One of the first books I owned as a young coach was "Coaching Basketball Successfully" by the legendary Morgan Wootten. As a high school coach why not learn from the very best. In fact, I still refer to the book from time to time at this stage of my career. It is an outstanding book for coaches on levels but if you coach on the junior high or high school level, it is a must-have for your library.
There is a section in the book about how Coach Wootten went about his duties during the off-season. If you have the book, each of these sections delve into greater details but here is a quick look at the things Coach Wootten would do in the period immediately following the season:
A coach’s job is not over when the season ends; it just
changes. Rather than working hands-on with players, you will be evaluating and
planning for the future.
POST SEASON EVALUATIONNo matter what kind of season you had, you need to sit down and thoroughly evaluate your program. What you want to find out is where you were, how you did with what you had, and where you are going.
SENIOR FEEDBACK
The first step I recommend in analyzing your program is to
have your graduating seniors write out their thoughts on the program. Tell the seniors that you are not looking for
flowery accolades, but substantive ideas and criticisms that they believe will
improve your program. It should be
private, personal evaluation by the seniors; for it to be helpful, they must be
completely honest.
ASSISTANT COACHES’ INPUT
I also ask all of my coaches for a written evaluation of the
past season. I learned a long time ago from George Allen, the late, great coach
of the NFL’s Rams and Redskins, that if you really want someone’s opinion, get
it in writing.
EVALUATION OF ASSISTANTS’ PERFORMANCE
At the same time, you should evaluate your staff. Again, I suggest you do this in writing. Then sit down with each member of the staff
and go over that evaluation with him.
Tell each of them what you honestly see as his strengths and weaknesses,
and what he can do to improve.
PURPOSE OF EVALUATIONS
The evaluations should be completed for positive reasons,
primarily so that all of the players and all of the coaches (including the head
coach) can grow. From examining the
strengths and weaknesses of the coaches and the overall program, I can get a pretty good picture of what I’m
doing well or not doing well.
POSTSEASON PLAYER EVALUATIONS
My assistants and I evaluate our personnel the same way we
evaluate ourselves and our program. We
have each player submit a written evaluation of himself to the coaching
staff. I will then meet individually
with each player and discuss with him his own and the coaches evaluations. At these meetings, I will share with each
player the things that the coaching staff believes he needs to do to become a
better basketball players. I remind each
player that individual evaluations continue throughout the year, and that he
will undergo the same process during summer league play. 
