Basketball and everything in between

Everybody who is involved with basketball in Australia has heard of this great coach – Brian Goorjian.  His record is impeciable and speaks for itself.  It seems that everywhere he goes, he truns programs around and people want to play for him.  This bio was taken from the South Dragons website:

Brian Goorjian is the most successful coach in Australian basketball, commencing his NBL coaching career in 1988. He has coached nearly 700 games with a remarkable 70% winning percentage. Brian has won five NBL championships and five “Coach of the Year” awards, something no other coach has accomplished. He was voted by his peers the greatest coach in the NBL’s first 25 seasons.

More recently, Goorjian’s Sydney Kings created history by winning three consecutive NBL Grand Finals between 2002 and 2005. Teams coached by Brian Goorjian have reached the semi finals or better for 20 consecutive seasons, which is quite remarkable and virtually unchallenged in any code. Last season, Goorjian coached the Sydney Kings team to a record-breaking 27 wins and just 3 losses in the regular season.

Goorjian is also coach of the Australian men’s national team, the Boomers. He is the first foreign-born coach to hold the position, and led the team to Commonwealth Games gold in 2006. He attended his first Olympics in Athens 2004 and led Australia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. American-born Goorjian played at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California before coming to Australia in 1977 as a player.

This is his first season as head coach of the Crazy John’s South Dragons. Goorjian’s previous clubs include the Eastside Spectres (1988-1991), South East Melbourne Magic (1992-1996), Victoria Titans (1997-2001) and Sydney Kings (2002-2008).

He has a distinctive coaching style which focusses on defense.  It is actual very humerous due to the fact that as a player he was considered a bit of a gunner and a three point shooter.  Andrew Gaze in his book ‘A Kid, A Ball, A Dream’ talks about the Friday afternoon pick up games that Brian and other Americans used to compete in at Albert Park and how he was a competitive character.  That competiveness doesn’t seem to have deminished throughout his coaching career and he is universally respected for his teams dedication to detail and ability to get after it at the defensive end.

In 1988, Goorjian took over the Eastside Melbourne Spectres after a successful coaching stint in the SEABL with the Ballart Miners.  I still remember as a young lad of twelve years following this team with interest because my favourite player at that time (Dean Uthoff) played for them.  I still kind of followed the North Melbourne Giants but always loved watching the Spectres play.  I still remember Dean Uthoff throwing huge ‘touchdown’ passess to Darren Lucas and an awkward left handed import by the name of Arnie Duncan putting up some huge numbers.  The team missed the finals in Goorjian’s first two seasons (amazingly these two seasons would be the only time a Goorjian coached team did not qualify for the play-offs). in 1990 the Spectres bowed out in the semi final and the next year they went one better making the Grand Final.

1992 is a year that changed my life as a basketball fan.  Everybody knows about the Dream Team and their performances at the Olympic Games.  Whilst this was a huge event, a bigger one occured for me – The merger between the Eastside Melbourne Spectres and Southern Melbourne Saints.  I was a loyal Giants fan up to that time but this merger really interested me.  I remember watching on TV the Southern Saints with Andrew Parkinson and Simon Kerle beat the star studded Perth Wildcats.  When I heard that they were merging with the Spectres, I was hooked.  They had lost my man Dean Uthoff but they had picked up John Dorge.  Brian Gorijian had also recruited an import by the name of Milt Newton.  He turned out to be a bit of a dud and got injured.  His recruitment of Robert Rose was brilliant and it helped this new franchise straight away.  One of the biggest coaching moves of all time happened in the NBL finals series.  Co Captian Darren Perry ruptured his achillies tendon in game one of the finals series.  Brian moved Robert Rose to the PG spot and this ultimately helped them win games two and three.  This move was a gutsy one and proved successful.  I totally was hooked on the whole ’Men in Black’ thing and loved every moment of it.  As a pure basketball person, watching the teamwork (which is a trademark of all Goorjian coached teams) and defensive effort (another feature) was awesome to see. 

After the Magic merged with the Giants, I was a little bit torn as a fan.  I still loved the way that they played and how BG coahced them but I really missed the old days of the Magic.   What really sparked my interest was when I heard that Brett Brown was leaving the Kings to go to the San Antino Spurs and Brian was moving up to the ‘holy grail franchise’ – The Sydney Kings.  The team was already set for the 2002 season and he would be teaming up with Shane Heal.  This scenrio could have been extremely explosive but they got the job done and won the title for the first time in franchise history.  What followed was a period of success unrivalled in Sydney’s history. 3 titles followed in 4 seasons as the Kings swept all before them. Goorjian, who had brought his captain Jason Smith with him from the Titans, coached Sydney to 5 grand finals in 6 years despite being forced to constantly re-build the team after each season.

At the end of last season Brian joined the South Dragons franchise and instantly they have gained success.  Mark Worthington was recently interview on nbl.com and he stated that he was very close to signing with Perth but having Brian made him sign with the Dragons. 

Brian also took over the national team and has had some mixed success.  The Boomers play at the 2008 Olympics was ok.  They really should not have lost the first game against Croatia which really set them up for failure in the later rounds.  He has blooded a lot of younger guys in this Olympics which will hold the Boomers in good stead for the later years.

It seems like that most people love playing for Brian.  I remember reading somewhere that David Stiff loved it but had to leave because he couldn’t take the ‘day to day’ grind on his body anymore.  Brian’s teams are well prepared and extremely fit.  I imagine that his preperation would be detailed and very goal orientated.

So where to next for Brian Goorjian?  There was talk that this Olympic Games was his last and he was going to stand down as head coach.  I personally feel that this is not a good move but if it is, I think it opens up an interesting scenario for him.  I know that he has lived in Australia and is an Australian citizen but the temptation to coach in the NCAA must be there for him.  When I heard that Lute Olsen had resigned at Arizona and Mike Dunlap had taken over as coach, my first thought was ‘I bet you that Brian ends up at Arizona as an assitant.’  Then I  read that Mike Dunlap had declined the job and somebody called Russ Pennell was named interm head coach of the Wildcats.  That put a huge spanner in the works for my thought processes!

I honestly believe that if he doesn’t end up taking the Boomers to the 2010 World Championships and 2012 Olympic Games, he will head over to the United States and coach in the college system.  When writing this entry, I found this interesting article from 2005. Here is an interesting quote from Matt Nielson and Chris Anstey:

Matt Nielsen, Most Valuable Player in last year’s grand final, said from Greece that the Kings win despite turning over players (only Brad Sheridan has been there all three seasons). “The people that bite on what he asks really improve,” he said. “Goorj understand players very well, he’s very honest with players, too – he let’s you know.”

Chris Anstey, who played for Goorjian in Victoria before and after the coach helped him get to the National Basketball Association, said from Russia this week: “Goorj is always looking to improve himself as a coach . . . He realises that becoming a great team involves so much more than putting five great players on the court.”

Players seem to love playing for him.  If he goes overseas, I think that he will get the job done!