Coach Andrew Lacey’s new podcast breaks down the most important concepts needed to build a championship program. It’s an all-access pass to inside strategies used when starting a new program, taking a struggling program to become champions and rebuilding a college program. 

In this podcast, we will take an in-depth look at the challenges of taking over a struggling program, starting a new program or simply taking a winning program to the elite level. We will discuss everything dealing with program building from creating your vision statement, first team meeting, handling tryouts, team selection, college recruiting and practice planning. 

You will hear real conversations that will enhance your performance whether you are a new or an experienced coach at any level of basketball. These concepts will give you practical ideas to stimulate your coaching philosophy and leadership. 

Our mission is to help coaches successfully navigate the ever-changing world of building a championship-level program. 

Meet Coach Andrew Lacey

Currently, I am the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Richard Bland College of William and Mary in Petersburg, Virginia. In 14 seasons as a men’s and women’s head coach, I have amassed over 200 career wins, started a program from the ground up, turned around three struggling programs, and used my knowledge as a collegiate player to better each athlete I coach.

My coaching career began at Washington and Lee High School (1A) located in Montross, Virginia in 2005, where the Eagles’ squads thrived under my leadership. During my second year there, the program finished with a 16-4 record, which was the best record in the past five years. After two years at Washington and Lee, I left to break ground with the opening of Skyline High School, which was a 2A school in Front Royal, Virginia in 2007.

2018 State Championship Ring Ceremony

At Skyline, I was challenged with starting a program from the ground up. The Lady Hawks went 7-15 during my first season. However, during the second season of being open, the Lady Hawks went 13-13, the county’s best record in 28 years of women’s basketball in Warren County. The team finished as the Northwestern District Tournament Runner-Up, earning a trip to the Virginia AA Region II Tournament; this was the first women’s basketball team from Warren County to qualify for the Virginia High School League Region II Tournament since 1981.
In 2009, I was offered the Head Women’s Basketball Coach position at North Stafford High School (AAA) located in Stafford, VA. While there, I embarked on the challenge to rebuild the school’s program. The Lady Wolverines finished fourth in an eight team district in two seasons under my leadership.

During the summer of 2011, I made the transition from women’s basketball to men’s
basketball by becoming the Head Men’s Basketball coach at Pinecrest High School (4A) in Southern Pines, North Carolina. During my second season; the Patriots opened strong with a 7-2 record in 2012, ultimately finished the season 15-10 overall and 5-5 in the conference (3rd place). Although the Patriots lost (65-60) in the first round of the NCHSAA 4A State Tournament, the highlight of the season was capturing the 2012 Berwick Area High School (Berwick, PA) Tip-Off Tournament Championship.

In 2013, I took on another challenge of rebuilding another program in Virginia.  Just finished my sixth season as the Head Coach at Varina High School.  In six years under my leadership, we managed to win the 2019 VHSL 5B Regional Championship, 2018 VHSL Class 5 State Championship, 2018 VHSL 5B Regional Championship, 2018 TDIT Runners-up, 2017 TDIT Runners-up, 2015 Conference 3 and 2016 Conference 12 Championships after finishing 6-15 in my first season.  During this time, I have complied an overall record of (109-46).   In addition to that, we have qualified for the regional tournament the past four years and the VHSL State Tournament the past three seasons. I have had the honor of being named 2019 VHSL Region 5B Coach of Year, 2018 VHSL Class 5 State Coach of Year, Conference 3 Coach of Year as well as Varina High School Athletic Department Coach of Year after the 2018 and 2015 seasons.  Our success did not stop there, we set a school record for consecutive wins (38 in a row), 37 straight Capital District wins (over past three seasons), and complied a winning record of 51-4 over the past two seasons. 

Lastly, in my last three season, Varina was ranked in the Top 10 in the state and Top 3 in the Richmond Area.

During my off season, I work at various campus at colleges and universities throughout Virginia and North Carolina throughout the summer. In the summer of 2013, I became a Five Star Basketball Skills instructor, as well as a contributor for national coaching site that is hosted by Fast Model Technologies. I am the founder of Andrew Lacey Basketball Academy, which strives to teach today’s youth character and life skills in coordination with basketball techniques, and had a record-breaking 110 campers in June 2012. In September 2014, I published an article called “Using Ball Screens in the Motion Offense”in Winning Hoops Magazine. In September 2016, I had the honor of talking about “Full Court Man to Man Pressure” at the PGC/Glazier Basketball Coaching Clinic in Northern Virginia.  

In addition to those items listed above,  I am the founder of Andrew Lacey Basketball Academy.  The basketball academy is designed to teach basketball skills, character development and life skills.  Another area of the academy is the mentoring program for new and old coaches.  In the summer of 2016 Team Richmond-Garner Road asked be to join their Adidas program as a coach.  In my last three summers as a high school coach, I have coached the 15U and 16U teams respectively, however in Spring of 2018 he will be the TRGR 17U Choice Head Coach. 

Who Are We?

Coach Lacey talks to his team during a timeout.

In the ever so changing world of coaching, coaches are always under pressure to perform better and raise the bar for their program.  Meeting those expectations can be stiff and often met with other issues that can get a young inexperienced coach sidetracked.  As a firm believer that there is more than one way to accomplish these issues; so by no means am I saying this is the only way to handle them.

Coach Lacey will breakdown the most important concepts needed to build a championship program. It’s an all-access pass to inside strategies used when starting a new program, taking a struggling program to become champions and rebuilding a college program. 

We will cover everything dealing with program building from creating your vision statement, first team meeting, handling tryouts, team selection, college recruiting and practice planning.  

We will offer as many resources as possible to help coaches be successful at building relationships, communication and presenting their ideas.

You will find resources for the following coaches:

  • Head coaches (experienced and inexperienced) and aspiring head coaches,
  • Parents and potential college athletes and
  • High school, youth and amateur basketball organizations.

Camps and Clinics Information

Keep up to date with our Skill Development Camps and Coaches Roundtable events.  Please click the respective tab to find more details.