Brian Goorjian has been announced as the man to lead the Australian men’s basketball team at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Key points:
- Current Hawks Basketball coach Brian Goorjian will lead the Australian Boomers until 2023
- The appointment was announced today by Basketball Australia following the resignation of Brett Brown
- Goorjian coached the Boomers at the Athens and Beijing Olympics and holds the record as the most successful NBL coach of all time
The current coach of The Hawks in the National Basketball League (NBL) led the Boomers from 2001 to 2008, overseeing the team’s campaigns at the Athens and Beijing Olympics.
He recently moved back to Australia from China to coach the Wollongong-based NBL side, and takes over the national team from NBA coach Brett Brown, who recently announced his resignation without coaching a single game.
Goorjian said the potentially NBA-player-stacked Boomers team was ready to win a medal.
“There’s that small window a lot of times in sport where there’s an opportunity to do something great, and Andre [Lemanis, former Boomers coach] and Basketball Australia did a tremendous job to get this team to where it sits now,” he said.
“It’s a short window of nine months [until the Olympics], but it’s a very talented team, and one we’re all proud of.”
Goorjian was the favourite to take over the national team given his prior experience in the job, along with his record as the most successful NBL coach of all time.
The Californian native played in the NBL, before forging a coaching career in the league that saw him win six championships between 1988 and 2009.
Basketball Australia general manager of high performance Jan Stirling said Goorjian beat a number of highly qualified Australian coaches for the role.
“We’re really excited by this appointment and in our country, we had a lot of high quality applicants, but Brian is a standout, not only for his domestic and international success, but also because he’s been on the Olympic stage with the Boomers.”
NBA player availability will not affect medal chances
There is added interest in the Boomers’ Olympic campaign this time because Australia will field a side stacked with NBA talent, including 2016 number one draft pick Ben Simmons and league veterans Patty Mills, Joe Ingles and Aaron Baynes.
However, if the 2020/21 NBA season is not finished in time for the Tokyo Olympics, it is likely those players will be unavailable.
Brian Goorjian said the depth of basketball talent in Australia meant the country was in a strong position to medal regardless of who was playing.
“If not and if it goes another direction, what the NBL and the domestic competition has done is incredible.
“We promote ourselves as being one of the best competitions in the world, so whatever way this thing swings, I feel good about our chances.”
