Coaching basketball at any level is not an easy task. The coach must find a suitable offense, defense, assistant coach and perhaps most importantly, gain respect from his players.

All of these facets of the game become even more intensified at the NCAA level, and mastery of these skills comes naturally to very few coaches.

For this reason, a great many coaches attend clinics such as the Rudy Washington/Iowa Basketball Coaches Association Clinic and the LA Gear West Coast Basketball Coaches Clinic.

The Iowa clinic drew over 400 prep coaches last weekend and the LA Gear clinic should draw nearly 200 this weekend.

They attend to hear various coaches from around the country, including NIU’s Brian Hammel, speak on various aspects of the game.

Other noteworthy speakers include: Lute Olson from Arizona, North Carolina State’s Les Robinson and Tim Grgurich, who is an assistant coach for the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics.

Hammel has the floor for about an hour and 15 minutes. The speech is geared toward techniques of the motion offense but also focuses on other aspects of coaching.

The ‘keys to a successful program’ is where Hammel starts off.

His four ‘keys’ include: good organization, be a good teacher, maintain a high energy level and keep things simple.

Under qualities of a good teacher Hammel includes: “being positive, be clear and be concise.”

Other highlights include his philosophy on motion offense, fundamentals of the game and acceptance of roles.

Getting players to accept their role on the team may very well be one of the coach’s toughest tasks.

Every player needs to understand his role. It doesn’t matter if he is scoring 20 points a game or on the bench keeping the starters pumped up with the needed energy to push their game up one more notch during crunch time.

Once Hammel returns he will be looking forward to getting the 1992-93 Huskies on the practice floor for the beginning of another heart-pounding season.