Bruce Palmer (basketball)

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Bruce Palmer is an American-born basketball coach, best known as a colourful^[1] head coach in Australia's NBL. He is currently the head coach for the Southern District Spartans in the Australian Basketball Association.

Palmer began coaching in the NBL in 1987 with the North Melbourne Giants, after coaching the Dandenong Rangers in the VBA.^[2] In 1988 he was awarded Coach Of The Year and his team lost in the NBL Grand Final series to the Canberra Cannons. The following year, Giant Scott Fisher was named the league's Most Valuable Player and the Giants won the Championship over the Cannons in a reversal of the previous years series.

Palmer moved to the Brisbane Bullets in 1993, although he was unsuccessful in bringing the team the level of success he saw with the Giants. He left the team after three seasons and took a break from coaching in the NBL, during which he coached representative youth basketball. In 1998 he worked as an assistant coach with the Brisbane Bullets under head coach Brian Kerle.

Between 2000 and 2003, Palmer coached in Asia and the Middle East^[3] before returning to the NBL as head coach of the Hunter Pirates. Palmer was fired part way through the season in a controversial management decision. ^[4]

He is the seventh winningest coach in NBL history, with a win-loss record of 184-104.^[5]

Since 2004, Palmer has coached representative youth basketball as both head coach and assistant coach, including the Australian Under 20 men's team.

Palmer is married with one son, Jay, and a daughter, Kyle.

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