IT'LL be his first time coaching the national team, but Rob Beveridge admits there's a sense of deja vu as he steps into the Boomers head coaching role.
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Beveridge will step into the temporary void left by Tokyo Olympics hero Brian Goorjian to guide the Boomers through Asia Cup qualifying in Japan next month.
It's a very different task to how it appeared just a month ago.
The impacts of Omicron and resulting postponements has seen the NBL scrap plans to pause its season through the FIBA window, keeping Goorjian in Australia for what's a make-or-break month for the Hawks.
Enter Bevo, a veteran coach who's gone close to the national appointment multiple times over his career. Dreams rarely come to fruition the way we expect but, for the NBL championship-winner, it's certainly the realisation of one.
"As a kid, any player has these dreams or aspirations of representing your country, going to an Olympics, all these things," Beveridge told Hoopla.
"It's the same for coaches. We all want to be the had coach of the national program and that was always a goal and dream of mine.
"I've been through the pathway of doing the [Australian] Under 19s, I've done the World University Games, I've been an assistant coach for the Boomers for a number of years, I've just never quite got there as the national coach.
"I honestly didn't think it would ever happen but, with the way the qualifications systems are, Goorj just can't do everything. You've got so many things there and it's just not feasible for a head coach to do the national program and an NBL program [concurrently].
"That's how the opportunity for me to do it has come up and I'm absolutely honoured and thrilled to be asked to do it even though it's only for a short period of time."
It's certainly not just warm and fuzzies. There's rhyme and reason to Beveridge's appointment given a resume littered with similar jobs - short camps, unfamiliar teams, several countries - done successfully.
He first came on the wider radar as a development coach in guiding those Australian Emus team to gold at the 2003 U-19 World Cup, a team featuring the likes of Andrew Bogut, Brad Newley, Damian Martin and Aleks Maric.
As far as pure coaching efforts, that perhaps pales in comparison to his coaching Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in 2018. The minnows, made up almost entirely of semi-pros, went 3-0 through the group stages and then knocked off Nigeria in a massive upset in the quarter-finals.
They fell to eventual gold medalists Australia in the semis and then just short of a bronze medal in a playoff with New Zealand.
More recently, he coached Australia to bronze at the World University Games in 2019, a team featuring the likes of Jack White, Will Magnay and Dejan Vasiljevic.
The man himself admits to being somewhat at a loss to explain why he he's proven so adept in 'window' coaching circumstances but it made him the logical fit for Boomers duty this time around; particularly given the team's likely to be one of the most inexperienced to ever don a Boomers singlet.
"I think that's the reason they asked me to do it because I do have a lot of international experience in tournament play and short preparation time," Beveridge said.
"With Scotland I had less than two weeks and that's going to be more than what I've got with the Boomers. With the World University Games team I only had two or three days as well and we ended up with a bronze medal.
"Because I've been part of the pathway with a lot of these players, they know the styles and systems of play [I use]. It's not like you're starting from scratch. A lot of it's re-enforcement, but I've got to keep things extremely simple.
"With the [NBL] season not stopping we don't have the Dellevadova's, Gouldings, Mitch Creek, Xavier Cooks et cetera, all those guys that would be no-brainers.
"We'll be blooding some guys to be part of that national team pathway. It's what I love doing, I love developing players. That's one of the reasons Goorj wanted me to do it because I've got a lot of experience in that area with emerging Boomers, getting them in and exposing them to international competition."
At least logistically - if not in terms of opposition - getting the team together ahead of in two outings against Chinese Tapei and one against Japan in the space of three days may be the toughest juggling act of the lot.
"With Scotland I had less than two weeks and that's going to be more than what I've got with the Boomers. I've got to keep things extremely simple."
- Rob Beveridge
It involves dealing with up to a dozen countries, all with different COVID protocols, and that's before you even consider Japan's. Coaching-wise, he'll need to get a team that could see Japan-based Tokyo Olympian Nic Kay on the floor with players yet to even suit up at NBL level.
"We're going to meet [in Japan] on the 21st of Feb and I'll have two and a half days to train and then play, so there's not a whole lot of prep time," Beveridge said.
"It'll be a team where we've got guys we'll call veterans and then we're trying to blood a whole bunch of young guys.
"I've had a lot of conversations with Goorj, I've leant on him and asked who he's like to see in the program and he's had input but he's said 'look, you're the coach, you need to take players that you're comfortable with'.
"He's never said 'you must take this person or that person'. Nobody has, it's been a collaborative approach.
"We're playing Japan who'll have 16 days prep time with their team in Japan, so it's going to be a challenge, but we're just going to go out there and have a crack. It's the Aussie way."
That is where the true pressure lies. Regardless of the build-up, the Boomers will be prohibitive favourites in all three games and Beveridge says his true obligation is to the 'gold vibes only' standard that drives the national team culture
"Something that's really great about the Boomers program and how it's evolved over the years is they talk about the culture of the Boomers and the Opals," Beveridge said.
"It's taken a long time to get there and there's a standard that must be met. Rather than the expectations of winning, the expectation is we maintain the standards of what it is to be a Boomer.
"We're taking all the staff, doctors, physios, managers, all the bells and whistles. We've got the whole lot to look after the athletes so it's very clear 'this is the Boomers program and you have to raise yourself to that level'.
"That's what we need to do in a short period of time and the big thing is that I get the required attitude and desire that, when you put that green and gold on, you become seven-foot and bulletproof."
It all gives rise to the very obvious question, one he's been asked with regularity since leaving Illawarra three seasons ago.
The shambolic management of the club during his tenure has only become fully apparent since his departure, but he never considered the move as hanging up the clipboard for good.
"At the end of the day I've been a professional coach for 30 years now," he said.
"There was an enormous amount of pressure in the NBL. It can make or break coaches and at one stage I probably did get broken, but you get stronger for it.
"I think because I left Illawarra, and it wasn't on good terms, you sort of disappear and end up a bit out of sight, out of mind but I have been coaching a lot.
"I have been coaching over in New Zealand. Now I'm coaching the Boomers there could be an [NBL] opportunity in the future there, but I don't take anything for granted anymore.
"I'm just going to take this job with the Boomers, do it to the best of my ability, and whatever happens after that happens."