So who plays HD and is a real hoops coach? Topic

In Crum, at least two of the other coaches in the PAC 10 coach hoops - we have talked a bit there about real life coaching.

How about a thread in which folks talk - leaving out names of schools/teams if that is best - about their real life coaching. Times the random number generator really got them, challenges of recruiting, amusing tactics and analogies to WIS HD

I am the wrong person to start, since my hoops coaching experience is limited to being a player coach for 10 years of a lawyers league team (we did have guys who once upon a time started for Dartmouth and for Bucknell - both over 6-7 which is biiig for lawyers league).....and 10 ish years each of boys and girls youth league coaching....I was offered but declined the JV coaching job at a local high school......but thats another story

So, who is a real coach and has some stories to share? What did you learn in HD that you applied in real life?

Watch out or I will tell the story of my girls youth league team that was so bad in our first season that the only way we could score was because we practiced hard at an inbounds play for use when we happened to get the ball under the basket.....
2/27/2020 4:25 PM
This post has a rating of , which is below the default threshold.
I am not a coach any longer, but was coaching middle school when I started playing HD. We ran a flex offense and the varsity coach wanted the JV and middle school teams to all run the same offense. I understand the concept of the Flex better as a result. I think it's a much more complex offense than most people realize. What I learned is that the Flex is really a hybrid of a Triangle and Motion offense using some of the same skills of both. (Probably too complex for the middle school team I was coaching, which made our wins less at that level but probably helped them once they got to Varsity since their "IQ" was higher after running it for several years already.

Motion is probably the most difficult offense to recruit, since all players will play the point position equally once the ball is at half court, so all players need ball handling and passing skills. Balance is key for a motion as everyone plays a large part of the offense. From watching teams play, I tend to believe that a low post game is most underutilized aspect of this offense since you are constantly in motion and very rarely stop long enough to post up against a defender. Perimeter is needed for all players since you are either spotting up for a long jump shot or getting a lay up 90% of the time in this offense.

Triangle is probably the easiest offense to recruit, but has it's own challenges since big men need to be good passers and you need a strong low post player and a strong perimeter shooter to be effective. Triangle is better when you want to have 2 or 3 dominant scorers and then you want the rest of your players to be pretty good passers so they can get the ball to those scorers. Athleticism is usually pretty important for those scorers because the triangle will open up lanes for the scorers to drive the lane.

Flex however works more of a combination. It's kind of like a stand still motion. Everyone rotates around the wheel, however the ball pretty much stays at the top of the key or on the wing with passing, so ball handling isn't as necessary for everyone. However the flex opens up the lane for inside scoring, but it also tries to get the defense to key on the inside shot and leave a wing player open for a jump shot. Balanced scoring works best, and I always try to use a PG, SF, SF, PF, PF/C lineup to give versatility with perimeter shooting and low post game with as many players as possible. Where the motion has everyone facing the basket, the Flex the post players are usually facing away from the basket looking for a pass inside, but the guards also can have opportunities to drive the lane more than a Triangle. I love the flex, but (in real life) it requires a higher IQ to perform better and you need more balanced scorers with inside/outside game.

How this equivocates to the HD sim, I have no idea..... but that's the basics of each offense that I learned while coaching.
2/27/2020 8:39 PM
This post has a rating of , which is below the default threshold.
while in the army i coached a 9 to 11 y\o boys team to a 0-12 record.our highlight that season was losing to the #1 seed in the playoffs by only 11 pts., playing a 3-2 zone & doubling the post!.. i did umpire high school baseball foir a time..
2/28/2020 11:25 AM
Love the thread idea. FD already knows this about me, but I coach high school hoops in CA. I've spent 1 year as a D1 assistant, 2 years as the lead assistant at a D2 and then this past year we exceeded expectations by a mile in my first year as a D5 head coach. It's a ton of fun but the paperwork never ends. I'm getting a booster club up off the ground and all the paperwork you have to do for the bank and then other stuff is just a headache. That's the craziest thing I think most people have no clue about. Running a successful program has very little to do with X's and O's. It's more of a business/administrative role. The coaching is tons of fun, the other stuff is like doing your taxes all year and at the end you get no refund...

After saying all that, I can't imagine doing anything else. The relationships you build with kids and helping them get scholarships and go to the next level. Being part of helping someone accomplish a dream is one of the greatest feelings in the world.
2/28/2020 8:08 PM
Anyone ever get a "T" for yelling at your own player? Was coaching JV boys at the time and my C got the defensive board, hit the PG on the outlet pass, then proceeded to barely waddle down the court. When I yelled, "GET YOUR BUTT DOWN THE COURT!!!!!", he still hadn't made it more than 15 feet. Little did I know the trail official was even further behind my C and thought I was yelling at him. Guilty conscience? I think so. I tried to explain, but he wouldn't listen to me. Wouldn't even come to the bench side the rest of the game.
3/6/2020 11:15 AM
I am the Head Coach for Girls Varsity Basketball for a public HS in Huntington Beach, CA, and I agree with zl33. I love the coaching part of the job, and having been coaching HS boys and girls for 25 years, but the administrative side of the job isn't much fun. Fundraising is the worst part, but my current has a booster club and does an amazing job of keeping the program funded. Have achieved many successful seasons and a few league championships, but never made it to the promised land.
3/6/2020 2:25 PM
I have coached seven years and should have gone south. One of the kids I have coached is now *** coach with the Raptors D-league team. If you want a career, coach and that’s it. No plan B.
3/6/2020 2:27 PM
Posted by dexterdduane on 3/6/2020 11:15:00 AM (view original):
Anyone ever get a "T" for yelling at your own player? Was coaching JV boys at the time and my C got the defensive board, hit the PG on the outlet pass, then proceeded to barely waddle down the court. When I yelled, "GET YOUR BUTT DOWN THE COURT!!!!!", he still hadn't made it more than 15 feet. Little did I know the trail official was even further behind my C and thought I was yelling at him. Guilty conscience? I think so. I tried to explain, but he wouldn't listen to me. Wouldn't even come to the bench side the rest of the game.
Early in my youth ball coaching career, I put in an inbounds play called "Wide" - this was for 4th or 5th grade girls. Key was two players go to the corners - wide!!! - one starts high, one starts low, the player who starts low sets a pick for the player who starts high as she came toward the basket. We had "stack" and added "wide". We practiced the new play

First game we used it, I called "wide, wide, wide" - got a T. Turn out the refs thought I was shouting "why, why, why" at them....

Changed the name of the play to "get wide". Solved.
3/6/2020 4:42 PM
When I was working as an assistant coach for a small college team just starting out, we pretty much were playing in a city league as we established a team. Our star player was sitting on the bench and we were losing and he was getting ticked off. The ball came to him while on the bench and he shot the ball from his seat. The shot missed and no one paid much attention to him. A few minutes later, we called a time out and our PG rolled the ball toward the bench and Antwonn picked up the ball again and shot it from his seat yet again. This time he made it and caused everyone in the stands to cheer. The cheering caught the referee's attention and when he realized what happened, he called a "T" on our bench. We ended up losing by 1 and the 2 FTs the other team made during the "T" caused us to lose the game.
3/6/2020 11:52 PM
Coached a 6th grade travel team, it was the "B" team of the school. We didn't win a single game until the tournament had started and we pulled out a close one against another winless team in the consolation bracket.
3/9/2020 3:29 PM
Girls HS Varsity Assistant Head Coach, Girls Middle School (8th grade), and Girls 5th grade travel team here in Southern Michigan. This winter season was FUN for me. Before the Varsity spot I was a scout and recruiter for a local D2 Men's basketball program
3/11/2020 12:56 PM
AAU for many years (girls) and qualified for a couple of national tournaments back when it was actually hard to qualify for national tournaments. Also coaching HS girl's for a number of years as well. Have had a handful of D1 players, but none of them higher than mid-major schools.

3/24/2020 9:48 PM
I coach a Novice team at an all-girls high school. Great kids with a lot of heart but not a lot of developed skills. When coaching girls, I learned early on that girls HATE to touch each other during games and practices. They go out of their way to not touch each other! To break them of that instinctive habit, I have them all pair up and go back-to-back at half court. Then I have them back into each other up and down the court. Hilarity ensues!! Basketball is a contact sport.
3/25/2020 12:59 AM
So who plays HD and is a real hoops coach? Topic

Search Criteria

Terms of Use Customer Support Privacy Statement

© 1999-2026 WhatIfSports.com, Inc. All rights reserved. WhatIfSports is a trademark of WhatIfSports.com, Inc. SimLeague, SimMatchup and iSimNow are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts, Inc. Used under license. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.