This article was written by Augusta University Head Men's Basketball Coach Dip Metress.

Anyone can coach, but how many people can have a coaching career? I am considered one of the dinosaurs in my profession but wanted to give you some different perspectives on how to make coaching a career, and hopefully allow you to stay a part of this great game for as long as possible.

In this article, I am going to provide you with the ten commandments to coaching longevity that have I have picked up over my years of coaching.

The 10 Commandments of Coaching Longevity

Observe Other Team’s Practices

When my wife and I went to buy our first house, the realtor said, “even though you don’t like the house from the outside go in and look.” The same concept is true regarding watching other teams practice. Watching another coach lead a practice will allow you to pick up different ideas and get your mind rolling, from there you can implement anything that you like as well as come up with new variations that you may want to try with your team. It is always good to be learning from other coaches that you respect.

Read, Learn, Grow

When I first got into coaching, this was a great piece of advice. Reading multiple books at one time is ok. Have a library card and use library services. You may not be able to pick the mind of one of your favorite coaches in person, but you can read their coaching book and learn from them that way. Books give you access to so much great information; if you don’t take advantage of them, you are going to stunt your coaching growth.

Become a Teacher of the Game

Find a new offense or defense and research it and learn about it. I would agree with the adage that the game is over coached and under taught. However, the more you can learn and master, the more you will be able to teach. Being a teacher of the game is not only going to help others around you, but it is also going to challenge you and hold you accountable to continue to learn yourself.

Evolve or Die

Times change and the game changes, but that doesn’t mean fundamentals are not important. As we get older the kids we coach stay the same age. There needs to be a balance of helping our kids master the fundamentals but also making sure that they are as successful as possible in the current style of the game. Just because a new system becomes popular doesn’t mean you need to throw out everything that you previously knew, but the game is always going to continue to evolve and morph, so make sure that you are evolving with it as it does.

Develop Real Relationships

The late great Al McGuire that coached at my alma mater Belmont Abbey said, “every day you have to build your army.” You have to get to know the people that are stakeholders in your future. This happens by spending time cultivating real relationships and continuing to connect with other great people.

Empower Your Assistants

Let your assistants coach in practice. It is incredible to me how often assistant coaches have no voice in practice. Not only will your assistant coaches help to fill in the gaps that maybe you are missing, but allowing them to coach is also going to allow them to grow as a coach.

Learn From Other Coaches

Model your career after coaches that have longevity in their program. It does not have to be in your sport either, but coaches that have done it for a long time have something figured out. Learn from those coaches and do your best to emulate what they do when it comes to longevity.

Stay True to Who You Are

Never try to be something you are not. Lacking persistence doesn’t allow you to figure things out when adversity hits. If you are consistently trying to reinvent yourself or please someone, you are not going to be able to show and master who you are as a coach. So stay true to what you believe the right way to do things are. This doesn’t mean you can’t evolve and grow, but your core values should be strong and uncompromising.

Quality Habits

Remember that it is easier to put good habits into place than it is to eliminate harmful practices. Any form of selfishness needs to be removed. Coaching at its core is about serving and helping others, and selfishness is the antonym of serving.

Represent Yourself Well

You can’t have a bad practice as a head coach. So much of leadership ability is about how other people experience themselves in your presence. A great leader has a presence that makes other people bigger. If you allow yourself to be up and down as a coach you will lose the respect of your players and those around you. You must represent yourself well daily and stay consistent.

Conclusion

Coaching is one of the most rewarding professions on the planet. You can impact lives regularly and make a lasting impact on those around you. If you are looking to make coaching a lifetime profession, these ten commandments will give you an excellent foundation to stand on as you go.

This article was written by University of North Carolina Wilmington Assistant Coach Doug Esleeck.

April 2017 I was a part of the staff that took over at UNCW.  The next few months happened in the blink of an eye, and we made a million decisions that would set the course for our program in year 1 and beyond. There was a lot that was learned by me personally, and the staff as a whole, during this transition time. Here are some of the questions that I believe every coaching staff that takes over a new program should ask themselves.  

This basketball coaching article will directly address Division I coaching transitions, but some parts apply to any level of coaching.

(For clarity, the pronoun “you” designates the Head Coach.  If you’re an assistant coach, then you need to ask your Head Coach these questions and then execute his vision.)

Questions to Ask Yourself

Time of Hiring

When do you get the job?  

Is it early April and you have the Spring still ahead of you to recruit, or is it late July and Fall classes are getting ready to start in 2 weeks?  

The timing of your hire will determine your priorities and what you can accomplish to a certain extent. April hires have a full recruiting cycle to make good decisions on roster additions. July/August hires may be stuck with the roster they inherited. The same is true of your staff positions. July hires may not be able to get exactly the staff they hoped to have beside them.

The vision for the Program

What is your vision for the program?

Are you trying to win as many games as possible this year and you’re willing to make decisions with short-term payoff and long-term risk, or do you want to build a program that’s a consistent long-term winner and you will sacrifice short-term W’s for long-term sustainability?  

This is a HUGE deal. If you want to flip the roster and win as many games as possible, then you need to take risks with the players you sign. You need to schedule wins in year 1 and 2 aggressively. Every decision would be different if you wanted to build a program that is built from the ground up for the long-term. For example, you need to hire coaches who can develop the young guys you sign. You need to be careful signing kids with risky academics. You need to schedule in a way that builds excitement in your fan base while still protecting your team from getting beat up in the nonconference slate.

Professional Goals

What do you want to accomplish professionally?  

Do you want to climb the professional ladder and get the next job, or do you want to earn a lifetime contract at your current job?  

This fits into the previous question. You must be sure that your professional goals align with your program goals. If you want to build a long-term program and settle in at your current job, but you sign high-risk players and you burn bridges by clearing out the current roster, you’re going to end up in a bad situation. The reverse is also true. If you are building for the long term, maybe you sign four guys and redshirt all of them. You would never try that if you’re concerned about winning right away. You have to be honest with yourself and your staff about what you want to accomplish.

First Month Concerns

What’s the most important thing for you to spend your time on the first month on the job?

Do you need to sign ten guys, so you just need to recruit all day every day?

Do you need to raise $100k every year for your program to function, so you need to spend time with the boosters?

Do you need to see the families of your current players because you have a loaded roster?

Is there a ton of media exposure, so you need to be available to media?  

You have to find out as much about the job as you possibly can before your first day. You need to hit the ground running hard at the things that are going to impact winning and your contract. Every job is different, and outside factors like the previous staff’s success/failure, the timing of your hire, or the roster make up can drastically change what’s really important for your success at this particular job at this particular time.

Returning Players

What players are returning and how valuable are they?  

You have to get to know your team as quickly as possible. Dive into film, statistics, individual meetings, meals together, skill work, weight room sessions… anything that can help you get an accurate read for what you’ve got and what you need.

Recruiting

How many scholarships to do you have available?  

How many visits do you have left?

What is your recruiting budget and how much is left?  

How can you add talent to what you already have?  

Resources are a huge part of this equation: scholarship dollars and budget dollars.

APR Status

What is the APR situation?

Can you make sweeping changes or will flipping the roster hurt your program?

How will the administration react to swift changes?

Try to find this out in the interview process, so you have a plan already formed when you take the job. If there are constraints on how you can adjust your roster, you need to know that on the front end.

Understand Player Relationships

What are the relationships like within your program?

Which players are friends?

Which players don’t like each other?

As you consider personnel changes, what impact does cutting one player have on the rest of your roster… Who would be happy or sad that a kid is gone?  

This can be hard to figure out, but before you cut a kid, you better know if he’s best friends with your two best returning players. You may get rid of the weakest link, but an unintended consequence could be your best two players decide to transfer too.

Building Trust With Your Players

How can you build trust with the returning players?

How can you show them you’re invested in the program and in each of them?  

Kids need to know you’re investing in their program and their games. Skill development and film study are a great way to build bonds and trust with players who don’t know you. Renovating a locker room, getting a new housing situation set up off campus, or signing a new gear deal all communicate to your players that this coaching change can benefit them.

Scheduling Philosophy

What is your scheduling philosophy?

Are you trying to maximize wins or improve the appeal of your home schedule to sell season tickets?

Do you need to consider RPI and the quadrants for an at-large bid or seeding purposes?

Do you want to take your kids on a good trip each year with an MTE/foreign tour/pair of games somewhere in the country?  

You should already have a scheduling philosophy based on the level of job you’re taking and what you want to accomplish. If you’re fighting for an at-large bid, then you need to know what you’re looking for in nonconference opponents. If all that matters is the conference tournament, then that’s a different scheduling consideration. The specific job you have will determine that details, but you should have a formula ready to go.

Next Years Schedule

What does your game schedule look like for next season?

What contracts have been signed?

What are the buy-outs?

If you have an unfavorable schedule what changes can you make?

Will your administration let you buy your way out of contracts that put you in a position to fail?

Can you push some games to year 2?

Can you buy winnable games at home, D1 or Non-D1?

Can you find a home and home series that gives you a chance to win both games in year 1 and 2?  

These questions will be specific to the schedule that the previous staff built and your program’s resources. You need to try and figure this out quickly and be aggressive backing out of games that aren’t advantageous for your program. Don’t be afraid to make another program/school upset. Your responsibility is to your program and your institution. Be aggressive while you are in the honeymoon phase and rework the schedule to your advantage if you can.

Administrative Help

Who can you hire with the timing and money available?

How quickly can you get someone on campus to help you with the administrative tasks that pile up?  

If you have an operations guy, video, or even a GA in mind, get them on campus as quickly as possible to give you another set of hands in the office. It’s amazing how many things are coming at you that first summer. The quicker you have someone who can help you with the paperwork, details, etc. the quicker you can focus on the big decisions that have a long-term impact on your program.

Finding the Right Coaches to Hire

Do you love recruiting but not skill development?

Do you love offense but hate coaching defense?

Do you love spending time with your players but hate fundraising?   

When considering who to hire, attack your weaknesses with each new person you bring into the program. Your staff will help you become a more well-rounded head coach and allow you to supplement different areas of your coaching.

Transitioning Into a New Program Conclusion

If you aren’t sure about a particular decision, then wait and gather more information. It can be tempting to make quick, sweeping decisions so that you can move onto the next thing. But, if you’re making decisions with bad or incomplete information, your chances of making the right decision are considerably diminished.

At the end of the day, you need players who are good enough to win at your level; you need opponents that you can realistically beat, and you need resources to sign the players and travel to the games. Your professional goals should determine the decisions you make within those three categories to align your program with your vision for where you want the program to be next year and five years from now.