Idaho Basketball Coaching Podcast

Brent Tipton joins the Small-Sided Pod Coaching Development Series to talk about Pick and Roll concepts. Tipton is the head coach of Guam's U-17 team and an assistant for the men's senior team. Originally from Missouri, Tipton is also a Regional Director for The Basketball Embassy. In the podcast, Tipton gives a detailed breakdown of the PnR concepts used by Guam's national team. He gives reasons for making the PnR part of an offensive attack and provides context on how to teach these concepts at all levels. From the creator to the screener to the other offensive players, Tipton provides tips that will make you think about ways to use the PnR as a 5v5 weapon. 

Joerik Michiels joins the Small-Sided Pod Coaching Development Series to talk about his philosophy on basketball skills training. Based in Belgium, Michiels is the co-founder of Elite Athletes. EA started as a small group of coaches managing a youth team to a skills training academy that shares its unique philosophy on training with coaches around the world. Using a mix of block and small-games, Michiels focuses and his staff focus on mastering the fundamentals. In this podcast, Michiels shares philosophies and techniques that have been developed over the last decade. Michiels recently released a 197-page Skill Development Guide that coaches can purchase. Besides hosting camps and clinics, EA (eliteathlete.be) provides an All Access development opportunity through its website for coaches and players.

Don Showalter joins the Small-Sided Pod Coaching Development Series to talk about implementing your transition offense and defense systems. Showalter is the Coach Director for USA Basketball. Coach Showalter was a successful high school coach and the U16-17 Men’s National Team coach from 2009-18. During his time, he was part of 10 Gold Medals. Showalter speaks at clinics throughout the world and has a popular session on transition defense on FIBA's Basketball Channel on YouTube. In this podcast, Showalter give some good insights for getting your players to be successful in transition on both offense and defense.

Michael MacKay joins the Small-Sided Pod Coaching Development Series to talk about how we can better connect with today’s athletes. MacKay is a former high school coach and athletic director. He now works as the Women’s High Performance Manager for Basketball Canada. MacKay provides some history on what has led Canada to be a hotbed for for basketball talent on both the men’s and women’s game. MacKay has appeared in a number of clinics and always leaves coaches around the world thinking about how they can improve. In this podcast, he explains the difference between a transactional vs. transformational coach. He also provides several methods coaches can use to help improve their practices and develop better players. If you are looking to improve as a coach, MacKay provides several takeaways that will better your coaching and development methods today.

Jon DeMarco joins the Small-Sided Pod Coaching Development Series to discuss rebounding.  If you are on basketball Twitter, you more than likely have come across Coach DeMarco. He provides coaches around the world some great teaching resources in different types of media. His weekly Get Better Basketball Chat on Twitter is nearing 100 straight weeks of helping coaches on a variety of topics. DeMarco provides a lot insights for coaches to consider when it comes to rebounding. Among other things, he discusses how a coach can create their own rebounding philosophy and how to work with reluctant rebounders. DeMarco also provides some of his favorite rebounding drills.

Alex Sarama joins the Small-Sided Pod Coaching Development Series to discuss how coaches can use small-sided games to enhance their practices. Sarama is from England and has been coaching basketball since he was 14. He now works for Basketball Immersion and as a consultant for clubs and federations across Europe. Sarama goes in-depth for coaches on how they can create small-sided games that emphasize their program's concepts and principles while giving players a game-like environment. He also gives tips for how coaches can incorporate decision-making elements that encourage development and creativity for their players. Sarama discusses how to structure practices when using small-sided games and how coaches can still emphasize 5v5 concepts while using 2v2, 3v3 teaching situations.

Mario Betancourt joins the program to talk about the Vallivue Boys Basketball Program. A long-time assistant coach at all levels, Betancourt is entering his second years as the Falcons head coach. Betancourt is a fixture in the Treasure Valley basketball scene, having played his high school basketball at Caldwell High. He shares his journey as a coach, which started by leading a girls junior high B team shortly after graduating high school. Betancourt goes in-depth on the Vallivue program, especially how the Falcons are able to generate money through activities like a youth league, father-daughter dance and a print shop. He also discusses how the coaching staff works together when it comes to player development and lessons he learned as first-year head coach.

Cody Powers joins the podcast to talk about the Raft River Girls Basketball Program. Powers is about to start his seventh year as a head coach. Prior to Raft River, Powers spent 1 year as an assistant coach at Burley. Powers help guide Raft River to a consolation title at this year's 1A D1 State Basketball Tournament. He was selected as the District 4 Coach of the Year. Powers talks about his experience in building the Raft River program. The Trojans place an emphasis on fundamental work, including a daily form shooting drill. Powers talked about making the decision to devote time to the fundamental work in each practice and also moving to a motion offense. He also discusses Raft River's defensive philosophy and talks about some accountability measure the program employs.

Travis Noble joins the podcast to talk about the Timberline boys basketball program. Timberline made waves last year when the Wolves made a late run to the 5A state tournament. Noble is entering his third year at Timberline. Prior to that, Noble coached in college and at Oakley High School. Noble shares insights on how coaching differs from the college and high school levels and how he approaches coaching at a 5A high school versus a smaller school. Timberline employs a Blocker-Mover offense. Noble explains the roles for players and how they break down practices to get players ready. He also discusses his decision to move from a pressure man-to-man defense to the pack line. Finally, Noble shares a lot of insights on the Timberline culture and why seniors are so important in his program.

Kris Knowles joins the podcast to talk some basketball from the athletic director side of the game. Knowles is the athletic director at Sandpoint High School. (That's right ... he's the boss of the podcast host.) Prior to that, Knowles was the athletic director at Bonners Ferry High School. Before becoming an administrator, Knowles was a basketball coach at Lake City High School where coached both on the boys and girls side. He was also an assistant coach at North Idaho College. Knowles played basketball in junior college after graduating from Coeur d'Alene High School. While at CHS, he played for longtime coaches Donnie Haynes and Jim Winger. Knowles shares some great insight for basketball coaches, including what coaches can do to make themselves standout and the relationship between the coach and AD.