What is a coaching philosophy? It is really a summation of those values you most believe in. Stating your philosophy is a personal communication of your deepest beliefs and values. But, it is essential to clearly define yourself and your expectations. It helps your players, assistant coaches, university, fans, alumni and yourself to clearly define what you stand for. It is essential to get your core values articulated. Your philosophy will become your standard and will serve to keep you grounded.

My coaching philosophy is built around the following and is to strive to achieve these elements which in turn become the foundation to a consistently successful program.

Be Yourself
“Keep it Real.” It’s OK to adopt ideas from others, but you must be yourself to achieve your greatest level of success. if you try to be someone you’re not, your players will catch on right away and you will lose their trust.

Team
Basketball is a team game and effort. Players should be allowed to take advantage of their individual skills; however, you must make certain it conforms to the overall team effort. Welfare of the team comes first.

Demand Maximum Effort from each Student-Athlete
The coach must get the best performance from each player. I intend to set goals for the team and each player. I will provide the team with the leadership, training and education necessary to achieve these goals. Individual players will take responsibility for their performance and/or work habits that impact others and the institution.

The Coach’s Relationship with his Players
It is most important for the coach to have the respect of his players. One-on-one conferences with each player before, during, and after the season are standard. These conferences are used to discuss each player’s approach to the game, basketball progress, weaknesses, shortcomings, health, studies, outside problems, the player’s contributions to the team.

Character
A critical part of building a team is defining and developing a representative set of values. It’s possible to have a team that is committed and skilled, but under the pressure of intense competition fails to succeed. Competition measures character. Teams that possess strength of spirit, teamwork and respect can prevail over talented teams that do not.

Lead by Example
Our coaching staff will approach each day with passion, intensity and purpose. It is a monumental effort to build a program to be a Top 20 program every year and always be able to contend for the National Championship. If our staff leads, our players will follow.

Common Goal
The success of any organization is that all of its members are striving for a clearly defined common goal. Our goal of consistently being a top 20 program with the ability to contend for the Final Four and National Championship on an annual basis is our Common Goal.

Team Goals
Team goals are very powerful! Team goals have the power to promote team unity, to create loyalty to the program and to the coach, to improve the intensity and quality of practices, and to create the mind-set that the team is bigger than any one individual. Simply put, for programs to be successful over the long haul, the coach must set clear goals for himself and his team. These goals incorporate the coach’s vision, his mission, and the foundation that his program is built on. Once written down, these goals will provide the coach and his team with a compass that points everyone involved with the program in the right direction. These goals also reveal the amount of hard work, time, and personal sacrifice everyone involved with the program must make in order for the team to achieve its dreams.

It is the coach’s job to constantly sell these goals to his players and support group daily. Your ability to sell your vision (team goals) of where you wish your program to go, will eventually determine your success or failure as a coach. Short-term goals help you keep on track and allow you to experience success and build confidence as you work towards your long-term goal: “We will hold our opponents to under a certain number of points per quarter.”

Short-term goals are the building blocks in which you build your program and what you emphasize every day in practice... This is what you plan to be good at. The best coaches make goals that are both long and short-term. Long-term goals give you something to shoot for. For example, “Win the National Championship.”

Short Term Goals

• Establish a Winning Attitude and Expectation with the players.

• Create Excitement and Belief about the future of the Program with the university, student body, alumni and community.

• Create immediate National recognition and creditability through the tremendous network of Media Contacts afforded
me by my NBA career and my coaching success at Iona.

• Maximize my current network of recruiting contacts in the New York Metropolitan and New Jersey area in order to immediately recruit the top student-athletes in the country.

• Raise Expectations of the Team’s Performance: With the right preparation, coaching, and guidance, the team can take make major strides to be competitive in every game.

• The hardest working team in the conference playing hard nosed man to man defense.

• Establish a Fast tempo NBA type offense that averages 80+ points per game.

Long Term Goals

• A consistent top 20 team.

• Contend for the Conference Championship every year.

• Win Conference Championship.

• Develop a National Program that will allow us to recruit nationally.

• Consistent track record of Post Season Tournament Appearances.

• Make the Final Four and win a National Championship.

• Have one of the top 10 graduation rates in the Country.