Brooks Savage has changed his offense several times since becoming a head coach. In this episode, the East Tennessee State coach explains how personnel, team strengths, and defensive identity shaped those decisions—and why he became more effective once he stopped trying to be different for its own sake.

Savage also shares how he builds a clear team identity through standards, recruiting, and consistent language; why he prefers short, repetitive practices built around a few priorities; and how his approach to offensive rebounding has shifted from tagging up to more selective crashing. He discusses the decision to play without a traditional center, how he attacks a late-game deficit, and why coaches should use timeouts when the game calls for it instead of saving them for an imagined final moment.

What You’ll Learn

• How personnel and team strengths should shape an offense
• Why a program’s identity starts with standards and informs recruiting
• How to build culture through repeated language and daily expectations
• Why Savage favors short, focused practices with consistent priorities
• What his team learned by shifting from tagging up to crashing
• Why ETSU chose to play without a traditional center
• How he approaches pressing, lineups, and timeouts when trailing late

Timestamps

• 02:42 The evolution of Savage’s offense
• 07:54 Finding an edge through fundamentals
• 09:59 Choosing sets and preparing for opponents
• 12:03 How a set-heavy offense changes practice
• 15:02 Building practice around a team’s capacity
• 20:37 Moving from tagging up to crashing
• 24:29 Start, Sub, or Sit: identity and standards
• 28:58 Making culture real through language and behavior
• 32:00 Matching team identity to the university and community
• 33:52 Coaching players who fall below the standard
• 36:31 Creating a comeback by changing the game
• 40:02 Why ETSU plays without a traditional center
• 42:49 When to use timeouts
• 44:38 The best investment of Savage’s coaching career

To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

Tennessee Women’s Basketball Head Coach Kim Caldwell joins the podcast to detail the connected system behind her high-possession style of play.

Caldwell explains how her teams pursue a 20-shot advantage through forced turnovers, offensive rebounding, limiting their own turnovers, and getting to the foul line. She breaks down the habits that must be unlearned to play fast, how shot selection connects to floor balance, and why crashing four naturally establishes matchups for the press.

She also discusses subbing for fatigue rather than mistakes, giving defenders freedom within the run-and-jump, and the danger of introducing a Plan B that contradicts the team’s identity.

In Start, Sub, or Sit, Caldwell ranks communication, decision-making, and execution when players reach their physical limit. The conversation closes with her approach to full-court practices, eight-minute drills, conditioning, and choosing coaching jobs where winning is possible.

Timestamps

2:20 – Kim Caldwell joins the show
2:34 – The goal of creating 20 more shots
4:29 – Adjusting the shot-margin target by competition level
5:13 – Unteaching habits and training with a 12-second clock
6:33 – Defining a good shot within the system
7:41 – Preferred opponent shot profile
9:12 – Using defense to regain pace and momentum
10:47 – Substitution patterns and playing in short bursts
12:55 – Attacking teams that try to slow the game
14:36 – What Caldwell tracks during timeouts
16:49 – Crashing four and “building a house”
18:37 – Matching up and flowing into the run-and-jump
19:45 – Giving defenders freedom to err toward aggression
20:26 – Conviction, adaptation, and the danger of Plan B
23:04 – Protecting leads without abandoning pace
25:14 – Late-game shot selection and pressure adjustments
26:12 – Caldwell’s philosophy on calling timeouts
28:02 – Start, Sub, or Sit: Practice tipping points
30:12 – Player-to-player communication under fatigue
31:51 – Keeping chaos within the right boundaries
33:14 – Full-court practice and conditioning
35:03 – The eight-minute drill limit
36:46 – Finishing the final conversion of a drill
38:19 – Building practice plans with the staff
40:04 – Caldwell’s best career investment
41:39 – Slappin’ Glass takeaways

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UC Davis Head Coach Jim Les joins the Slappin’ Glass Podcast to discuss the daily habits behind elite performance, building trust before asking for hard truth, and creating a team environment where productive conflict can be handled quickly. Coach Les explains why urgency starts with what a staff is willing to tolerate, how written player goals can sharpen accountability, and why “the game knows” has become a central teaching idea in his program.

On the tactical side, he breaks down UC Davis’s use of Princeton and chin action, the value of a dynamic catch before the pick and roll, teaching split cuts through clear order of operations, and using multiple offensive modes during a game. The conversation closes with ball-screen coverage complexity, deciding whether to fix or cover a team weakness, and the coaching investment that has kept him learning for more than two decades.

Episodes Chapters

02:51 The traits of elite players and teams

03:22 Urgency habits and editing your life

08:40 How Coach Les changed as a communicator

11:17 Protecting the head coach’s voice

13:40 The game knows

15:47 Building a pre-practice habit system

18:17 Teaching passing off the dribble

19:36 Productive conflict inside a team

22:27 Staff communication and alignment

25:06 Investing in relationships with players

28:51 "Start Sub or Sit" Princeton into pick and roll

30:15 Dynamic catches and sprinting into the screen

32:03 Why Princeton punishes good defensive principles

34:55 Teaching split cuts and the feeder is the leader

36:36 Attacking the closeout before the ball screen

38:12 Using multiple offensive modes

40:02 "Start Sub or Sit" changes in coaching philosophy

41:41 Scaling ball-screen coverage complexity

45:19 Fixing a weakness or covering it

47:05 Coach Les’s best career investment

49:07 Slappin’ Glass recap

To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

Siena University head coach Nevada Smith joins the Slappin’ Glass Podcast to discuss the difference between speed and pace, the details behind “25 Speed,” and how his teams work to create advantages within the first five seconds of a possession.

Smith breaks down one-handed passing, finishing development, empty-side pick-and-rolls, high-slot spacing, attacking defensive absolutes, and creating “confusion zones” through guard-to-guard actions.

During “Start, Sub, or Sit,” he shares his approach to offensive rebounding, reading ball flight, crashing five, training disadvantaged transition situations, and developing point guards who can commit a second defender.

What You’ll Learn

• Why Smith separates speed from pace—and how he defines “25 Speed.”
• How finishing work and one-handed passing support a faster offense.
• Why high-slot spacing and empty-side pick-and-rolls create downhill attacks.
• How Siena identifies and attacks defensive absolutes.
• Why guard-to-guard actions create “confusion zones” against switching defenses.
• How shot selection and ball-flight recognition shape offensive rebounding.
• Why committing a second defender is Smith’s top point-guard skill.
• How the first 36 minutes inform Siena’s offense during the final four.

To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

Point Loma Head Coach Justin Downer joins the Slappin’ Glass Podcast to discuss building offensive decision trees around advantage creation, organizing offense into four connected phases, and using the “power of three” to simplify reads.

Downer explains how Point Loma identifies its three best offensive leverage points, recruits primary ball handlers rather than traditional point guards, and teaches ball-screen decisions through three levels: the primary defender, the coverage, and the help behind it.

In Start, Sub, or Sit, the conversation shifts to creating productive adversity, building clear feedback loops, highlighting roles, tagging up, and switching with physicality.

What You’ll Learn

• How Point Loma organizes offense into four phases without making the players feel restricted by the structure.
• Why every offensive decision begins with identifying the advantage it is meant to create.
• How the “power of three” shapes decision trees, offensive actions, and player reads.
• Why Point Loma evaluates primary ball handlers through processing and decision-making rather than traditional point-guard traits.
• How to teach ball-screen reads through the primary defender, the coverage, and the help behind it.
• Why Downer corrects aggressively during teaching segments but avoids providing answers during competition.
• How role highlighting allows bench players to retain their strengths when their minutes change.
• Why tagging up, forcing left, and physical switching help Point Loma dictate the possession before the offense can create an advantage.

To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

In this high-level, candid, and engaging return to the show, Los Angeles Clippers assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy joins Slappin' Glass for his third appearance. Van Gundy dives deep into what it takes to defend the NBA's best players—emphasizing the fundamentals of transition defense, rebounding, and avoiding reckless fouling. The conversation explores stunt vs. full help principles, creating physical defenses through communication, and the challenge of preparing against high-powered offenses.

A special edition of “Start, Sub, or Sit” covers skill development, offensive rebounding priorities, and what Van Gundy learned moving from broadcasting back to the NBA bench.

Authentic, honest, and packed with coaching wisdom, this episode is a must-listen for coaches at all levels looking to sharpen their defensive philosophies and leadership approach.

Topics Include:

• Defending elite players with discipline and fundamentals
• Communication as a driver of physicality
• The evolving role of offensive rebounding in the NBA and other levels
• How to give appropriate and impactful feedback to players
• Van Gundy’s “sniper rule” for transition defense 😂
• “Start, Sub, or Sit” on skill development and late-game coaching lessons

To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

Concordia St. Paul head coach Matt Fletcher joins Slappin’ Glass to detail the guard-to-guard screening system his staff built around a roster of multiple point guards and an undersized five. Fletcher explains how “bump, tap, hit” gives screeners three answers—screen-and-roll, ghost, or hit-and-pop—while creating an empty side and forcing the defense into switch-or-stay decisions.

The conversation moves into the teaching behind the system: charting each player’s screening mix, entering the first action within three seconds, and adjusting traditional deep-corner running to improve timing. Fletcher also separates playing fast from shooting fast through zero-second decisions and green, yellow, and red shots. He lays out their cutting progression from memorized responsibilities to personnel-based reads, including why two feet trigger the cut, how the helper’s chest cues movement around Barkley actions, and why late cuts are usually safer than early ones. The discussion also covers second drives, skip passes, and using the dunker spot to organize relocation.

In Start, Sub, or Sit, Fletcher weighs transition defense, defensive rebounding, and defensive aggression when playing with pace, then explains why Concordia St. Paul crashes four or five and adapts pressure and ball-screen coverage to its personnel. He closes with staff alignment, developing young assistants like players, rebuilding a program around local recruiting and continuity, and the investment outside basketball that keeps coaching in perspective.

• How “bump, tap, hit” gives guard-to-guard screeners three different answers from the same entry.
• Why Fletcher charts each player’s screening mix instead of allowing a shooter to ghost every time.
• How Concordia St. Paul adjusted its corner-running rules to enter the first action within three seconds.
• Where zero-second decisions fit within a green, yellow, and red shot-selection system.
• Why cutting responsibilities are memorized before players begin making more personnel-based reads.
• How the driver reaching two feet and the helper showing their chest trigger movement off the ball.
• Why the ballhandler’s scoring tendencies change cutting timing around Barkley actions.
• How a defense sitting on the cut can expose the skip pass and second drive.
• Why crashing four or five can create extra possessions while limiting an opponent’s transition opportunities.
• How Fletcher progressively expands the responsibilities of young assistants as their comfort and experience grow.

To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!

The 2026 G-League Coach of the Year, Vitor Galvani, joins us to detail how he built and adjusted Hedge & Plug in Brazil and the G League. He explains why the coverage made sense in what he calls a “scoring guards league,” how the pickup point changes the plug technique, the triggers for releasing the hedge, and why re-screens and late flips can put the coverage under real stress.

The conversation moves behind the ball to Galvani’s “Protection Plan”: the MIG and Fence, jumping pickups to discourage direct corner skips, choosing when not to X-out, “See Numbers Go,” peel switching, and building Black, White, and Gray changeups around the same defensive identity. On offense, Galvani gets into KYP on guard-to-guard screens, creating separation before the action, Hot Stove versus Cold Stove screens, and using second-side pass-and-chase actions to attack switching.

In Start, Sub, or Sit, Galvani challenges the usual pace conversation by starting shot selection, connecting offensive involvement to defensive effort, and explaining why his team moved the ball side to side with purpose. He closes with the relationship between shot quality, Tagging Up, and offensive rebounding, along with the daily investment that shaped his coaching education.

What You'll Learn

How the ballhandler’s pickup point changes the on-ball defender’s responsibilities within Hedge & Plug.

• The two triggers Galvani used to release the big from the hedge.
• Why re-screens and late flips are difficult Hedge & Plug counters, and when switching becomes the emergency solution.
• How the MIG and Fence form the “Protection Plan,” including having the Fence jump the pickup rather than automatically X-out.
• How “See Numbers Go” and peel switching turn aggressive gap positioning into opportunities for steals.
• Why Galvani trained some peel switches as reads rather than relying on a defensive call.
• How Black, White, and Gray allowed his team to change the ball-screen picture without abandoning its defensive base.
• Why KYP comes before pace and technique when teaching guard-to-guard screening.
• How separation, randomness, and “action on top of action” keep guard-to-guard screens from being steered or jammed.
• How shot selection can influence offensive pace, defensive effort, Tagging Up, and offensive rebounding.

To join coaches and championship winning staffs from the NBA to High School from over 70 different countries taking advantage of an SG Plus membership, visit HERE!