Episode 168: Jeff Boals, Positive Coaching and Next Play Mentality

Guest: Jeff Boals, Ohio University Head Coach

In this week's coaching conversation, Ohio University head coach Jeff Boals join us to discuss positive coaching and a next play mentality. Boals spent seven years as an assistant coach for the Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team under the tutelage of Thad Matta before replacing Steve Pikiell as the head coach for the Stony Brook Seawolves for three years.

In the 2020-2021 season Boals and the Bobcats won the Mid-American Conference Championship to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. In the first round they beat Virginia, before losing in the round of 32 to Creighton.

Boals landed his first coaching job as an assistant coach at his alma mater Ohio University after graduating. He then took an assistant coaching job at the University of Charleston in West Virginia, where he stayed for three seasons before joining Marshall as an assistant coach from 1999 to 2003. Boals returned to Charleston as the associate head coach, for one season before jumping back to the Division I ranks with Robert Morris, then to Akron. He joined the coaching staff of Ohio State in 2009, led by Thad Matta, where he has been a part of three Big Ten Conference regular-season titles, four NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearances, an Elite Eight, and a Final Four appearance in 2012. The Buckeyes' record was 193–62 with Boals as assistant coach. Boals recruited players such as D'Angelo Russell and Jared Sullinger to play for Ohio State.

On April 8, 2016, Boals was named the 11th head coach in Stony Brook men's basketball history, and its third since moving to Division I. In Boals' first season as head coach, the Seawolves finished 18–14 (12–4), second in the America East Conference. Boals led the Seawolves to the first 20-win season under his tenure in 2018–19. On March 17, 2019, Boals resigned from Stony Brook to accept a head coaching position at his alma mater, Ohio University.

Breakdown

1:00 - Counters to the Counters

3:00 - 1993-'94 Team Group Chat

6:00 - Excellent Passing Team

7:00 - Importance of Analytics

12:00 - Coping Strategies on Mistakes

14:00 - Learning Language

17:00 - Conceptual Type Offense

20:00 - Growth Mindset

22:00 - Cleveland State Game

24:00 - Cory Close

27:00 - Next Play Mentality