All Access Randolph-Macon Basketball Practice with Josh Merkel
“Josh Merkel is a great teacher of the game of basketball. His team improvement throughout the season and from year to year reflects his outstanding coaching ability. That growth comes from having great practices.”
- John Beilein, Detroit Pistons, Senior Player Development Advisor
Amazing praise from some championship coaches
“If I could hand pick the coach I’d want to work with my son, it would be Josh Merkel. It is not by accident that his teams have been dominant. He has a willingness to adapt and learn different styles and systems to make each of his teams successful. That combined with his detailed teaching approach, basketball IQ, and passion to make his players better on and off the court is a combination that only the great ones possess. I’m in awe of what he’s been able to accomplish.”
Dale Wellman | Head Coach, Nebraska Wesleyan University
"Josh Merkel is one of my favorite coaches in college basketball. He is a proven winner, great organizer, and lifelong learner who I have learned a great deal from as a head coach. He knows what he stands for and his teams reflect that and win staying true to their identity. His approach is effective at creating teams who maximize their potential."
Joe Crispin | Assistant Coach, Penn State
"Josh Merkel has established himself as one of the top head coaches in college basketball. We've been competing against each other for more than a decade - his teams are always prepared and tough, and our team always gets better from the experience. I think what Josh does best is adapt his style to the strengths of his players."
John Krikorian | Head Coach, Christopher Newport
"Josh Merkel’s teams compete every year with the poise, discipline, and confidence of a championship caliber program. For coaches seeking to design more effective practices and elevate their team’s performance, this video is an excellent resource that offers valuable insights and strategies from one of the best coaches in the country."
Ted Hotaling | Head Coach, New Haven
Watch samples from the all access basketball practice Josh Merkel

Step Inside the Gym with Randolph Macon head coach Josh Merkel. Get an in-depth look behind the scenes of what goes on at a top college basketball program. This is better than a clinic as you will feel like you are in the gym with an NCAA D3 Championship coach.

Features and Benefits
Build your Culture
See how Coach Merkel uses peer coaching to build culture within the team. Players are encouraged to be their own coaches and help each other learn through explanation, example and communication.
Championship Level Details
Throughout practice Coach Merkel provides constant feedback and detailed instruction on what and how he would like players to perform certain tasks in training. The effort and intensity of how players are in drills is an example of this championship level.

Learning through Failure
Mistakes are allowed throughout practice. Players are encouraged to problem solve and figure it out. Finding solutions through messy learning is embraced by Coach Merkel, you can see how this messaging reflects on the resilience of the players and overall culture of the team.

Practice Design to Build Self Awareness
See how Coach Merkel demonstrates ways on how to help create self awareness by understanding and playing to their strengths. Players are encouraged to add value to the team throughout the drills and games by doing things they do best (position, movement, skill etc).
Compete the Right Way
This is a big part of coach Merkel's philosophy. By competing the right way you will earn the trust and respect  of your team mates. Multiple efforts, figuring it out, letting them play are demonstrated throughout practice which allows players to compete consistently. You can see how the players have bought into this philosophy.

Get access to four full practices, and one full clinic session. Over 8+ hours of on-court and clinic footage.

PRACTICE AND CLINIC BUNDLE
$75.00  USD
What makes these all access practice videos a must watch?

Josh Merkel, the Randolph Macon head basketball coach, is taking us through his all-access practice series. This series provides an in-depth look at the practice sessions of one of the top college basketball coaches in the nation. See how a coach develops and educates his team on a daily basis. Gain valuable insight into what it takes to run an effective practice.

Explore Coach Merkel's coaching style and strategies as he guides his team through their day-to-day basketball practices. Through this series, viewers will gain insight into the teaching process, better coaching techniques, and how to motivate players for successful performance on the court.

With this All Access Practice Series, Coach Merkel hopes to provide coaches with the information they need in order to become better teachers and help their players and teams reach their full potential. Don't miss out on this chance to improve your practice structure and take your team to the next level.

Who is Josh  Merkel?

Since being named head coach at Randolph-Macon in 2015, Josh Merkel has led the Yellow Jackets to sustained success not only in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) but in all of Division III basketball. In the 2021-2022 season, RMC raised the bar to new heights, winning the NCAA Division III National Championship with a 75-45 win over Elmhurst College.  The Yellow Jackets won their last 27 games of the season, finishing with a 33-1 won-lost record. Merkel earned honors as 2022 NABC Division III Coach of the Year, 2022 National Coach of the Year by D3hoops.com, and was the recipient of the 2022 Glenn Robinson Award for the second straight year as the top Division III head coach. Merkel’s won-lost record in seven seasons at Randolph-Macon is 148-38 and 214-79 overall, including four seasons as head coach at Salisbury. This 2022 team had national rankings in Winning percentage (1st);  Assist Turnover ratio (1st); Scoring Defense (2nd); Scoring Margin (4th); and FG% (5th).  Their 48 consecutive home wins in Crenshaw is the longest current streak in Division III.

During the 2004-05 season, Merkel was a graduate assistant coach at West Virginia under head coach John Beilein. Merkel helped the Mountaineers reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament and earn a ranking as high as No. 12 in the national polls.

Merkel was an assistant coach for five seasons at Eastern Kentucky with head coach Jeff Neubauer. From 2006-10, the Colonels registered 73 victories, the highest four-season total in program history. EKU won the Ohio Valley Conference championship in 2007 and faced North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament.

Fast Facts:
  • 2022 Division III National Champions
  • Program Record for wins (33)
  • Program Record for Consecutive Wins (27) (Done in both 2022 & 2023)
  • Set D3 National Record for consecutive wins at home (64)
  • 5 year record of 129-9 (.935) overall & 65-2 in ODAC games (97%)
  • Most NCAA tournament wins in RMC history with 12-2 record in NCAA at RMC
  • ODAC Tournament Champions (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)
  • ODAC Regular Season Champions (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023)
  • NABC Division III National Coach of the year
  • Glenn Robinson National Coach of the year (2021 & 2022)
  • First Coach to win a Collegeinsider.com Award in consecutive years at any level
  • Top 10 nationally ranked Scoring Defense Seven Consecutive Seasons (#1 in 2023 at 54.9ppg)
  • Five-time ODAC Coach of the Year (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
  • 2023 team ranked nationally in Scoring Defense (1st); Scoring Margin (5th); A/TO ratio (7th) & DFG% (7th)
Join Josh Merckel in the Gym Now.
Get access to four full practices, and one full clinic session. Over 8+ hours of on-court and clinic footage.
PRACTICE AND CLINIC BUNDLE
$75.00 USD

What's in Each Video?
Josh Merkel Coaching Clinic

This coaching clinic will help you reconnect key ideas and concepts as seen in coach Josh’s all access practice videos. Practice isn’t a coaching clinic! To have this clinic as an additional resource is GOLD.

Get behind the curtain and learn key  ideas, concepts and details that have shaped the Randolph-Macon program into one of the most winning NCAA basketball programs, over the last 4 years with an above 90% winning percentage.

Get to know the thought process and theory behind some of the main drills and game situations coach Josh uses and how this all connects back to the “fight for your learning” and “peer coaching” concepts.

What you’ll get from this detailed 1 hour coaching clinic:

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Main staples from Randolph-Macon programs practices
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Drills to help build and shape players self awareness
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Coach Josh’s “peer coaching” concept
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Emphasis of the details that help create a championship program

This clinic will be a great resource to help guide you through the all access videos and you will see how coach Josh uses these concepts in his practices.

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Josh Merkel All- Access Practice #1

Practice #6 of the Randolph-Macon ALL-Access Practice Video starts with a clear direct message from Coach Josh “earn the respect and trust of your teammate” Throughout the video this is demonstrated by competing in every drill and game.

We get a look at Randolph-Macon's “press O” and how they incorporate reads and decisions to “make people pay” for pressing and having the mentality of attacking the pressure to create easy offensive opportunities.

As part of the preseason build we see how coach Josh uses a series of different small sided games to rep & teach the various defensive skills that have helped Randolph-Macons become the powerhouse it is today.  The various SSG’s serve as a great platform to two-way teach which the coach demonstrates throughout the practice.

The “Peer coaching” concept is well demonstrated throughout the practice and will be a common theme as part of the Randolph-Macon's culture. It's a great tool for all coaches to see in action as another way to help teach the game while building leadership via player led opportunities.

Key concepts/ideas covered in this video:
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Emphasis of defensive details built through a combination of SSG’s
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Examples of the “peer coaching” concept within a practice
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Learning through failure. “Figure it out” in live play
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Josh Merkel All- Access Practice #2

Practice #7 of the Randolph-Macon ALL-Access Practice Video includes a range of different drills, small-sided games and live game situations where players are encouraged to “speak up, start to coach” and become their own teachers on the court through their voice and leadership.

Coach Josh goes into detail with his ‘chase game’ concept and’ jungle game’, allowing players to find solutions based on what the defense is doing. These are either 2 man or 3 man actions allowing players a bit of freedom within a spacing structure to explore. (DHO, PINS, FLARES, etc.)

A huge component of the practice is defensive focused. Josh is constantly putting the team into various defensive coverages either in 3v3 games or DHO situations. The defense is disruptive, rewarding deflections and identifying when players are active off the ball with hands and positioning he calls “touching the rope” which is emphasized a lot throughout practice.

During the live games of 5v5 you can see how Josh promotes creativity first by constantly reminding players to “play to your strengths” first before running the sets. This can be determined by individual mismatches or by numbers/positional advantages. The players have freedom to identify and communicate how they would like to attack first in transition and have set plays to free up space to attack if no advantage is clear.

Key concepts/ideas covered in this video:

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Emphasis of disruptive defensive built through SSG and 5v5
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Examples of the communicating in practice “talk it” “echo”
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Playing through your strengths, individual or advantages
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Josh Merkel All- Access Practice #3

In this practice video, you can see Coach Josh start with intent and direction immediately. He asks players to “show your commitment level” and continues to set the tone with the message of  ‘a silent team is a losing team’.

The first half of the practice is focused on building habits and patterns with 5 on 0 inbounding sets, 3 on 0 offensive breakdowns, 2v2 rebounding situations and 3v3 continuous games. There is an emphasis on exaggerating movements (catches, eyes on rim, speed of attack) and various locations/spacings encouraging movements via cuts, replacements, etc.

Competition is built in practice with the second half of practice being either 5v5 HC or FC games focusing on teaching both sides of the game. Josh does a great job of giving players live feedback during drills or by stopping the drill to teach everyone. You can see the habits being built and shown in the live game situations by the amount of talk that is player driven and player lead as well as the multiple efforts such as deflections, steals, defensive rotations and the overall level of competing.

Key concepts/ideas covered in this video:
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Show your commitment level
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Compete the right way
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Multiple efforts, figure it out, let players play
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Watch an expert in action

Watch a teaching style that is transferable to all levels of coaching. Players are asked questions throughout practice as part of the teaching process, as well as guided through possible solutions. Players are given accountability to lead in their own way, being encouraged to use their voice, and communicate on both ends of the floor.

You can also learn how Coach Merkel builds decision makers in practice. His core offensive philosophy is to make simple plays and make reads multiple times within a possession. Because of this he wants players to play decisive, fast and free. He wants players to use and create advantages by first initiating with speed then reacting to the floor balance and what defense is giving them.

Above all else you will see how technical and tactical brilliance is combined with healthy competition. Players are developed to play tough, pressure the ball and compete to make eachother better. Coach Merkel interacts consistently with players throughout the drills and also via mini conversations on the sidelines.

In Summary...
Build your Culture
See how Coach Merkel uses peer coaching to build culture within the team. Players are encouraged to be their own coaches and help each other learn through explanation, example and communication.
Championship Level Details
Throughout practice Coach Merkel provides constant feedback and detailed instruction on what and how he would like players to perform certain tasks in training. The effort and intensity of how players are in drills is an example of this championship level.

Learning through Failure
Mistakes are allowed throughout practice. Players are encouraged to problem solve and figure it out. Finding solutions through messy learning is embraced by Coach Merkel, you can see how this messaging reflects on the resilience of the players and overall culture of the team.

Practice Design to Build Self Awareness
See how Coach Merkel demonstrates ways on how to help create self awareness by understanding and playing to their strengths. Players are encouraged to add value to the team throughout the drills and games by doing things they do best (position, movement, skill etc).
Compete the Right Way
This is a big part of coach Merkel's philosophy. By competing the right way you will earn the trust and respect  of your team mates. Multiple efforts, figuring it out, letting them play are demonstrated throughout practice which allows players to compete consistently. You can see how the players have bought into this philosophy.
Join Josh Merkel in the Gym Now.
Get access to four full practices, and one full clinic session. Over 8+ hours of on-court and clinic footage.
PRACTICE AND CLINIC BUNDLE
$75.00 USD
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