What is the Role and Duties of an Assistant Basketball Coach?

If you’re looking to become a basketball coach, then your best bet may be to start as an assistant coach.  But if you’re unsure of what the roles, responsibilities, and duties of an assistant basketball coach are, then look no further. 

Below, we’re going to discuss what the roles and duties of an assistant basketball coach are and how you can start your basketball coaching career as an assistant basketball coach.

Essential Job Functions of an Assistant Basketball Coach

As an assistant basketball coach, you will be responsible for supporting the head coach.  This can, and will, include coaching athletes, helping with recruiting of new players, monitoring current athletes, scheduling practice and games, managing team travel, overseeing discipline, conduct, and the overall image and reputation of the athletic department.

Further, as an assistant coach, you will be the right-hand to the head coach and will act and follow within their guidance and guidelines. 

This may include performing individualized basketball drills with athletes, providing guidance and fundamental skills, and participating in various drills and workouts.

Coaching Athletes

Although the assistant basketball coach reports to the head basketball coach, they play a major role in coaching athletes.  As-such, having a background in basketball, while not essential, can be extremely helpful and useful.

Coaching athletes can be done on a wide scale. It can include coaching via practice or performing individualized practices and drills to assist certain players.

In addition, coaching athletes can be done both on and off the basketball court.  That is, you may find yourself coaching athletes on proper offensive and defensive skills and you may find yourself in the weight room, helping athletes with their muscular and cardiovascular development.

Recruiting New Players

One of the most important aspects of being a basketball head coach or an assistant basketball coach is the need to recruit new players.  Recruiting new players will not only make your team more competitive but will also help your team to develop new, younger players as they prepare for their basketball journey.

Recruiting new players is never easy.  As an assistant basketball coach, you will need to assist the head coach in having open recruitment sessions, to analyze interested and qualified players strengths and weaknesses, and to choose which player to recruit and which to pass on.

Monitoring Current Players

Just because a certain player has been recruited doesn’t mean your job ends there.  As an assistant basketball coach, you will need to monitor current players to ensure they are abiding and adhering to the guidelines of the program.

For high school and college, specifically, this means that they are maintaining a minimum grade point average.  However, in more professional leagues, this may mean that they are following their workout schedules, adhering to the advice of team doctors and physical therapists, and taking the advice of the team nutritionist.

Scheduling Practice and Games

Being a part of a basketball team can be a lot of hard work.  There will be a number of practices for the players each week and then there may also be additional workouts to help the athletes train their muscular and cardiovascular endurance.

As an assistant basketball coach, you will play a large role in scheduling these practice and workout sessions.  In addition, particularly in the high school sport, the assistant coach will be paramount in scheduling games for the season and ensuring team travel to and from the games.

As an assistant coach, you will also be responsible for ensuring all players and staff receive these scheduled practice sessions and game times. Be sure to either email or fax these schedules to the entire team.

Overseeing Discipline and Conduct

When an athlete joins a basketball team, they must agree to follow the code of conduct at that institution.  The code of conduct may vary from institution to institution, however, will typically include a moral representation of the institution, an agreement to being on-time, and an agreement to a professional dress code.

If an athlete on your team continues to flout these rules, the head coach may decide to levy a disciplinary action against them.  This can be something as simple as running suicides, to shooting an additional 50-shots, or to a suspension from an upcoming game.

As the assistant basketball coach, it is typically your responsibility to ensure that the disciplinary action is meted out.  That is, you will be responsible for ensuring the player receives their disciplinary action and that they follow the disciplinary action as to how the head coach expected.

What Are the Minimum Requirements to Being an Assistant Basketball Coach?

The minimum requirements to being an assistant basketball coach will vary by institution, league, and discretion of the head coach.

However, most institutions require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, with an appropriate specialization.  In addition, many institutions look for some level of previous experience for their assistant basketball coaches.

This can include a head coaching position at the high school level or as an assistant basketball coach at the collegiate or professional level.  This is done so that the assistant basketball coach chosen for the role begins with some experience as a coach and has a basic understanding of the roles, responsibilities, and duties that they will be in charge of.