Pari Nizhny Novgorod head coach Sergey Kozin is having his debut season in the VTB League as the team head coach, and his team is at the top of the standings at the start of the season and has already made a sensation – Pari NN beat CSKA at home.
In the interview to the VTB League website, Sergey Kozin talked about how he came to basketball, how he continues his development as a specialist, and also named the main difference between the role of assistant and head coach.
– First of all, congrats on your debut. What is the secret of such a bright season start?
– I can’t evaluate the bright start of the season. We just do our job, we go out to play. It’s good that we managed to win several important games at the start of the season. I guess everyone is celebrating the win over CSKA. Yes, it was a good coincidence, but our main task is to keep playing our game. And, as is usually the case in basketball, the result will be evaluated in spring, because no one will remember the beginning of the season.
– Do the constant talks about a good start give you extra motivation or do they put extra pressure on you?
– It’s always good to start confidently. In any kind of activity. For us coaches it is important to start every game with confidence. When you start the season with confidence, you become confident in your abilities. With this confidence you can continue the season. And then it helps against teams like CSKA. So I’m absolutely sure that a good start is a positive thing in our sport.
– This regular season each team will have 44 games. From a coach’s point of view – is this a normal schedule or a tough one?
– My opinion is that it’s always better to play. And players like to play more. As a coach, I try to organize the training process, and I try to divide the load among the players with 44 games in the regular season. That’s the task of the coaching staff, how to organize training so that fatigue doesn’t accumulate, but at the same time young players get additional practice and can develop.
– Which part of the regular season do you think will be the most challenging?
– I’ll compare the season to a basketball game – on the one hand it’s always hard to start, but the end is very important. I’m sure that the end of the season will not be easy.
– You used to be a player yourself, but there is not much information about you on the Internet. Tell us how you came to basketball?
– I came to basketball in Nizhny Novgorod, it was an Olympic reserve school, it is still the only one of its kind in the city. Then the director of that school came to our school and recruited some kids. Since that moment I’ve been playing basketball. I was in the extended NBA team (note – Nizhny Novgorod Basketball Association), I didn’t make the squad, but I took part in training sessions, I was in the student team in Nizhny Novgorod, which was the strongest at that time. I was always close to BC Nizhny Novgorod, coached kids’ teams and now I’ve been in the main team system for 13 years.
– What position did you have as a player?
– I could cover 4 positions. All except center. My main position was shooting guard or forward, but if necessary the coach could move me to point guard or forward.
– How did you realize that you had to move from the status of a player to the status of a coach at the age of 18?
– At that point, it was clear that I had the intelligence to play basketball, but lacked the athleticism and physicality to perform at a higher level. On the recommendation of my first mentor, I switched to coaching. Somewhere in the beginning I combined playing and coaching activities, and then I went into coaching full time. In fact, I am very grateful to my first coach – thanks to him I did not waste my time, although I could have played 3-4 more years. I started working with young kids and I think that every coach should go through this. This experience will help me understand how to build relationships with adult players and how to build the training process.
– You were also a member of the officiating crew and officiated the Universiade games in Kazan. Was it hard to combine coaching and officiating?
– At that time I wasn’t a coach at the team yet. Just after the Universiade in Kazan was my first year at Nizhny Novgorod. The Universiade was in the summer, it was free time from training with kids, training camps. So there were no problems.
– What’s harder, judging or coaching?
– Of course coaching! I don’t compare it with officiating, because I was sitting at the table, collecting data and processing information. I can’t compare it with officiating on the court – I have never had such experience, I didn’t even have the desire to work as a referee.
– Now you are the youngest specialist in the VTB League. Are you somehow continuing your development as a coach?
– I attended the Euroleague seminar in Athens in the summer, and I learned a lot of information there. When I have time, I look at various information, including on the Internet, because it’s available and there’s a lot of it. And, of course, during my time at the team I have accumulated a lot of information and ideas. When you are an assistant, you give advice, and the head coach decides what to use. And now, as a coach of the team, you begin to realize these ideas with more responsibility. Something works, something doesn’t. But it helps you build your own model and philosophy of basketball. We’ll see how it looks during the season.
– Who can you single out of the current head coaches? Whose work is the most interesting to watch?
– I won’t single anyone out, I don’t have time to follow anyone this season. I can only say that I personally took a lot from Zoran Lukic. He is my teacher, so I took a lot from him.
– Who has a good chance to become a successful coach in the future from the current players?
– We have a lot of veterans who continue to perform at a high level due to their understanding of the game. But they don’t really want to move in the coaching direction. Perhaps we need to help them in some way, they need additional training. Now those who finish their careers, most of them are not connected with basketball, unfortunately.
– Are some of your players interested in coaching?
– I’m sure that some of the players are noting some points for themselves. Evgenii Baburin and Dmitrii Khvostov understand basketball and all the game. I can also remember Ivan Strebkov, who is no longer playing in the VTB League. These guys have incredible basketball IQ and could definitely work as coaches, their knowledge and understanding of the game would be enough for that. But again, the question is would they want to GET into coaching after their playing careers are over?
– Give some advice to those just embarking on the coaching path.
– Learn, work hard, and don’t be shy about asking questions. It is especially useful to attend training sessions of other coaches, it is sometimes even more effective than watching seminars on the Internet, because you can see the work live and communicate with its participants. At any level – if you have the opportunity to attend a training session of a youth or women’s team, you should take advantage of it, it’s a great springboard for further development.
– By the way, how much were you surprised by the fact that Andrei Vedischev wanted to become Loko’s head coach?
– I was as surprised as everyone else. Andrei did well, he took on such a responsibility. And as the beginning of the season shows, he is coping with this responsibility brilliantly, so I can only congratulate him.
– Are there days during the season when you can forget about combinations and basketball? Or does coaching involve working even in your sleep?
– It’s more the second. When I worked as an assistant, I spent more time on the computer. After I finished my work, I would close the computer, put it aside, and my head was free from thoughts about basketball. Now there is less technical work, but at any moment you start to think about combinations, effective situations in game, what kind of defense to use and so on. Sometimes you try to free your head from these thoughts, but it happens very rare. The only thing that saves you is socializing with your child – you distract yourself, play with him and don’t think about basketball.
– Describe coaching in one word.
– Responsibility. Responsibility for the result, the preparation of the team. A lot of important decisions have to be made before the game, during and even after. All these decisions ultimately affect the final result.
