4x CAA Regular Season Champions;
2x CAA Tournament Champions;
2018 CAA Coach of the Year;
All time Northeastern record for wins as a head coach;
2x NABC District 10 Coach of the Year (2013, 2018)The importance of playing good defense doesn’t need to be stressed to most basketball coaches. Possessing a good defense, however, can become a game changer in ways that aren’t always that obvious. From containing an elite ball handler, to the toll that consistently contesting shots takes on an opponent, to locking down the defensive glass to kick-start your transition game – a smothering defense can keep your team in games against a good opponent, or even turn a game that appears to be out-of-reach, into a close contest after your squad makes furious comeback.
In this video, Northeastern’s Bill Coen outlines the tactics and defensive strategies he’s adhered to over the years to build his program into one of the top mid-major programs in the country. Starting with a foundation built on playing hard-nosed, ferocious on-the-ball defense, Coach Coen walks you through the principles and techniques you’ll need for every key component part of the defensive machine – transition defense, half-court defense and the importance of using rebounding to control an opponent – to build a shutdown defense.
Defensive Foundation Drills, Ball-Screen Defense
Coach Coen explains why using defense to force your opponents to play on the perimeter and limit their touches is a recipe for success in more ways than you think. He then lays out the game plan for working on the foundational building blocks your players will need to improve upon in their path to becoming a great defender.
Beginning with a warm up to work on defensive quick slides and J-slides, Coach Coen then breaks down the importance of closeouts and the techniques needed to keep a great shooter in check.
With an emphasis on containing great shooters and drivers with good defense that utilizes sound close-out techniques, Coach Coen showcases an excellent closeout-improvement drill called, the ‘3-Closeouts-In-a-Row Drill.’ Moving into a terrific ‘2-on-2 Help-Side Drill’ that is heavy on teaching, Coach Coen uses this productive drill to reinforce containing attacking drivers and preventing paint touches – all the while, improving help-side exchange and communication skills.
Ball Screen Defense, Transition Defense & Rebounding
Becoming proficient at ball-screen defense is a must for any team who wants to be considered a defensive-oriented team – especially with the way in which the pick-and-roll game has become a dominant offensive force in today’s game. In this segment, Coach Coen rolls up his sleeves and uses the on-the-court instructional setting as a means to teach critical ball-screen defensive concepts – highlighting the terminology, techniques and principles his teams utilize to force opponents out of the middle. By icing the basketball and forcing your opponent into dead space, Coach Coen illustrates how you can build solid protection around the rim. For the times when you are facing an elite ball handler, Coen teaches how to use repetitions of blown pick-and-roll coverage in practice so that your players can be prepared to recover and quickly assimilate into any coverage you need to use to keep opponents out of the paint.
Coach Coen explains why containing your opponent only truly begins, once your defenders can contain the possession of the ball. Coen then lays out the roles, responsibilities and drills he uses to create a no-middle transition defense. In a highly valuable no-middle, transition defense drill called the ‘4-on-3 Kick Drill,’ Coen shows how to train your rim protector and first defender in disadvantaged situations. Your players will gain confidence as they work on their rotations and improve their defensive communication skills, all while defending at full-speed in transition from full-court defense into your half-court defense. Coen then moves into the final phase that is required of any great defensive team: the rebounding phase.
Teaching two different ways to improve your players enough to keep your opponents off the glass, Coach Coen unveils his ‘Gap-Rebounding Drill’ and the ‘Wedge-Rebounding Drill.’
In the ‘Gap-Rebounding Drill,’ Coen stresses the importance of teaching your one-pass-away defenders to work on their technique for blocking out for rebounds from the gap position.
In the ‘Wedge-Rebounding Drill’ your post players will learn to block out from the help-side position and crash the boards. The game-like situations of both of these rebounding drills will help build your players confidence for team defense and rebounding while they are on the floor.
Many coaches take pride in coaching a great defensive team, but Coach Coen puts his money where his mouth is with critical demonstrations and must-know descriptions of critical principles, techniques, drills, and terminology you’ll need to build a shut-down defense that stabilizes your basketball program on a year-in and year-out basis. This is a must-watch defensive basketball lesson for all coaches, no matter the level of competition you coach.
Coach Rating: 5/5 Stars.‘Such amazing defensive information. His outline for teaching the ‘three defensive phases’ of the game and how you can keep your opponents out of the driving lanes – are tried-and-true concepts that can take your program to the next-level defensively.’