Editorial
Rob Beveridge, Brendan Joyce and Geordie McLeod are among some of the most heralded names in Australian basketball to have coached our Illawarra Hawks.
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Now they will be joined by perhaps the greatest of all-time, Brian Goorjian.
Brian Goorjian has won six NBL championships.
He has won six NBL Coach of the Year awards.
He has the best coaching record bar none in Australian basketball history.
The Illawarra Mercury front page shows the incredible and rich vein of coaching that has blessed our national basketball club over a history spanning four decades. Yet Goorjian is next level.
And he is coming to Wollongong because of a close friendship with one of the new owners of the Hawks, Dorry Kordahi, and all of the good things he has heard about living in our little patch of paradise.
Where Goorjian goes, success follows. He hasn't missed the NBL finals. Ever.
Our club goes from being reborn out of voluntary liquidation and having no players contracted to being one of the most sought after destinations an out of contract player would consider, purely on the signing of one man alone. That is the kind of impact this signing will have.
In terms of impact, the signing of LaMelo Ball to the club sent shockwaves around the world and put an international spotlight on the club.
This trumps that in a different way. It gives the club a chance at a new beginning and a new dawn it could not have foreseen a few short weeks ago.
Goorjian describes the situation that he is faced with as having a "blank canvas".
In basketball terms, Goorjian is a master. He is Matisse, Warhol and Picasso combined.
This community will welcome his experience, his passion and his brand of basketball which thrives on hard-nosed "nasty" defense. His words, not ours. And the Gong loves a fight as much as it loves a feed.
Nothing more left to do "Goorj" except to paint a beautiful masterpiece.
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