#83 Recruitment in the Time of COVID19

It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you down.  It's the pebble in your shoe.

 --Muhammad Ali

Without a doubt, COVID-19 is a reality that all of us need to take seriously.  We all play a huge role in bringing this deadly virus to an end.  With the direction I am about to share, I do not want to give the impression that I believe anything else.  My family came very close to losing my older brother back in March to the virus, so nothing is more important to me right now than educating families on the reality of what the virus has done and will continue to do if we do not all play our part.

With that said, I am going to share a metaphor that I have been using with families who have come to me asking for help about how to get their child recruited in the time of COVID.  I think it will open your eyes to the fact COVID is not an obstacle at all.  You may be your only obstacle.

Imagine you are driving down a busy 4-lane highway.  Your side of the highway is busy, but everyone is driving 75 mph and cruising toward their respective destinations. You look a mile ahead on the other side of the highway with traffic coming toward you, and you see that traffic has come to a stop and cars are lined up as far as the eye can see.

As you are looking over to the left of the highway, you realize that you have taken your eyes off the road ahead of you, and you immediately slam on the brakes because of the cars ahead of you have dramatically slowed down.  There is no problem on your side of the highway:  no accidents, no breakdowns, no cops...just a bunch of nosy, curious individuals who are trying to see what is happening on the other side.

This is the only reason that COVID is going to affect your personal recruitment.  COVID is the other side of the highway.  It is not an obstacle or a deterrent to your ability to get recruited.

College coaches have not stopped or slowed down their recruitment at all.  If anything, I am seeing recruitment escalated because half of the coaches in the country cannot recruit off campus due to the ever-changing off-campus rules the NCAA keeps extending.  So, what does this "Dead Period" mean to you?

1. D1 coaches cannot get off campus to come watch you play live
2. D1 coaches cannot invite you to their campus for a visit

That's it.  If you are a junior or senior, you can still call them.  You can still email them.  They can still watch your film and evaluate your grades and ability.  They can still contact you and your coaches.  They can still make offers to the Class of 2021 and 2022...and they are doing so every day!

D3, NAIA, D2, JC...and the D1 coaches are still recruiting like ever before.  They just have to use their resources differently, but recruitment has really not been affected at all.

So, what should YOU be doing during these crazy times?

1. Create a list of 25-50 schools at the D3, NAIA, D2, and D1 levels that you want to pursue.  I recommend 5-10 schools at each level.  (Don't forget that 80% of all athletic scholarships come from non-D1 schools)
2. Email 2-3 of those coaches every week to introduce yourself and express your interest in them.
3. Ideally, that email should include the following:

Why are you interested in their school and program?

Why should they be interested in you?  i.e.  Grades, ability, experience, size, position, etc. 

Include your most up-to-date highlight/skill video, transcripts, test scores, game/practice    schedule, upcoming events, you and your family's contact information, your coach's contact information.  The best way to do this is by creating a NCSA profile and attaching the link to that profile.  NCSA works with every college coach in the country.  Your NCSA profile is easy to build and gives the coaches exactly want they want and need from you. 

Ask them to evaluate your profile and provide feedback if they have a need (roster opening) for someone of your ability.

The student-athletes who are being the most assertive/aggressive with their recruitment are the ones who the coaches are watching, talking to and making offers to.  The student-athletes who are simply playing for their High School or Club or Academy or AAU program and hoping someone finds them, are the only ones who are struggling.

Be aggressive!  Go after what you want!  You will begin to see results faster than you can imagine.

If you would like to schedule a one-hour evaluation and planning session with your family and me, you can contact me anytime at my email or phone number below. 

Good luck and best wishes!  Go make your dreams come true!

Coach Matt Rogers

Senior Recruiting Specialist

NCSA - Next College Student-Athlete

Office:  (312) 610-6045

Email:  mrogers@ncsasports.org

#82 Building the System From Ground Up

“Make your team feel respected, empowered and genuinely excited about the company’s mission.” 
–Tim Westergren, co-founder of Pandora

I continue to get calls about the System, and most calls are from high school and small college coaches who are excited about the idea of the System, but are somewhat afraid to make the big jump to implementing something so unique compared to what their community is used to seeing on the basketball court.

I am using a business quote today to introduce the theme of the blog because it is important to understand who exactly your "team" is if you are going to launch the System.

Your team is not just your players, your assistants and you.  Your team consists of your Principal, your AD, your parents, and your community at-large.  All of these people will be making some level of investment into your program, so it is important that you include them in the beginning, so you can "soften the blow" a little bit and help them understand what you are about to implement and why.  

STEP 1:  Get the Bosses on Board

Set-up a meeting with your Principal and AD.  Tell them that you only need 15 minutes, but you want to let them know what you are thinking about doing for next season, and you want them on board because there may be some rocky stretches.  Make sure they understand the following:

• You want to implement a program where you can play 14-15 kids every night.
• Every kid who makes a team will get the opportunity to get actual game experience almost every game.
• The top players will play less minutes than normal, but their stats should dramatically increase.
• Each player will have an essential role and be asked to be in the best shape of their life
• There will be highs and lows early on, but we will draw more fans than we ever have before because the style of play is so fun to watch.
• You want the administration prepared that some families may not be thrilled about their child getting less minutes than usual and will not understand why you will be substituting new players into the game and the frequency of those substitutions.  If your administration understands that you are trying to wear down the other team's top 5-7 players by throwing 14-15 fresh bodies at them so the other team will eventually run out of gas, they will have a much easier time protecting you from skeptics.

STEP 2:  Get the Families on Board

With your administration on board (and they should be because they hired you to run the basketball program), you can now focus your energy on the players and their parents.  Schedule a meeting this spring (maybe a month after your end of season banquet) with the kids who will be returning for next year.  No need wasting the time of your graduating seniors and parents.  Tell the families and players that you will be implementing a new system of play next season, and you want them all on the same page, so they understand from the beginning what the purpose and goals are.  I would have clips of another team running the system available to show the players and families what the system will look like.  Focus on the following:

• Each player who makes a specific team (Var, JV, SO, FR) will be running the same system.
• Ideally, we will have 15 players on each of those teams (small schools may only have a Var and JV)
• You will rotate groups of 5 young men or women into the game every 45-90 seconds
• You will be pressing full court all 32 minutes of the game to create lots additional possessions per game.  (We want to be shooting a lot more than the other team.)
• We will be giving up a lot of lay-ups, but we will be countering the other team's lay-up with 3-point attempts and extreme offensive rebounding efforts to, again, create lots of additional possessions per game.  If we can get 15-20 additional shots per game than the other team, and we are shooting 3-pointers 60% of the time compared to their 2-pointers 90% of the time, we will be scoring more points per attempt while creating many more attempts.
• Make sure the families understand that you will begin implementing the System processes as soon as Spring/Summer open gyms and practices are allowed, and you will be implementing it into Spring and Summer camps and leagues as soon as possible.
• Ask the families to help build the System mentality by reminding your child how important it is that we:
1. Play aggressively ("hair on fire") for all 32 minutes.  If you are only on the floor for 45 seconds, can you create a steal or turnover, get at least one offensive rebound or shoot 2-3 3-pointers in that time?
2. Play aggressive on defense but DO NOT FOUL.  Every time we foul, we allow our opponent to rest.  We want the other coach to have play 5-6 players that normally would never see the floor.  We want their best players to be exhausted and in foul trouble playing against our 15 players who always play and completely understand their role.
3. Play hard knowing that you are going to get a rest in a very short amount of time, but you will be on the bench for a very short amount of time as well.
4. The top 5 players will typically play 16-18 minutes.  The next 5 will typically play 8-10 minutes, and the last 5 will typically play 4-8 minutes per game.
5. If mom and dad are supporting these goals and reminding their son or daughter how important it is that they play their role to the best of their abilities, there will be many nights that we score over 100 points in a game and 10-15 players will have scored, rebounded, created steals and helped us win the game.

STEP 3:  Make Sure the Team Understands the Goals 

Okay, now you are going to feel a lot more confident.  You have your team on board.  They know your plan, and they all know how to support you and the players toward the same goal.  Now, it is time to implement.  The best way to implement the System with your players is to give them the hard stats that they will be responsible to hit every game.  Tell that them that if they hit these stats each game, they will win 90% of the time.  The other 10% will be those nights where the ball just doesn't want to go in the hole.  As you have heard me say and write many times, no one does all of this better than Dave Arseneault at Grinnell College in Iowa.  Dave's 5 statistical goals will be a great place for you to start.  You may want to tweak these as you go because Dave bases these off of a 40-minute college game and not a 32-minute high school game.  I have had high school teams hit these stats in 32 minutes, but because of the obstacles (i.e. shot clock, mercy rules) it may not be always possible.

1. Take 94 shots per game
2. Half of those shots (or more) must be 3-pointers
3. For every shot missed, you must get 1/3 of those back on offensive rebounds.
4. Force 32 turnovers per game
5. Have 25 or more possessions than your opponent (steals, offensive rebounds, forced turnovers)

Coach Arseneault has proven for over 25 years that his teams will win 95% of their games if they hit these numbers.  My teams have proven that statistic to be fairly accurate as well.  Now, most of you will be implementing this at the high school level.  I encourage you to implement three additional goals:

1. Keep the fouls under 7 each half - never be in the double bonus for fouls in either half, and the other team is in trouble - no breaks and no free throws
2. Never let there be an offensive possession where you do not get a clean shot up in over 10 seconds.  As the season progresses, you want that number to move as close to 6 seconds per shot as possible.
3. When open, you shoot.  Never pass up an open shot.  Too many passes in the System leads to more turnovers.  The same goes for dribbling.  The point guard should be the only player who ever needs more than 2-3 dribbles at a time.  You are working so hard to create more possessions, the last thing we want to do is give the other team the ball right back.  A shot will always be better than a turnover.

STEP 4:  Building System Practices

Coach Westhead from Loyola Marymount taught me a long time ago that if you are going to change your style of play so dramatically when running the System that it is imperative that you change the style of your practices to match the System.  If you are running a two hour practice each day, 100 of that 120 minutes, your boys or girls should be running and moving.  The other 20 minutes is going to be teaching, pressure free throws and rotational drills where you are moving very fast for 5-7 seconds and then you get a 5-7 second break.  Here's what a good System practice should look like:

1. 5 minutes:  50% pace full court drill:  2-man passing, 2-man dribbling, 2-man offensive move to score - DO NOT start practices with a static stretch.  Get them warm first, so their muscles are ready for a stretch
2. 5 minutes:  Stretch: Leg swings, hip and groin and IT band stretches, high knees and skip jogs.  Get the core opened up once the muscles are loose.
3. 10 Full court System drill:  We have multiple drills that simulate our break with 2, 3, 4 and 5 players going up the court to score and then another group taking the rebound or taking a score and turning into an outlet and up the floor repeating the same attack
4. 10 minutes Trapping drill:  Again, we have multiple drills that allow us to simulate trapping in pairs with proper fundamentals full court and half court.  If you are not teaching them how to trap, they will never do it right, and you must practice it every day.
5. 10 minutes Shooting drill:  Again, simulate your offense where your 2's are getting the shot you want them to get 90% of the time over and over again in a full court fashion.  After 2 minutes of the 2s getting their shot, now move to the 3s and then the 4s and then the 5s and then the 1s.
6. 3 minutes First Break (but not really):  We have multiple pressure FT drills where the kids have to make 10 FTs in a row at 6 different baskets or they have to make 6 consecutive FT's moving 1 FT at a time to each basket.  If they miss one, they have to start over from the beginning.  If the team doesn't make 10 in a row or the individual doesn't make 6 in a row in that 2-3 minute span, we run a team sprint (maybe 3x down and back in 35 seconds).  They get a longer rest and drink if they hit their goal.  They get a shorter rest and drink if they miss their goal.
7. 30 minutes of group work:  At this point, I like to move into working into groups.  Mondays, we spend the next 20-30 minutes on 1v1 offensive and defensive drills; Tuesdays are 2v2; Wednesdays are 3v3; Thursdays are 4v4; Fridays are 5v5.  We do drills and contests to get them to understand how to play on one-side of the floor; how to attack certain aspects of a defense; how to break presses and traps, etc.
8. 10 minutes of half-court rotational defensive drills:  Your players have to learn how to go sideline to sideline on defense.  When you are trapping for 32 minutes, you must build muscle memory, so your body knows how to explode from a trap into help and without thinking.
9. 10 minutes of half-court rotational rebounding drills:  Just like trapping and rotating, your team must have twitchy rebounding instincts. You must implement defensive and offensive rebounding drills each day.  The difference between what you used to do and what you do now, is now a defensive rebounding drill leads to a fastbreak attack to the other end.  An offensive rebouding drill leads to an immediate trap forcing the offensive rebounder to be quick, decisive and smart.  I can power up and score myself or I can find a shooter with the defense broken down for another 3-pointer.
10. 3 minutes for Second Break (but not really):  Another team pressure FT drill using all 6 baskets
11. 20 minutes of scrimmage implementation:  Just like our games, our scrimmages are 45 seconds to 90 seconds long.  I put the shot clock at 7 seconds and we go.  If you do not get a shot off in 7 seconds, you put the ball on the ground, the other team grabs it, and in a split second, we go from offense to defense trapping like wild men or women.  Kids will get frustrated having to put the ball down and not a getting a shot.  They will get more aggressive.  They will run the floor harder.  They will get the ball out of their hands faster.  Before you know it, they will be getting shots up from full court in-bounds in 3-4 seconds.  You can keep score with points, rebounds, turnovers, deflections.  You don't have to just win the game with scoring.  Make sure you are practicing winning the games in short intervals and stressing the 5 Grinnell components above.  You may have a scrimmage where one team wins 3 offensive rebounds to 2 offensive rebounds in a 45 second game.  The winning team must hit one free throw to win the game.  If they miss that FT, even if they won the stat game, they still lose.  Losing team runs a sprint while the winning team claps and cheers.  Give yourself a 45 second time-out to coach the next scrimmage and go again.  [You will have days each week where you will use some of this time to put your sideline and baseline out of bounds stuff in]
12. Final 5 minutes:  This should be a contest...something where they have to make a lot of shots as a team or work as a team in a full-court setting to win the competition.  I have 5 that I use for each day of the week.  The kids know them.  They love them.  They look forward to trying to beat them.

There you go.  That is how you build the System from the ground up.  If you try and skip Step 1 and 2, I promise at some point, you will regret it.  If you try and implement Steps 3 and 4 starting in November, you will be lucky if your team doesn't revolt against you by Christmas.  You must start in the Spring and the Summer and break bad habits well before you get to November.  They should already love it before your first practice of the season.

Email or call me if you'd like to talk about any of this.  Good luck!  No fear!

Matt Rogers

Email: coachrogers12@gmail.com
Twitter: @madcoachdiary
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rogersmatt16
Blog: madcoachdiary.blogspot.com
Phone: (312) 610-6045

Matt Rogers is a 23-year high school and college coach veteran.  He has led two teams to the NCAA National Tournament and one team to a High School State Championship.  His teams hold numerous school and one NCAA record. He has mentored and coached players at every collegiate level while serving as an athletics administrator at the high school and NCAA levels. He currently is the Senior Recruiting Specialist for NCSA - Next College Student Athlete where he has helped over 3000 young men and women from around the world achieve their dreams of playing at the college level.  Coach presently lives in the Denver, CO area with his wife of 22 years and his two children. 

To request Coach Rogers to speak at your school or event, you can reach him through any of his contact information above.

#81 An Unfinished Life

It was a hard day today.  I have been struggling with my emotions, and I needed to express how I was feeling; even though, I really could not put my finger directly on why I have been breaking down in tears all afternoon and into the early morning.

It all started when word came through that 9 people tragically died in a helicopter accident in Southern California today.  That alone made me stop and consider life and the consequences that come from living it.  Normally, that type of news may not make it to Colorado where I live.  It may only be a blip on the national news media's coverage of the day.  9 lives lost.  9 families devastated.  9 communities changed forever.  It deserves more of our time, but it is just another sad story that happens in some capacity in every part of the world every day.  We know it deserves more of our sympathies.  Those 9 people had a purpose that has now fallen to those they have left behind.  That burden will be too hard to carry for many, but soon, someone will pick up that purpose, and through time that burden will ease to those in that community.

Today, amazingly, that burden fell to millions around the world who knew the name Kobe Bryant.  Thousands were quick to pick-up his purpose and share his story.  The death of a vibrant, enthusiastic, passionate 41-year old father of 4, international celebrity, future Hall of Famer, arguably one of the Top 5 men's basketball players to ever play the game, and for millions, a role model they never met is quite simply knocking the planet to it's knees today.  Many, young and old, lost a person they have looked up to for most of their lives.

That last part is why I have been struggling emotionally today.

You see, I had just completed my 2nd full season as a head college coach the day the news broke that Kobe had been accused of sexual assault in July of 2003.  I was a collegiate men's coach...a leader of young, impressionable men on their own for the first time in their lives.  Most of my players were just a few years younger than Kobe at the time.  I remember how disappointed I was in Kobe.  Millions of young men looked up to this kid who skipped college to go compete with grown adult men in the NBA.  I was, and in different ways now, a big believer that young men NEEDED 4 years of college to grow-up, make and learn from "small" mistakes, mature their attitudes and desires, learn self-control, learn how to deal with conflict and differentiating opinions.  I knew I needed every second of 4-years of college for all of those things and many more.

These accusations against Kobe only made my thoughts on the matter stronger and gave me conviction in my opinion.  From my perspective, the pressure, stress, millions of dollars and the media's microscope was too much for most 30-year olds, let alone a 17-year old who hadn't had time in a conducive environment to grow into something more resembling an adult.  Kobe never had time to gradually grow into someone the world wanted to touch and have 5 seconds with.  17 year olds are not ready to be gods or at least treated as omnipotent.  That level of desire and scrutiny from a big world was enough to blow any kid's head to the size of the Goodyear blimp.  From his attitude on and off the court, it was obvious, to me, that he had succumbed to that explosion of ego.

Fast-forward 15 years after the charges were dropped and the whispers had stopped, Kobe had completed a world-renowned basketball career ascending to the Mt. Rushmore of professional basketball and capping it all off in his final game with an overwhelming 61 points as his teammates watched him launch shot after shot.  I was still dumbfounded to see that there was still a gigantic hole of humility that never was filled.  He still did not seem to get that the world did not revolve around him.  It only seemed to matter that the actors around him performed to the script as he had written and directed.  Even with obvious growth as a husband and father, 5 NBA championships, 2 MVPs, 2 Olympic gold medals, and not really a sniff of wrong-doing since that accusation 15 years before, it was clear to me that his driving goal in life was to be seen as the greatest basketball player of all-time...and everything else was secondary...even the respect of his colleagues and peers.

Now, today, and whether all my vitriolic opinion was righteous or completely out of context, all I could think about was if I was in a helicopter with my young daughter, and I knew that it was about to go down, how I would be fighting heaven and hell to find a way to protect her and save her from an end she did not deserve.  I would become super-human, so she did not have to experience the slightest amount of fear or pain.  I would still be fighting after my last breath had been taken from me.

It was in that moment of reflection that I was hit with the undeniable understanding that if there was ever a father built for that end, it was Kobe Bryant.  It had taken the better part of 24 years in the public eye, but he had become an adult to be proud of and one who deserved a person's respect beyond basketball and fortune and fame.

Kobe did not die today as an egotistical athlete or a first ballot Hall of Famer or a good or bad person.  He died today being the father he was destined to become and one we all hope we never have to be.

He played the game so well because he anticipated 5 plays ahead of everyone else on the court.  He was the consummate chess player who thought he could win the board with only his king.  A novice chess player knew that was impossible, but Kobe lived for the impossible.  He made it his goal in life to prove us skeptics wrong.  He was one of the few to ever play the game who could actually make that work. 

For me and for the rest of my life, the name Kobe Bryant will be synonymous with one thing and one thing only...Father.  I know, without any doubt, that in the last seconds of his life his singular concern was protecting that little girl from what he knew was inevitable.  Just like in every aspect of his life from that point back in 2003 when he thought his life was over, he started to see the world before it saw him.  Today, that education allowed him to be the daddy that little girl desperately needed.

There is nothing more devastating to witness in this world than an unfinished life.  I truly believe that Kobe's was just starting and with his guidance, love and direction, Gigi's life was on track to be greater than even her father's.  I am so thankful that those 4 girls got to witness the man he was becoming, but I am heart-broken for the love, nurturing and education they are losing with his death.  I can only imagine the loss the world is facing not having him around for the next 40 years.  It is without a doubt that he was raising those 4 girls to make the world a better place, and we should all be saddened we won't get to see the final scene.

Sleep well knowing that we have 9 new angels today watching over us and the smallest of the 9 is being held tight by the tallest who is still refusing to let her go.

Matt Rogers

#80 Defense, Defense, Defense!

Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.  --Sun Tzu

I broke back into the Diary yesterday, and after writing a new post, I took the time to re-visit some posts that I wrote 5-6 years ago. What I learned is that writing is not like riding a bike...I have become a very poor writer as I have left my skills lay dormant.  I will get back on the bike and before long I will be riding with no hands again.  Please be patient with me in the meantime...:-).

As a college basketball coach, my strength after many years of doing everything the wrong way became teaching the defensive side of the ball.  I do not know why it took me so long to make my team's defense our priority.  It really makes no sense.  If anyone watched me play throughout high school and my unimpressive college career, they would quickly tell you that my strength as a player was my defensive strategy and instincts.  I could keep anyone in front of me, and I could make the best of the players uncomfortable and frustrated, as I worked very hard to take away their strengths and make them beat me with their weaknesses.

After reviewing my 79 some blog writings over these last 6 years, you can imagine how disgusted I was with myself that I found I have never written a blog about defense.  Granted, defense is not sexy.  Most coaches do not teach it at clinics or camps.  It may be taught at those venues but not near as much as offensive strategy and offensive skill set.  Good defenses slow the game down.  They can make the game a struggle to watch, so you don't see a lot of great defensive possessions popping up on SportsCenter; outside of your occasional great block or coast-to-coast steal with a big dunk at the end.  Sorry, ESPN.  That is not defense.

So, where do I begin?  How do I make defense sexy?  Would a National Championship excite anyone?  Well, if you watched my old friend Brad Soderberg and the Virginia Cavaliers last year, that defense shut down some of the most potent offenses we have seen in years at the college level.  Every offensive possession was a struggle, and they made great players have to make great plays to win the game.  There is only so much magic in every hat, and the Cavaliers made every team have to find more than was in theirs.  They won a National Championship with great defense, outstanding team rebounding, and infectious sharing of the basketball.  You may not have loved to watch the game as a novice fan, but a seasoned college coach would tell you that you got to see the Mona Lisa in action.  It was a pure masterpiece designed by two of the best coaches on the planet...who rarely get their due.

Coach Bennett and Coach Soderberg teach the "Pack-Line Defense".  No defender ever leaves the 3-point line, and everyone pinches to the ball eliminating driving lanes, passing lanes and interior scoring.  The "Pack-Line" forces teams to shoot quick and have to win the game from 23 feet.  It is very smart basketball and the reason the UVA wins 30 games almost every year.

I have never been patient enough to teach the Pack-line.  I do not have the ability to watch teams run 30 seconds off the shot clock every single possession for 5 straight months.  Maybe for a few weeks, but 5-months would put me in the mental ward.

I have always been a big believer in up and on-the line man-to-man.  I believe in forcing teams to the corners and to the elbows and eliminating one pass away.  The hardest shots on the floor are shots off the dribble at the elbows (because you are shooting with defenders in both sides of your peripheral  vision and typically the tallest defender in front of you).  Shooting from the corner is equally tough because you do not have a backboard behind you to give you sensory depth.  How often do you see young people in a gym shooting from the corners?  Nah, that is no fun.  Kids don't practice it and that is why we want them taking lots of shots in games from there.  

The defenders that are two passes away straddle the rim-line and force players to re-think attacking the rim off the dribble; and therefore; makes the offense play on one-side of the floor.  Any basketball coach will tell you that the key to good offense is making the ball move from one-side of the floor to the other while making the defense have to move the farthest and work the hardest.  The more times the ball is reversed, the more likely the defense will get lazy and eventually make a mistake.  So, for me, it is complete common sense to eliminate ball and floor reversal for 32 (high school) or 40 (college) minutes and make teams beat you on one-side of the floor.

I do not want to make this blog too long, but talking team defense was not my sole purpose of today's writing.  The sexy part of defense is what I was great at...shutting a singular player down.  If 5 guys can shutdown the other 5 guys, the game will be over very soon...See 1990's Chicago Bulls and 1980's Detroit Pistons.

How do you become a lock-down defender?  3 very simple strategies:

1.  Play on a defender's hip and force them (I mean pin them) to the sideline.  Take away the middle of the floor and use the sideline as your trapping mate.
2.  Keep your eyes on the offensive players belly like your life depends on it.  Too many kids watch the offensive player's eyes or the ball.  Those visuals will only deceive you.  The belly is going nowhere and will never lie to you.
3.  Never be afraid to retreat and re-attack.  If a player makes a quick move, dive your feet toward the basket and create space between you and the man while continuing to protect the middle of the floor.  When the offensive player sees that the move did not open up the middle, and you still did not give them a straight lane the rim, they will get soft and it is time to immediately attack again and pin again.  

*You don't have to be the quickest guy on the floor to be a great defender, but you have to be the smartest.  If you are only giving the ball-handler one direction to attack, you can anticipate and beat him their with your feet every time.

Ahhh!  The monkey is off my back.  I did it!  I wrote an entire blog about defense...and although I am still disgusted with myself for taking this long, I am thrilled that the coaches reading this have some fun talking points to take into practice tomorrow.

Happy Hunting!  Go shut a team down tomorrow.  It starts in practice!  Make it feel like the Octagon.  No one comes out until someone is knocked out :-)

Matt Rogers

Email: coachrogers12@gmail.com
Twitter: @madcoachdiary
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rogersmatt16
Blog: madcoachdiary.blogspot.com
Phone: (312) 610-6045

Matt Rogers is a 22-year high school and college coach veteran.  He has led two teams to the NCAA National Tournament and one team to a High School State Championship.  His teams hold numerous school and one NCAA record. He has mentored and coached players at every collegiate level while serving as an athletics administrator at the high school and NCAA levels. He currently is the Senior Recruiting Specialist for NCSA - Next College Student Athlete where he has helped thousands of young men and women from around the world achieve their dreams of playing at the college level.  Coach presently lives in the Denver, CO area with his wife of 22 years and his two children. 

To request Coach Rogers to speak at your school or event, you can reach him through any of his contact information above.

#79 Keep It Simple

That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.  --Steve Jobs

One of the truly great positives about getting older is that you start to realize how much time you have wasted in your life.  The positive is not the wasted time, but rather the education that comes with learning from that lost time.

My three great flaws are over-thinking, over-talking and over-reacting.  Those three characteristics have led to lost time I will never get back.  I have a passion for justice and teaching things the "right way", so that passion often gets the best of me because I give too much information with too much enthusiasm, and often, the point of my passion and enthusiasm gets lost in translation.

Because of the ridiculous amount of time I have spent over-coaching in my career, I am slowly learning to be much more conscious of speaking and teaching with "conviction":  "say what I mean, and mean what I say."  For example, if I am going to teach a kid how to become a better jump shooter, I do not need to give him or her an oral  history on the great shooters of all-time.  That does not help anyone shoot the ball better.

I need to simply start and end with the importance of their feet.  If your feet are set, and your feet are square to the basket, and you have a center-of-gravity that makes you stable (a little bump won't knock you over), you are ready to shoot the ball and will probably make more than you miss.  If I can get a kid to consistently shoot the ball knowing how important their feet are on the catch, that kid will grow in confidence progressively over time.  As a teacher, I want that kid to learn that simple formula for success, but it requires the kid to be focused on doing it right over and over again.

The same goes for the young people I educate on developing themselves into the "ideal recruit".  If you are out of shape, I preach to them to start with a short run down to the end of the block and back without stopping.  Tomorrow, do it again.  If after a week or two of one trip down the block and back, it starts to get easy, now is the time to add a second lap to your run.  Focus on starting small.  Build your endurance, and then build on that endurance one step at a time, and you will see not only your shape improve, but your confidence will grow with it.

As Steve Jobs said, "simple can be harder than complex" because simple relies on discipline, routine and consistency.  When we teach simple concepts, we allow the student to focus on small things instead of big things they may not remember or may take away from their focus.

I am in the middle of process where I am going to make a pretty scary and dramatic career change (or career evolution as I am calling it).  I often find myself distracted by all the mistakes I have made in the past and all the things that could go wrong with the future.  My feet get caught in quick-drying cement, and just like that I am no longer moving toward my goals.  I worked hard today to create a simple daily process by focusing on what I want to do without worrying about yesterday or tomorrow.  I have made my process simple, and now I am focusing on repeating the work that needs to be done each day until I have a routine.  I know through experience that routine will lead to discipline...and from there, I will begin to the move the mountains I want to move.

So, whether you are teaching shooting fundamentals or trying to get into better shape or, like me, working to make a career evolution, I encourage you to focus on keeping it simple, and you will begin to move the mountains that seem so impossible today.

Matt Rogers

Email: coachrogers12@gmail.com
Twitter: @madcoachdiary
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rogersmatt16
Blog: madcoachdiary.blogspot.com
Phone: (312) 610-6045

Matt Rogers is a 22-year high school and college coach veteran.  He has led two teams to the NCAA National Tournament and one team to a High School State Championship.  His teams hold numerous school and one NCAA record. He has mentored and coached players at every collegiate level while serving as an athletics administrator at the high school and NCAA levels. He currently is the Senior Recruiting Specialist for NCSA - Next College Student Athlete where he has helped thousands of young men and women from around the world achieve their dreams of playing at the college level.  Coach presently lives in the Denver, CO area with his wife of 22 years and his two children. 

To request Coach Rogers to speak at your school or event, you can reach him through any of his contact information above.

#78 The Consequences of Waiting

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone” ― Pablo Picasso

I workout at our local recreation center at least 3 days per week.  It is an older crowd with a Senior Center connected to it, so I like the relaxed environment.  I can put my head phones on and focus on what I am there to do.

However, about a month ago, as I walking to the locker room after my workout, I heard someone shouting "Coach Rogers, Coach Rogers".  I looked up and it was a big 6'6' good looking kid that I coached at the high school level 2 years ago.  As always, he had great spirit and asked how my family was and what I was up to.  I gave him a hug and asked him why he was in the rec center playing basketball with all the older guys.  "Why aren't you at college practicing with your team?"

It seems that the one coach who recruited him resigned and took another job elsewhere back in April, and my former player now had nowhere to play.  He asked if I could help him (after prodding him for 2 years to get started with his recruitment), and I told him I would do my best.  I have since reached out to some friends of mine to see if they would be interested in a 6'6" kid who can jump out of the gym with good grades, and a few have since asked for this young man's information and reached out to him, but most coaches are not looking for a transfer in the middle of the season.

This experience frustrated me to the point where I decided to brush off the cobwebs of the "Diary of a Mad Coach" and do some motivating.  For you families who have never gone through the recruiting process or you continue to rely on naive friends, parents and high school coaches who think they have advice for you, I have some questions for you:

• What are the consequences of waiting to start your recruitment?
• What are the consequences of waiting too long to buy an airline ticket for a trip?
• What are the consequences of waiting too long to ask that pretty girl or handsome boy out on a date?
• What are the consequences of waiting too long to apply for a job?

AND

• How much do you value your time?

So, what are the consequences of waiting to start your recruitment when you are a junior or older?



1.  You could be that kid playing at the rec center at 20 years old with no options because NO ONE knew you were available to recruit.  You did not exist at 15 and now at 20, you still have ZERO exposure to college coaches.


2.  You could be that family who ends of paying $20,000-$40,000 per year for college because you did not start the financial aid and scholarship process early enough (once college coaches use up their full allotment of scholarships, they are done!  They have nothing left to give you!)


3.  You could be that kid who a coach finds your senior year, and the coach says "You can really play.  I wish I would have known you were available a year ago before I filled my roster."

College recruitment is a marathon.  There is no easy fix or shorter route to go.

When a family tries to skip the process or delay the start of the race, they end up paying a hefty price...literally.

So, what are the consequences of waiting to start your recruitment?  

Not much...just money...and time...and opportunity...disappointment...regret...and much, much more.

Whatever path you decide to take on your recruitment journey, PLEASE, PLEASE don't wait.  I don't want to see your child playing rec ball with the older guys trying to hang on to that long lost dream for one more day.  Take control of your future.  Own it.  START NOW...and don't look back!

Best wishes!  I hope whatever you do, you find it early and have every opportunity to do it right.

Coach Matt Rogers

Email: coachrogers12@gmail.com
Twitter: @madcoachdiary
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rogersmatt16
Blog: madcoachdiary.blogspot.com
Phone: (312) 610-6045

Matt Rogers is a 22-year high school and college coach veteran.  He has led two teams to the NCAA National Tournament and one team to a High School State Championship.  His teams hold numerous school and one NCAA record. He has mentored and coached players at every collegiate level while serving as an athletics administrator at the high school and NCAA levels. He currently is the Senior Recruiting Specialist for NCSA - Next College Student Athlete where he has helped thousands of young men and women from around the world achieve their dreams of playing at the college level.  Coach presently lives in the Denver, CO area with his wife of 21 years and his two children. 

To request Coach Rogers to speak at your school or event, you can reach him through any of his contact information above.

#77 Problem or Solution

The definition of insanity is doing the exact same thing over and over again while expecting different results.  --Albert Einstein

About 10 years ago a young man (we will call him Eddie) came to visit one of my practices.  He was a friend of one of our star players (we will call him Tim), and he was visiting us during our season because he had decided to quit playing at the the college he was presently attending.  He and his family had gone through the necessary NCAA paperwork to allow him to actually visit other schools and start talking to other college coaches.

Tim had given me some background before Eddie's visit, so I had an idea of what he was going through.  In all honesty, it sounded very similar to what I went through as a college player, so my level of empathy and sympathy was pretty high.

When I sat down with Eddie the first time, it was obvious to me that he was very intelligent, but I could tell that he could be the type of kid who could get bored quickly.  He loved to play, but he talked with very little emotion and was a little too laid back for my taste.  Although I empathized, I was already wondering if he was a good fit for me.

As a D3 coach at the time, I never got too excited about transfers no matter how much I liked them or we needed them because the decision always came down to money.  Our financial aid packages were not great, and they were even worse for transfers.  So, when Eddie's family got their package and Eddie called me and told me that he was all in, I was a little surprised, a little excited, and a little concerned all at the same time.

Nevertheless, it wasn't long that next fall when the returning players started talking about his talent with me and how he could help us.  He was a top tier high school player, so I started to get very excited and a little relieved that maybe we had something very special land in our lap.

When our official practices began that October, it wasn't long before my initial thoughts about Eddie after our first meeting started to rear their ugly head.  As talented as Eddie was, he was not disciplined in his game.  He simply did not play the game the way I wanted and expected it to be played.  He was sometimes lazy on defense, especially off the ball.  He took shots outside of the flow of the offense, and when he drove to the basket, he would often throw up erratic shots when he had a simple pass available to an open teammate.  Very quickly, two hard-headed people began to clash, and I began to understand why his last coach pushed him closer and closer to the end of the bench before giving up on him altogether.

My problem was that I needed his talent because we were lacking any depth of high level ability or skill on the roster at that point.  So, I did what any "serious" college basketball coach would do with an undisciplined kid, I pushed him harder and harder and started taking playing time and reps away from him.  Boy was I bright!

If you haven't guessed yet, I quickly turned Eddie into a blob of insecurity, depression and doubt.  He had lost all faith in me and me in him...at least that is the way it looked.  Luckily for me, Eddie is much smarter than me and much more determined than me.  He wasn't going to let the same story of his basketball career repeat itself.

 About 10 games into the season, he came into my office and asked to talk.  I don't remember the exact conversation, but I know that he wanted me to know that he had lost all confidence in his abilities, but it was very clear that he had not lost confidence in me (at least not completely).  He told me that although he wasn't as disciplined as I expected him to be, he understood everything we were doing and believed that we had enough talent with the system we were using to win more games and win the conference. He explained how he saw the game and why although he might look slow to close out or rotate back to the rim-line at times, he really was thinking and re-acting 2-3 plays ahead of what was happening.  He also let me know that he understood my frustration that he sometimes did not swing the ball to an open man quickly enough or throw to that open man at all because he knew he had a better chance of scoring than making that extra pass or decision. 

We continued to talk about my experience in college and how depressed and sad I was that "my game" had been taken away from me, and I was not allowed the skills that had made me a half-decent high schooler.  I told him that I would watch film and work harder on practice and game planning to integrate his strengths into our game plan and focus less on the perceived weaknesses I was seeing.  In short, I decided to give him more rope and work to give him more isolated opportunities to help us put more points on the board.

It may not have happened over night, but it didn't take more than 2-3 games before he was not only consistently our leading scorer, but he began leading our team in steals, turnovers created, all while frustrating the hell out of the other team's best player and defender.  Within the first 4-5 games of conference play, it was clear that he was a legit All-Conference player if not the best player in the conference.

He went on to have two dynamic years with us, and he became not only a great leader in our program, but to this day, a young man whose life I envy and his friendship I cherish.  He has traveled the world, made great, life-long friends wherever he has been, and he has consistently lived his life to the fullest without boundaries or prejudice and with an astounding respect for all people, cultures and walks of life.

I decided to tell this story today because I am presently having some problems with people attempting to coach me, and it has made me think a lot lately about how I initially coached Eddie.

If you are going to take anything away from this blog, please let it be the difference between a great coach and a great player.

A great player can take a game plan and consistently execute that plan.  If a great player begins to struggle with the execution (for instance his jumper stops falling), that player will begin to address the problem.  He or she may ask "what do I have to do to fix those missed shots?"

A great coach will NOT look at the problem and ask "How do I fix that?"  A great coach will ask "Why is that happening?" or "Why is that a problem at all?" or "What am I doing to create that problem?"

As coaches, teachers, parents, etc., we often get so focused on the problem that we forget to look inward and realize that the problem may actually be us.  Have I been engaged enough?  Have I been overly critical and not supportive enough?  Are my "problems" (i.e. fear, depression, concern, self-doubt, sadness) bleeding into those I love and care about?

We are all human.  We all have amazing flaws.  Even when a person externally looks and acts with such joy and composure, his or her flaws and concerns are never too far away.

Give yourself a day, a week (a month if you can) and try to start looking more at the good and much less at the bad.  Be a bigger cheerleader today for those around you and far less their biggest critic.

Change your personal narrative, and don't be surprised if your story doesn't have a much happier ending than you expected when you first started to write your book.

Coach Matt Rogers

Email: coachrogers12@gmail.com
Twitter: @madcoachdiary
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rogersmatt16
Blog: madcoachdiary.blogspot.com
Phone: (312) 610-6045

Matt Rogers is a 20-year high school and college coach veteran.  He has led two teams to the NCAA National Tournament and one team to a High School State Championship.  His teams hold numerous school and one NCAA record. He has mentored and coached players at every collegiate level while serving as an athletics administrator at the high school and NCAA levels. He currently is the Senior Recruiting Specialist for NCSA - Next College Student Athlete where he has helped thousands of young men and women from around the world achieve their dreams of playing at the college level.  Coach presently lives in the Denver, CO area with his wife of 20 years and his two children. 

To request Coach Rogers to speak at your school or event, you can reach him through any of his contact information above.