with Bob Hurley,
former St. Anthony's High School (NJ) Basketball Coach;
45 year career as head coach of St. Anthony's - from 1972 until the school's closing in 2017;
Distinguished member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (2010);
3x USA Today National Coach of the Year ('89, '96, '08);
4x High School National Champions; 28x State Champions;
back-to-back MaxPreps National Champions in 2010 & 2011;
2017 ESPY Award for 'Best Coach';
83-game win streak (2010-13);
Compiled an astounding career record of 1,184 - 125 (90.5)
Bob Hurley has been around the game of basketball for over 50 years, and in that time, he has made an impact on so many players and individuals. Coach Hurley is a master at taking a situation and making the best out of it, whether that situation involves equipment, gym space, players, coaches, or even his school closing.
Through the years, Hurley learned from some of the best coaches in the history of the game by watching styles of play and working to adopt effective offensive and defensive principles into his own program. In this video sourced from a series of webinars, you will get over three and half hours of concepts, drills and principles from Coach Hurley that you can take and implement with your team!
Practice Organization
Practice is where growth and learning happens; having a well-organized practice is half the battle for any coaching staff. Coach Hurley discusses how his team had to overcome many obstacles along the way to becoming a championship program. He outlines several sample practices he has used throughout his career.
Beginning with drills that get his players up and down the floor, such as 5-Man Weave, Hurley emphasizes the use of fundamentals to build skill. Once players are loose, he gets into defense and defensive technique, especially focusing on transition. One of his favorite drills, 5 on 3 + 2, allows athletes to work on getting back and forming a triangle defensively to prevent easy baskets around the rim. A breakout session into guards and posts allows Coach Hurley to teach individual skills, moves, and let players get up plenty of shots. The rest of Hurley's practices are spent in Shell Defense and scrimmaging situations, which allow players to learn while playing the game.
Offensive Concepts, Shooting, and Rebounding
With players developing more and more offensively, focusing on areas like passing and shot fakes will be the difference between a next-level scorer and an average offensive player. Coach Hurley has athletes learn several pivoting and passing angles to turn them into strong passers. Players also learn how to utilize pass fakes when it comes to various off-ball screens.
In a 3v3 setting, Hurley's athletes work on cutting, screening, getting open for their shot and being able to move at game speed. Doing this 3v3 allows his team to maximize court space and not have many players standing around waiting to get shots up.
Coach Hurley explains that rebounding is all about technique and effort. One of his favorite drills is having players throw the ball off the backboard and get to the other side of the lane to rebound it. A great progression for this is adding an explosive put-back, using a shot fake, teaching a step-through, and teaching a reverse layup all off of a rebound.
Transition Defense
Next, Hurley outlines concepts of his transition defense. Players that are guarding the ball can't get beat off the first dribble and can't get beat up the sideline. Coach diagrams his Fist and Double Fist looks, which he ran thanks to knowledge he gained from Dean Smith. In Fist, players work to stunt and fake the trap, making sure the offense never gains an advantage off of the dribble. In Double Fist, players run and trap without being seen by the ball handler. Coach Hurley also explains a half court drill he uses to work on when the trap gets beat so his players can scramble and find a man to guard until match-ups are to their liking.
Half Court Defense
Coach Hurley has developed defensive absolutes over many years of coaching, and all of them can be taught through various game-like playing situations. Defense drills are shown that include working on exchanging positions in a 2v2 setting and then closing out to a baseline drive. In his One More drill, Hurley has four players work to move the ball around the perimeter and then go in for a long closeout to play live 2v2. He uses a progressive build up in this format - 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4.
In this three-plus hour collection of coaching knowledge, Coach Hurley outlines what it takes to run a successful basketball program year after year. There is so much packed into this video that you will be certain to watch it over and over again and pick up something new every time you watch it. This is a must-have video that will help you build your program into a consistent championship-level team!
234 minutes. 2020.