University of Kentucky coach John Calipari is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished college basketball coaches, owning the NCAA record of winning 30 or more games in four consecutive seasons. The offense his teams employ, the "dribble drive motion" offense, one that didn't exist 15 years ago and was almost unheard of before his Memphis team adopted it during the 2005-2006 season, has become popular with coaches at all levels. A search of "dribble drive motion" on the basketball section of the popular coaching video website Championship Productions yields 17 different video products teaching the offense. The Wikipedia.org entry for "Dribble drive motion" states that by the 2007-2008 basketball season, two seasons after Calipari first adopted the offense originally developed by Vance Walberg, no fewer than "224 junior high, high school, college, and professional teams were using some form of the Dribble drive motion." Of the nearly 1,000 posts on the popular basketball coaching blog coachingbetterbball.blogspot.com, one of the six most popular is titled "Memphis Dribble Drive Motion Offense."
Coaches emulate other successful coaches. And we certainly should learn from the best. But are the details of Coach Calipari's offensive action what can benefit us most in our effort to build a more successful basketball program? I think not. I believe Calipari uses this particular system for the same reason coaches have traditionally employed the motion, Princeton, four out one in, and various other systems: to "teach players how to play basketball." No matter what offensive system a coach chooses to teach, he will always be improving his ability to teach his players how to play, and no single system provides a shortcut through that never ending journey.
But I do believe that many of Coach Calipari's methods can teach plenty to coaches of different types of programs. I think coaches can choose from two broad strategies for building a successful program: competing through recruiting or competing through the development of players. Generally speaking, college programs need to place a heavy emphasis on recruiting, and high school programs need to concentrate on developing players. Obviously, college programs need to develop players well, but no amount of "coaching up" of players will make up for a poor recruiting capability. And some high school programs can, or at least do, recruit, but no matter how many talented players a team possesses, there is always a well coached and sufficiently talented team that will beat the poorly coached and highly talented group of players. So most coaches can benefit from learning to "walk and chew gum," or to recruit and develop players, but it is key to have a philosophy that drives the coach's thoughts and actions.
Obviously, Coach Calipari's success is largely a result of the recruiting, rather than the developing, of players. (Although he is probably quite good at player development - see his win loss record.) But coaches who stress player development can still learn a lot from the successful Kentucky coach. Every year, many of the best 19 year old players on the planet line up to play for him. I doubt these players are as excited about the dribble drive motion offense as they are about having fun playing the game. It is obvious that Calipari's players enjoy themselves. They win, they play hard, they play unselfishly, and they are given a lot of freedom to use their skills to exploit opportunities for themselves and teammates.
Just as Coach Calipari makes the game fun for his players, providing an effective recruiting tool, the coach who concentrates heavily on player development is wise to make the game and the improvement process fun for his players. Players like to be successful. If a coach can convince his players that the skill work done in practice and individual workouts leads to team, and individual, success, the players will engage their bodies and minds in maximizing the benefits of skill development practice.
But players are smart. They do not believe everything we adults tell them. Simply explaining the link between hard work and success will not do. Players need to experience the feeling of practicing a skill and subsequently using that skill to be successful in a game. After players have enough of those experiences, the quality and quantity of the time invested in developing their games will increase, and more success will follow. Soon a virtuous process takes over. Developing and improving skills leads to success during games, which leads to more developing of skills, and more success in games, etc. And the coach no longer has to convince players of the benefits, and the fun, of spending significant time working to improve.
John Calipari was a highly successful coach long before employing the dribble drive motion offense. His success has been a result of recruiting great players and developing them into even better players. His offensive system is the tool he has chosen to execute his strategies for building a successful program, and it is as good as many systems, but probably no better. Coaches learning to be better recruiters and developers of individual talent will benefit more by concentrating on the emotions and desires of prospective and current players than they will by studying the X's and O's behind the latest and greatest offensive system.
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