Here is how I evaluate a coach. It is anecdotal and based on watching two of my coaches. First was my coach at the old Boys Club on Page street, Harry Pitkoff, a former pro player before the NBA. He had a rule. When the other team scores two buckets in a row, he always called time out. It slows the other team's momentum. He said you can tell a good coach first by whether he calls such a timeout, and second, if his team plays better right after the timeout. In the modern game, the scores are a little higher, not much, but today, Harry might wait and call timeout after the opponent scored 3 buckets in a row. I haven't seen any games in person this season, so does Wyking Jones call a timeout when the opponent scores 2 or 3 buckets? If so, does the team play any better right after the timeout?
You can tell a good coach if something good happens after most of his timeouts. Maybe you don't catch up to another team or win the game, but some problem gets fixed. Maybe a small problem, or a big one, but something good comes out of calling a timeout when things are not going in your favor. It shows that he knows his stuff, what is wrong and a way to fix it, and it shows that he has enough control over the team, because they listened to him and changed something or did what he wanted and it worked.
I was a high school freshman playing on the 110 lb lightweight team which was coached by a guy who played the piano at school events and didn't know a basketball from a beach ball. However we had a few star players and didn't need a coach most of the time. We had traveled to Balboa HS for a pair of games, our game followed by the 120 lb team's game, and they were coached by our Hall of Fame Coach, Ben Neff. I had never seen Neff coach a game, but I had heard plenty of stories about him, because my father and uncle had played for him.
So we were in a tight game, back and forth, and were tied at the end. We played two overtimes, and were still tied. The rules said that now we had to play a sudden death overtime, first team to score 2 points wins. One of our players fouls Balboa's star player in the backcourt, which gave him 2 free throws by the rule in those days. He makes the first one. Ben Neff comes charging out of the stands, tells our coach to go sit down, and he is taking over. He calls time out to hopefully freeze the shooter. Then he grabs Martin, and starts screaming at him about how stupid it was to foul a guy in the backcourt. He screamed so loud and long, that Martin went down to the end of the bench and sat down to sulk. Then Neff pulls some coins from his pocket and starts to diagram a play, in case the shooter missed the free throw. He looks around, and there is no Martin. He sees him down at the end of the bench, and screams at him, "Martin, what the hell do you think you are doing? Get back over here and pay attention to this play." So he puts Martin back in the game, the Balboa star missed the free throw, and even though none of the players had ever played for Neff before, they listened, followed his instructions, and ran a play with a couple of screens, and several passes, which miraculously left our star player, Jackson, wide open under the basket with no one within 10 feet of him, and he laid the ball in, and we won. I knew right then, at age 13, that Ben Neff was a good coach. Another thing that happened was Martin never fouled a guy in the backcourt before he graduated 2 years later.
Now in modern times, they don't have complex plays like we did, where there was not much creativity, and I know Cal hasn't had many close games, but has Wyking Jones ever called a timeout in a tight game and had something good happen like that? You all have seen many of Wyking's Cal games, so maybe you know the answer. In any case, you can get a good idea of whether a guy can coach or not by observing when he calls timeouts, and observing what happens after he does call one.
You can tell a good coach if something good happens after most of his timeouts. Maybe you don't catch up to another team or win the game, but some problem gets fixed. Maybe a small problem, or a big one, but something good comes out of calling a timeout when things are not going in your favor. It shows that he knows his stuff, what is wrong and a way to fix it, and it shows that he has enough control over the team, because they listened to him and changed something or did what he wanted and it worked.
I was a high school freshman playing on the 110 lb lightweight team which was coached by a guy who played the piano at school events and didn't know a basketball from a beach ball. However we had a few star players and didn't need a coach most of the time. We had traveled to Balboa HS for a pair of games, our game followed by the 120 lb team's game, and they were coached by our Hall of Fame Coach, Ben Neff. I had never seen Neff coach a game, but I had heard plenty of stories about him, because my father and uncle had played for him.
So we were in a tight game, back and forth, and were tied at the end. We played two overtimes, and were still tied. The rules said that now we had to play a sudden death overtime, first team to score 2 points wins. One of our players fouls Balboa's star player in the backcourt, which gave him 2 free throws by the rule in those days. He makes the first one. Ben Neff comes charging out of the stands, tells our coach to go sit down, and he is taking over. He calls time out to hopefully freeze the shooter. Then he grabs Martin, and starts screaming at him about how stupid it was to foul a guy in the backcourt. He screamed so loud and long, that Martin went down to the end of the bench and sat down to sulk. Then Neff pulls some coins from his pocket and starts to diagram a play, in case the shooter missed the free throw. He looks around, and there is no Martin. He sees him down at the end of the bench, and screams at him, "Martin, what the hell do you think you are doing? Get back over here and pay attention to this play." So he puts Martin back in the game, the Balboa star missed the free throw, and even though none of the players had ever played for Neff before, they listened, followed his instructions, and ran a play with a couple of screens, and several passes, which miraculously left our star player, Jackson, wide open under the basket with no one within 10 feet of him, and he laid the ball in, and we won. I knew right then, at age 13, that Ben Neff was a good coach. Another thing that happened was Martin never fouled a guy in the backcourt before he graduated 2 years later.
Now in modern times, they don't have complex plays like we did, where there was not much creativity, and I know Cal hasn't had many close games, but has Wyking Jones ever called a timeout in a tight game and had something good happen like that? You all have seen many of Wyking's Cal games, so maybe you know the answer. In any case, you can get a good idea of whether a guy can coach or not by observing when he calls timeouts, and observing what happens after he does call one.
SFCityBear
