Gordon "Gordie" McLeod (born 7 November 1956 in

Wollongong, New South Wales Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

) is an Australian former 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 ...

player and former assistant coach for the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Conventio ...

in the National Basketball League (NBL).

Professional career

McLeod was already known as one of Australia's more talented

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

s when the new NBL started in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. He joined his home town team the Illawarra Hawks for the inaugural season playing 17 games and averaging 10.1 points per game. McLeod was appointed captain of the Hawks and would continue to lead the team until the end of the 1982 season. After 82 games in the red and white of Illawarra he would sign with the

Sydney Supersonics The Sydney Supersonics are a defunct basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). The team joined the NBL in 1979 as the City of Sydney Astronauts, becoming the Sydney Supersonics in 1982 as a result of a merge ...

for 1983. After just one season in Sydney, McLeod would re-join the Hawks from 1984, regaining the club captaincy. His return helped the Hawks make the NBL playoffs for the first time in the club's history. The team lost the Elimination Final 101–108 to the Newcastle Falcons. McLeod had a career best 15.8 points per game during the 1984 NBL season. The Hawks missed the finals in 1985 but the club made it as far as the semi-finals in 1986 where they lost to eventual champions

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and again in 1987 where they lost a three-game series again to the eventual league champions, the Brisbane Bullets. McLeods own form saw him score 9.1 points per game in 1986 and 12.4 points per game in 1987. Following the 1988 season, McLeod again left the Illawarra Hawks, this time joining the

Hobart Devils The Hobart Devils are a defunct professional basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). Based in Hobart, Tasmania, the team was the only representative from the state of Tasmania for the majority of its tenu ...

. He would play two seasons with the struggling Devils before joining 1990 NBL grand finalist Brisbane for the 1991 season. After the Bullets failed to repeat their 1990 form and failed to make the NBL finals, McLeod retired from playing professional basketball at the age of 34.

International career

McLeod played for the

Australian Boomers 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 ...

at the

1978 FIBA World Championship The 1978 FIBA World Championship was the 8th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. The tournament was hosted by the Philippines from October 1 to 14, 1978 in Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila an ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, helping the team to a then best 7th place. He also represented the Boomers at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

where the team finished in 8th position despite the boycott of the games by the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

favourite

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Coaching career

McLeod started his NBL coaching career with a 2-game stint as player-coach for the Cascade Tassie Devils in 1989 before becoming the first head coach of the

West Sydney Razorbacks The West Sydney Razorbacks (known in its final season as the Sydney Spirit) were an Australian professional basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). The club was based in Sydney, New South Wales. They were the s ...

in 1998. He would lead the team to the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

NBL grand final series against the Adelaide 36ers though the Razorbacks would lose the three game series one game to two. He would lead the Razorbacks to a second NBL grand final in the

2003–04 NBL season The 2003–04 NBL season was the 26th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 12 teams contested the league. This season marked the first NBL season that featured the New Zealand Breakers, the first New Zealand team in ...

. In the first ever five game series the Razorbacks would lose to their cross-town rivals 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 ...

2–3 in a close series. After leading by as much as 17 points in the 3rd period and 79–72 with only 3:10 left in the deciding Game 5, the 'Pigs' were overrun by a suddenly red-hot Kings team who scored the last 18 points of the game to win 90–79. Despite leading them to the Grand Final in 2004, McLeod was not retained by the Razorbacks for the

2004–05 NBL season The 2004–05 NBL season was the 27th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 11 teams contested the league, the Victoria Giants has been folded. Regular season The 2004-05 regular season took place over 21 rounds betw ...

. He would sign to be the head coach of the league's new

Singapore Slingers The Singapore Slingers is a Singaporean professional basketball team that currently compete in the ASEAN Basketball League. The Slingers were known as the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers between 2009 and 2014, due to sponsorship ties with JobS ...

team for the

2006–07 NBL season The 2006–07 NBL season was the 29th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. For the first time, a team was established from outside the Australasian area, with the Singapore Slingers taking over the licence of the Hunter Pirates. ...

, leading them to the NBL playoffs in their first year in the league. After the Slingers withdrew from the NBL following the 2007–08 season, McLeod was appointed as assistant coach of the Aussie Boomers squad for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

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where they finished in 7th place with a 3–3 record. McLeod re-joined the Wollongong Hawks as head coach for the

2009–10 NBL season The 2009–10 NBL season was the 32nd season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams contested the league. The 48-minute game switched to a 40-minute game. Preseason Pre-season training began for a majority of clu ...

, leading the team to a second place regular season finish with a 16–12 record. The Hawks fought their way into their third NBL grand final where they lost one game to two to the Perth Wildcats. McLeod was rewarded for his coaching efforts during the season as he won his first

NBL Coach of the Year The National Basketball League Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) award given since the 1980 NBL season to the best head coach of the regular season. At the season's end, each c ...

award. The Hawks had an injury hit season in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

and they just missed the playoffs despite a 15–13 record. McLeod finished the year with a career NBL coaching record of 149–173, moving him to 14th in all time coaching career wins. In June 2014, McLeod re-signed as head coach of the Hawks for a further three years. However, in June 2015, he was released from his contract. The following month, McLeod was hired by the

as an assistant coach for the 2015–16 season.GORDIE MCLEOD JOINS THE CAIRNS TAIPANS
/ref>

References

External links

Eurobasket.com profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:McLeod, Gordon 1956 births Living people Australian men's basketball players 1978 FIBA World Championship players Australian Institute of Sport coaches Basketball players at the 1980 Summer Olympics National Basketball League (Australia) coaches Olympic basketball players of Australia Sportspeople from Wollongong Point guards