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- Are Basketball Training Programs a Scam? Let's Be Honest About Youth Sports Most of what gets sold to families is a substitute for the work. None of it works. How to tell real training from the rest.
- Here's How You Fix Youth Basketball. Nobody Will Do It. Here's How You Fix Youth Basketball. Nobody Will Do It.
- Is Youth Basketball Development Actually Helping Your Child — Or Just Keeping Them Busy? Tournaments and busy schedules feel like development. They aren't. The difference between activity and getting better.
- Stop Chasing Exposure. Start Chasing Excellence. In youth basketball, the chase for exposure has become louder than the pursuit of excellence. Scroll social media and you’ll see commitment edits, circuit...
- Making Simple Things Difficult: The Hoops College Way This is the Hoops College Way. We've mastered something that most trainers and coaches don’t. We've figured out how to make the most simple and basic skills...
Archive
2026
- Basketball is a Game of Decision Making Basketball is a game of decision making. Every second on the court, players are choosing: shoot or drive, pass or keep it, help or stay home, use the screen or reject it. One micro-decision can flip a
- Stop Following the Herd I see it every summer. The same cycle, the same disappointment, the same excuses.
- We Don't Treat All Players the Same — And Neither Should You I keep having the same conversation with parents, and it's driving me crazy. They want to know what program their kid should be in or what team they should join. They're asking the wrong question.
- When You Send 10 Camp Emails and Quit Because No One Signed Up I had a player tell me he sent out 10 camp emails last month and then quit because nobody responded. Ten emails. TEN.
- Five Minutes Is All It Takes — Your Kid's Recruiting Reality Check Do you know how long it takes to evaluate whether a player is recruitable. Five minutes. Probably less.
- Youth Basketball's Mediocrity Problem Is Hurting Players I'm tired of watching youth basketball accept mediocrity as normal. I’ve known this was the case for a long time but for the last few months I’ve been witnessing it up close and personal. It’s sad.
- Playing More Games Won't Make You Better Let's be honest. I'm tired of hearing coaches and parents tell players they need to 'just play more games' to improve. This advice is everywhere, and it's...
- You Can't Yell Decision-Making Into Existence The timeout buzzer sounds. Coach storms onto the court, veins bulging. 'What were you thinking out there? That was a terrible decision!'
- Stop Blaming the System and Start Working I'm tired of hearing people complain about youth basketball.
- Stop Paying for Basketball That Doesn’t Teach Basketball The truth is, a lot of youth basketball right now is built on a lie.
- The Worst Habit Anyone Can Have: What is Your Standard? Letting someone else set your standard is probably the worst habit anyone can have.
- Improvement Is Only the Beginning for Basketball Players Progress feels amazing. You see the results, hear the praise, and feel like all your hard work is paying off. It’s natural to think, “I’ve arrived.”
- Basketball Playmaking Development: 'Don't Play For Yourself' is the Wrong Answer There’s a contradiction in basketball playmaking development that shows up everywhere.
- Why So Many People Think Basketball Training Is a Waste of Time There’s a common belief in basketball: players just need game reps. Or worse, that basketball training is a waste of time.
- Youth Basketball Player Development: Why 1-on-1 and 3-on-3 Matter More Than Teams Teams reveal players. Small games develop them. Most kids skip the develop phase and go straight to the reveal.
- The Results Are the Results Basketball is a results oriented business. Do you produce? More points. Better efficiency. More wins. Scholarships. Playing time. The result is what everyone...
2025
- If You’re the Best, You Gotta Be the Best Everyone wants to be the best. Who would say no to that? Most don’t do the first thing to even try. They want to be the best but getting out of bed in the...
- Decision Making Basketball and life are about decision-making. Should you shoot or pass? Well it depends on your abilities and the person's abilities you might pass to...
- Development of basketball players Foundation first. Feet, then hands, then shooting. Skip the foundation and the building falls down — same in any craft.
- The Source of Confidence What is the source of confidence? A lot of players and people struggle with confidence. Did they have it and lose it? Did they ever really have it to begin...
2024
- Recruiting is More Than Just Sales Sales without honest evaluation fails — in coaching, hiring, marketing. Selling someone the wrong thing is the fastest way to lose them.
- The Buck Stops Here As a head coach and as a coaching staff, it is our responsibility to accept fault for every failure and give away the credit for every success. It is much...
- For Serious Basketball Players If basketball is recreation, this isn't for you. If it's something else, the standards are higher than you think.
2023
- Improve Youth Basketball An open letter to the parents and coaches of youth basketball: what's broken, what's enabling it, and what it actually takes to fix.
- Basketball Training is Hard Real training is hard. Most people quit when it gets that way. The ones who stay are the ones who get good.
- Dear Parent of a Prospective College Basketball Player An honest letter to parents about what college basketball actually requires — and what most kids and families won't do.
2022
- The Lack of Fundamental Development The lack of fundamental development in youth basketball is alarming. Over the last few months, I've watched more bad basketball than I ever care to watch.
- Are You Ever Really Ready? Before you have a child, did you know what it was going to be like to be a parent?
- Chase Excellence, Not Perfection We think it's critical to chase excellence, not perfection. I think perfectionism is something we as a society don’t understand very well. To me, perfectionism...
- Reasons Kids Should Play Recreational Basketball If your kid's team isn't actually teaching them, why are they there? A critique of low-standard environments.
- Can Someone Help Me Understand? Can someone help me understand? For most of my life, I have been pretty much secluded from the mainstream. Growing up in a secluded rural town before the...
- Consistency is the Key to Success Consistency is the key to success in anything, not just basketball.
- Choose Lonely (if you want to be great) If you want to be great, you have to choose to be alone. Everyone around you wants you to stay where they are.
- Let Them Fail Failure teaches things success can't. The instinct to protect kids from struggle is the same one that keeps them from getting good.
2021
- It's Political 'It's political'. It's something we hear so often.
- Pickup Basketball: The Good, Bad, and Ugly Pickup basketball is the most popular way that basketball is played. Millions of people around the world play pickup daily. It's where many find their 'love'...
- You Can Have My Job It looks nice from the outside. It is not. The shortcut you want doesn't exist.
- Kids Should Play 3 on 3 Fewer players means more touches, more decisions, no hiding. 5-on-5 reveals players. 3-on-3 develops them.
- What is Important to You? Most people can't answer this honestly. The ones who can are the ones who get somewhere.
- We Love Winners Winners crave the truth, not flattery. They lose now to win later. They're rare for a reason.
- Crazy is Better Than Lazy From what I can tell there are 3 types of people in this world. Crazy, normal, and lazy. Crazy is better than lazy. Normal is ok I guess, but it's just boring.
- Look In the Mirror How often do you look in the mirror? When you do, what do you see? Do you see the real you? Do you put yourself down? Or do you think too much of yourself?
2020
- Feel Sorry for Winners When the scoreboard says 91-9 or something similar, I feel sorry for the winners, not the losers.
- The Games Within the Game There are a lot of games within the game of basketball. Can we please stop acting like it's all the same? Yes the objectives of the game are the same. For...
- Reasons Players Play Reasons don't matter. Effort and team-first attitude do. Whatever brought you to the game, those are the only things that decide what you get from it.
- Expertise: Basketball and COVID-19 Real expertise isn't certainty. It's asking questions and trusting only what survives them.
- Culture and Accountability Culture is what you tolerate. Accountability is what keeps it real. One without the other is just talk.
- Coaching Youth Basketball Most youth coaches volunteer or get underpaid. The job they're being asked to do requires more than that arrangement gives.
- How Much Do We Love? Love and control are at odds. Real leaders serve their people instead of dictating to them.
- The Process: Conclusion Part 6 Coaches preach the process. Few live it themselves. Whatever you're asking your players to do, do it harder than they do.
- The Process: The Bridge Part 5 Knowledge doesn't become action by itself. The bridge between them is repetition under real pressure — the part most people skip.
- The Process: The Engineer Part 4 As a coach, I am an engineer. I'm not designing buildings or aircraft carriers. I'm engineering people. When it comes to sports specifically, I'm trying to...
- The Process: The Ingredients Part 3 Turning knowledge into action takes specific ingredients: commitment, effort, patience, opportunity, coaching.
- The Process: Knowledge vs Action Part 2 Knowing what to do isn't the same as doing it. Most people stop at knowing. The bridge between the two is where all the work lives.
- The Process: Knowledge vs. Action Part 1 Most people know what to do. Few actually do it. The gap between knowing and acting is where almost everyone gets stuck.
- You're the President You're the President, like it or not.
2019
- You gotta put the ball in the basket Strategy matters. Eventually you have to make the shot. Execution is what produces results — everything else is preparation.
- Sifting Through the Garbage Social media is mostly noise. Honest self-evaluation in one thing — the same thing — for years is what actually moves you forward.
- Sports Equality is Earned Like it or not, it’s the facts. What might have started as activities during a physical education class is now a multi-billion dollar industry.
- Thank You, Basketball Thank you, Basketball. You're a silly game that has given me more than I ever dreamed possible. You're my passion, my love, my calling, my platform, my purpose...
- Love the Game People say they love the game until the game asks something of them. Real love shows up when it's hard, not when it's easy.
- Coach: One Definition What is your definition of coach? Have you ever thought about where our current use of the word coach came from?
- New Year's Perspective Resolutions don't matter. Knowing who you are and what's important to you does. Most people have those backwards.
2018
- The People Who Aren't on Your Page Some people aren't on your page. The ones who matter find their way there voluntarily — not because you talked them into it.
- Make Things Happen Yourself Let’s be real. Most of you aren’t doing what you could or should be doing to make things happen for yourself.
- Is Hard Work Enough? Hard work isn't enough. Hard work without focused practice and real feedback just makes you better at being mediocre.
- Whatever It Takes What does “whatever it takes” even mean?