GARY CROWTON ON BEING A TEACHER

Patrick Stevens of the Wahington Times shares a great article that gives insight into Maryland's new offensive coordinator Gary Crowton teaching style.

“I consider myself a teacher, so I want to teach the ‘whys,’ We’re doing this because - this is why, rather than we’re doing this because I know it’s going to work. This is why we’re doing it. I explain it so people can understand it.”

Maryland wide recevier Quintin Mcree on Crowton teaching style:   "He doesn’t yell.  I don’t care how bad a practice you can have, he never yells. He’s always willing to coach you up, no matter what. He’s a really a people person. He comes with the mentality to coach you up, and that’s it.”

LORENZO ROMAR ON COACHING

"For me, coaching, teaching, mentoring, they all go hand-in-hand. But to me, it's a lot more difficult to be successful if you have a group full of bad-character guys, or if you have a group of guys who don't want to be accountable. And making kids accountable is all part of teaching, coaching and mentoring to me. It's all under the same umbrella."

COACH K QUOTES

I want to share some Coach K quotes that I read on bleacherreport.com

"That's what I do now: I lead and I teach. If we win basketball games from doing that, then that's great, but I lead and teach. Those are the two things I concentrate on."

"The signing of the floor was not about Maryland or any particular opponent. It's about us. It's about us reminding each other that this is our floor, and we don't take it for granted. That's the only thing.”

"It's always an honor to be ranked high, but whatever is said about you, you take it and then take a realistic look at yourself and who you are. I would look at us and say we've got a chance (to win it all).”

"When we don't match another team's intensity—that doesn't happen very often—then all of a sudden we do 'J.J.-watching,' where we're watching J.J. play. We might as well get tickets and sit behind the bench. No one is doing anything out there.”

"It's not like we have not had close games. We've just been able to win them, and as a result, the reality sometimes doesn't set in that you're weak in certain areas or you're not doing certain things well. ...When you win, sometimes it overshadows a poor performance.

"The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions.”

"Once you win a National Championship, how do you do that again? How do you get the passion to do that again? We won it again right away, the next year. A lot of it had to do with the fact that I didn't give myself an opportunity to enjoy the first one."

"Parents can really help, but they can also really hinder the development of their youngsters."

"That's what I do now: I lead and I teach. If we win basketball games from doing that, then that's great, but I lead and teach. Those are the two things I concentrate on."

"A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That's how I want you to play."

"Everybody wants to take responsibility when you win, but when you fail, all these fingers are pointing."

"I have a rule on my team: when we talk to one another, we look each other right in the eye, because I think it's tough to lie to somebody. You give respect to somebody."

"I'm fortunate now that I coach at Duke University and we've won a lot. I have some kids who haven't failed that much. But when they get to college, they're going to fail some time. That's a thing that I can help them the most with."

“I try to see each new season as a new challenge because I have a new team to work with, new opponents to encounter and often new ideas and theories to try.”

“A common mistake among those who work in sport is spending a disproportional amount of time on “x’s and o’s” as compared to time spent learning about people.”

BRIAN TRACY ON THE IMPORTANCE OF FEEDBACK AND DISCIPLINE

An important part of business communication is giving feedback, correction and discipline to your staff.

How You Can Be More Effective in Giving Feedback to Your Staff

An important part of business communication is giving feedback, correction and discipline to your staff. One of the jobs of the manager is to be a teacher, and in some cases a disciplinarian. This means that, in order to do your job properly, and in order to develop your staff to make their highest potential contribution to the organization, you must give them regular feedback on what they are doing right and where they can improve.

Constructive Criticism

Most people are very tense about giving discipline or what is often called, “constructive criticism.” However you can make it a low stress occasion by focusing on the behavior and the performance rather than on the person. This requires that you report what you see, rather than what you feel, or your interpretation of events.

Focus on the Behavior

For example, a person comes back from a luncheon two hours late. Instead of getting angry with the person, you could say, “I see that you took more than two hours for lunch today. This causes some disruption in the office because of the work that doesn’t get done. Is there a reason for this long lunch?”

In other words, what you are doing is reporting on the individual’s behavior and leaving the door open for a variety of interpretations or explanations. The individual may have had a car accident or a medical appointment, or a family emergency.

Thinking about the Future

One of the best ways to deal with poor performance is to focus on the future over the past. Instead of becoming angry over what has already happened, or not happened, you should explain clearly to the individual what you want to see done differently. Get an agreement from the individual that the job will be done differently in the future. Agree to meet on a regular basis to review progress.

Build Self-Esteem

Always end a disciplinary interview with an expression of faith and confidence in the individual. Always do everything possible to preserve the individual’s self-esteem and self-image. End the conversation with a positive statement that causes the person to go back to work feeling better about himself or herself.

Aim for Improved Performance

Remember, the only purpose of a session of constructive criticism is to improve performance. If you lose sight of that and instead you attack or criticize the other person, his or her performance will not improve. In fact, if you criticize a person too often, the individual will stop doing that job altogether. Their performance will deteriorate and they will become less and less willing to contribute to the goals of the company.

Action Exercises

First, always criticize or correct a person in private. When someone has made a mistake or done a poor job, arrange to see them alone, explain your concerns and ask for their explanation – before you say anything.

Second, no matter what has happened, always focus on the future over the past. Focus on what can be done now rather than what has already happened. Focus on what the person should do next time rather than the mistake that has already been made.

HOWARD HENDRICKS- THE 7 LAWS OF THE TEACHER

The 7 Laws of the Teacher

1. The Law of the Teacher: If you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow.

2. The Law of Education: The way people learn determines how you teach.

3. The Law of Activity: Maximum learning is always the result of maximum involvement.

4. The Law of Communication: To truly impart information requires the building of bridges.

5. The Law of the Heart: Teaching that has impact is not head to head, but heart to heart.

6. The Law of Encouragement: Teaching tends to be most effective when the learner is properly motivated.

7. The Law of Readiness: The teaching-learning process wil be most effective when both student and teacher are adequately prepared.

BASKETBALL THOUGHTS FROM RALPH MILLER

This post is an excerpt from Ralph Pim and Jerry Krause's book Basketball Defense Sourcebook. Here are former Oregon State's basketball coach Ralph Miller's thoughts on teaching and coaching of basketball:

1. Purpose of coaching-teach fundamental skills for competitive purposes.

2 Teach how not to lose; winning will take care of itself.

3. Losing occurs because of mistakes; poor individual and team defense (easy scores), poor defensive rebounding, and turnovers.

4. Players must learn automatic reactions to competitive situations.

5. Coaches must be good teachers; know the subject matter; know what to teach and how to teach it. the mark of a good teacher is the ability to simplify the subject matter for understanding and better comprehension.

6. The #1 fundamental skill is body position and movement (stop, pivot, run).

7. Analyze what the opposition does best and quickest, and then decide how to take advantage.

8. Offensive Concepts

• Attack principles-pass and cut to the basket.
• The pass is a primary weapon (quickest attack).
• Use mostly air passes for quickness, bounce passes only on a backdoor or in an emergency.
• When the shot goes up, think defense-you are responsible for the man guarding you (automatic pick up rule)
• Ballhandler create a core for your teammate.
• The jump stop is the most important offensive tool (especially against zones).

9. Pressure Defense

• Prevent easy scores and gain ball possession.
• Always see ball.
• Body position-staggered stance, feet shoulder-width, palms up, unless guarding the shooter.
• Keep the ball out of the middle
• Conserve time and space.
• Defend with feet-slide, run when needed, stop and pivot.
• Every change is initiated with the pivot.
• No gambles; basketball is a percentage game.

10. Teaching Tips-basketball is a continuous game.

• Limit drills; keep them simple; they must fit the system and be competitive; drills are teaching tools
• Set and require movement goals.
• All players must do everything.
• Learn by doing-repitition and use of whole part
• Be patient-give all a chance to learn.
• Know why you teach what you teach.
• Demonstrate only what you can do well.
• Criticism must be consistent, constructive, and used for important things.
• Make changes only to simplify

11. Be cautious in changing skills:

• Ages 10-12-guarantee success
• Ages 13-14-65% success
• Over 14-40% success

12. Eighty percent of possessions from defensive rebounding and made baskets; 20 percent of possessions from opponents errors, steals, interceptions, etc.

13. A successful program should be interesting and enjoyable for participants and spectators.

14. Conduct a program within the rules, provide equal opportunity, and develop a successful team and individuals (academically, socially, morally).