Frank Martin from his clinic talk at the Texas Association of Coaches convention in San Antonio.

- Don't cheat your kids. It's the reason you coach. Someone kicked your ass into doing it right. Don't allow your kids to slide.

- If you allow [your opponent] to set up, play, and establish their identity, they'll beat you.

- Defense starts with pressure offense. Run every time. We're going to put you on your heels

- Re: Pressure Defense, "I believe in making [our opponents] throw long passes."

- Re: Communication, "If you care about winning, you talk to your teammates!"

- Teams now are either going to shoot 3's. If they dribble drive, it's going to be a dunk. There is no in-between game anymore." - Prepare accordingly.

- Re: Halfcourt Defense, Teams don't get easy baskets against set defenses that are back and ready to guard.

- Re: Wing Denial Backdoor Cuts, On-ball defender responsible for the lob (ball pressure will eliminate easy look as well as make the pass longer, higher, slower). 1 pass away (deny position) is responsible for taking away the bounce pass.

- Passes go over or under the defense; never THROUGH the defense. Create long passes.

- Opponents never catch the ball facing the basket. Defender should apply so much pressure that they always catch with back to the bucket.

- Teaching point: On ball defense - "Crawl up in him." [I like this terminology. Creates an image of a low stance]

- Teaching point: On ball defense - "Crack of your ass to the glass." Nose on top hip.

- Basic philosophy: No layups. No 3's. Hard 2's.

- Put tennis balls in the hands of the defenders, especially in 1-on-1 drills. Keeps hands off the offense and eliminates hand checking.

- "We don't accept being screened."

- Teaching point: 1 pass away - "Shrink the gap." On the line, up the line.

- When a dribble drive occurs, we don't teach the 1-pass-away to open up and turn his back to the offense. We teach our guys to plug the gap with their butt. This allows our guys to see their man the whole time and makes for quicker close outs.

Creating your coaching staff from , Head Coach of the :

- Build your staff based on the idea of what your team should be. Ask yourself what do you want your team to stand for? Hire accordingly. Things Doc looks for is loyalty, talent, and team players

- Engaging Assistants. Don't hire "yes men". Look for people that will provide insight into what will make you better. Debate, explore, decide, and implement.

*** "Beginners are open. Experts are closed. The challenge is to stay open."

- Take a page from the football coaching mentality. Find staff members that have strengths that compliment each other. Much like football coaches being position specific and/or offensively or defensively specific, find coaches that fill voids. Doc says, "Give them room to be great!"

- If you tell your team to play their roles, shouldn't you do the same with you and your staff?

- The X's and O's don't matter. What matters is if you and your staff can get the players to buy in. Assistant coaches must buy in to the system and goal(s) as much as, if not more than, the players.

Lawrence Frank – Defensive Concepts

Your every day habits will determine your execution."

To play on a good defensive team you must: a. be a good individual defender. b. be a good team defender. c. be both a & b. ** If neither, you won't play! **

Defensive non-negotiables: 1. Sprinting back on defense. 2. Protecting our paint. 3. Closing out hard and contesting the shot. 4. Playing aggressively without unnecessary fouls. 5. All five players blocking out and rebounding. ** No Layups ** No Freethrows ** No corner 3's

If the ball gets into the paint, what are the consequences for the offense? 1. Charge 2. Steal 3. Deflection 4. Blocked shot 5. Hard "NBA" foul ** Never mention anything about scoring!

Transition Defense : 1 back = Dunk 2 back = Layup 3 back = Jumper 4 back = Got a chance 5 back = GAME ON! - Win the first 3 steps! - Stop the ball above the 3-point line - Get the ball out of the middle 1/3 - Think "help" - Open shots beat you in transition, but mismatches rarely will.] accept who they are. You job is to make them better than they were." Don Meyer

To the High School/ College Graduate: Things You Did Not Learn in School

1. Life is not fair - get used to it. 2. The world won't care about your self esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. 3. You will not make $100,000 a year right out of school. You won't be a vice- president with a company car until you earn both. 4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure. 5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - They called it opportunity. 6. If you screw up, it is not your parents' fault so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. 7. Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning your room, and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are - so before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room. 8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades. They will give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. 9. Life is not divided into semesters, you don't get summers off, and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time. 10. Television is not real life. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go get jobs. 11. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you will end up working for nerds. 12. Smoking does not make you look cool; it makes you look moronic. And ditto for purple hair, pierced body parts, and tattoos. 13. Living fast and dying young is romantic, only until you see one of your friends at room temperature. 14. Get up when you fall down.

Don Meyer Thoughts:

It's How You Play the Game: Mental Discipline

1. Communicate with teammates vs. talk with opponent (or officials, opposing school crowd, opposing coaches, etc... They all have the same mental effect.)

2. Taking a charge vs. backing away from a charge.

3. Calling out and communicating assignments on the freethrow lane vs. violations at the freethrow line.

4. Take charge or block shot to a teammate vs. wild leaping or goal tending.

5. Smart foul vs. dumb foul

6. Intense position pressure defense vs. wild lunging defense.

7. Poised offense vs. anxious offense.

8. Use the glass or grab the ball vs. don't use the glass or tip.

9. Inside game vs. outside game perimeter lapse.

10. Make lay-ups vs. miss lay-up and they score.

11. Positive one; look for ways to win vs. negative one.

12. Great effort each possession vs. great play syndrome.

Don't let weak people bring out the weakness in you. Intensity and technique lead to hustle plays. Play against the game.