This article was written and submitted by retired High School Coach Dave Millhollin. Coach Millhollin is known throughout the Sacramento area for his Boys Varsity teams’ fundamental soundness, discipline, unselfishness, team defense and overachievement. Dave Coached for 27 seasons and compiled 391 wins. I have included more information about his coaching career at the end of the article.
If you would like to contact Coach Millhollin, email me and I will put you in touch with him.
I am always looking for good information to share. If you have an article that you would like to have posted on the Coaching Toolbox, feel free to contact me.
After Season Observations and Upcoming Season Objectives
At the completion of each season, successful coaches go through a brief period of decompression and relaxation. This is followed by very important time of reflection and evaluation of how the season went.
During the reflection and evaluation period they take a look at the things they accomplished and the areas where their teams fell short. This is a very important process and the really good coaches take a close look at what went into both their successes and failures.
Understanding what goes into failure and what goes into success is critical for future success. Knowing this, they make a list of things to continue doing and things to avoid doing in the future.
The next step successful coaches do is to identify the things they want to accomplish for the next upcoming season and add to the list things they need to start doing.
They end up with four lists:
1. What they want to accomplish for the next season (their goals)
2. What they need to stop doing
3. What they need to continue doing (with any necessary adjustments)
4. What they need to start doing that they have not done yet.
At this point in the process, the principle is quite simple; Prepare in such a manner as to avoid the things that go into failure and work hard on getting good at doing the things that bring about success.
Some coaches take this principle even further – to the point of making sure that they can defend each and every one of their activities and practices against the list of things they want to accomplish. They want everything they do to be predicated on achieving their goals in order for their team and program to become what they want it to be.
These principles can be applied to individual players, coaches and to the collective group (team) as well. They are life skills that people can employ in their personal, as well as professional lives in both individual and group contexts.
Copyright Dave Millhollin
I posted a similar article to this one about daily improvement written by University of Washington women’s coach Mike Neighbors. It is a really good read as well. Here is the link: Stoplight Theory of Improvement
About the author of this article, Coach Dave Millhollin In fourteen years at Ponderosa High School, Coach Dave’s teams won 260 games (.665). From 2000 through 2009 Ponderosa won 207 games over a ten year stretch which included four SVC Conference Championships and two CIF Section final four appearances. Over his 27 year Boys Varsity Coaching career, Coach Dave posted 391 wins, produced 13 college basketball players and was named SVC Coach of the Year four times. At Ponderosa, Coach Dave’s teams were #1 in California in team defense five times and in 2008 Ponderosa was the top defensive team in the Nation among shot clock states. Over Coach Millhollin’s last five seasons (2005-6 through 2009-2010; 136 games) Ponderosa averaged a composite 50% total field goal percentage, 58% two point field goal percentage and 32% three point field goal percentage. Since retiring from High School coaching in 2010, Coach Dave has been actively involved in coaching Jr High level School and AAU teams as well as and running instructional basketball clinics from the primary grades through the College level.
