Coaching Basketball Successfully - Morgan Wootten

Coaching Basketball Successfully

by Morgan Wootten

NEW, 240 pages

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About Coaching Basketball Successfully

Post more victories this season and every season with advice from high school basketball’s ultimate winner!

In Coaching Basketball Successfully Morgan Wootten shares his full arsenal of coaching wisdom on topics ranging from player communication and motivation to Xs and Os. The new material on zone offense, quick-hitting plays off the secondary break, man-to-man and trapping defenses, and situational in-bounds plays is sure to make this second edition even more popular than the original work (which sold more than 75,000 copies). This latest edition includes guidelines for physical conditioning, recommendations for job interviewing, advice on conducting summer camps, and a master plan for handling game situations. And sprinkled throughout the book are many of Wootten’s “thought for the day” phrases the coach has found especially effective in motivating and communicating important lessons to athletes.

Wootten amassed the most successful high school coaching record ever (1,274-192) during his 46-year career at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. His coaching has been praised by the game’s best all-time coaches: John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski, Bob Knight, Pat Riley, Rick Pitino, Lute Olson, Dean Smith, Chuck Daly, and others.

Now, in Coaching Basketball Successfully, Wootten shares the wealth of knowledge that produced a .869 winning percentage, 5 national championships, a National Basketball Hall of Fame induction, and hundreds of high-achieving student-athletes.

Just as Wootten is considered the best high school basketball coach, legendary UCLA coach John Wooden is considered the best college basketball coach. So when Wooden states that Wootten’s “Coaching Basketball Successfully is as fine a teaching aid on the development of a high school team and program as I have ever read,” he speaks with authority on the quality and appeal of this book.

This edition of Coaching Basketball Successfully proves that you can improve on a classic. With expanded offensive and defensive tactics and new personal insights from one of the game’s greatest coaches ever, this book is sure to be a winner for many years to come.

About Morgan Wootten

Morgan Wootten compiled a remarkable 1,274-192 (.869) record in his 46-year career at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. Under Wootten, DeMatha won legendary national championships in 1962, 1965, 1968, and 1984. In 1984, USA Today named Wootten the National Coach of the Year. His teams recorded 44 consecutive seasons with at least 20 wins and won 33 Catholic League championships. Most impressive, DeMatha has finished the season ranked number 1 in the Washington, DC, area 20 times in the last 33 years.

Wooten first put DeMatha on the national map of high school basketball in 1965 when his team broke the 71-game winning streak of Lew Alcindor's Power Memorial (New York) club. More than 160 of Wootten's former players have played college basketball, and a dozen have played in the NBA, including Adrian Dantley and Danny Ferry. More than 20 of his former coaches or players are now coaching on the high school, collegiate, or professional level. Wootten was inducted into the Naismith National Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000. He retired in November 2002.

Wootten is regarded as one of the best teachers in the history of the game. Coaches throughout the world have read his books, watched his videotapes, and sat spellbound through his clinics for many years. He and his wife, Kathy, reside in Hyattsville. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, golfing, and traveling.

Reviews

"This is the most comprehensive basketball book that I have read. Coach Wootten covers every aspect of establishing and maintaining a successful basketball program and reveals the essential elements of his phenomenal success."

Rick Pitino
University of Louisville

"Morgan is such a great teacher. He has always amazed me with his ability to organize and teach."

Mike Krzyzewski
Head basketball coach, Duke University

"Morgan Wootten has made a tremendous contribution to the coaching profession through his book Coaching Basketball Successfully. A must-read book for many years to come."

Lute Olson
University of Arizona

"Coaches, players, and fans will enjoy and learn from Wootten's engaging and information-filled book."

Dean Smith
Former head basketball coach, University of North Carolina

"This book should be every aspiring coach's bible."

Pat Riley
Head coach, Miami Heat

"Outstanding effort! Not to be missed."

Chuck Daly
Former head coach, Detroit Pistons, New Jersey Nets
Head coach, 1992 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team

"All of us in the coaching professions should be grateful that Morgan Wootten made his tremendous experience available to us in this book."

Bob Knight
Head basketball coach, Texas Tech University

From Scholastic Coach & Athletic Director
"The Great One (Wootten) retired a few years ago, but his truth goes marching on.

About Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules. Basketball is one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sport.

A regulation basketball hoop consists of a rim 18 inches (45.7 cm) in diameter and 10 feet (3.05 m) high mounted to a backboard. A team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the hoop during regular play. A field goal scores two points for the shooting team if a player is touching or closer to the hoop than the three-point line, and three points (a "3 pointer") if the player is "outside" the three-point line. The team with more points at the end of the game wins, but additional time (overtime) may be issued when the game ends with a tie. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it while walking or running (dribbling) or passing it to a teammate. It is a violation (traveling) to walk with the ball, carry it, or to double dribble (to hold the ball and then resume dribbling).

Various violations are generally called "fouls". Disruptive physical contact (a personal foul) is penalized, and a free throw is usually awarded to an offensive player if he is fouled while shooting the ball. A technical foul may also be issued when certain infractions occur, most commonly for unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of a player or coach. A technical foul gives the opposing team a free throw.

Basketball has evolved many commonly used techniques of shooting, passing, and dribbling, as well as specialized player positions and offensive and defensive structures (player positioning) and techniques. Typically, the tallest members of a team will play "center", "small forward", or "power forward" positions, while shorter players or those who possess the best ball handling skills and speed play "point guard" or "shooting guard".

While competitive basketball is carefully regulated, numerous variations of basketball have developed for casual play. Competitive basketball is primarily an indoor sport played on carefully marked and maintained basketball courts, but less regulated variations are often played outdoors in both inner city and rural areas.

The strategies also evolve with the game. In the 1990s and early 2000s, teams played with more "isolation". Teams that had one superstar would let one player, usually the point guard or shooting guard, run most of the offense while the other four offensive players get out of his/her way. Nowadays, teams tend to play with more teamwork. The "Center" position has evolved to become more of a taller "Small Forward" position. Since teams play more teamwork, ball movement has evolved with the game, and more jump shots have been taken as a result.

There are two main defensive strategies: zone defense and man-to-man defense. In a zone defense, each player is assigned to guard a specific area of the court. In a man-to-man defense, each defensive player guards a specific opponent. Man-to-man defense is generally preferred at higher levels of competition, as it is intuitively easier to understand and avoids mismatches between players who play different positions. However, zone defenses are sometimes used in particular situations or simply to confuse the offense with an unexpected look.

Offensive plays are more varied, normally involving planned passes and movement by players without the ball. A quick movement by an offensive player without the ball to gain an advantageous position is a cut. A legal attempt by an offensive player to stop an opponent from guarding a teammate, by standing in the defender's way such that the teammate cuts next to him, is a screen or pick. The two plays are combined in the pick and roll, in which a player sets a pick and then "rolls" away from the pick towards the basket. Screens and cuts are very important in offensive plays; these allow the quick passes and teamwork which can lead to a successful basket. Teams almost always have several offensive plays planned to ensure their movement is not predictable. On court, the point guard is usually responsible for indicating which play will occur.

Defensive and offensive structures, and positions, are more emphasized in higher levels in basketball; it is these that a coach normally requests a time-out to discuss.

Coaching Basketball Successfully