Coach Harris Basketball

My coaching philosophy is underpinned by three core ideas: accountability, honesty and teamwork.

Accountability: I believe in accountability for everyone involved with the program. Players and coaches must be accountable for their decisions for several reasons. Firstly it promotes good decision making in the first place. If someone knows their actions will be scrutinised then they are much more likely to consider and make the correct choices to begin with. Secondly I think that it promotes equal treatment within the team. If there are clear rules and responsibilities all players and staff, it is easy to see which areas are coming up short and address them quickly. I strive to use statistics and video as much as possible to promote accountability. Sometimes a player will disagree with your assessment of a particular performance or decision, but they cannot argue with the stats sheet or the film reel.

Honesty: The very first thing I tell players in the program is that they can come and talk to me about anything. This could be anything from wanting more minutes to wanting to introduce new drills/plays to criticising my methods. The last part is something some coaches would disagree with –  ’the coach is the coach and what they say goes’. However all coaches should have solid reasoning behind their decisions (linked to accountability), and should therefore stand up to scrutiny. I promise my players that everything I do is for a reason. They may not agree with the reason, but they can approach me at anytime to ask the method behind my decisions. When a player approaches me it is their attitude that dictates how I deal with the situation. If a player comes to me and says ‘I want more minutes’, I am less impressed than when a player comes to me and asks ‘What can I do to get more minutes?’. I am honest in my assessments of players’ abilities and what they can do to improve themselves and their game. I expect honesty in return so that the integrity of the team can be preserved and issues can be solved before they spiral out of control.

Teamwork: It is vitally important that everyone in the program is pulling in the same direction. Five players all doing the same wrong thing is better than five players all doing something different which they individually think is the right thing. E.g. zone defense might the wrong option for a particular situation, but five players playing a zone defense is going to have a much result than three playing zone and two playing man-to-man. Also included in my umbrella of teamwork is the idea of unselfish play. All coaches strive to find players who want to play for each other and share the ball to create the best scoring opportunities. By emphasising teamwork and coupling this with idea of accountability through statistics we can eliminate bad shots and get players making the extra pass for the maximum offensive effect. This is summed up nicely in a quote by ex-Princeton coach and current advisor to the Sacramento Kings, Pete Carril:

“Everybody makes such a big deal today about team play because there’s such a scarcity of it. Greed is a reason. You have to understand the influence of greed. A player has to be selfish in the pursuit of the development of his skills, but he cannot be selfish when it comes time to blend them in with what’s good for his team.”
– Pete Carril

Coach Harris