Hi, I have a question regarding starting up new programs. We are starting our program a girls high school program from a program that was really run down in talent and numbers. It has been 3 years now and we are starting to see a change in attitude and numbers but still seem to be a little stagnet. The last two years have been 500 years as records go but very disappointing. Is there a standard for how many years it takes to re-build a program and am I being too anxious. We do have a good crop of girls coming from the 7th grade. Is this a normal turnaround or is this program lagging. We (coaches) are starting to doubt ourselves and I thought I would email and see if this is normal in terms of years to re-build. This is not a very aggressive area for girls basketball (the school district) , but the county (Berks) is a pretty good area for girls basketball. Parents seem to be pleased with 500 seasons, we (coaches) want more. A little history, we got a 5th and 6th grade teams started to help feed the middle school. This high school hasn\'t had a winner in 10 years for high school girls basketball.

Coach,

With the background you describe, you have your hands full. It sounds like you are doing a lot of the right things starting with the 5th and 6th grade teams.
You are at a school that hasn't had a winner in 10 years and you have improved the program dramatically.... that is great and you and the staff should be proud of yourselves! There were many years that I would have been happy to have a 500 season. The Parents are HAPPY and thats important.
Maybe its time to sit down with your staff and re-think your goals.
Re-write your goals and how you think you can reach them. (Try to be realistic)
I don't think that there is a set number of years that it takes to turn a program around...... and so far you are doing very well. I would say this... as long as you are seeing an improvement in your program then you should be happy - remember, its not all about Ws!
#1 is attitude (from the kids, the parents, the administration and the community. IF you have all of these supporting you then you are well on your way.
#2 Building a good feeder program, where they are teaching the things you want them to teach. That should be m2m defense on the lower levels IF you ever want to see success on the Varsity level.
#3 Get ALL the lower level coaches to feel like they are a BIG PART of the program. Hold clinics for all the coaches and players IF you can.
#4 Have summer programs for every level.

#5 Meet with all the coaches and get some of their input.. you don't necessarily have to implement their ideas but you never know when they might come up with something good.
#6 Come up with a natural progression of the things you want taught at each level. (just to name a few things)

Sit down with your staff and evaluate what you have done so far and see if there is anything else that you can do to help move the program farther along. Remember, this is journey and not a destination... You've done a good job, keep up the good work.

Coach: You have stepped into a program that's been in shambles for several years of course it takes time to rebuild. My advice to you, over and above what Coach Sars has already offered, is stop doubting yourselves. The very fact that you contacted this sight looking for help and answers tells me that you care for the game and the kids and that's a great boost and great qualifications for your new and improving program.

Coaches, you are doing the right things such as developing a feeder system at the elementary level. I would like to know how much experience all of you have with this game and are you volunteers or teachers that are contracted to coach. I have been coaching every level of this game for 35 years and in my first three years of coaching, I was 24-76 in fact in my first year, I was 0-22. However, It didn't take a genius to figure out that I needed to get better. I began attending clinics to learn different methods and network with older experienced coaches and really learned the game that way. So Keep those doubts, you talked about, in your pockets and just continue persevering, trust me you will see results. Good Luck Coach Mac

Coach,

I assume you're at a moderate sized school? From my experience, mid sized schools (50-200) kids per class usually had talent once every 4-5 years. There seems to be a cycle of talent at most smaller schools.

I don't care how good you are at strategy, you will struggle during those in between years. It doesn't matter how good of a coach you are, if you don't have the players, you can only have so good of a team.

The only way to solve that problem (as other coaches have alluded to) is to develop those players at a younger age. So when they get to varsity, you have skilled players every single year.

So my two biggest suggestions for you are:
1) Develop a really good feeder system
2) Never stop learning. Keep studying the game, learning, and trying to become a better coach. That's what the great ones do.

Barry Adams was a very successful coach who won over 650 high school games in Oregon. He coached at 5 different high schools and was successful at each school. A big part of his success was because he did what ever it took to build a good feeder system. He has some really good advice about feeder systems in his coaching clinic. If you haven't already, you might want to check that out:

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/online-clinics.html

Hope this helps and good luck!

Thank you for the reply. We just ended our 4th season at 10-12. We seem to making progress as the JV team did finish 15-5 playing all freshmen and one sophmore. But as was stated, we have very little again coming from 8th grade but a strong 7th grade class. The 5th and 6th grades have good numbers and alot of parent backing for these young girls. I appreciate the support and hopefully things will turn around. The high school team will be made up of 3 seniors next year, 2 juniors and 4 sophmores. The JV team looks to be small. But numbers should pick up after that. So we will see where this goes. I wish to thank everyone for their time and responces. I also have subscribed to the basketball clinics on-line. Thanks.

Coach,

As long as you don't have two bad classes in a row you can do pretty well at your school. The future looks better for you... and the more you develop the younger kids (5-6th graders) the less chances you have of a class coming in with no talent. IF you can develop 5-7 players every year... your program should do well.

The make up of our school changed dramatically at one point in my career... we were like the United Nations... 57 different languages spoken in the building. Our talent level went down a lot... but it was like a roller coaster.... a few good years and then a couple of bad ones... back and forth like that.

You have a strong freshman group coming up... that means 3 good years - hang in there and keep up the good work.

Thanks, it seems everything I have been reading programs start in the 5th to 6th grade levels. If I get this it seems the goal is to have 5 or so players a class. This hasn't happened in a few years. This year was 4 seniors but only 2 really played and 1 was a real player. Probably an all division player this year. So the goal is to get the younger kids going and look at the total program to really go in about 5 to 6 years. Seems like that is a normal progression. Again thank you. Sheds some light at the end of the tunnel and some hope.