This week we are spotlighting Read & React coach Orville Godby who coaches the Capital Eagles.
What I like best about the Read and React Offense is the equality it brings between players. Within the offense, everyone passes, dribbles, cuts and gets opportunities to score. It makes all 5 players important rather than having an offense center around a few players. In every game I have used this offense, every player has scored and dished out multiple assists. Many times the opponents we face have between three to five basic plays. It doesn’t take long to learn what “Omaha” is going to be, and stop it. With the Read and React, if I’m not sure what’s going to happen next there’s no way the opposing coach could know. Once implemented, this offense runs itself.
When I first began researching offenses and trying to decide which would be best for me, the main thing that sold me on the Read and React was the level system. Sometimes you have a team that will only achieve Level 2, but sometimes you get an extra special group that can achieve the max amount of levels. It works just as well given either situation. My team learned a solid 3 levels last year and went from consecutive 1-9 seasons to 5-5. Every game we lost was by less than 10 points. When I say we lost, I mean we lost. Nobody beat us. The defending champions beat us by two only because we missed an open 3-pointer at the buzzer. Now that I have this offense in place I can just refresh it next year and add one more level and spend the year focusing more on defense. Once the offense and defense come together, I believe we will have a good shot at a deep playoff run next season. Not bad for a team that consistently was perennial cannon fodder just 2 years ago.
As a coach having this offense has made me more confident that my teams can win and that confidence has become contagious. I feel, and my players feel, that if we execute and play hard we can beat anyone. I am absolutely sold on the Read & React.
On a side note, one of my assistant coaches is teaching a team of 10 year old girls the Read & React and the parents are amazed to see them run a cohesive offense that appears to be years ahead of the other teams. I highly recommend the Read and React to ALL coaches. It can be tailored to suit any group of players and is relatively easy to teach.
