What makes a
successful Basketball
Coach?
BY: ERIC KING

CONTENTS:
 Skills and Qualities
 Characteristics
 Coaching Philosophy
 Coaching Goals and Objectives
Mentors

Skills and Qualities:
College graduate with at least a
Bachelors Degree
Playing experience at different levels
Communicate effectively
Create an enriched coaching
environment

Skills and Qualities:

Skills and Qualities:

Skills and Qualities:

Skills and Qualities:

Characteristics:
1. Patience
 Remember that you are coaching young men. Young people need
teaching but they also need the opportunity and freedom to make
mistakes. Your role as coach is to teach and then help your players learn
from their mistakes. Rather than expecting your players to play flawlessly,
allow them to demonstrate mistakes. This approach requires a substantial
amount of patience.

Characteristics:
2. Maturity
 Even at foundational levels of play, basketball games can become heated.
It is your duty to act like a responsible adult under any circumstance. This
means keeping your temper under control even when you know that you
are right in a particular situation. Your dealings with players, officials,
parents, scorekeepers and others are under a microscope as a leader, and
it will require you to demonstrate restraint in all situations.

Characteristics:
3. Basketball Knowledge
 As the coach of a team, group or individual, you will need to develop an
understanding of fundamentals, rules and various strategies based on the
level you are working with. Advanced levels will require deeper basketball
education as well as a more philosophical approach to coaching.

Characteristics:
4. Commitment
 Games are certainly important, but being a good coach involves more than
simply showing up for the game. To be effective you will need to organize
and execute practices, provide fundamental skill instruction, decide on
playing time, communicate frequently with players and parents, and much
more. Coaching is a commitment of your time to the development of
players both on and off the court. Make the full commitment to coaching,
it will maximize the benefit to your players and make the experience more
rewarding for you.

Characteristics:
5. Prioritize
 Winning can be a healthy goal, but striving to win is where lessons are
learned regardless of the final score. A truly effective coach will evaluate a
team’s level of play, will set attainable goals, and then will assess outcomes
based on development rather than on wins or losses. Identify your players’
values and establish your values as a coach, then use those values as
guiding principles in prioritizing team and player goals.

Characteristics:
6. Respect
 I strongly believe the greater the respect for the coach, the easier the buy-
in from your players and the more often you can get your team to buy in,
the more you are going to see them do what you want them to do. Work
ethic and knowledge have been keys in my ability to gain respect.

Characteristics:
7. Relationships
 I believe relationships are the foundation for success in any field. Get to
know your team; get to know about your team; talk to your players in
good times and bad; let your players know you care about them; and
develop a trust with your players. One of the most important things you
can do for a person is to let them know you genuinely care about them
and their life.

Characteristics:
8. Ability to motivate
 This is an aspect of coaching that requires one constantly “read” what is
needed for their team and each player on a daily basis. It also requires
much thought and study to find new ways of accomplishing these tasks.
Find out what makes players tick and then create ways to motivate them to
get the most they are capable of each day.

Characteristics:
9. Flexible
 While a great manager is process oriented and utilises clearly defined
standards to guide the analysis, they can be flexible in the manner and
tone in which coaching is applied. A great coach adjusts to the personality
and behavior of the individual.

Characteristics:
10. Realistic
 A great coach is realistic. Great coaches know when the coaching is NOT
working and get well programs have not succeed. It means letting go.
Terminating. The key point is this: for whatever reason, not every player
will benefit from the coaching efforts. Some players will not apply the skills
or techniques and won't succeed. Great coaches know when to quit. They
know when to move on. They know that it is better to work on those who
can grow than those who won't.

Coaching Philosophy
 Being in a position to influence young men through coaching is a privilege.
A coach should look at their position as a lifestyle, not a job. A coach
should be committed to providing his athletes with every opportunity to
improve on and off the court.

Coaching Philosophy:
 https://youtu.be/UhQz-0QVmQ0?list=RDbSglz6agmXc

Coaching Philosophy:
“Be the same guy everyday.”
 It is very important to not only "talk it" but also "walk it." This saying
reflects on always staying true to who you are and also to your players.
Athletes want to learn more from a coach they feel a bond with someone
they believe in and trust. It is important as a coach, to teach the proper
perspective to players.

Coaching Philosophy
 Communication is key and a coach must let his players know he cares for
them as people and not as athletes. Creating an honest relationship with
your players, good or bad, has to be the foundation of
good communication. Letting your captains help share team's concerns or
thoughts is a key element to getting your players to buy into your system.

Coaching Philosophy:
 Teaching the right things is essential. As a coach you must not let what
your players cannot do interfere with what they can do. Fundamentals will
be emphasized each day but always with a goal to be reached. Making
things competitive brings out the kind of setting you need to analyze or
critique your team. I don't believe in just "running" during practice, I like
my players to get in shape with the basketball. With that being said,
condition is something separate from practice. The primary responsibility
of a coach is to teach the players to play together as a unit. Expect
improvement and demand perfection to show your players their true
potential.

Coaching Goals and Objectives:
 Practice Plan
8-8:30 8:30-9 9-9:930 9:30-10 10-10:30 10:30-11
Announcements Big/Little Situational
Basketball
5 on 5
scrimmage
Closet out drill Scout Team
Warm up 3 on 2 , 2 on 1 ”Taped Rims” Shell Drill Free Throws Film Room
Stretch 5 on Os Free Throws Stretch
Weights Water Break

Coaching Goals and Objectives:
 Basketball Budget $250,000
 School and Athletic Department (15%) $37,500
 Scholarships $60,000
 Coaches Salary $80,000 (head coach) $35,000 (assistant coach)
 Home Games 12 total $24,000
 Away Games 7 total $2,100
 Away Game Van fees $3,550
 Meal Money $5,000
 Hotel $4,000
 Uniforms 15 = $1,500
 Warm Ups $700
 Equipment $4,750
 Team Gear $1,400

Coaching Goals and Objectives:

Coaching Goals and Objectives:
 As a coach you have to analyze and make decisions off of charted stats.

Coaching Goals and Objectives:
 To witness individual growth in both players academic and personal lives
through the values taught in basketball.
 Present opportunities and challenges with require the team and individuals
to step outside their comfort zone and achieve their greatest potential
 Exhibit and maintain a fun, positive, enthusiastic atmosphere
 Appreciation for diverse personalities and each members unique role on
the team
 Have all players understand what we do as a TEAM to be successful and to
develop trust in one another.

Coaching Philosophy and Objectives:
 To attend to problems and communicate about issues before they escalate
and become detrimental to the teams progress.
 To discover the strengths of out team and personnel with the objective of
playing an offence & defense that accentuates these aspects.
 Constant full court pressure defense; pressuring the ball at all times, to
develop complete confidence in our defensive system.
 Total commitment to the running game – a controlled fast break.

Coaching Philosophy and Objectives:
 To have practices reflect game pace; developing competitive, intense
habits.
 Self control, positive attitude and good sportsmanship will help determine
who plays.
 Players will learn to set realistic goals on a regular basis.

Mentors:
 The key to staying a successful coach is to have the proper mentors. At
times when you need help or advice you have to surrounded by the right
people

Mentors:
 RICH RESSA (Head Coach Delta College)
“In order to be THE MAN, you have to be A MAN.”
Rich has played an integral part in building the Delta College Men’s
Basketball program’s tradition of excellence. As a head coach, he
has two Final Eight appearances (2009, 2013) and one Final Four
(2009). But his contribution started long before that while he
worked as the Associate Head Coach for previous Delta College
Head Coach, Brian Katz. He worked under the 2009 California
Community College Coaches Hall of Famer for 11 seasons, until
Katz accepted the Head Coach position at Sacramento State
University. During that span, he helped the Mustangs win four
conference championships as well as reach three Final Eight (2000,
2005, 2007) and a Final Four (2005).

Delta Mustangs

Mentors:
 Dominique Bukasa (Assistant Head Coach Delta College)
Bukasa, who has over 10 years of coaching experience, worked
as an Assistant Coach for Ed Madec from 2005-2008 at College
of the Siskiyous and Fresno City College. At College of the
Siskiyous, he helped coach the Eagles to a 27-5 record and a #1
Ranking in the State for nine consecutive weeks during the
2005-06 season. That marked the first time in school history
that the College of Siskiyous had received the top ranking in the
State. The next two years at Fresno City College, he was part of
the coaching staff that won the 2007 California Community
College State Championship, back-to-back Central Valley
Conference league titles and State Final Eight appearances with
a 62-16 combined record.

Delta Mustangs

Mentors:
 Coach Jan Thomas (Assistant Coach Delta College)
Thomas began coaching at San Joaquin Delta
College Basketball in 2014. Having played during
the 1996-98 seasons for Delta College and California
Community College Coaches Hall of Famer Brian
Katz. This Marked his first year as an Assistant
Coach at San Joaquin Delta College. He joined
Coach Ressa’s staff after spending the last six years
playing and also coaching professionally in China.

Mentors:
 Coach Hernandez (Assistant Coach)
Eddie Hernandez joined the San Joaquin Delta College
Basketball staff in 2013. Coach Hernandez is currently in his
22nd season of coaching basketball. For the past 18 years he has
been a local high school coach. He played for Coach Ressa at
Franklin High School and joined his coaching staff after
graduation in 1994. Next he joined the coaching staff at Bear
Creek High School and for the past 14 years he has helped
transform their basketball program. During his nine years as the
head coach, his teams made playoffs three times, including the
first playoff win in school history.

Mentors:
 Coach Espinoza (Assistant Coach)
Tony Espinoza's first season as an assistant coach with the
men’s basketball program was in 2015. Tony has spent the
past 20 years involved in high school athletics at Sierra High
School in Manteca, CA and Amos Alonzo Stagg High School
in Stockton, CA. While at Sierra High School Tony spent
four years with the boys basketball program as a lower level
coach. During his time at A.A. Stagg High School, Tony
spent 13 seasons with the boys basketball program. Nine of
those seasons were spent as the varsity coach.

Mentors:
Omar Stewart (Basketball Skills Trainer)
Coach Omar graduated from James Logan High
School (Union City, Ca) 2004, and later attended
Los Positas College. During his high school career
Coach Omar was named to the MVAL 1ST AND
2ND all league teams both his junior and senior
years. In his Senior campaign Coach Omar was
taken under the wing of (NBA Professional Skills
Trainer) Phil Handy where he developed his skills
as a overall basketball player, at the end of his
senior year Coach Omar was ranked 35th in the
state by (Maxpreps.com) for his position
(shooting guard). In college he was ranked in the
top 100 of the state of California JUCO players.
After finishing his college career Coach Omar was
then mentored by Dashawn Freeman (Founder
and Head Skills Trainer of GAMEspeed HOOPS),
under his tutelage Coach Omar developed a
talent of teaching the game of basketball to kids
from all walks of life and ages.

Mentors:
 Maria Shell (MOM)

Mentors:
 JESUS