Ballarat basketball legend Ray Borner says getting sacked as coach of the Ballarat Miners more than 15 years ago was the worst thing that's ever happened to him. Borner talked about the deep-seeded hurt the firing caused him on this week's episode of The Courier's Off the Record podcast. Speaking publicly about the incident for the first time, he said the hit to the ego of getting sacked was deeply personal. "That was fundamentally the worst thing that's ever happened to me," he said. "To this day I still don't talk to the person who said those words and don't talk too much to the other people who were in the room." LISTEN HERE: 'Off The Record' Podcast, episode 12: Ballarat baskeball legend Ray Borner In the podcast Borner described how he was taken into a room by management and told he was no longer needed. It came after he led the Miners to a south conference title in 2001 and to another SEABL grand final appearance in 2003. "The next three or four years the Miners sat down the bottom of the ladder, so changing the coach certainly wasn't the positive outlook that management was striving for," he said. Borner returned to Ballarat in 2001 to coach the Miners following a distinguished playing career in the National Basketball League and on the international stage. After earning the chance to compete for an unprecedented fourth ABA national title, the series cancelled due to the collapse of Ansett Australia.
Ballarat basketball legend Ray Borner says getting sacked as coach of the Ballarat Miners more than 15 years ago was the worst thing that's ever happened to him.
Borner talked about the deep-seeded hurt the firing caused him on this week's episode of The Courier's Off the Record podcast.
Speaking publicly about the incident for the first time, he said the hit to the ego of getting sacked was deeply personal.
"That was fundamentally the worst thing that's ever happened to me," he said.
"To this day I still don't talk to the person who said those words and don't talk too much to the other people who were in the room."
In the podcast Borner described how he was taken into a room by management and told he was no longer needed. It came after he led the Miners to a south conference title in 2001 and to another SEABL grand final appearance in 2003.
"The next three or four years the Miners sat down the bottom of the ladder, so changing the coach certainly wasn't the positive outlook that management was striving for," he said.
Borner returned to Ballarat in 2001 to coach the Miners following a distinguished playing career in the National Basketball League and on the international stage.
After earning the chance to compete for an unprecedented fourth ABA national title, the series cancelled due to the collapse of Ansett Australia.
