It's official, Brian Goorjian will take charge of the club's rebuild after signing a two-year deal.
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As the Mercury exclusively revealed on Monday, the 66-year-old who has won six NBL titles, will coach the Hawks.
Goorjian had been based in China, was at the Zhejiang Lions based in the city of Hangzhou, before returning to Melbourne when the COVID-19 crisis hit.
He took the Sydney Kings to the NBL promised land with a title threepeat from 2003-05 after years of failure, as well as being in charge of the Boomers.
Goorjian also coached in Victoria at the South-East Melbourne Magic, Victoria Titans and South Dragons.
As part of the ownership direction, the NBL wanted Illawarra to be dropped from the club name in a bid to broaden its reach in NSW and beyond.
"It's a business decision and myself personally, I've gone through the heartbreak and the emotion of the Magic," Goorjian told Melbourne radio station SEN on Tuesday morning.
"They wanted to cover more of Victoria and merge the Giants and Magic together and become the Titans and that broke my heart.
"I played for the Melbourne Tigers in the 70s, Lindsay and Andrew Gaze are icons and they're no longer in the league, they're Melbourne United.
"But (NBL owner) Larry Kestelman understands business and business is not my thing, I coach and I'm sure they've got a plan in mind."
Goorjian has been friends with Hawks new ownership group leader Dorry Kordahi since he had a share in the Sydney Kings when the club collapsed before he moved to China and said it was a key reason for the move back to the NBL.
"After the years I spent with the mergers, the teams folding, the ownership is very key," he said.
"I went through my worst year in basketball, my last year at the Sydney Kings and there was a guy named Dorry Kordahi and really got me through the eye of the needle that last year.
"He wanted to get a team and said someday when I do I'm going to come back to you and we're going to do this together.
"I was really impressed with their vision, where they are and where they want to take the club."
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Tim Barrow
When it comes to sport - at professional and community level - in the Illawarra, I'm here to provide insight, context and opinion, as well as the latest news you won't find anywhere else.
When it comes to sport - at professional and community level - in the Illawarra, I'm here to provide insight, context and opinion, as well as the latest news you won't find anywhere else.
