Jamie Parish: Basketball Thoughts

I am happy to have coach Jamie Parish share some of his basketball thoughts with the coaching community.  I have known coach Parish for a number of years.  He is a very successful coach and has a great mind for the game.  I think everyone will be able to take away something from Coach Parish's thoughts.

Jamie Parish is in his 2nd season with the Sioux Falls Washington Warriors boys’ basketball program (2013-current).  He teaches Physical Education at Hawthorne Elementary in Sioux Falls.  Coach Parish brings a variety of experiences to Washington.  As a head coach Parish has stops in Vermillion (2003-2009) and Centerville (2010-2012), SD.  Most recently at Centerville he was the athletic director, physical education teacher, and girls’ basketball coach.  As a head coach he was fortunate to coach teams in four state tournaments including a state championship with the Vermillion girls in 2007.  During that stretch he was named the SDHSAA Girls Regional Coach of the Year in 2005, 2007, and 2011, the Region 4A Coach of the year in 2005 and 2006, and was honored with coaching duties in the SDHSAA All-Star games in Aberdeen on two separate occasions.  During the summer, Parish coaches for the Dakota Schoolers Girls Basketball Program.  Parish has assistant coaching experiences under Chad Lavin at USD, Chuck Iverson at Mount Marty College, Kraig Blomme at Hot Springs, and Mark Stadem at Brandon Valley.

Originally from Yankton, SD Parish earned an Elementary Education Degree from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD and a Masters Degree from the University of South Dakota.  Parish married his wife Laura (Johnson) of Wessington Springs, SD in May of 2012.  They are expecting twins in April of 2014.

I have had the good fortune of spending the last two years as the sophomore boys basketball coach working with an outstanding staff at Washington High School in Sioux Falls, SD.  It has given me the opportunity to do some things that I would not have been able to do as a head coach.  I have watched and learned from our head coach, I have attended college practices, several high school practices, and summer traveling team practices.  This stint as an assistant has given me an opportunity to see new ideas, confirm old ideas and reflect on my personal coaching experiences and philosophy.  Instead of a narrative I am going to make a list of things that I have thought about over the last two seasons. 

   

• Practice Repetitions

·         We all know that repetition is beneficial but the thought I ponder is what do you do when your kids are performing bad / lazy repetitions?  

·         Do you continue with the reps?  (are bad reps better than no reps?)

·         Do you punish them then continue with the reps?  

·         Do you move on and come back to it at another time?

• Ball handling

·         We all agree that ballhandling is beneficial but to what degree?  

·         Should it be practiced on a daily basis?  

·         Should it be an individual unsupervised warm up?  

·         Should it be worked on only in the off-season?  

·         Do post and perimeter players both need the same drills?  

·         Should ballhandling be game specific or should you use two balls?

• Shooting

·         We all agree that making baskets is a part of the game

·         How many shots should your athletes get during practice?

·         Should shooting be done before and after practice?

·         Should everyones shot look the same?  

·         Do you try to change someones form in-season?

·         Do you take a narrow/specific or broad approach to teaching the fundamentals of shooting?

• Private workouts

·         How beneficial are they?

·         Can a private workout make your 10th man into a starter?

·         Can a private workout make an average player into an all-stater?

·         Can a private workout make a high school player into a college player?

• Offense

·         Motion or Continuity

·         Motion is difficult to defend.

·         Is a high school season long enough to teach motion?

·         Continuity can be hard to defend.

·         Continuity can be too predictable.

·         Continuity can make your players into robots.

·         Continuity is easier to scout and take away than motion.  

• Staff Responsibilities

·         Do you delegate or take it all on?

·         assistants in charge of substitutions / offense / defense / blobs / practice input etc.

·         Do you approve all decisions or allow some freedom?

·         Who you you ask for advice?

·         Staff

·         Another Head Coach

·         Others

·         Do you make your assistants keep stats?

• Random Thoughts

·         Do you teach skills or drills?

·         I will weigh in on this topic, at some of the practices I have observed drills are too complex in my opinion.  The athletes are focusing so hard on running the drill correctly that they are doing the skill poorly.

·         Do you speak To your athletes or At your athletes?

·         How do you teach

·         Few big concepts

·         Specific and detailed concepts

·         How do you handle your off-season?

·         How many hours do you expect of your athletes?

·         Is your offseason “Mandatory”?

·         How much is too much?

·         How much is not enough?

These are some of the many thoughts that I have pondered over the past two years as a lower level coach.  I hope these random thoughts encourage you to question, evaluate, or even reinforce the things that you and your staff do.  I am uncertain at this point in my personal and professional life if I will have another head coaching opportunity or if the timing will allow me to pursue one.  I am however fairly confident that I could do a better job next time around after having this time to take a step back and look at the game through different eyes.  Good luck to you and your teams this winter.

Make a great day