Notes from Alabama Huntsville Coach Lennie Acuff

Lennie Acuff

Alabama Huntsville

“Creative Offensive Ideas

”There are two types of coaches:
•Those that are humble
•Those that are about to be

You don’t have to have the best players, you need to have the right players

We are looking for three things in recruiting—fit, feel and love of the game
•Fit: hard wedging a square peg in a round hole. We want guys that fit us, are an extension of our culture.
•Feel: feel and vision are the two hardest things to coach.
•Love of the game: you have to have guys that love it. There’s a big difference between guys that like it and love it.

Get guys that you’re willing to lose with.

We try to stay away with guys with wide margins. ‘Wide Margin’ players scare me. I don’t want a guy who kills it one night and then disappears for three games.

We try to recruit a point guard in every class. We end up playing two point guards at the same time often.

We can’t get quality bigs so we recruit 4’s that can play the 5 and 3’s that can play the 4. 

At Huntsville, the barometer is having two players in the program that could play at the level above them. If they have two, they can be good. If they have three, they can compete for a national title. They’ll play through these 2-3 guys. It’s very important to love on the next 4/5 guys. 

Our role players have rules. Our best players have guidelines. I want those guys playing with freedom.

At the end of the year, if your best players don’t play well, you’re going home. We need to get our best players playing well.

Having children of my own has made me a better coach. Would you want your son to play for you?

Defensive goal: we won’t let the two best players beat us. Make that third guy beat us. If we can cut those two guys out, we have a chance.

It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you play.

We try to keep 4 guys who can make a shot on the court at all times (game just becomes easier).

We ask our players three questions at the end of the year:
1.What did you like?
2.What did you learn?
3. What’s next?"