Being away from college basketball full-time for a year really gives you a lot of time to look at the game from afar. I’m not talking about basketball, of course… I’m talking about basketball coach Twitter!

Some coaches are on Twitter more than others, and some disregard it completely! Here are some of the common archetypes I noticed in my foray into #CoachTwitter.

The Motivational Speaker

This coach takes motivation seriously. Their timeline is filled with motivational quotes that they either curated themselves, or retweeted from another account. This person probably wrote a book or two…… or seven about “How to be successful.”

Many of their tweets are clearly scheduled in advance, and they probably retweet themselves often when trying to get a point across. That being said, they usually do have words of wisdom, and by golly, they are going to let you know about it!

The Ghost

This coach exists… apparently. They typically have a grainy, low-resolution logo of the school or team they work for in lieu of a typical profile photo. They seldomly, if ever tweet.

One figures that they more than likely use Twitter for its direct messaging functions, rather than Tweeting. Or, perhaps they started an account to “connect with those dang millennials,” but then decided to revert back to more traditional means. Twitter isn’t for everybody, and that’s OK!

The University Spokesperson

If there is ANYTHING university-related that is happening, you bet this coach is retweeting it. It could be football, basketball, volleyball, or even club badminton! This coach rarely tweets their own tweets, but you bet they are staying active on Twitter, making sure that people know that this is THEIR school, and they are excited to be there.

If they do tweet their own tweets, it is usually an update about a player, former player, or what the team is doing. This is probably the most traditional use of Twitter for coaches.

A good example of this is Kermit Davis, the new Ole Miss coach. He is pretty darn active, and very Ole Miss-centric.

 

The Former Coach

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This person is probably an analyst on ESPN, Fox Sports, or some other channel. Every single tweet begins with “Now coaches, you need to be watching this…” or “If you are a player, and you aren’t doing this, you’re doing yourself a disservice!”

Sometimes it comes across as “preachy,” but most of the time, it comes from a good place, and gives you great insight and information.

The X’s and O’s Person

This person spends their life drawing up plays on FastModel and cutting up film on SportsCode. If there is a basketball game going on, you KNOW they are filling your timeline with jargon, diagrams, and other highly technical info that looks like a foreign language to the casual fan.

This coach worships Brad Stevens like a teenage girl worships Beyonce. If there is a play to be analyzed, they’ll analyze it. If there is a flare screen to be drawn, they’ll draw it. They’re going to be first, and they’re going to be loud about it.

This is probably the dorkiest segment of basketball coach twitter, but also can provide some of the best information for young coaches, provided that you understand the jargon.

Seriously, though, follow @FastModel if you really want to dive into the X’s and O’s of basketball. It is hard to avoid when it is showing up on your feed!

The “Hoop Dirt” Legend

This coach probably operates several “anonymous accounts,” and knows EVERYTHING that is going on in the coaching world. The first few weeks after March Madness is this coach’s Super Bowl. If there is a rumor about the open assistant video coordinator position at a low-level DIII school, you bet this coach knows, and is spilling the beans on all of the potential candidates.

Information is a valuable tool, and this coach makes sure he or she has ALL of it. I’m talking to you, @CoachingChanges.

There are probably more segments, but this is what I typically see. Feel free to suggest more archetypes, and know that this is all in good fun! We all use social media differently, and there is no “right” way to use it. My Twitter is @MattBarnthouse, so give that a follow if you want irreverent sports takes, or you know, you want to hire me.