Rob Beveridge (born 15 January 1970) is an 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. After coaching the under-19 Australian Emus at the 2003 World Championship to a gold medal win, he began his National Basketball League (NBL) coaching career in 2007 with 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 ...

. The club re-branded as the Sydney Spirit and then folded; Beveridge subsequently joined the

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

in 2009 and won an NBL championship in 2010. After four years, three grand finals and one championship, he left the Wildcats and joined the

Illawarra Hawks The Illawarra Hawks (formerly the Wollongong Hawks and The Hawks) is an Australian professional basketball team based in Wollongong, New South Wales. The Illawarra Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games ...

in 2015. He led the Hawks to a grand final appearance in 2017 and left after four seasons.

Early life

Beveridge was born in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, ACT, where he attended

Canberra High School Canberra High School is a years 7–10 public co-educational high school in Macquarie, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. It was established in 1938. History Canberra High School was established in 1938 and was previously s ...

Hawker College Hawker College is a senior secondary college in the Australian Capital Territory. It caters to students completing their final two years of secondary education, and offers a wide range of curriculum choices. Established in 1976, Hawker has a non ...

and the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. UC ...

. Growing up, he participated in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and basketball. He played youth representative basketball at national level for seven years and was a fan of the

Canberra Cannons The Canberra Cannons are a defunct basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). They went into financial administration in 2003 and were relocated to Newcastle, where they became the Hunter Pirates. After thi ...

in the NBL. He received a Bachelor of Applied Science in Sports Studies in 1992 and a Graduate Diploma in Elite Sports Coaching in 1993 before beginning a career as a coach.

Coaching career

Early years

Non-competition coaching

In 1993, Beveridge was a Scholarship Coach with the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

(AIS). Four years later, he became the inaugural coach of the

New South Wales Institute of Sport The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) is a high performance sports training institute located in New South Wales, Australia. The New South Wales government agency provides world leading coaching, performance support and daily training ...

(NSWIS) basketball program. He served in that role until 2007. He built a reputation as an outstanding nurturer of talent and a developer of young men into professional basketballers. Between 2005 and 2010, Beveridge coached the World Select Team at the

Nike Hoop Summit The Nike Hoop Summit is an international men's basketball all-star game sponsored by Nike, held once a year since 1995, except from 2001–2003, which features the USA Basketball Men's Junior Select Team against a World Select Team of internationa ...

in the United States. He also served as the Nike Basketball Camp director from 2005 to 2013.

WNBL and Waratah League

In 1994, Beveridge served as an assistant coach with the

Perth Breakers The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Bendat Basketball Centre. For sponsorship reasons, t ...

in the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...

(WNBL) under head coach

Guy Molloy Guy Molloy (born 4 November 1965) is an Australian basketball coach, who is currently the head coach of the Southland Sharks in the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). Coaching career WNBL Molloy began his coaching career as head co ...

. In 2001 and 2002, Beveridge coached the Norths Bears in the

Waratah League The NBL1 East, formerly the Waratah League, is a semi-professional basketball league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2021, Basketball New South Wales and the National B ...

, guiding them to back-to-back grand final appearances and an ABA National Finals appearance in 2002. He returned to the Waratah League in 2005 to coach the Hills Hornets.

Australian NBL and China

West Sydney Razorbacks / Sydney Spirit (2007–2009)

On 14 March 2007, Beveridge was appointed head coach of the

, marking his first coaching gig in the National Basketball League (NBL). He guided the Razorbacks to 10 wins in 2007–08. Following 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 ...

' withdrawal from the NBL, the Razorbacks re-branded as the Sydney Spirit for the 2008–09 season. However, the Spirit quickly fell into financial difficulty and were saved from collapse mid season thanks to a rescue package from the NBL. Beveridge and the players all took significant pay cuts. He went on to lead the Spirit to 11 wins.

Perth Wildcats (2009–2013)

On 1 May 2009, Beveridge was appointed head coach of the

for three seasons. He introduced a defence-oriented playing style for the 2009–10 NBL season which helped the Wildcats finish the regular season in first place with a 17–11 record and reach the NBL Grand Final. In the grand final series, the Wildcats defeated the

Wollongong Hawks The Illawarra Hawks (formerly the Wollongong Hawks and The Hawks) is an Australian professional basketball team based in Wollongong, New South Wales. The Illawarra Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball ...

2–1 to win the

championship 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 ...

. On 12 October 2011, Beveridge signed a two-year contract extension with the Wildcats. After back-to-back grand final defeats to the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Sky Sport Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at ...

in 2011–12 and 2012–13, Beveridge parted ways with the Wildcats on 29 May 2013.

Shanghai Sharks (2013–2014)

In December 2013, Beveridge accepted a short-term role as head coach of Chinese club 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 ...

. He left the team following the 2013–14 CBA season. In September 2014, Beveridge moved to the Philippines to oversee the training camp of the Alaska Aces in the lead up to the 2014–15 PBA season.

Illawarra Hawks (2015–2019)

On 22 June 2015, Beveridge was appointed head coach of the

. After leading the Hawks to a semi-final appearance in the

2015–16 NBL season The 2015–16 NBL season was the 38th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams contested the league. The regular season was played between 7 October 2015 and 14 February 2016, followed by a post-season featuri ...

, he re-signed with the club for a further four years in March 2016. In the 2016–17 season, Beveridge guided the Hawks to the NBL Grand Final, where they lost 3–0 to the Perth Wildcats in the best-of-five series. In January 2019, he coached his 300th NBL game. On 20 February 2019, following the conclusion of the

2018–19 NBL season The 2018–19 NBL season was the 41st season of the National Basketball League since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams have contested the league. The regular season had been played between October 2018 and February 2019, followed ...

, Beveridge parted ways with the Hawks. It was reportedly an ugly split with the Hawks, with Beveridge describing his final season as the "worst environment" of his life. During the 2019 off-season, Beveridge narrowly missed out on the Sydney Kings head coach vacancy. He subsequently served as a talent scout for the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast D ...

in the

2019–20 NBA season The 2019–20 NBA season was the 74th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 22, 2019, and originally was supposed to end on April 15, 2020. However, the season was suspended on March 11 as a resul ...

New Zealand NBL and NBL1 West

Southland Sharks (2021–2022)

In October 2019, Beveridge was appointed head coach of the

Southland Sharks The Southland Sharks are a New Zealand basketball team based in Invercargill. The Sharks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Stadium Southland. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the SBS Bank So ...

for the 2020 New Zealand NBL season. However, as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the season was initially postponed which was followed by the Sharks withdrawing from the 2020 season. Beveridge returned to the Sharks for the 2021 New Zealand NBL season and guided the team to a top-four finish despite various injuries and illness setbacks. He returned to the Sharks for the 2022 season but missed five weeks mid season after sustaining a significant injury at his home. He parted ways with the Sharks in November 2022.

Rockingham Flames (2023–)

In December 2022, Beveridge was appointed an assistant coach of the

Rockingham Flames Rockingham Flames is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of the Rockingham Basketball and Recreation Association (RBRA), the major administrat ...

women's team for the 2023 NBL1 West season.

National team

Beveridge was part of the Australian national team program from 1999 to 2006. He was an assistant coach with the

Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team The Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team is the women's wheelchair basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known as the Gliders. The team hasn't won a gold medal for Australia since i ...

at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, where the team won silver. He next served as head coach of the Australian Emus at the

2003 FIBA Under-19 World Championship The 2003 FIBA Under-19 World Championship (Greek: 2003 Παγκόσμιο Πρωτάθλημα FIBA Under-19) was the 7th edition of the FIBA U19 World Championship. The men's U19 youth international basketball championship organized by FIBA. I ...

in Greece, guiding the team to a famous gold medal victory while setting world records with the highest ever score and winning margin in a gold medal game in international basketball. He next served as an assistant coach with 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

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), ...

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

in Melbourne, and the

2006 FIBA World Championship The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised by ...

in Japan. The team won gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In April 2013, Beveridge narrowly missed out on the Australian Boomers head coach vacancy. On 2 March 2018, Beveridge was appointed head coach of the Scotland national team for the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

. He took control of the "fledgling" team just six days before the opening game of the tournament and guided them to the bronze medal game, where they lost to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. In July 2019, Beveridge served as head coach of the Australian Emerging Boomers, helping the team win bronze at the

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

in Italy. In February 2022, Beveridge served as interim head coach of the Australian Boomers for their

World Cup qualifiers The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

in Japan. He took over from

Brian Goorjian Brian Warwick Goorjian (born 28 July 1953) is an American-Australian professional basketball coach and former player served as the head coach of the Bay Area Dragons of the East Asia Super League (EASL). He is also currently the head coach of th ...

due to his NBL commitments.

Coaching accolades

As of 2007, Beveridge had been head coach at 14 national championships, making it through to 10 grand finals (1990, 1994, 1998, 2000–2003, 2005–2007). He was also a 12-time winner of Coach of the Year awards including the New South Wales (NSW) Sports Federation Coach of the Year Award (2004);

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 ...

's National Junior Male Coach of the Year (2000, 2004, 2005), NSW Basketball Coach of the Year (2000, 2002, 2003), NSW Basketball U22 Coach of the Year (1992, 1997, 1998) and Penrith Valley Sports Foundation Coach of the Year (2004). Was also a finalist for the Australian Sport Industry Coach of the Year Award in 2004. In 2010, he was named the Western Australia Department of Sport and Recreation High Performance Coach of the Year. In October 2019, Beveridge was inducted into the Basketball NSW Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Beveridge's paternal family's heritage is Scottish. His father John, originally from

Blantyre Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...

, moved from Scotland to Australia in 1963. As of 2017, Beveridge's parents as well as his wife's family all lived in Canberra. Beveridge and his wife Suellen have two sons, Jaydon and Noah, and a daughter Annie. In October 2021, Beveridge was appointed high performance manager of the

. He worked remotely for the Flames in 2022 while coaching in New Zealand. In late May 2022, Beveridge returned home to New South Wales for his daughter's 21st birthday following a Southland Sharks game. He was scheduled to return to New Zealand a couple of days later but tested positive for Covid-19. While in isolation, he was cleaning gutters at his house on a two-storey roof when he slipped and fell six metres, landing with his hip on a fence. The result was a broken scapula in three places, six broken ribs and a 12-day stay in hospital. Beveridge was informed by medical staff that he was lucky to have survived the fall.

References

External links

Southland Sharks profilePerth Wildcats profileNBL profile (2007)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beveridge, Rob 1970 births Living people Australian expatriate basketball people in China Australian men's basketball coaches National Basketball League (Australia) coaches Perth Wildcats coaches Sportspeople from Canberra