Slappin’ Glass sits down with 11-Time Women’s National Champion Head Coach of the UConn Huskies, Geno Auriemma. The trio dive into a wide-range of relevant topics including elevating and coaching your best talent, getting input from players on offensive ideas, the balance of Reads vs. Rules in 1/2 court offense, and the intricacies of French Wine and Directional Defenses during the always fun “Start, Sub, or Sit?!” segment.
Geno Auriemma: Inside the Episode
It’s difficult to overstate the enormous effect that Geno Auriemma has had on the game of basketball. The 11-Time National Champion and Hall of Fame Head Coach of UConn Women’s Basketball was kind enough to sit down with us on the podcast this week and lend a variety of thoughts on coaching and leadership.
Some highlighted topics include:
- Elevating Talent and Coaching Your Best Players
- The common traits that the best players have
- How he pushes players like Paige Bueckers to new levels
- Gaining Buy-In
- How program standards and principles help players buy into roles
- Gaining insights from players on offensive and defensive tactics
- Rules vs. Reads
- Balancing how you teach/implement Reads within your offense, and when it’s better to have Rules
- Teaching .5 Second Decision Making in practice
- Why he doesn’t just put Paige Bueckers in a PNR every possession
- Start, Sub, or Sit
- Wines of the World: French, Italian, or Californian?
- Middle PNR Off-Ball Movement: Spacing, Cutting, or Screening?
- Screens in Transition Offense: Drag Screens, Away Screens, or Flare Screens?
- Directional Defenses: No Middle, Force Middle, or “Weaking”?
- In closing we asked…
- “Is there anything in the past 5 to 10 years that you’ve changed your mind about when it comes to coaching”?