BASKETBALL
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The Wollongong Hawks are alive but a cloud hangs over the future of club legend and incumbent coach Gordie McLeod.
McLeod revealed on Tuesday he is yet to be formally asked by anyone at the Hawks to sign a new contract and lead the team in the 2015-16 NBL season.
He signed as senior coach of his beloved club in 2009 and has retained the role since. McLeod penned a new three-year coaching contract in June last year, but the papers were torn up (as were all contracts) when the Hawks were forced into voluntary administration in March.
General manager Kim Welch and owner James Spenceley now have to draw up new contracts for all positions, and at the very top of their priority list will be the head coaching role.
"I'm hopeful we'll be able to retain our coaching staff and a majority of the domestic players," Welch said in a statement on Tuesday.
If McLeod was to re-sign, he would need to immediately begin building his playing roster for the looming season. The Hawks have no players contracted to the club and a number of last season's have already found new employment.
McLeod says he will need to carefully consider any offer tabled by the Hawks, but he knows it will be tough to find a job anywhere else in Australia.
"Obviously in our line of work there's not a lot of spots available," McLeod said.
"I'd assume the players and everyone else have been looking at what opportunities are available to them, so everyone will be in a position to accept what gets offered or go in a different direction.
"It's not a situation you want to be in but you find yourself here and you have to find your way through it," McLeod said.
"Everyone involved with the club probably wants to be told as soon as possible, you always do."
The announcement on Tuesday that the Hawks would fight on as the league's only remaining foundation club follows the confirmation from Townsville a fortnight ago that the Crocs will also compete in 2015-16.
The Crocs were also placed into voluntary administration in March.
With the free agency period already under way, McLeod admits it will be a hard task to assemble a competitive squad for next season with so little time to prepare.
"Clubs would usually have a nucleus of players signed and then they would finish off the roster," he said.
"That process will hopefully be accelerated because there's obviously a lot of work to do, and there's no staff within the club."