Vickerman: How Aussie coaches can reach the top

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In a world where it's a struggle for Australian and New Zealand coaches to earn coveted head coaching positions in the NBL, one of the greatest to do it on the sidelines has given the pathway for rising mentors to reach the top.

Three-time NBL championship coach Dean Vickerman spoke on the Cut to the Jase podcast about the lack of local coaches in top positions in the league - an issue that has been a hot topic on the basketball.com.au podcast - as one of only three Australian-born head coaches in the league last season. A number which remains after his departure from Melbourne United but the return of Trevor Gleeson to the Adelaide 36ers.

While the NBL features many talented aspiring assistant coaches, clubs have instead chosen to chase international names in recent years.

And while the likes of FIBA World Cup champion Gordon Herbert (NZ Breakers), Will Weaver (Brisbane Bullets) and Justin Tatum (Illawarra Hawks) and Chase Buford (Sydney Kings) are exceptions to the rule, teams have still chosen less desirable names such as Mahmoud Abdelfattah, Scott Morrison, Stu Lash and more over local talent.

Vickerman told Cut to the Jase host Jason Cadee he took pride in creating a pathway for Aussie coaches, seen by Jacob Chance going on to become the head coach of the Austin Spurs in the NBA G League and others such as Justin Schueller becoming head coaches.

But also said while teams chase bigger names from overseas, local coaches needed to take a different pathway to reaching the top job.

"I think assistant coaches have to do what I did a little bit and coached in the New Zealand league and won a championship in that or the NBL1 or somewhere else," Vickerman said.

"You've got to get some credibility to get that head coach job.

"Jacob Chance just left our program and was then head coach in the G League and then hung with the Spurs for the whole playoff series.

"You look at guys like that and say 'they have to come back to our league at some point' if he can get away from (Victor Wembanyama) in the next 10 years.

"But there's some great assistant coaches in our league."

It's a pathway you see many coaches from Australia and New Zealand take with the NZNBL full of assistants from the NBL as well as even an assistant from the WNBL in John White, who helped the Bendigo Spirit to the 2025 championship.

While many others are plying their trade in different NBL1 conferences but the question still remains.

Are NBL teams ever going to take a chance on one of these coaches?

My biggest question is actually something different - are NBL clubs interested in trying to build a program that lasts for around a decade or even longer?

Gone are the days of what Vickerman has just done at Melbourne United, where he was for nine seasons, I believe.

Gone are the days of Trevor Gleeson at the Perth Wildcats.

Rewinding even longer, gone are the days of Joey Wright and Phil Smyth at the Adelaide 36ers and Brian Kerle at the Brisbane Bullets as well as Lindsay Gaze at the Melbourne Tigers and many more we could list.

Instead, franchises are now more focused on sugar hits that overseas coaches bring. None are here to stay like Brian Goorjian did.

Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. There's no way you can pass up the likes of Herbert and Weaver. It will almost definitely give you a better chance of short term success? But it just means turnover will be higher as foreign coaches chase higher-profile positions or just want to return home. And there's no chance of building sustainable success that will last beyond the tenures of these respective coaches.

Whoever, outside of Cairns and Adam Forde, is the first club to invest long term in a local coach - I admire their courage to buck the trend, and I hope it happens soon!