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Fresh ideas and direct links with the NBA gave San Antonio Spurs assistant Brett Brown the nod over NBL coaching great Brian Goorjian in the race to take over the Australian Boomers.
A former coach of the Sydney Kings and North Melbourne in the NBL, Brown was named on Tuesday to lead the Australian men’s basketball team into the 2012 London Olympics, where they will again chase a first medal.
The 48-year-old American has already secured a coup in his new role, with the Boomers to become the first international team to compete in the NBA Summer League later this year against the likes of the LA Lakers and Chicago Bulls.
He will then face his first international series in the green and gold, taking on New Zealand in the Oceania Championship in August.
Goorjian held the Boomers’ reins at the past two Olympics and initially offered to stand down after Beijing, but agreed to stay in the running while Basketball Australia (BA) sought other worthy options.
BA chairman David Thodey said the board decided to opt for Brown’s “fresh energy and new ideas”.
Brown is now under pressure to deliver a first Olympic medal – improving on the fourth placings in 1996 and 2000 – guiding a team that will be headed by Milwaukee Bucks star Andrew Bogut and NBA hopeful Patrick Mills.
“I don’t make any bones about it, it has to be our goal,” Brown said via a teleconference from the United States.
“It has been the goal of every coach that’s gone through the program. I don’t back-pedal from that.
“The world’s getting better, I’m very aware of the world stage, but I don’t want the players coming into the program thinking anything else.”
Brown will remain with the Spurs during the NBA season and then shift his attentions to the Boomers in the American off-season.
Goorjian, fresh off his sixth NBL championship and first with the South Dragons, led the Boomers into the quarter-finals at last year’s Olympics where they lost to the United States.
He locked horns with Brown for a decade in the NBL and wished him all the best in his new role.
Goorjian had a strong relationship with the current Australian squad, but the likes of Bogut were looking forward to working with the new regime.
“It’s tough to see Brian go,” Bogut said from Milwaukee. “I have worked with him for a long time.
“But I’m eager to start working with Brett and I hope we can all continue to get better as a basketball nation and hopefully one day get that elusive medal at an Olympic Games.”
Brown, who is married to an Australian, is a former Boomers assistant coach and led North Melbourne to the 1994 NBL crown.
He has been a part of three NBA championships over the past six seasons in San Antonio and received the Spurs’ blessing to juggle both roles.
“Brett Brown has been paramount to the success of the San Antonio Spurs over the past decade and I’m confident his technical and people skills will be well received,” Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said.
“He is both a top-notch coach and person.”
FACTBOX ON BRETT BROWN, NAMED NEW COACH OF THE AUSTRALIAN MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM ON TUESDAY:
BRETT BROWN
Age: 48
Born: South Portland, Maine
Played four seasons at Boston University.
NBL coaching career:
North Melbourne Giants: 1993-98. Won 1994 championship
Sydney Kings: 2000-02
Overall NBL record: 149 wins, 129 losses.
San Antonio Spurs assistant coach: 2002-present
Boomers assistant coach: 1995-2003
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