In this edition of the Coach Spotlight series, we bring you our conversation with Coach Dennis Köhler from Germany. Coach Köhler is the head coach of TVE Dortmund-Barop's men's basketball team and starts his third season with the team this year.
How did your journey in sports begin?
When I was a kid, my life was dictated by football. Every day, when I got home from school, we rushed to finish our homework and immediately went outside, knocked on our friends’ doors (that’s back when there was no Instagram or WhatsApp - sounds weird I know) to ask them if they'd come out and play. We played football every day, rain or sunshine, winter or summer. I was a huge Borussia Dortmund fan and went to a lot of their home games or watched them play on TV whenever they were on. During that time, I even started playing football in a club in Germany. Football was my life and I couldn’t think of anything else.
How did you get introduced to basketball?
I was 13 years old and my best friend at the time used to play basketball for our local team. One day, he got a new basketball and we decided to shoot some baskets. I immediately fell in love with the sport and joined him on the basketball team 5 days later. I also bought my very first basketball jersey at our local sports clothing store - it was a blue Allen Iverson Philadelphia 76ers jersey. However, at the time, I had no real idea who he was.
How did you get started with coaching?
I played basketball for multiple years in different clubs in Germany. In 2016, when I played at Witten Baskets, I got injured and needed surgery on my achilles. During my recovery phase, as I was lying on my couch on a Saturday morning, the club called me asking if I could coach their women’s team in about 6 hours because they didn't have a coach anymore. Even though I couldn't drive or walk and needed someone to pick me up, I agreed, and from that moment, I realized my passion for coaching basketball. Although I had assisted a few youth teams here and there earlier, this was my first real coaching gig. I took over the team for the whole season and turned them from a 0-6 record to a 12-10 record. We almost beat the unbeaten first-place team that year as well. It was an amazing experience and I had so much fun starting to build a coaching philosophy and spending hours on YouTube to get better as a coach.
Can you describe your coaching philosophy?
A lot of coaches say they’ve become the coaches they were as players. So for me, that would be toughness, competitiveness, togetherness and a defense-first mentality. I have to admit, I am still struggling on what I want to stand for as a basketball coach and I am experiencing a little bit with the teams I’ve had. I think we’ll go the route I just mentioned and make it a trademark for Dortmund basketball in the next few years. But since this isn’t pro basketball, it’s a process. The basketball team I want to coach is a team that is tough on the floor and cares about winning, with players that dive on the floor for loose balls, box out opponents to get every rebound, allowing no second chances and play as a unit. Offensively, I don't want the players to act like robots by having a playbook with 50+ plays. That’s not modern and it will eliminate the fun factor. Players need to grow their basketball IQ and not act strictly from a script. So I want to teach them the little things, how and when to cut, setting screens, using screens, automatics on drives and passes, etc.
What sets you apart from others in your field?
I think what sets me apart from coaches is that I am hungry to become a really good coach. I am not yet and have a lot to learn, which I know, but accepting that is the right step to improve going forward. I read a lot of books, watch YouTube or Instagram videos to consume basketball coaching content many hours a week and devote a lot of my time thinking about how to make my players and the team better. Adding up on that, I visit coaches that are coaching in better leagues than I am currently, to ask a lot of questions and see how they coach. I want to act like a sponge and learn as much as possible. Eventually, in a few years, I want to coach at their level, at least.
Any mentors who have supported you in your basketball journey?
When I moved to Werne, I joined Lippebaskets Werne, a local team which is absolutely crazy about basketball. I played for their second team for a year and spent a lot of time talking to the first team’s head coach, Christoph Henke, and also at times practicing with his team and just trying to learn stuff I didn’t know or haven't seen. This is also where I slowly started to realize that I wanted to become a basketball coach more than anything else. Christoph and I still talk a lot, and our teams even face up almost every year. I am proud to call him my first mentor.
How did you join your current club, TVE Dortmund Barop?
When the season at Lippebaskets Werne came to an end, I committed to becoming a basketball coach and quit playing as I realized that I was camping at the 3pt line or at the bench’s end all game anyways, which was still a lot of fun and I loved being a veteran. To begin my coaching journey, I sent applications to a few clubs and they responded back. The club I decided to work with was TVE Dortmund Barop. It's a club that also had a Regionalliga 2 team and has had a good last five years. Their team went down to Oberliga due to finishing second-to-last in the standings, so I started coaching them in the exact same league where I was coming from as a player.
Any coaching certifications you've completed along the way?
In the summer of 2023, I finished my C-License with a “competitive sport” degree. My next step is going to be the B-License in 2025 and we’ll see where to go from there.
Based on your experience, what practical tips and advice would you give to your fellow coaches?
I am sure most coaches reading this have been in the business for a longer period than I have. But even then, I want to say, keep being you and don’t act like a different person or be a coach you simply just act to be. Be yourself, because players will realize if you’re fake or not. As a coach, I want to be close to my players, talk a lot with them about everything, not just basketball. A wise coach once said this: Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. And this is true, I was a player too and felt the same way. I never liked (or deeply respected) coaches that would just yell all the time and tried to coach with anger and fear. That wouldn’t work for me. So, while I still have to learn how to be more demanding, I try to be myself. Never stop learning and try to become better 1% every day.
What are your future plans as a coach?
This upcoming season marks my third overall with the team and I am really looking forward to getting started with the little rebuild we’ve had recently. My dream is to make Dortmund a basketball city and climb the leagues all the way up to Regionalliga 1 or even the ProB level, somewhere in the future. I would love to be a part of this in the upcoming years and I know we have a lot to work on in many areas. But for me, I am highly motivated to make this dream become reality.
How can other coaches connect with you?
They can email me at koehler@tve-barop.de or connect with me on Instagram @dkoehler43
This story is part of our Coach Spotlight series, where we share inspirational and diverse stories of coaches from all over the world. If you are a coach with an extraordinary journey, a unique coaching approach, or have witnessed incredible transformations in your athletes, we would love to feature you in Coach Spotlight. Send us your story by emailing us at hello@playbookteams.com
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