According to Jim Recap: Coach Jim
When both Ruby and Gracie play basketball, it's only natural that Cheryl will be their coach. But when Jim watches the girls play, and sees just how badly the girls play - and worse, that they actually get excited about the poor play and the happy time that they spend together - he feels like he only has one choice.
He decides to coach. This was Cheryl's plan all along. She was just surprised it took two games.
Jim enlists the help of Mike Ditka to whip the girls into shape, and before long, he has them working up a sweat at practice instead of standing in a circle and saying nice things about each other.
Where the girls were standing around and trying to come up with something nice that the other girls did during practice, he has them let loose - they get to tell each other just how badly they did, which he feels will make them tougher.
The first game doesn't go so well. And he just bears down on them even more. In fact, he brings down the hammer so strongly that Gracie decides that she wants to be on another team. And wouldn't you know it - that's the team that they play next.
As luck would have it, Jim's coaching starts to take effect, and in the next game, they do a lot better - but at the end of the game, things are all tied up. Just as time runs out, Gracie gets fouled, by Ruby! Jim is wondering what she did, but she says she did it on purpose - that there's no way that Gracie can take the shots in the first place, and putting her under pressure makes it even worse.
So on one hand, Jim's about to win his first game, but on the other hand, his little girl has to go out there all alone and try and win the game for her team. He calls a time-out and tells her to just have fun, like she always wanted. That's just what she does, and she promptly sinks the basket to win the game - and Jim couldn't be happier.
