#20: Coach Eric Daniels

How Advanced Analytics Can Enhance Player Confidence & Other Topics

Welcome to another episode of Sauce Talk, a podcast about sports, meditation, mental life, and living well in general. Today’s podcast is an interview with Coach Eric Daniels.

Eric Daniels played college basketball at Johnson and Wales University in Denver, CO. He had an excellent career, leading Johnson and Wales to the NAIA National Tournament in 2005. He holds the school records for points and steals in a career. During his Junior season he averaged 4.6 steals per game, which was best in the country at any level of college basketball.

Daniels began his coaching career at Southern Utah before spending 5 seasons at Regis University. Daniels recruited me to Regis, and I played two seasons for Coach Daniels before he took a job with the Orlando Magic, where he focused on player development and video. After one year with the Magic he spent four years as an Assistant at Utah Valley, before taking his current job as an Assistant Coach at Weber State, in Salt Lake City.

In this conversation we discuss Coach Daniels’ career progression, how he brings great energy each day, his time with the Orlando Magic, advanced analytics in basketball, using data to help player confidence, building relationships with players, the balance between recruiting for talent and recruiting for culture, Damian Lillard’s presence at Weber State, the NBA restart plan, advice during the recruiting process, AAU culture, and other topics.

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