The family inspiration driving new Illawarra Hawks coach Justin Tatum

While Illawarra locking its own Cinderella man long-term seemed fait accompli, the 44-year-old revealed it was a decision he wrestled with given the three-year commitment will see him living away from family in the US, including NBA superstar son Jayson and his son.

The entire basketball world is aware of that connection, but Tatum said being an inspiration to his nine-year-old daughter Kayden was the primary reason he was willing to take the long-term plunge in a different hemisphere.

"It was a major sacrifice for me, but I felt that my kids were old enough and mature enough to understand that I wanted to follow my passion and my dream of coaching," Tatum said.

"I want to be a role model for my nine-year-old daughter Kayden to know that, whatever your dream is, make sure you pursue it. Dad wants to show you early, he's going across the world to do it, make sure you do it.

"That was a tough part of that, but I think seeing where I came from and the decision I made to do it, and being in this position right now as the head coach, it was worth it. It was a sacrifice that happened to put me in the position I am now."

It's a meteoric rise for a guy who admittedly had to be convinced by club owner Jared Novelly - with whom he goes backs decades - to even take a position on predecessor Jacob Jackomas' staff.

"I wouldn't say it was now or never but, I felt that there were signs [it was time]," Tatum said.

"When the owner keeps calling me, wants to have dinner with me and talk to us periodically try to get me down here there were just enough signs that came around and said, 'hey, you've done enough in high school, why don't you go pursue a higher goal, push yourself and see what your ceiling is'.

"I did not know it was going to come this fast, but you've always got to be ready for the unexpected. Right now I'd be preparing for a high school district game at this moment. [Instead] I'm coaching in a professional league over in Australia, so dreams do come true.

"When you get thrown in the fire, you sink or swim. All my experience as a player and as a coach, no matter if it was high school kids or older guys, that prepared me for a moment like this.

"No moment is too big, but you've always got to be ready to take advantage of an opportunity. I'm just glad I had the opportunity to be able to coach these guys."

A 12-7 run to the playoffs has been quite the honeymoon period, but Tatum isn't shy about his long-term vision for the foundation club.

"Playoff runs, championships, and having the smallest market team in the league be one of the biggest names around," Tatum said.

"That's my goal. I want to make sure that we're not just a Cinderella story this year, we want to make sure that we put our stamp on the league.

"We're going to make Illawarra Hawks the place to play and the place to be in the NBL. This is not always about the Sydneys', the Melbourne's and the Brisbane's anymore.

"I just keep it this year right now and hope we do our best by winning the whole thing and show how we have to build every year as a championship team."

It comes just 19 games after general manager Mat Campbell and CEO Stu Taggart fronted media in the wake of Jackomas' sacking and said the club would be loath to employ another rookie head coach. Campbell said on Friday that Tatum simply made a case too compelling to ignore.

"As a franchise we pride ourselves on being competitive year in year out and having to blood through another rookie coach was going to be difficult," Campbell said.

"But the way that JT got the team playing, and the buy-in from the players was the most important. Elevating JT into head coach really transformed the team into showcasing some of their potential

"It's now three out of the last four years that we've been up in the top four, so that success is something that we're proud of from the club point of view. Continuity is important, so to be able to lock JT up for three years we're looking forward to seeing how good the group can actually be under him.

"The biggest sticking point for us was just that every game we've played so far was important and we didn't want to distract Justin away from his job of trying to win games. Trying to find time to negotiate without distracting both him and the team was probably the most important part of this negotiation.

"I think we're aligned with the way that Justin wants to play the game, we're aligned with his aspirations of someday being in the NBA, so all of the things kind of lined up pretty quickly and we're able to get that done."