Winning Debut

The high school head coaching debut was a good one.

When we huddled up in the locker room against Decatur Eisenhower, we set out four keys to victory:

- Keep them under 12 baskets in the paint
- Zero turnovers in our own backcourt
- Shots 15 feet or closer
- Enthusiasm in warm ups and off the bench

For the first three quarters we nearly hit those goals. We committed just three first-half turnovers total - back court or front court. We had a ton of assists and layups, in fact set a season high for assists. During the second and third quarters in particular, we stifled them defensively. Built up a 20-point lead, then coasted to victory. So the enthusiasm came easily.

A few things I'd have done differently if I could do it over:

- Commit the player rotation to memory better. I had them drawn up on paper and spent enough time absorbed in that sheet, that I lost some perspective on what was happening on the court. For example when Decatur jumped out to several easy early baskets I could have seen if a player or two were playing porous defense and either taken a time out or made a substitution. The preoccupation also kept my rear end glued to the bench, when I'd rather generally be up since it communicates more energy to the team.

- Handled the less experienced players better. As we built the big lead, Decatur came out in a press just as I brought in several players with less game experience. I could have worked those players in one at a time, earlier in the game. Or, as they struggled with the press, could have brought the starters back in more quickly. Or taken a time out or two to settle our press break.

- Brought out a few more of the positives in the post-game talk. The middle quarters of superb play got too little mention, since my mind was on the late-game struggles against the press (and some of my own shortcomings).

Still, it feels like a serviceable tribute to Dad's memory to lead a team to a W. Plus it's a source of deep gratefulness that I was given this chance at all - they could have turned to any of their highly experienced coaches in the program to take the helm and done at least as well. The perfectionist in me is motivated to try to improve on the deficiencies, so coaching a junior league squad might be more squarely in my future. For now though, I'm reinvigorated for practice and fortunate to be part of this team!