Your view of assistant coaches

[SoonerNorm]

What would you consider the most important function of assistant coaches, recruiting or coaching on the court?

 

[gwydion]

Not a single answer for all assistants. One needs to be a lock-down recruiter.

 

[sdcloud9]

Depends on the skill set of the head coach, imho.

The immediate answer is for them to be good recruiters and they need to be because they spend so much time developing relationships with kids but they basically have to be what the head coach isn't. That sounds weird, but a staff needs different skill sets to be effective.

If the head coach is more of a recruiter, then the assistants may need to be more of a strategist to help the head coach in game situations/game plans, etc. If the head coach is a better bench coach than recruiter, then the assistants better be good recruiters. They also need to be good skills teachers, aka shooting to help develop players.

I think they have to be diverse in their strengths to make a good staff.

 

[Soonerbay]

Depends on the skill set of the head coach, imho.

The immediate answer is for them to be good recruiters and they need to be because they spend so much time developing relationships with kids but they basically have to be what the head coach isn't. That sounds weird, but a staff needs different skill sets to be effective.

If the head coach is more of a recruiter, then the assistants may need to be more of a strategist to help the head coach in game situations/game plans, etc. If the head coach is a better bench coach than recruiter, then the assistants better be good recruiters. They also need to be good skills teachers, aka shooting to help develop players.

I think they have to be diverse in their strengths to make a good staff.

:clap
Yes! The coaching staff must have diversity like any other team/business/body effective implementation of a goal. What good is a team of 10 quarterbacks and 1 offensive lineman? What good is a restaurant with a hostess and 5 chefs? And what good is a body with 2 heads and 10 feet?

 

[rocjunkie]

For my two cents, you have to be 50/50. You used to be able to depend on high school coaches to "teach" fundamentals, and make the players strong in the important aspects of the game. Not any more. Assistants have to be fundamentally grounded to the game and be excellent teachers. At the same time I think you have to have dynamite recruiters who enjoy finding the niche that can sway a kid to your program. It's hard work and demanding, but for pity sakes that is part of your job requirement. Who wouldn't want a job doing what they love to do. You get to teach basketball for a living. You get paid for helping kids play a game. Yes you can be a great role model for your players, and teach some life skills, but come on, it is still a game. Head coaches and assistants need to totally sell out for their program and do the very best they can to be successful. Most important don't let the opposition know you don't like recruiting or don't like spending summers in gyms. Just my humble opinion.

 

[SoonerNorm]

To me, the most important quality in assistants is they must be great recruiters. If you have great players on the roster, mediocre coaches can win at a high level. But, great coaches cannot win at a high level with mediocre players.

 

[SoonerinNC]

Great leaders surround themselves with people who are strong in areas the leader is not strong.

So it depends largely on the skills of the head coach.

I'm really not clear on Sherri's strengths and weaknesses. She doesn't appear to like recruiting a lot and while her full court up tempo offense seems good we struggle in the half court.

There are a lot of complaints about defense and rebounding but I'm not sure we are as bad as the complainers feel.

I have always wished she would use her depth more. Maybe a strong bench assistant would help in that area.

Obviously she has a number of strengths or we wouldn't have had the run we have had.

 

[SoonerNorm]

These are the NCAA stats from last year:

Scoring offense: 27th

Scoring defense: 223rd

Rebounding margin: 99th

Turnover margin: 98th

When it comes to scoring, we are normally pretty good. It's usually defense, rebounding, and turnovers that keeps us from beating the really good team.

 

[soonermike22]

It is correct that the talents of the staff need to be diverse and to complement each other.
But for me, I want OU's staff to be
1) good evaluators of young talent. High school success doesn't always transfer to big time University. We need to be able to look at high school players and have a good idea of what they will/can develop into-whether a "star" or role player.
2) able to recruit
3) great developers of INDIVIDUAL talent. Sherry is the team builder, but a good assistant will take the time to talk to/work with/advise individuals on the things they need to do to get better. And that has to start as soon as they step foot on campus, and continue until the buzzer sounds in their last game.
4) THEN do the things the head coach is not as good at.

 

[rocjunkie]

It is correct that the talents of the staff need to be diverse and to complement each other.
But for me, I want OU's staff to be
1) good evaluators of young talent. High school success doesn't always transfer to big time University. We need to be able to look at high school players and have a good idea of what they will/can develop into-whether a "star" or role player.
2) able to recruit
3) great developers of INDIVIDUAL talent. Sherry is the team builder, but a good assistant will take the time to talk to/work with/advise individuals on the things they need to do to get better. And that has to start as soon as they step foot on campus, and continue until the buzzer sounds in their last game.
4) THEN do the things the head coach is not as good at.

Very good post Soonermike.