Brian Warwick Goorjian (born 28 July 1953) is an American-Australian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach and former player served as the head coach of the

Bay Area Dragons The Bay Area Dragons is a basketball team in the East Asia Super League. Based in Hong Kong, the team is meant to represent Greater China. History The Dragons were originally formed as the Bay Area Chun Yu Phoenixes as a franchise team for the ...

of the

East Asia Super League The East Asia Super League (Simplified Chinese:东亚超级联赛; Traditional Chinese: 東亞超級聯賽; Korean: 동아시아 슈퍼리그; Japanese: 東アジアスーパーリーグ), abbreviated as EASL, is a basketball league featuring cl ...

(EASL). He is also currently the head coach of the

Australia men's national basketball team The Australian men's national basketball team, known as the Boomers after the slang term for a male kangaroo, represents Australia in international basketball competition. Since the late 1980s, Australia has been placed among the world elite ...

. He is the most successful coach in Australian basketball and his career has been called the most successful in NBL history by

Basketball Australia Basketball Australia is the governing and controlling body of basketball in Australia, responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels. Basketball Australia sanctions Australia's two professional leagues, the Nation ...

. In an NBL coaching career spanning over 20 years, Goorjian has won six

championships In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

: two with the

South East Melbourne Magic The South East Melbourne Magic was an Australian basketball team based in Melbourne. The Magic competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) between 1992 and 1998, and played their home games at Rod Laver Arena. In their seven seasons, the ...

, three with the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the ...

and one with the

South Dragons The South Dragons were an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). They made their debut in the 2006/07 season and played their final season in 2008/09. The club was based at MSAC in Melbourne's in ...

. He previously served as the head coach of the Australia men's team from 2001 to 2008 before returning as coach in 2020. In 2009, Goorjian became the head coach of the

Dongguan Leopards The Shenzhen New Century Liebao Club, also known as Shenzhen Marco Polo or Shenzhen Leopards (previously Shenzhen Aviators) are a Chinese professional basketball team which plays in the Southern Division of the Chinese Basketball Association (CB ...

of the

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier professional men's basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...

(CBA) and stayed with the team for six seasons. He served as an assistant coach for the

Guangdong Southern Tigers Guangdong Hongyuan Southern Tigers () or Guangdong Southern Tigers, also known as Guangdong Dongguan Bank () for sponsorship reasons, are a Chinese professional basketball team owned by the Guangdong Winnerway (Hongyuan) Group. The team is one o ...

from 2015 to 2016 and as a special advisor to the

Shanghai Sharks The Shanghai Sharks () are a Chinese Basketball Association team based in Shanghai. It is best known outside China as the club that developed Yao Ming before he entered the National Basketball Association. With Yao on the team, the Sharks made t ...

from 2016 to 2018. Goorjian returned to coaching duties when he joined the

Xinjiang Flying Tigers The Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers () is a professional basketball team based in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China. The team play its home games at the Hongshan Arena, which has a capacity for 3,800 spectators. The club joined the Chinese Basketb ...

in 2018 as an assistant coach for one season. After spending a decade in the CBA, he returned to the NBL in 2020 as the head coach of the Illawarra Hawks.

Early career

Goorjian was born in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-larges ...

, and is of Armenian descent. He played on the

team at Crescenta Valley High School in

La Crescenta, California La Crescenta-Montrose () is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The community is bordered by Glendale to the south and west, La Cañada Flintridge to the east, and Angeles National Forest to the north. Acc ...

, and was coached by his father, Ed. Goorjian's younger brothers, Kevin and Greg, also played basketball at Crescenta Valley. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Pepperdine Waves The Pepperdine Waves are the athletics teams of Pepperdine University, located outside the city of Malibu, California. They compete at the Division I level of the NCAA. The school is a member of the West Coast Conference for the majority of its ...

. Goorjian first arrived in Australia in 1977 to play for the

Melbourne Tigers Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at John Cain Arena. The team made their debut in the NBL in 1984 a ...

under head coach

Lindsay Gaze Lindsay John Casson Gaze (born 16 August 1936) is an Australian former basketball player and coach. He played for Australia in three Summer Olympics qualification tournaments, between 1960 and 1968, and was the head coach of the senior Austr ...

. He served as the inaugural

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Tigers in their first National Basketball League (NBL) season in 1984.

Coaching career

Eastside Spectres (1988–1991)

Goorjian's first head coaching job came in 1988 when he coached the

Eastside Melbourne Spectres Nunawading Spectres is a NBL1 South club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Melbourne East Basketball Association (MEBA), the major administrative basketball ...

. The team missed the finals in Goorjian's first two seasons. In 1990, the Spectres bowed out in the semi-finals and the next year they went one better by making the Grand Final for only the second time in the club's history. They lost this final to the defending champion

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Perth Arena, ...

. The Spectres merged with the

Southern Melbourne Saints The Southern Melbourne Saints, previously known as the St. Kilda Saints, the St. Kildas Pumas and the Westside Melbourne Saints, were an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne. The Saints competed in the National Basketball ...

during the 1992 offseason to form the

with Goorjian named as the new Magic coach.

South East Melbourne Magic (1992–1998)

Goorjian won the first of his six championships in 1992 against the Melbourne Tigers and was named the

Coach of the Year. Three consecutive semi-final losses were followed by a second championship and another Coach of the Year award in 1996 when they again defeated the Tigers. Two Grand Final losses were to follow to the Tigers in 1997 and the

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers, also known as the Sixers, are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in th ...

in 1998. Following the loss to the 36ers, Goorjian had another change of team by merger when the Magic merged with cross-town rivals the

North Melbourne Giants The North Melbourne Giants, previously known as the Coburg Giants, were an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of ...

to form the

Victoria Titans The Victoria Titans (known in its final two seasons as the Victoria Giants), were an Australian professional basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). The club was based in Melbourne, Victoria. History The Titans ...

Victoria Titans (1998–2002)

Goorjian lost another two Grand Finals in his first two seasons as coach for the Titans. The Titans lost 2–1 to defending champions Adelaide in 1998–99 before being swept 2–0 by the Perth Wildcats in 1999–2000. At the end of the 2001–02 season, the financially struggling Victoria Titans went into administration and were sold to new owners associated with the former North Melbourne Giants, who controversially fired Goorjian.

Sydney Kings (2002–2008)

The Sydney Kings hired Goorjian after the 2001–02 season to replace

Brett Brown Brett William Brown (born February 16, 1961) is an American professional basketball coach who is an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Brown is a former college basketball player who previously ...

. Goorjian led the Kings to three consecutive NBL championships from 2003 to 2005. Goorjian coached Sydney to five Grand Final series in six years, despite being forced to constantly re-build the team after each season. He won his fifth NBL Coach of the Year award as the Kings went 27–3 during the 2007–08 regular season. However, they were unable to turn this success into a fourth championship, going down narrowly to the Melbourne Tigers.

South Dragons (2008–2009)

On April 1, 2008, Goorjian signed a three-year contract with new

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

club

. Goorjian led the Dragons to the 2008–09 NBL title in his first season with them. He won his sixth Coach of the Year award with the Dragons in 2009. The Dragons folded at the end of the season despite their title win, prompting Goorjian to seek a position overseas.

Dongguan Leopards (2009–2015)

Brian Goorjian was the head coach of the

. After the 2014–2015 CBA Season ended, Goorjian left the Leopards.

Guangdong Tigers (2015–2016)

Goorjian stepped away from head coaching duties, and became associate coach of the

in early 2015, responsible for player development, talent identification, scouting and game analysis.

Shanghai Sharks (2016–2018)

After the CBA season has finished, Goorjian became Special Advisor of the

in early 2016, responsible for player development, talent identification, scouting and game analysis. Following the 2017–2018 season he left the club.

Xinjiang Flying Tigers (2018–2019)

After leaving the Sharks, Goorijan moved to the

in 2018 as an assistant coach, and remained there for one season.

Illawarra Hawks (2020–2022)

On June 23, 2020, returned to Australia and signed with Illawarra Hawks of the NBL as their new head coach. He elected to not take up his third-year option with the Hawks in May 2022, instead moving to the role of special advisor for basketball operations.

National team career

After Phil Smyth's less than one-year term as the Australian Boomers coach in 2001 which resulted in the team's shock non-qualification for the 2002 World Championships, Goorjian was appointed as coach in late 2001 when Smyth resigned and would hold the position until 2008. By becoming the Boomers coach, Goorjian was the first foreign born coach to the team in its history. Under his tutelage, the Boomers qualified for the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, where they finished ninth, dropping five places from their 2000 finish. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the boomers improved their ranking to finish 7th. In November 2020, Goorjian returned as head coach for the

Australian men's national basketball team The Australian men's national basketball team, known as the Boomers after the slang term for a male kangaroo, represents Australia in international basketball competition. Since the late 1980s, Australia has been placed among the world elite t ...

for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

where the team won the bronze medal and Australia's first ever medal in Olympic men's basketball.

Coaching profile

Having won 511 games at a winning percentage of 70% Goorjian's record exceeds that of Australian coaching legends in the other major professional leagues including Kevin Sheedy (AFL – 365),

Allan Jeans Allan Lindsay Jeans (21 September 1933 – 13 July 2011) was an Australian rules footballer and coach. He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame at its inception in 1996. Jeans was known for his oratory and motivation skills as a ...

(AFL – 358),

Tom Hafey Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

(AFL – 336),

David Parkin David Alex Parkin, OAM (born 12 September 1942) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the Subiaco Football Club in the Western Australian Nati ...

(AFL – 306), Wayne Bennett (NRL – 294 wins) and

Tim Sheens Tim Sheens (born 30 October 1950) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player. Head Coach of the Australia national team between 2009 and 2015, he has also been the head coach of National Rugby League (NRL) clubs ...

(NRL – 235). In 2003 the NBL Hall of Fame selection committee voted Brian Goorjian the best coach of the first 25 years of the National Basketball League. In one of the notable statistics in sport, Goorjian-coached teams finished no worse than the semi-finals every year from 1990–2009. He has also coached teams to a record 12 grand finals and won 'Coach of the Year' on six occasions. Goorjian is also known for his intense coaching style (contrasting the laid back style of his early mentor Lindsay Gaze). His former assistant coach Bill Tomlinson says the detail he paid to defence was notable, as was the emphasis on strength and conditioning which often made Goorjian coached teams the fittest in the league. He said he sat down for his first six games in 1988, which he lost, and has stood during games ever since. On October 10, 2013, Goorjian was named the coach of the Sydney Kings 25th Anniversary Team.MightyMite Sydney Kings announce 25th Anniversary Team

Coaching record

NBL

, - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, 24, , 11, , 13, , , , align="center" , 8th , , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , Missed playoffs , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

Eastside Spectres Nunawading Spectres is a NBL1 South club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Melbourne East Basketball Association (MEBA), the major administrative basketball o ...

, align="left" ,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, 24, , 14, , 10, , , , align="center" , 7th , , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , Missed playoffs , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

, 26, , 18, , 8, , , , align="center" , 2nd , , 2, , 0, , 2, , , align="center" , Semi-finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, 26, , 17, , 9, , , , align="center" , 2nd , , 5, , 3, , 2, , , align="center" , Grand Finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

, 24, , 20, , 4, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 7, , 6, , 1, , , align="center" , Champions , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, 26, , 20, , 6, , , , align="center" , 2nd , , 4, , 2, , 2, , , align="center" , Semi-finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

, 26, , 19, , 7, , , , align="center" , 3rd , , 3, , 1, , 2, , , align="center" , Semi-finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, 26, , 18, , 8, , , , align="center" , 3rd , , 6, , 3, , 3, , , align="center" , Semi-finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

, 26, , 19, , 7, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 7, , 6, , 1, , , align="center" , Champions , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, 30, , 22, , 8, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 5, , 3, , 2, , , align="center" , Grand Finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, 30, , 26, , 4, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 4, , 2, , 2, , , align="center" , Grand Finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 1998–99 , 26, , 17, , 9, , , , align="center" , 2nd , , 7, , 4, , 3, , , align="center" , Grand Finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 1999–2000 , 28, , 20, , 8, , , , align="center" , 4th , , 8, , 4, , 4, , , align="center" , Grand Finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2000–01 , 28, , 21, , 7, , , , align="center" , 4th , , 6, , 3, , 3, , , align="center" , Semi-finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2001–02 , 30, , 20, , 10, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 6, , 3, , 3, , , align="center" , Semi-finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2002–03 , 30, , 22, , 8, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 8, , 6, , 2, , , align="center" , Champions , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2003–04 , 35, , 27, , 8, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 5, , 4, , 1, , , align="center" , Champions , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2004–05 , 29, , 20, , 9, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 8, , 6, , 2, , , align="center" , Champions , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2005–06 , 32, , 25, , 7, , , , align="center" , 2nd , , 5, , 3, , 2, , , align="center" , Grand Finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2006–07 , 33, , 20, , 13, , , , align="center" , 4th , , 3, , 1, , 2, , , align="center" , Semi-finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2007–08 , 30, , 27, , 3, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 8, , 4, , 4, , , align="center" , Grand Finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2008–09 , 30, , 22, , 8, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 8, , 5, , 3, , , align="center" , Champions , - , align="left" , Illawarra Hawks , align="left" ,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 36, , 20, , 16, , , , align="center" , 3rd , , 3, , 1, , 2, , , align="center" , Semi-finalists , - , align="left" , Illawarra Hawks , align="left" , 2021–22 , 28, , 18, , 9, , , , align="center" , 2nd , , 2, , 0, , 2, , , align="center" , Semi-finalists , -class="sortbottom" , align="left" , Career , , , 683, , 484, , 199, , , , , , 120, , 70, , 50, ,

Personal life

Goorjian is an Australian citizen. He has a daughter with his wife, Amanda.

References

External links

College statistics

@ fiba.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Goorjian, Brian 1953 births Living people American emigrants to Australia American expatriate basketball people in Australia American expatriate basketball people in China American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Armenian descent Australian people of Armenian descent Australian expatriate sportspeople in China Australian men's basketball coaches Australian men's basketball players Australian Olympic coaches Basketball players from California Guards (basketball) Melbourne Tigers players National Basketball League (Australia) coaches Olympic coaches Pepperdine Waves men's basketball players Sportspeople from Glendale, California Sydney Kings coaches