Coach Hurley

I was lucky enough to be on a Zoom call this week with Coach Hurley from St. Anthony's - thanks to Pat Scanlon from Greenwich Country Day School.

My notes from Coach Hurley:

• As a young coach, it helped to be a JV coach first. It was a great way to learn.
• The philosophy I took - never allow your players to be average. They can be average everywhere else. Not in the gym.
• Do not ever lower the bar for anyone - the kids have to raise their level to meet your bar.
• In 45 years of coaching, no kid ever said "Coach, I wish you would have pushed me harder."
• How did we measure toughness? We had 6 "Win Stats" - Deflections, steals, charges, loose balls, blocked shots and hit ahead passes. We charted those every day for each player.
• What would I have told my younger self? To be who I am, I still would have grown up in Jersey City, coaching in Jersey City - that shaped me. Find a way to make connections with my players.
• Assists were always our most important statistic.
• What separated our great teams from our good teams? 1) Range of play doesn't deviate. Great teams were never erratic. 2) Won games when our best player didn't play well. 3) Could play fast, medium or slow paced. Whatever we needed to win. 4) Had a point guard who thinks like the head coach. 5) Balance - lots of guys between 8-14 points per game. 6) Reacted to a spurt from the other team. Always responded.
• "If something didn't go well in practice, I learned over the years it was my fault."
• Our focus was skill work/competition/conditioning. Every drill in practice should have 2 of the 3.
• As the season went on we would shorten practices from 2 hours to maybe 1:30 - but the level of intensity was always the same.
• Structure vs. Freedom with my team - changes every year, depending on personnel.
• "I will give you freedom if you are playing hard."
• Every player has to learn when to shoot, when to pass.
• Your offense should always be trying to get to the 3rd side.
• On a great offensive team, your best player must be a great passer.
• Your philosophy as a coach is more important than the plays you will run.
• "The passer is the eyes of the shooter."
• Offensive philosophy - always had motion, always had a continuity offense (to slow them down if they needed it), and always had quick hitters/ATOs for best players.
• Always make the opponents best player defend.
• Emphasize open shooting - you cannot play kids on the perimeter who cannot shoot. Always had 45 minutes of shooting on Saturday/Sunday with coaches and players before practice started.
• As the head coach, always work with the kid who is struggling with his confidence on shooting.
• Anytime you leave your feet to pass in practice it's a turnover.
• Once you get your rotation set, use all 8 or 9 of them in every situation. You never know when you are going to need them to do something different.
• Scout your own offense after 10 games - are you becoming predictable?
• On the bench - I always wanted to sit next to my players. Assistant coaches at the head of the bench.
• Advice to coaches - everything in life is about relationships. They will know if you care about them. You must personalize your coaching relationship with each player.
• When you see a player on TV during a game put his arm on his coach, when things aren't going well - you know there is a good relationship there.
• Parents - they get one meeting a year, usually in the pre-season. After that, if they have any questions, they ask their son. I'll meet with your son, and he'll bring the information home to you.