THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: An outside-the-box approach for Coeur du Christ boys basketball coach Kiefer

It was the official practice as a full member of the Idaho High School Activities Association for the Coeur du Christ Academy boys basketball team. 

Five of the players hadn’t properly submitted their journaling for the day — a requirement for Saints players. 

Their punishment? 

They didn’t get to run at practice. 

WAIT A minute? Didn’t GET to run? Wouldn’t the players be happy they didn’t have to run at practice? 

“You’d think that, but ... “ said Chris Kiefer, in his first season as Coeur du Christ boys basketball coach in Coeur d'Alene. 

“Young men want to be pushed,” Kiefer continued. “And to be challenged, and in preparation for the season I’ve had a podcast that I’ve done for the last five years, and I interviewed several different sports psychologists on my podcast, including (authors) Joshua Medcalf and Collin Henderson. Because I was thinking, 'What was the good punishment?’ And (Medcalf) was like, 'No, you never turn something that is good for you, not just in the season but in life, if you can learn to love exercise, and realize exercise is a huge gift ... all the science that’s coming out that working out helps your brain and your thinking, your health. It helps you enjoy life more.  

“So why would we ever subconsciously try to teach kids, ‘you screwed up, so now you have to go run?’ In reality, no, you screwed up, so you don’t get to do this. Think about people in a wheelchair who would give anything in their life to run, or when you’re 70 years old and you can’t do this anymore and you wish you could. It’s like that thinking — changing it to, ‘this is something that is so good for you , that I’m not going to allow you to have it, unless you can prove to me that you can put in the work that our team has committed to.’” 

IT’S ALL part of a bigger plan for Kiefer, 34. 

“I only have 90 minutes a day to get them better at basketball,” Kiefer said. “And even if I was Phil Jackson, there’s still 22 ½ hours in the day that have a much bigger impact on our season than my 90 minutes of practice.  

“How do you best impact the 22 ½ hours that our outside of our practice? I would say it’s through journaling, and intentional planning that I’m training the players to do.”

At the beginning of the season, Kiefer spoke of having a team where only a few of them came into the season with much basketball experience to speak of. But that could prove to be a benefit. 

“There's a rule called the Pareto Principle, the 80/20 principle — 20 percent of the effort produces 80 percent of the results,” Kiefer said. “You can become an 80-percent good basketball player in a short period of time, but going from an 80- to an 85-percent or a 90-percent (player) could be two to three times the work, or maybe 10 times the work, than going from zero to 80. We have a lot of players with no experience, so if we can learn to shoot correctly ... and the only way that’s going to happen is if they put in a whole lot of reps outside of practice, I think in 90 days we’re going to have a pretty amazing transformation ..." 

His Saints basketball team is off to an 8-5 start, 1-0 in the North Star League. 

His players are reading a book called “Chop Wood, Carry Water,” written by Medcalf. 

"The book is about a guy who is becoming a samurai archer,” Kiefer said. "He asks, 'What do I have to do to be a samurai?' You have to chop wood and carry water. The analogy for our season is going to be through chopping wood and carrying water daily — which is the daily journaling, the daily reading, and daily intentional practice of either your body and mind, or your basketball craft.  

“I’m excited, because I know the way I’m approaching this season is very nonconventional, you could say ... I’m trying to build a system that produces wins, through the effort and work outside of practice. Instead of focusing on trying to teach them all kinds of basketball skill in a 90-minute practice.” 

KIEFER AND his wife, Natalie, own an automation consulting company, and are heavy into the tech side of things. He uses AI to, among other things, create practice plans. Like other coaches, he is into basketball efficiency — shooting layups and 3-pointers, shots that give you the most points per attempt.  

Natalie (formerly Stewart) is the former Coeur d’Alene High volleyball standout, and now the head volleyball coach at Coeur du Christ, which won the league and district tournament this past fall, then lost in a play-in game to get to state. 

Chris’ father is Terry Kiefer — no, not the longtime Lakeland High football coach, though Chris is part of the well-known Kiefer family on the Rathdrum Prairie. Terry Kiefer the football coach is Chris’ dad’s uncle. Chris’ grandpa, Bill, is 98 and has lived on the Rathdrum Prairie his whole life. 

Chris grew up in Oregon, graduating at Valley Catholic High in Beaverton. He played basketball at NAIA Carroll College in Helena, Mont., where he and Natalie, who was playing volleyball there, met. After college, they eventually relocated to North Idaho. 

Before his father passed away when he was 21, Chris said he was “obsessed” with basketball. 

Afterward? 

Basketball became “just a microcosm of what really matters in life.” 

He cites a book called "Atomic Habits" by James Clear, which claims 85 percent of what we do in a day comes from unconscious habits we have formed. Creating that pattern, he said, is more effective than, say, using motivation, which is fleeting. 

“Anyone who plays a sport can focus on developing their mind, their body or their craft,” Chris Kiefer said. “But I think most people focus on the craft, and the body. I just believe, through my own experiences, that the mind is something that is under-focused on by most coaches.” 

Hence, the reading, and the journaling ... 

“We’re not focused on the goal of a championship, because that’s silly; but we are focused on being champions throughout every waking moment of the day,” Chris Kiefer said. “If you act like a healthy person long enough, you will end up being healthy. If you act like a champion in how you think and how you talk and how you show up to things, sooner or later you’re going to be a champion.”   

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.