Isaac
Years ago
Goorjian reappointed as Boomers coach
Unanimous decision!
BOOMERS HEAD COACH BRIAN GOORJIAN REAPPOINTED
Following the unanimous recommendation of a five member review panel consisting of BA President John Maddock, BA CEO Scott Derwin, BA High Performance Manager Lorraine Landon, BA Board member Lois Appleby and Adrian Hurley as Chair of the BA Elite Performance Advisory Commission and its endorsement by the Board of Directors, Basketball Australia is proud to announce the reappointment of Brian Goorjian as head coach of the national men's program (the Australia Post Boomers) for the next two years.
"I appreciate BA giving me the opportunity to finish the job," Goorjian said.
"Upon my appointment the program was struggling, we hadn't qualified for the world championships in 2002 and everybody knew it was going to be a lot of work to bring the program back up.
"We've established a code of behavior and we've improved the guys physically and I think we've improved defensively, but we need to get those guys in this system on a consistent basis over the next two years in the lead up to the Olympic Games.
"If we can do that, the 12 best players in this country are pretty good, so I'm excited. The final analysis will depend on how we perform in Beijing."
Goorjian was first appointed as head coach of the Boomers in 2002. He has since won 49 of the 80 games played at the senior national level, or 61 per cent of all matches.
He led Australia to a 3-0 sweep of New Zealand at the 2003 FIBA Oceania Championship ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens where the team finished ninth, and to a gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Under his guidance the team also qualified for the 2006 FIBA world championship in Japan, a feat not achieved since 1998.
A 4-time National Basketball League (NBL) Coach of the Year, Goorjian has won more games than any other coach in the history of the NBL (441) as well as more championships (5), while leading his teams to the semi finals or better for 19 consecutive seasons.
"I have no doubt that Brian is the right man for the job," Basketball Australia President John Maddock said.
"We look forward to supporting Brian in our quest to secure a medal in Beijing."
