Brendan Joyce

Brendan Joyce

Brendan Joyce is the head coach of the Australian women's national basketball team (Opals). Joyce is a former professional basketball player and head coach of the National Basketball League (Australasia) the Wollongong Hawks and the Gold Coast Blaze.

Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Brendan Joyce grew up playing both basketball and Australian rules football and received an invitation to train and play for the North Melbourne Kangaroos. Brendan Joyce decided to continue with basketball and played in the National Basketball League. Joyce played a total of 289 games in the NBL over 13 seasons, playing for the Nunawading Spectres and the Westside Melbourne Saints and finally for the Brisbane Bullets in 1991. Joyce captained both Nunawading and the Westside Melbourne Saints. Following his playing career, Brendan Joyce became one of the most successful coaches in the National Basketball League, coaching in more than 400 games.[1]

NBL Playing career

Brendan Joyce began his senior National Basketball League playing career in 1979 with the Nunawading Spectres in the National Basketball League's inaugural year. He was a point guard with the Nunawading Spectres team that lost to Launceston Casino City in the 1981 NBL Grand Final. Joyce was renowned for his defensive play and ability to penetrate and create opportunities for his team mates and was an all time NBL league leader in assists for many years. His career highs were 32 points vs. Melbourne Tigers (1985), 19 assists vs. Sydney Kings 1985 and 8 three-point shots made vs. Hobart Devils (1990).

NBL Coaching career

Brendan Joyce began his professional National Basketball League (Australasia) coaching career in 1996 with the Wollongong Hawks and developed the Hawks program with young players such as Glen Saville, David Andersen and CJ Bruton, who all later in their career became Olympians. After a losing record in his first two seasons, coach Joyce then lead the Hawks from the bottom to become a consistent winning team. Brendan Joyce coached the Wollongong Hawks to their first NBL championship defeating the Townsville Crocodiles in 2001. After 23 years in the National Basketball League, the Wollongong Hawks also became the first New South Wales team to win the NBL Championship.This success was followed by another grand final berth in 2005 with a loss to the Sydney Kings. The Brendan Joyce tenure at the Hawks delivered him the NBL (Australia) Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2001 and as a NBL All Star Coach in 2005.[2] I n 2007–08 Brendan Joyce became the inaugural coach of the Gold Coast Blaze[3] and kept on winning. Brendan Joyce lead the Gold Coast to the playoffs in their first year and the Blaze team became the first ever Gold Coast team to make the play-offs in any Australian national competition.[4] Brendan Joyce was named the 2008 Gold Coast Region Coach of the Year and was again a runner up for the NBL (Australia) Coach of the Year. In the 2008–09 season the team missed the playoffs due to an injury-ridden season, the team had a losing season and Joyce who had been given a 4-year deal, was terminated after coaching two seasons.[5]

Australian Basketball Coach

In 2001 Brendan Joyce was named as Assistant Coach to the Australian men's national team the Boomers and continued this role until 2009. Brendan Joyce worked at two Olympic Games, 2004 in Athens and 2008 in Beijing, as well as the 2006 FIBA World Championships in Japan and assisting in leading the Boomers to their Gold Medal win at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in his home town Melbourne. In May 2013 Joyce was hired to be the Australian women's national team coach in a deal that runs through the 2016 Olympics.[6] Australian Opals win Bronze medal at the 2014 World Championships in Turkey.

Awards

NBL awards

National recognition

References

  1. ↑ Joyce jumps into elite company
  2. ↑ Coach of the Year
  3. ↑ "Joyce to coach new franchise". Television New Zealand. 18 January 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  4. ↑ "Joyce Gold Coast Coach of the Year".
  5. ↑ Joyce could be lost to basketball
  6. ↑ Feinberg, Doug (15 May 2013). "Former Boomers assistant Brendan Joyce appointed head coach of Aussie women's basketball team". foxnews.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
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