I have been asked to coach the freshman high school basketball team. I was a last resort. I have never coach basketball. I only played jr high. I do have a desire to help the kids and be good at what I do. I want to be prepared and if I am putting in the time this year I hope to continue coaching. Basically, I am coming here with hat in hand asking anyone out there for help. What should I learn first, how should I go about it, or any other information or advice that would get me started off right.

I sincerely appreciate any help you would be kind enough to give me.

Thanks so much for your time,

Robert

First come up with your coaching philosophy. What do you want players to get out of this experience? Document it. Let this steer your season and decisions.
https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/coaching_philosophy.html

Plan out the first couple weeks of what you want to get done. This will be an evolving list. What do you want to teach them before the first game? This should give you a calendar for your first couple weeks of practice.

Personally I started out my coaching career focusing on defense, rebounding, and player development all year. Today I still focus on those things... but offense, character development, and player development has taken a more prominent role that it did before.

I think if you become really good at defense, rebounding, and BLOB situations... that will give you a chance to win a lot of games. But If that doesn't fit our personality or comfort, you might pick something else to emphasize.... maybe something like fast paced tempo.

I recommend picking three things to get really good at, study those areas, and get really good at it (both in your teaching ability and the emphasis with your team):
https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/three-things.html

Once you pick those ares, let us know and we can recommend resources for you to study.

Thank you so much for your help.

Surround yourself with some good people if possible. A good assistant can help tremendously.