Coach, Stop Doing it All!

Why do you have assistant coaches if you aren’t going to give them real duties and responsibilities? Why are they sitting on the varsity bench if you don’t trust them to help? The very title of their job implies they’re there to assist. So let them. Give them jobs—and trust them.

For too many years, I tried to be an expert in every facet of the game. What suffered most was our offensive production. Not player development—I’ve always been confident in teaching individual skills and fundamentals—but how everything fit together offensively and which schemes best suited our personnel.

I knew defense. I saw the game through a defensive lens. My eyes and instincts were wired that way. But because I was the head coach—whatever that meant in my mind at the time—I felt I had to maintain control of the offense, too. The truth? I was too prideful to admit that someone else on my staff might be better suited to lead that part of the game.

When I finally matured enough to hand the offense over to an assistant coach, everything changed. We matched our great defense with great offense. Over time, I gave more and more responsibility to my assistants, allowing them to grow as coaches while I focused on what I did best.

Now, I know not everyone is fortunate enough to have multiple high-level assistants. Many schools don’t. I’ve been there, too. But if you have even one coach you can empower to become the “expert” in one area of the game, it immediately lightens the load and improves overall game management.

During our run to the 2024 State Championship game, one assistant called offense, one handled full-court defense, and another was responsible for all out-of-bounds plays. I called half-court defense and managed the game as a whole. We talked through every possession together. Each coach made their call.

What we discovered was a symbiotic coaching staff, one that felt valued, empowered, and fully invested. Most importantly, every part of the game was being handled by someone who knew it inside and out.

Give your assistant coaches ownership of a piece of the game. Let them become the expert in that area for your team. You’ll be amazed at how much pride they take in their role and how much more loyal and bought in they become when they’re truly trusted.

We’re seeing this same approach work with several college programs we partner with. They’ve put an assistant coach fully in charge of Ballogy for their team. That coach downloads it, learns it, gets players onboarded, assigns workouts, tracks performance data, and reviews results—from AI shot tracking to skill development trends.

The head coach doesn’t have to manage the app but they love the insights that come from it. Player development improves. Basketball training becomes more intentional. Decisions are backed by real data. All because the head coach gave an assistant a job and trusted them to own it.

Try it with your team. What do you have to lose?
Getting better has never hurt a program.