High school hoops 101: Scheduling

The most underrated aspect of high school coaching is scheduling.

Depending on the state, somewhere between one-third and two-thirds of the schedule is controlled by the coach – or should be. (Keep the athletic director out of it if all possible, as he or she may make decisions based on favors done for other programs (like football) or to accommodate an old friend.) Those optional opponents should be selected with great care, and the process should be guided not by slogans but rather by where a team is in the development cycle, and what its goals are.

Another key factor is how long you’ve been the head coach. In your first year, winning as many games as possible, regardless of the level of competition, is usually the top priority. Most of the time a new coach is in place because the old coach didn’t get the job done, so it’s likely there’s a general lack of confidence and positive feelings about the program.

To win over players and parents, it’s simple: Win games. They don’t care, and very likely won’t notice, whether the opponents are good, bad or horrid. They will judge a first-year coach by wins, and in addition, winning breeds confidence in the coach. Playing a difficult schedule as a first-year coach and getting blown out too often makes it easy for players and parents to question just how good the new coach is.

But any coach must first take a hard look at reasonable expectations. Can this team go deep in postseason? Can this team win league? Will parents and players look at a .500 league record as a success?

Let’s take the first case, a strong team with a chance to win some games in the playoffs. Question one: How good is the league? If you’re going to win all but one or two league games by 35, then the non-league schedule must be tougher. If your league is an all-out war five nights out of seven, you’ll be ready for postseason without much further preparation.

If the league is weak, then clearly the preseason should be strong. That said, the first game of the year should not be against a regional power, or even a local one. Only a long-time coach with a well-developed program and confident team can really afford an early blowout loss.

So regardless of how good or bad your team is, the first game should be pretty much a guaranteed win. After all, you’ve been practicing for weeks, if not months, and there’s nothing more validating to the systems you’ve put in than a big win. And you can also play everyone, which is important in many ways (more on that in a later article).

I always liked the second game to be against a slightly better team, but again, a game we should win. Another win instills a little more confidence in the players, and in the players’ and parents’ view of the coaches.

Game number three? Now we’re ready to play someone good, and maybe someone really good. Getting bounced around by a regional power is a great wakeup call, and a reminder that it’s important to listen to the coach and play the game the right way. The message is “You thought you were great, but really, we have a long way to go.”

Now, back to another win to restore confidence. And then a tougher game, and sooner or later a tournament, preferably one that requires at least a one-night overnight stay. There’s nothing like going on the road, playing in a strange gym, and not knowing anyone to get a team to bond. Coaches, parents and players will eat together, do little field trips together (even if it’s just to a mall) and of course have to support each other because no one else is around.

But again, pay attention to who’s in the tournament. You don’t want three big-margin losses – but it’s OK if there two or three very good teams in an eight-team bracket.

Another point: When the team comes home after the tournament, what everyone will remember are the last two games. You don’t want to win the first game, get into the winner’s bracket and get blown out by two teams way better than you. If you feel you’re the third or fourth best team in the tournament, then volunteer to play the best team on the first night. That way, you drop into the loser’s bracket and have a chance to win two games in a row and send everyone home happy.

And now’s a good time to address the most dangerous cliché in scheduling: To be the best, you have to beat the best.

So yes, to win a state title, you will have to beat the best, or second-best team in the state. But if your team isn’t a state-title contender -- and in general, there are only a handful of legit contenders each year – then the cliché makes no sense at all. It would be better, if not as catchy, if formulated this way: To be the best team you can be, you have to beat the teams that are just a little better than you.

Which brings us back to realistic preseason estimation of how good your team can be. And if you’re going to make a mistake in that estimation, err on the side of being worse than you expect – which of course is only an ACL away. If it turns out you scheduled too weak and you wind up 22-4, well, everyone can live with that. If you schedule too tough, the team loses confidence, the parents start to moan, the AD doesn’t like you as much, and that 8-18 mark is an albatross.

Also be aware of who’s calling you asking for a game. Veteran coaches are usually calling around looking for wins, and a lot of texts asking for a preseason matchup is a clue that people think they can beat you. On the other hand, if you have to scramble to get anyone to call back, you probably have a pretty good team.

And one last note: Start scheduling early. As soon as the season is over, line up about two-thirds of your games. I always liked to keep a few in hand in case one of my key players got hurt, or that mythical 6-5 Lithuanian transfer showed up at an open gym, because then my scheduling strategy would change.

But there are coaches who don’t really have a scheduling strategy, which to my mind is like not having a zone attack. Sure, you can rely on talent to bail you out, but it never hurts to have a plan of attack – and attacking your schedule should be step one in your preseason preparation.

High school hoops 101: Conditioning?

Photo byKyle O'Sullivan for Unsplash