some coaches have all ready been called to say they do not have the job. Surely there is a short list them

I'm not too dissapointed to be honest.

Long term coach, prefer a young guy and Australian.

The fact he was "first choice" really concerns me. Either its a media beat up to get attention, or clearly management haven't been listening to the long term season ticket holding fans who never wanted Goorjian even considered.

I know due diligence should be done in the search for a new coach, but this guy is hated in Adelaide. His teams fold because dour defensive arm-wrestle basketball might win games (with poor referees and loaded teams) but doesn't win fans. Seeing his teams constantly beaten in the late 90s was a triumph of real basketball over rubbish. His international record shows the limited application of this style.

Thank God he is out of the picture - I would have happily cancelled my season tickets if he was employed.

stacker for me

I'm OK with Stacker, but think he will be a short term fix...

I love how people talk about Goorjian like he's this absolutely boring coach, that all he coaches is defensive basketball, blah blah blah, when it's all patently crap.

When he was at the KIngs, those teams led the league in scoring more often than not. Look at 2003, or 2004 for example - are you telling me those were boring clubs? Or even the 2008 squad that went 27-3 and routinely went over the 100 mark in games.

His teams - particularly in the last few years in Sydney - were a whole lot more entertaining than the Goorjian-bashers would like to proclaim.

Anyway, at the end of the day, the man is a proven winner. Are you telling me that as a fan, especially of this great franchise, that you wouldn't love the opportunity to land a guy who you KNOW will get the absolute best out of his players? A guy who made, what, 20 straight semi-final series? A guy who won SIX championships? You mean to tell me you'd rather see your team mired in mediocrity rather than knowing you'd have a chance to compete for the title EVERY SINGLE YEAR???

Give me a break. This Goorjian-bashing has become old and tiresome. I for one would have loved to see him at the helm in Adelaide.

Goorj would need to be a different type of coach in the 40 minute format, his dour, grind em down defensive approach would not work quite as well - which is possibly what you are saying about his international record Bear.

Damien Cotter? No national league experience even as an assistant. Does not have a record at the next level down that suggests he could step up. But again, working with AUS jnr program will have helped, along with the international game exposure that would have provided. He would be a huge risk - bigger than Ninnis on face value.

And Anon12, Goorj has had great results, you are correct, and i am not necessarily one who bites on the "his teams go broke argument" but.... he dominates your culture. It's his culture IMO, him v club if necessary, team v club if necessary - hence he gets results, but at what cost?

Goorj led the charge to full time playing professionalism in the NBL because he needed that intensity to be a winning coach and satisfy himself (again IMO) - it was this that led to the current ethos amongst the players which is "i play basketball professionally ... rather than "I work for a basketball club".

You want to be the best, you have to go after the best.

Several people in Melbourne are saying that Joyce is on the short list - but who knows.

To say Goorj's style is drag em out beat em upo is just ignorant in my opinion. Do people forget the Boomers were the second highest scoring team at the Beijing Olympics? They scored at over 90ppg, higher than any team scored in the NBL this year by 4 ppg.

His teams simply play defence the way it is played in many other parts of the world, as Perth have done this year. It is seen as drag em out style defence simply because defence had been an afterthought in Australian basketball until recent times.

Coaches like Beveridge, Wright and Goorjian have been successful because they actually demand their players put in equally at both ends.

Having said that, HO makes a great point that if you were to appoint Goorj, you would have to make it a stipulation that his players do X amount of community/promotional work, and he fits his training around that requirement.

"Do people forget the Boomers were the second highest scoring team at the Beijing Olympics?" Yet he massively underacheived with the best line up Australia has ever had.
Be glad to never see him in Adelaide again. If the NBL umps had any balls he would have been thrown out of 90% of the games hes coached for the abuse he spews.

well said annex2. It saves me typing it all!

Skud, how many Boomers teams have done better than 3-2 in Olympic pool play? The answer is one, the 1996 team. To say that is a massive underachievement is an interesting description.

BTW, I would have agreed if you had said 2004 was an underachievement.

I wouldn't say Goorjian did a better job than Smyth on the basis of the limited time Smyth was allowed to coach the Boomers. At the time of Smyth's firing it seemed a reasonable decision to me, despite multiple retirements and an inexperienced squad - losing to NZ was "unacceptable" at that time. The subsequent poor results of Goorjian including 9th in 04 and 06 and Brown's recent loss to the Kiwis show a lack of consistency from BA . Goorjian should have been booted after 06, and Brown should be gone already if we are to judge by the same standards applied to Smyth. Also the success of the NZ team in 2002 show how strong they were in retrospect.

One of Goorjian's unfortunate legacies to me is the performance of his "boys" at international level. It seemed fairly obvious that if you played for BG, you got more minutes at the Boomers than your talent actually warranted. We went from the nepotism of Barry Barnes giving more minutes to Heal than he ever deserved (over Maher at his peak in particular), to seeing J Smith, Bruton and Barlow getting significant court time while superior players languished on the end of the bench.

I've drifted off topic now but very much agree with HOs last paragraph and Anons point re. supplements - I wonder how Diet Coke sales are this year??

Goorg can't just walk into clubs & demand the owners spend $$$ until he is happy. The cap is a joke but so are these business owners if they let an employee spend all their cash. It's easy to say he sent these clubs broke but he has always achieved his goals - playoffs & championships. Why are Sydney seeking him again ( & Adelaide) if he sinks ships? Because he doesn't! He's very good at what he does & an easy skapegoat for bad mgmt.

Yeah, as mentioned many times before, It's unfair to blame both Sydney's and the Dragon's demise on Goorg. Sydney's owner was a huge fraudster, and the Dragon's folded as a result of the uncertainty of the leaugue - probably the owners out there with most business sense if you look at it one way.

Defence wins Games - When Nathan Herbert went down,
SOS checked out SOJ's availability to come here.
I wonder then ?

As of last week Brendan Joyce was strongly said to be the prefered choice if Goorjian pulled out.... Be interesting to see if that changes.

bear, speak for yourself. I am a season ticket holder, only for the last 8 years but the passion is still there to continue for years to come. Don't say Adelaide hate Goorjian, only individuals hate him. Many season ticket holders like myself would welcome him here as head coach. His success rate in Australia is beaten by nobody and if success is needed in Adelaide, then you can't go past him. As for clubs going under whilst he coaches, don't stop looking at Goorjian as the cause, dig deeper and you will find that its a combination of things. With the successful fan base that Adelaide enjoys, the proud history and the increase in sponsorship which would come from a successful team as opposed to wooden spooners, even Goorjian may fail to sink this club. The foundations may be strong enough to withstand the increased financial burden that he may bring.

i dislike joyce more than i dislike goorijan, if we go the joyce route it will be very hard to follow the team, tough i still will i guess. Id rather Stacker, Molloy or Clarke but we will have to wait and see. Be interesting to see Boti's reaction and coverage if we #@*$in get Joyce!

EC, I'm speaking for my 5 season tickets and a fair percentage of those around me, who I have got to know in 15 seasons as member.

While I recognize that a few Sixers fans would support his appointment. I strongly believe the majority would want the club to look elsewhere (hopefully over Joyce as well)

In many years of going to the majority of home games I have witnessed a special type of vitriol reserved for Goorjian and his teams. I would rate him alongside Heal and Hodge as the all time villains Sixers fans love to hate (Although Bradtke is not far behind).

I still have a strong passion for the club, but I find it hard to reconcile that someone I have spent 18 years of well though out abuse on would become our coach. 98, 98-99 was so sweet because we beat his teams and his style of basketball, which was almost the opposite of the way the Sixers played at the time. Its worth a look at Game 2 in 1998 if you can get your hands on the tape, to see how negative basketball can shoot your own team in the foot.

That said it sounds like its all arguing over hypotheticals. I just hope Joyce is not the next step - we will need a translator for time outs otherwise.

bear, I also speak for 5 season ticket holders and the people around me (7 years in same seat) plus all the people at work who support the 36ers. No doubt there is mixed reactions as to whether Goorjian is wanted or not. Your comment saying this guy is hated in Adelaide suggests all of Adelaide hate him. That is not the case. Just this topic alone has brought out for and against Goorjian comments. The boring style of basketball he coaches as some have suggested, firstly would not be so boring when you are winning and secondly nothing beats the boredom of this last season. I recall games here in Adelaide against Goorjian coached teams and the ones we played well in and won were exciting to watch. The ones we lost were boring. Does that suggest the style of basketball as being boring or the lack of success in those games make it boring?

Although it's starting to sound like Goorj will not be coming and it will be Joyce.

The word on the street is that Molloy has just bought a nice new house in a very nice Melbourne suburb and is unlikely to move interstate for family reasons - but who knows.

Is Stacker in line for the job at the Tigers ?

Joyce = "A tough task-master who gets the most from his players " ? Who will fit in with his style of training and play ?

Anyone but Joyce......... please.....



Joyce is bad enough to make baby Jesus cry......

SOJ ?

SOJ....... definitely makes baby Jesus cry.....



and cry



and cry

Why is B Joyce so bad ?

Well EC, if we could make polls on here like on the old Ozhoops I would - not to prove my point as much as out of interest of the reaction of the generally die hard fans that post on here - I may well be wrong and living in the past.

I think that a lot of the excitement at Sixers v "Goorjian team" games was created by the crowds intensity, due to the fact we don't like him. The crowd to me always seemed to get up for those games in particular. I can recall very few boring games as such with his teams (excluding blowouts in recent years).

That said, watching him week in, week out is a completely different prospect. Unless you have a loaded team (eg Kings 03), I would expect a season may be too much for me to take. Again I'm harping on old times, but the Titan's teams produced some extremely boring basketball, even in making several finals appearances.

Dont forget Joyce brought Ballinger to Oz & Ballsie loves him. Get used to it 36er fans Joyce is the next coach!

bear, this is not a battle between you and me as to who is right and who is wrong. I'm just saying there are those who would have Goorjian coaching here and those who would not. A poll could very well show the majority against Goorjian but that's irrelevant if he has been ruled out of coming here to Adelaide. We would start to win a lot more games if Goorjian coached and that's exciting enough for me.

Can't remember how long I've had seasons for (17 or 18 years or something? Think it was the first season at the Powerhouse) but I'd not be adverse to Goorj coaching us.

He wins. I don't really care about anything else, as I don't subscribe to the 'his clubs fold' or 'his style is boring' rhetoric. I grew up hating him as much as anybody else, but we're here for Ws IMO.

Personally, I'm still hoping for Stacker though.

And for the love of holy baby jebus, not Joyce.

From what I understand, Giant's coach Wright never could see a good player even if he hit him in the face. His mission in NBL basketball was to promote his son and make sure no one stood in his way.

Joyce developed players like Glen Saville and Mat Campbell who are still making a great contribution today . Is Joyce too demanding for current 36ers ?

If 36ers can not have Goorjian or Molloy and Stacker is staying around the Tigers in the hope of getting the next job - why not accept Joyce and move on to build a new team ?