The Wollongong Hawks are no longer in the NBL and there is no more Gordie McLeod in charge of the newly rebranded Illawarra franchise, but they have made a signing that will automatically ensure their competitiveness in the 2015-16 season.
The Hawks had a disastrous 2014-15 season on and off the basketball court that not only saw them claim the wooden spoon, but also saw their position with sponsorship, membership and crowd numbers fall to the point where their existence was again in serious jeopardy.
It seemed a genuine reality that the NBL’s last foundation club would fold, ending their existence in the league since 1979, but all of a sudden not only have they found a way to survive, but they could very well have the best coach in Australia in charge of their team.
McLeod is a legend of Australian basketball for his contributions as a coach and player, and he got the best out of an under-resourced team at the Hawks since taking over ahead of the 2009-10 season.
He took them to a grand final and several play-off appearances, but his departure has opened up the chance for the club to make a new start under a new name – or back to an old name, the Illawarra Hawks – and they couldn’t have possibly signed a better coach to put in charge.
Rob Beveridge most recently coached the Perth Wildcats to great success. He oversaw the building of a new playing group ahead of the 2009-10 campaign and guided that young team to a championship in his first season.
Over the next three seasons, the Wildcats fell short in the play-offs against the three-time NBL champion New Zealand Breakers, but they narrowly missed a championship on each occasion as Beveridge’s full-court pressure and well-drilled game plan continued to be successful.
Beveridge departed the Wildcats following the 2012-13 season, but his work at the Wildcats undoubtedly set up the team’s championship win in 2014.
He was also unlucky not to have landed the job as Australian Boomers coach as a replacement for Brett Brown, particularly given his success on the international stage previously having guided the Emus Under-20s team to a world championship victory in 2003.
That team included the likes of Andrew Bogut, Aleks Maric, Brad Newley, Matt Knight and Damian Martin, and all have gone on to do remarkable things in their career.
Coaching the Illawarra Hawks is the perfect fit for Beveridge. It is not far from his hometown of Canberra, and he has an outstanding record of having run the basketball program at the NSW Institute of Sport prior to his first NBL head coaching job at the West Sydney Razorbacks.
Having shown that he can get the best out of under-resourced teams at the Razorbacks and Sydney Spirit, and winning championships in Perth at the Wildcats while also being perhaps the best developer of talent in the country, the Hawks have struck gold with their new coach.
With Beveridge’s history of getting players firing under his coaching as well, there’s little doubt that he will be able to attract enough talent into the Illawarra team to again make them a genuine play-off contender in the upcoming 2015-16 season.
It has been an eventful off-season for the NBL and at one point it appeared that not only the Hawks but also the Townsville Crocodiles would fold, yet both have pulled together enough resources to ensure their survival.
The NBL is also now under the majority ownership of Larry Kestelman and it remains to be seen what that will mean going forward for the league in the immediate future, but the 2015-16 is closing in and plenty still needs to fall into place before then.
There remains no TV deal in place following the conclusion of the five-year arrangement at Channel Ten, but it’s full steam ahead for the eight competing teams.
Among the notable signings so far has been the Sydney Kings bringing centre Julian Khazzouh back to the club, the Perth Wildcats snapping up college star Hugh Greenwood and Melbourne United snatching Todd Blanchfield from the Crocs.
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