wreck.

First week of practice/TN Prep Hoops Showcase

We had a very good first week of practice even though it started out slow. The slow start is understandable since we do have 7 new players. The guys are really starting to catch on and working hard. Coach Shelton went to South Dakota this past weekend to spend some time with his former coach, Coach Meyer, who was in a very serious car wreck last Friday. So I ran my first full practice and was very nervous. It was just as ok practice but hopefully they will get better with time. I am not used to being the one who has to correct everything and watch everything. It was an interesting experience and one that I enjoyed and look forward to trying again in the future.

An exciting announcement is Andre Whitehead from TNprephoops.com is having a showcase for high school players to help them get exposure and get noticed by coaches. It is going to be October 25th and registration will start at 1:30 and stretching starting at 2:45ish. We would love to have all of you down for it and we feel that it will be a great event. This is the second annual event on our campus and we hope to improve it from last year.

Hope everyone is doing well and we hope to see you play soon.

Thought for the day 9/12

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. - Matthew 6:34

Thought for the day 9/11

Knowing the thrill of an all out effort. - Not sure who said it originally but Coach Shelton uses it a lot.

Thought for the day 9/10

To the High School/College Graduate - Things You Did Not Learn in School
1. Life is not fair - get used to it.
2. The world won't care about your self esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.
3. You will not make $40,000 a year right out of school. You won't be a vice president with a car phone until you earn both.
4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.
5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - they called it opportunity.
6. If you screw up, it is not your parents' fault so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
7. Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way by paying your bills, cleaning your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are - so before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades. They will give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
9. Life is not divided into semesters, you don't get summers off, and very few employees are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
10. Television is not real life. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
11. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you will end up working for nerds.
12. Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. And ditto for purple hair and pierced body parts.
13. Living fast and dying young is romantic, only until you see one of your peers at room temperature.
14. Get up when you fall down.

First Practice

Sorry I didn't get this up yesterday, but I had to get more opinions on the first practice since I missed most of it. A friends mother passed away and Coach allowed me to stay in Nashville and spend some time with him and miss practice. I did make it back for the last 30 minutes and really liked what I saw. The team was very competitive in the drills I witnessed and seemed to be practicing really hard. Everyone I talked with said it was the typical first practice with the new guys trying to get the concepts down and Coach explaining everything in detail. Hopefully everyone will catch on quick and we can move pretty quickly. Coach Shelton and I went down to Memphis this past weekend and saw some very good players. We are excited about recruiting and hope to see you play soon.

Thought for the day 9/8

A person really doesn´t become whole, until he becomes a part of something that´s bigger than himself. - Jim Valvano

Mile Run/First Practice

Well we had our mile run test this morning. We always have the guys run a mile on the Friday before we start practice so we can see what kind of shape they are in. The quickest time was 4:40 and everyone finished in under 6 minutes except our big man who came in at 6:15 (which is good considering he is 6'9/260). Everyone seems excited that our first practice is on Sunday. We have a total of 18 players on the roster and with 12 returners we feel like we should be able to move pretty quickly with our concepts. It will take a little while for the new guys to pick everything up, but that is to be expected. Everyone on campus also seems excited for basketball to get started which is a very good feeling. I think we are starting to win over most of campus and it is great to have their support. The President of the University even spoke to the coaches this morning and told us he was looking forward to the season. Nice to know you have someone like that behind you. Well I hope all is well with everyone and I will try to post Monday morning on how our first practice was.

Thought for the day 9/4

The 4 steps of a mistake:
1. Recognize it
2. Admit it
3. Learn from it
4. Forget it

Thought for the day 9/3

Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. -Lou Holtz

Thought for the day 9/2

John Wooden's 7 point creed:
1. Be true to yourself
2. Help others
3. Make each day your masterpiece
4. Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible
5. Make friendship a fine art
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day
7. Pray for guidance and count and give thanks for your blessings every day