Hall of Fame coach Morgan Wooten brings you a book that can prove worthy for a beginning coach as well as the seasoned veteran coach. The book offers some X's and O's for you guys looking for plays. However, there is so much more. Coaching philosophy, practice planning, season planning, man offense, zone offense, zone defense, inbounds plays, man-to-man defense. Yes, there are even drills provided to teacch each properly. It is a comprehensive book!

If you are looking for a book dedicated exclusively to Coach Wooten's offense and playbook, pass on this one. If you are looking to further your knowledge from one of the greatest coaches to ever coach the game, this is awesome. Coach Wooten's philosophy on the game of basketball is wonderful. His ability to teach players and make his teams great was incredible. There is more inside this book than I expected.

Now, you will have to actually read the book. It is not flooded with pictures, or page after page of drills that everyone knows or uses. The text makes the book. Remember, this is not a playbook. Coaching Basketball Successfully is a book about learning to develop your own style. It delves into many areas and at times you may come away feeling that there should be more. The idea is to get you, the coach, to begin to think, react, organize, and most of all TEACH.

Table of Contents

• Part I. Coaching Foundation
  • Chapter 1. Developing a Basketball Coaching Philosophy
  • Chapter 2. Communicating Your Approach
  • Chapter 3. Motivating Players
  • Chapter 4. Building a Basketball Program
• Part II. Coaching Plans
  • Chapter 5. Planning for the Season
  • Chapter 6. Preparing for Practice
• Part III. Coaching Offense
  • Chapter 7. Basic Offensive Positions, Skills, and Sets
  • Chapter 8. Teaching Offensive Skills
  • Chapter 9. Developing a Running Game
  • Chapter 10. Developing a Half-Court Offense
  • Chapter 11. Special Situations
• Part IV. Coaching Defense
  • Chapter 12. Basic Defensive Skills and Strategies
  • Chapter 13. Teaching Defensive Skills
  • Chapter 14. Teaching Team Defense
• Part V. Coaching Games
  • Chapter 15. Preparing for Games
  • Chapter 16. Handling Game Situations
• Part VI. Coaching Evaluation
  • Chapter 17. Evaluating Players
  • Chapter 18. Evaluating Your Program

I don't want to mislead you on the X's and O's or drills side. There are plenty of graphics to describe the may drills offered throughout the book. In fact, the drills are excellent resources. The $19.95 cost of the book will give you plenty of drills to teach inidivudal offense and defesne as well as team offense and defense. You can look at the table of contents and understand the idea of building basketball players. It starts with you the coach. It ends with evaluating your players, team, and program. There are many words of wisdom throughout the book.

Coach Wooten does offer some of his offense and defense sets. So, there are enough X's and O's for a coach to purchase the book strictly for the purpose of learning Wooten's basic zone offense, "Drift". He follows the introduction with breakdown drills and rules to initiate and execute the offense properly. So, don't be afraid to buy the book if you are looking for plays. They are definitely here.

I could easilly write a 5-10 page review on this book and not cover all the details of this book. Give some deep thought to adding this book to your coaching library. You won't be sorry!