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Shawn Jones

DIRECTOR, ATHLETICS

Shawn has 30 years of head basketball coaching experience combined with 11 years as an athletic director. He has coached in Colorado and Texas, and has taken teams to three Final Four tournaments and a state championship. He has seen numerous players of his continue on to compete at the college and professional level of the sport. He is also proud to have seen many of his athletes become high school and collegiate coaches themselves. As director of athletics, Shawn is a key member of Ballogy’s team, driving the company’s athletic strategy, partnerships, coach engagement, and product vision. He has been married to his high school sweetheart for 32 years and they have raised three wonderful children together. Shawn has a passion for player development and the desire to assist coaches with effective, time-saving tools of administering and assessing skill development drills.

by Shawn Jones on Oct 22, 2024

One of the liveliest discussions I have with coaches (besides MJ vs LBJ) is which is more important– building the player or building the offensive system.  I’m not saying one is right and one is wrong.  There are many ways to skin a cat.  I am just saying I will take a side.  I think if you are going to admit to skinning a cat, you might as well own the technique.

I have coached at the high school level for 30 years.  I learned over the years that it is the skill of the player that makes the offensive system work.  The reverse cannot happen.  No matter how great your offensive system, without skilled players to run it, it won’t be successful.

I have grown to value individual skill development, and even appreciate the time it takes to do it with each player. Those times working with each player and seeing the growth take place and the proverbial “light bulb” turn on for them in their game… that is what coaching is all about.

I also know that my best quick hitter or offensive set is subject to one thing going wrong, and then what?  I can have the greatest play set up and everything goes perfectly until one pass is deflected or denied… then what?  Players have to PLAY.  If you haven’t taught your players to PLAY, they are going to be stranded in a great looking quick hitter that doesn’t work.  It’s kind of like sitting in a beautiful, red Ferrari with a blown engine.  Looks fast… doesn’t run.

I admit, I coach against some really good coaches who have brilliant offensive stuff.  I have to work very hard to defend them in a game plan.  But once I scout their system and arrive at how we are going to switch screens to blow this up, deny entry to destroy that, or trap here to eliminate running any sets… their players have to PLAY. Then we find out who has focused on skill development and who hasn’t. Great offensive minds and systems don’t scare me.  It’s the teams with “bucket getters” that are hard to game plan for.  Those kids just find a way to get buckets on you.  You take away this, they go to that.  You attack that, they Euro-step you to this…skilled players are really hard to defend, and really good to have.

The drawback is the aforementioned time that it takes to improve each player’s skills that gets coaches bogged down.  Where does that time come from?  When do they have time to work with each player at different positions and skill levels?  This, I believe, is why a lot of coaches fail.  They don’t know how to maximize their time and become efficient at individual skill development.

Ballogy is a great tool to maximize skill development in shorter amounts of time.  It makes coaches more efficient.  With an incredible drill content library as well as the ability to use your own drills you know and love, Ballogy allows coaches to build better players in shorter amounts of time.  Better coaches make better players.  Better players make better teams.  Better teams make better coaches.  Ballogy makes it all better.  Find out how today at Ballogy.com.