Ballarat Miners head coach Luke Sunderland calls time on his contract one year early

Sunderland, who coached the Miners for the past two years, said with a young family, the time was right to make the move back, and had decided that rather than waiting for another year when his contract was up, it was best to go now.

Arriving at the Miners program from the Willetton Basketball Association, Sunderland was appointed to the head coach role in February 2022.

"With one year remaining on his contract, Luke was planning on leading the Miners towards a finals charge in the NBL1 South 2024 season however, with family front of mind he has made the decision to head back to Western Australia. Luke will finish up with us on October 13," the club said in a statement on Monday afternoon.

"On behalf of the Ballarat Miners and Ballarat Basketball Association, we would like to thank Luke, Mandy and their three children for his contribution to our program and wish them all the very best for the future."

The Miners struggled in Sunderland's first season as coach in 2022, but a new-look squad which focused on quick play and outside shooting saw the team surge up the ladder, just missing out on a finals berth in the last round of the season.

Sunderland said he was thankful for his time at the Miners, but needed to focus firstly on his young family.

"It was my call, but it important for the wife and children who are keen to head back," he said. "About a month ago, we were talking about how we were going to weigh up another year, but that's not conducive to anybody.

"It got to the point now that it was important to make a decision, so I've resigned and we'll work out what happens from here."

Sunderland will finish up with the Miners on October 13.

"There's been different challenges in each year in their own right." he said.

"We got a lot of time into some local guys, we gave them an opportunity to get them to play against some top-level guys, we've got Tyler (Rudolph), signed for another two years, we got the Youth League winning a championship, Will Hynes has set himself up real well in college as well, Ned Renfree will get good opportunities going forward.

"I think the 16 girls and below are really good and strong coming through, hopefully we'll see those results in three or four years times. There's enough there now."

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Basketball Ballarat chief executive Neville Ivey said the club would search for the best coach available.

"We'll chase the best coach we can get, the market will determine if that's someone from Ballarat, Victoria, Australia or internationally, we'll chase whatever we can get," Ivey said.

He said the club was in a strong position and did not foresee Sunderland's exit as a moment the club should look to rebuild.

Late on Monday afternoon, the club also announced women's coach Rob Baker would not be the women's coach next season, with the club saying his one-year tenure would not be extended. .

"Coming into the role last season off the back many years spent as a committed and passionate member of the Ballarat Basketball Program, Rob tried effortlessly to get the most out of the group in what was a difficult season result wise," the club said.

"On behalf of the Ballarat Miners and Ballarat Basketball Association, we would like to thank Rob for his contribution to our program and wish him all the very best in his future endeavours."

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