lets say monasch came to u after this game and said look________ i want u to coach this team moving foward. what is the 1st five things u would do .u cant add anyone to this team. u have these players and the same coaching staff minus norm. what would u do going foward. ur goal is to try to finish middle of the big east and win a big east title
1. Have a practice from hell. Tell the team I don't care what your previous BS coach did, but if you EARN minutes, you get minutes. I don't care if you're the walk on or Chris Mullin reincarnate, you earn your time for me. Tell the team that the way to get benched immediately by me is to not box out and/or make lazy passes. We do both of these things way too much and doing this will cut down on opponents second chance points and our turnovers.
2. New Starting 5 (based on what I've seen from games): Boothe, Horne, Kennedy, Mason, Burrell
3. Change rotations. Hardy is first guy off the bench, and we will play much of the game with Boothe ON the bench. Coker will be first big off the bench for defense. Sean Evans becomes 10-15 min per game player. Obviously this can change as I see how they play for me, but I have to base this on armchair knowledge of the team for this question. Rotation is cut down for sure...guys need to get in the flow.
4. Recognize I am not a D1 caliber head coach (yet) and consult someone who is a knowledgable offensive mind. An x and o tactician. KOB says I can't hire anyone, so after talking to my asistant coaches, I call someone respected in the game. I probably reach out to Mike D'Antoni, Knicks coach, offensive genius. I ask him to check out some of our film (if he hasnt watched us) and give me a few pointers. If Mike's too busy (it is A-S weekend and lives in my hometown, so maybe he'd be nice) perhaps a top HS coach or an unemployed coach right now...maybe see if a Pete Gillen would come in and talk to me/us for a practice. I listen to their offense and implement it (to the extent they have prior knowledge and can implement it...for THIS season will have to keep it simple most likely).
5. Teach and have the team ready to play 3 different defenses - man to man, zone (3-2), and full court zone press. I would switch the defenses up during the game to keep other coach on their toes.
With all of these things, I reward those who deserve rewarding - the kids that play hard AND smart - and play no favorites. If JB is having a crappy game and isn't being agressive, I sit him down for a period and tell him he needs to be agressive. if sean is playing dumb, i tell him that if he ever dribbles the ball past half court again he's done. if malik tries to shoot a 3...you get a picture. I teach them to play within their roles. And I try to positively reinforce my teachings by being up front with them about WHAT they need to do to be better and reward them when they do that correctly.