Brian Goorjian has enjoyed a stellar career as a player and coach in Australia and overseas, however, his head coaching career of senior teams began in Ballarat.
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The man who led the Boomers to their first ever Olympic medal at the weekend was the inaugural Ballarat Miners head coach who led them to immediate success.
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They entered the South East Basketball League in 1986 and won a South Conference Championship in 1987, headed by Goorjian.
From there, his career as a head coach took off, leading NBL sides Eastside Spectres, South East Melbourne Magic, Victoria Titans, Sydney Kings, South Dragons and now the Illawarra Hawks.
During that time he has won six NBL championships (1992, 1996, 2003-2005, 2009) and six NBL coach of the year awards (1992, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008, 2009).
Added to that resume has been coaching roles overseas and two separate stints as Boomers head coach.
One man that understands the journey Goorjian is on is current Miners head coach Brendan Joyce, their playing and coaching careers eerily similar.
Joyce got his first senior coaching role at the Miners, which helped him to coaching roles in the NBL with the then Woolongong Hawks and Gold Coast Blaze, assistant coach of the Boomers and head coach of the Opals.
Both hard working guards in the NBL, Joyce told The Courier their playing careers have helped their coaching and Ballarat gave them their first opportunity to showcase that as head coaches of a senior team.
"Ballarat gave us the opportunity to lead senior men and catapult our careers," he said.
A member of Goorjian's coaching staff with the Boomers for the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, Joyce said Goorjian's successful for a number of reasons.
"In my dealing with him, he's very passionate. He's narrowed with his focus on what the job is at hand," he said.
"He does a good job usually surrounding himself with pretty good people, I think that's a skill of his as well.
"The biggest thing that stands out is his passion, I think that rubs off on everybody, in respect to being able to get the best out of people, you want to do the best for him.
"You want to do well for him because you see the passion so you develop the same passion, which leads to developing a great culture from a unity point of view, from a player right through to the staff and that's key as well."
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