A friend of mine changed his job in mid-March and moved, so I took over his Under 15 basketball team for the next 2.5 months. This was my first time coaching basketball. I "coached" the kids for two hours each Sunday leading up to a tournament in May.

I have to say, having to actually coach during a game and think about rotations, fouls, timeouts, plays, etc. made me realize it's not that easy being a basketball coach. Of course it wasn't a big deal in my case, but it's definitely easier to sit in the stands and scrutinize someone else coaching.

How quickly will Vinny pick up in-game coaching? That's the one thing that has a direct correlation with experience. I don't worry as much about his philosophy or his ability to teach / connect with the players because coaching experience is not a requirement to be able to do that (trying to stay optimistic here!)

We've seen the bad (Jim Boylan). We've seen the good (Phil Jackson). Here's to hoping Vinny doesn't start too low on the scale and will continue improve with experience.