July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Patriot Pre Games (01/18/06)
The coach
Patriot Pre Games (01/18/06)
By By RAY COONEY-
(This is the second in a three-part series focusing on the pre-game activities at Jay County High School boys basketball games. The third story in the series, following the cheerleaders, band and the fans, will run next week. The players were covered in the first story on Jan. 11.)
Too prepared?
There’s no such thing, says Craig Teagle.
“I don’t think you can be over-prepared. ... Realistically the things that we prepare (the players) for are for every team, and then there’s maybe six or eight extras, and we’ve worked on them Wednesday and Thursday ... I’ve never believed you could be over-prepared for anything.”
The Jay County boys basketball coach heads to the locker room just before halftime of each junior varsity game to write his game notes for the varsity team on the dry erase board.
Seem like an excessive amount of time?
It’s not.
For the Patriots’ game this season against South Adams the board was full of notes — about 50 in all — written in red marker. And that number is common, at least at home.
“Typically on the road we don’t have as big a chalk board,” Teagle jokes. “But we have all those things on a piece of paper that gets stuck up in every locker room we go in. For each team there’s probably between five to eight things that they would be doing different than they’ve done all week in terms of preparation. But for the most part it’s the same stuff.”
Teagle has so many notes for the game against South Adams that with five minutes left in the JV game he instructed assistant coach Ted Habegger to go tell JV coach Chuck Phillips to start burning timeouts. The game was moving a bit too fast and he needed more time.
2:30 remaining
JV game
The players are told to grab some Gatorade if they want it and have a seat as Teagle begins going over the game notes. He wants to move through them quickly, trying to keep up with the speed of the game on the court.
He discusses the various offenses and defenses his team will see and/or run. Against certain defenses he wants a specific player to inbound the ball after a made basket, “Other than that, the closest guy grab it, get it in and go.”
It’s a different strategy for the Patriots, who now want to run more after being a slow-down team in past years.
:20 remaining
JV game
Teagle is just halfway through the list with time winding down. Hopefully Phillips still has a timeout to burn to buy the varsity squad some time.
The coach is especially worried about this game because a snowstorm forced the cancellation of practice the night before, and in his experience that leads to sloppy play. He reminds his players of that fact, noting how well they’ve taken care of the basketball in previous games. He then brings them into a huddle which breaks with a chant of “one, two, three, team.”
“That’s typically our routine,” Teagle says. “It went a little quicker ... because the JV second half was so much quicker. I felt like we had to hurry through some of the things.
“Those kids have all that on their scouting reports. It’s already been read through twice during the week. It’s basically just to re-emphasize what we need to do. It’s just almost like a mantra, a chant, so that’s all they remember when they go out on the floor.”
20:00 remaining
pregame clock
While the team gets ready to take the court to chants of “Hey we want the Patriots,” Teagle grabs some Gatorade of his own and talks to assistants Habegger and Chris Krieg in the coaches’ locker room. They can barely hear each other as the band belts out the fight song when the team runs out.
Krieg tells Teagle that Phillips was slow to use his timeouts, which Teagle teases the JV coach about when he enters the locker room moments later.
Finally, he grabs his sport coat off its hanger and heads toward the court.
17:05 remaining
pregame clock
Teagle emerges from the locker room hallway, gets a drink from the nearby drinking fountain and walks to the home bench with his coaching staff. Then he heads to the visiting bench to talk to the opposing coach.
This conversation, though interrupted a few times, will last for most of the pre-game warm-ups.
What do the opposing coaches talk about?
“What you think of each other’s teams and some of the surrounding teams who you’ve played and what you think maybe their strengths are, weaknesses, and how they match up. Basically it’s the same conversation, just different coaches.”
“A lot of it is complimenting the other coach on things you feel like he does well,” Teagle adds, noting he’s impressed with the way third-year South Adams coach Jason Ridge runs his program.
The coaches discuss their basketball surroundings while watching their players go through their pre-game drills.
With 15:20 left on the pre-game clock Phillips walks over and Teagle hands him the starting lineup, which Phillips will give to scorekeeper Jason Hart.
At the 9:20 mark the officials break up the discussion for the pre-game meeting, which also includes team captains Scott “Scooter” Bruggeman, Zac Green and Tyler Rigby. The meeting lasts for about a minute, and the coaches continue talking for the next few minutes.
5:15 remaining
pregame clock
Ridge and Teagle part ways, with the Jay County coach heading back to the locker room along with Phillips and Habegger.
Teagle adds to his copious list of notes, writing out the starting lineup. Against the Starfires that lineup is Bruggeman, Green, Rigby, Clint Muhlenkamp and Corey Comer. When the players return to the locker room a few minutes later he again tells them to get some Gatorade, then goes over the match-ups for each starter.
“This is a big game for them,” he says of the Starfires, who enter at 4-0. “This is probably the best team they’ve had since I’ve been here.
“They’re coming in with a lot of confidence. Don’t let them have it.”
Then it’s back through the list of notes again with Teagle refreshing the ideas he talked about just 20 minutes earlier and worked on throughout the week of practice.
“That’s the way I’ve done it since I started,” says Teagle of his routine. “Paying attention to detail and doing all the little things, continuing to stress and emphasize certain points I think is important with any age group. But you want that carry-over from practice to the games.
“I would imagine a little bit of it (comes from) when I was under Dave McCollough at North Judson. That’s kind of the routine he went through. He didn’t have near as much on the board, and he was a little more general. I’m a little more specific, but I think it’s just part of my personality.
“(I want to) make sure I didn’t overlook any little point, because if I did then after the game I’d feel bad because I didn’t do my job.”
Again they close with a huddle and chant of, “One, two, three, team,” and Teagle heads to the coaches’ locker room.
1:00 remaining
pregame clock
Phillips leaves the coaches’ locker room briefly to check the clock.
“They’re doing the high kick,” he says of the cheerleaders, “that’s our cue.”
So, on cue, Teagle follows his pattern once more: Leave locker room, stop at drinking fountain, walk to bench.
:50 remaining
pregame clock
Teagle calls his players, who are finishing their pre-game shoot-around, back to the bench. He talks to Phillips while waiting for the starting lineups to be announced.
He stands near mid-court, politely clapping for each opposing starter.
“Let’s go white,” Teagle yells just before his own lineup is presented.
After his five starters are announced he joins them on the court for one final huddle.
What does he say?
“Just the thing that we talk about around here all the time: ‘Smart, heart, intense, together, execute, 32 minutes, you’ve got to leave it all on the floor. You can’t save anything.’”
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Too prepared?
There’s no such thing, says Craig Teagle.
“I don’t think you can be over-prepared. ... Realistically the things that we prepare (the players) for are for every team, and then there’s maybe six or eight extras, and we’ve worked on them Wednesday and Thursday ... I’ve never believed you could be over-prepared for anything.”
The Jay County boys basketball coach heads to the locker room just before halftime of each junior varsity game to write his game notes for the varsity team on the dry erase board.
Seem like an excessive amount of time?
It’s not.
For the Patriots’ game this season against South Adams the board was full of notes — about 50 in all — written in red marker. And that number is common, at least at home.
“Typically on the road we don’t have as big a chalk board,” Teagle jokes. “But we have all those things on a piece of paper that gets stuck up in every locker room we go in. For each team there’s probably between five to eight things that they would be doing different than they’ve done all week in terms of preparation. But for the most part it’s the same stuff.”
Teagle has so many notes for the game against South Adams that with five minutes left in the JV game he instructed assistant coach Ted Habegger to go tell JV coach Chuck Phillips to start burning timeouts. The game was moving a bit too fast and he needed more time.
2:30 remaining
JV game
The players are told to grab some Gatorade if they want it and have a seat as Teagle begins going over the game notes. He wants to move through them quickly, trying to keep up with the speed of the game on the court.
He discusses the various offenses and defenses his team will see and/or run. Against certain defenses he wants a specific player to inbound the ball after a made basket, “Other than that, the closest guy grab it, get it in and go.”
It’s a different strategy for the Patriots, who now want to run more after being a slow-down team in past years.
:20 remaining
JV game
Teagle is just halfway through the list with time winding down. Hopefully Phillips still has a timeout to burn to buy the varsity squad some time.
The coach is especially worried about this game because a snowstorm forced the cancellation of practice the night before, and in his experience that leads to sloppy play. He reminds his players of that fact, noting how well they’ve taken care of the basketball in previous games. He then brings them into a huddle which breaks with a chant of “one, two, three, team.”
“That’s typically our routine,” Teagle says. “It went a little quicker ... because the JV second half was so much quicker. I felt like we had to hurry through some of the things.
“Those kids have all that on their scouting reports. It’s already been read through twice during the week. It’s basically just to re-emphasize what we need to do. It’s just almost like a mantra, a chant, so that’s all they remember when they go out on the floor.”
20:00 remaining
pregame clock
While the team gets ready to take the court to chants of “Hey we want the Patriots,” Teagle grabs some Gatorade of his own and talks to assistants Habegger and Chris Krieg in the coaches’ locker room. They can barely hear each other as the band belts out the fight song when the team runs out.
Krieg tells Teagle that Phillips was slow to use his timeouts, which Teagle teases the JV coach about when he enters the locker room moments later.
Finally, he grabs his sport coat off its hanger and heads toward the court.
17:05 remaining
pregame clock
Teagle emerges from the locker room hallway, gets a drink from the nearby drinking fountain and walks to the home bench with his coaching staff. Then he heads to the visiting bench to talk to the opposing coach.
This conversation, though interrupted a few times, will last for most of the pre-game warm-ups.
What do the opposing coaches talk about?
“What you think of each other’s teams and some of the surrounding teams who you’ve played and what you think maybe their strengths are, weaknesses, and how they match up. Basically it’s the same conversation, just different coaches.”
“A lot of it is complimenting the other coach on things you feel like he does well,” Teagle adds, noting he’s impressed with the way third-year South Adams coach Jason Ridge runs his program.
The coaches discuss their basketball surroundings while watching their players go through their pre-game drills.
With 15:20 left on the pre-game clock Phillips walks over and Teagle hands him the starting lineup, which Phillips will give to scorekeeper Jason Hart.
At the 9:20 mark the officials break up the discussion for the pre-game meeting, which also includes team captains Scott “Scooter” Bruggeman, Zac Green and Tyler Rigby. The meeting lasts for about a minute, and the coaches continue talking for the next few minutes.
5:15 remaining
pregame clock
Ridge and Teagle part ways, with the Jay County coach heading back to the locker room along with Phillips and Habegger.
Teagle adds to his copious list of notes, writing out the starting lineup. Against the Starfires that lineup is Bruggeman, Green, Rigby, Clint Muhlenkamp and Corey Comer. When the players return to the locker room a few minutes later he again tells them to get some Gatorade, then goes over the match-ups for each starter.
“This is a big game for them,” he says of the Starfires, who enter at 4-0. “This is probably the best team they’ve had since I’ve been here.
“They’re coming in with a lot of confidence. Don’t let them have it.”
Then it’s back through the list of notes again with Teagle refreshing the ideas he talked about just 20 minutes earlier and worked on throughout the week of practice.
“That’s the way I’ve done it since I started,” says Teagle of his routine. “Paying attention to detail and doing all the little things, continuing to stress and emphasize certain points I think is important with any age group. But you want that carry-over from practice to the games.
“I would imagine a little bit of it (comes from) when I was under Dave McCollough at North Judson. That’s kind of the routine he went through. He didn’t have near as much on the board, and he was a little more general. I’m a little more specific, but I think it’s just part of my personality.
“(I want to) make sure I didn’t overlook any little point, because if I did then after the game I’d feel bad because I didn’t do my job.”
Again they close with a huddle and chant of, “One, two, three, team,” and Teagle heads to the coaches’ locker room.
1:00 remaining
pregame clock
Phillips leaves the coaches’ locker room briefly to check the clock.
“They’re doing the high kick,” he says of the cheerleaders, “that’s our cue.”
So, on cue, Teagle follows his pattern once more: Leave locker room, stop at drinking fountain, walk to bench.
:50 remaining
pregame clock
Teagle calls his players, who are finishing their pre-game shoot-around, back to the bench. He talks to Phillips while waiting for the starting lineups to be announced.
He stands near mid-court, politely clapping for each opposing starter.
“Let’s go white,” Teagle yells just before his own lineup is presented.
After his five starters are announced he joins them on the court for one final huddle.
What does he say?
“Just the thing that we talk about around here all the time: ‘Smart, heart, intense, together, execute, 32 minutes, you’ve got to leave it all on the floor. You can’t save anything.’”
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