Outgoing Miners coach Brendan Joyce has taken up a role as head coach of the Kaohsiung Aquas of the T1 Basketball League in Taiwan.

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He had not ruled out a return to the Miners in 2022 when he was appointed.

However, there was a possibility that the end of the T1 Basketball League season would overlap with the start of the NBL1 South start date in 2022.

Basketball Ballarat CEO Neville Ivey told The Courier the club decided it was best to go in another direction to help with off-season recruiting and pre-season training.

"He suggested it was probably likely he wouldn't be available back in Australia until late April, late May, which doesn't give us the run up of a pre-season and putting a roster together," he said.

"Obviously he'd miss what could be three or four of the first matches in the season.

"Not pushing Brendan out, his contract had expired, but with that uncertainty, we'll advertise and he fully supported that."

Outgoing Rush coach Eric Hayes departs after four years at the helm, taking over for the 2018 season.

Ivey said there still remains a possibility that Hayes may return, despite his contract expiring.

"He just wasn't sure (about taking on the role)," Ivey said.

"Eric's a great family man, he always puts his family first which we really respect.

"He still may apply, he still may put his hat in the ring, but that's literally in his court.

"He'll just contemplate in the next couple of weeks what he wants to do, work out through his family ... whether he applies or not."

Ivey said the club has received a high volume of applications for both roles with some strong candidates putting their names forward.

He said they are hoping to make final decisions in the next two weeks.

"We do want to move quickly," Ivey said.

"It has created a lot of interest.

"The Ballarat Basketball brand across the NBL1, but more broader (too), is really strong, so people keep an eye on these particular jobs."

Ivey thanked Joyce and Hayes for their service to the Miners and the Rush.

"Brendan's reputation affords us a number of players typically, you look at the Jock Perry's and the Matt Kenyon's, these sort of guys came to town wanting to ... be coached by an exceptional coach, which they were," he said.

"Haysey is a great personality and a great person in Ballarat that really supports local talent and that was evident.

"I think this year with not being able to get imports in was a challenge, so we were drawing a little bit deeper into our local stocks with the Rush program and they were really competitive.

"There's a few there that their careers probably got a little kick on in terms of opportunity and he facilitated that really well."

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