Sorry, this is a bit of a dated post, but I believe the value of these concepts are timeless. This post has been sitting as a “draft” for a long time. Here you go:
When I joined the Springville basketball program, everyone knew there was work to be done. From a winning standpoint, the previous season (2022-23) was disappointing with 4 wins and 18 losses (.152%).
I was not on the staff so I can’t speak about the intangibles and the overall atmosphere. There is more to life than winning and losing basketball games!
But my sense is that several of the losses were very disappointing for the team, and they were expecting better outcomes.
Where do you go from there? How do you take the next step?
I believe the first step is player “buy in”. If players don’t buy in, nothing else matters.
You can have the best drills and strategy in the world, but if the players aren’t bought in, none of it will work.
So that’s where we started.
The coaches started discussing where to start and we all agreed that establishing the right philosophy, culture, and getting the players to “buy in” was step one.
For context, the team lost 3 starting seniors (including a first team all-conference player) and over 50% of their scoring.
So, whether the team improved or got worse, change was happening.
And the incoming group showed a willingness to work, which I believe was a big factor for improvement. Whether their willingness to work hard was due primarily to leadership or their natural mentality, it’s impossible to say. If I had to guess, I would say it was a combination.
How to Get Players to “Buy In“
To answer this question, I just ask myself what would get me to believe?
- First of all, if I think it’s my own idea, that certainly helps! I’m not a fan of others telling me what to do.
- Next, it needs to make sense. There needs to be a reason why behind the idea. Possibly data to back it up.
- Lastly, I hate listening to long winded speeches and lectures!
Simple.
But as coaches, how many of us follow this advice? We all talk too much! We force feed too much! We neglect to explain the reason why! JMO.
With that in mind, we had a team meeting with lots of good questions and then let the players decide…
I have done this in the past with good success with our sophomore team years ago, so I took the lead on the initial discussion and then the head coach took over from there.
I would suggest you read the link above since it explains the process.
But for the most part, I asked lots of questions to steer the discussion and lead the players to a logical conclusion that made sense, and everyone believed in.
Here’s a photo of (very messy writing) whiteboard notes of their feedback:
In the end, they wanted to WIN MORE games.
Ok, fair enough. But that is a vague statement, so together we came up with tangibles goals.
Next, how do you win more games? I led them down the path with questions, that they always took a while to answer effectively, but eventually gave a good answer…
- How do you win? (The answer is simple: “score more points that the opponent”).
- How do you do that? (There are only two ways: “shoot a higher EFG% and/or take more shots”).
- Ok, how do you take more shots? (Less turnovers than opponent and more rebounds than the opponent)
- How do you shoot a higher %? (Defense takes away easy shots and forces tough ones. We need players that can shoot well. We need offense that gets us good shots we can make.)
All of this led us to focusing on these aspects as a program:
- Skill development to reduce turnovers and improve EFG% (shooting, passing, dribbling, decision making)
- Defense to lower opponents EFG% (half court man with pressing sprinkled in)
- Rebounding (offense and defense) to get more shots than opponents
- Communication, hustle, and selflessness
What do you think are the best ways to get players to buy in? PLEASE SHARE.
Look, I guarantee there are coaches reading this now that are smarter and more successful than I am. PLEASE SHARE YOUR IDEAS BELOW.
What have you found to be effective ways to get your players and your team to buy into your team’s philosophy and strategy?
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