NEW TAIPANS COACH STARTS SEARCH FOR NEW SNAKES
Former defensive star Kelly lauded for family values and being an intent listener
ASK his former coaches, people who employed him and basketballers who were coached by new Cairns Taipans coach Mike Kelly and the same handful of words keep popping up.
Huge work ethic, honourable family values, mentor to many, intent listener and leader of men are the common denominators of what Kelly means to the people he has touched in his lifetime in basketball.
Aaron Fearne’s replacement and the club’s first new head coach in a decade was officially unveiled at the Taipans Anderson St headquarters yesterday morning.
Originally from California, Kelly first arrived down under as an import in the SEABL and NSW State League, worked his way up to be the NBL’s Best Defensive Player twice, stepped on to NBL benches as an assistant once retired, returned home to be an assistant at two colleges before returning to the NBL where he played — Townsville.
“He took a pretty big risk to come back to Australia and accept the assistant coaching role in Townsville, leaving a good college job,” former Townsville Croc Mitch Norton said.
Townsville is where many first saw the coaching gene in the hard-nosed American defender.
Crocs chief executive officer, from 2002-2006, Barry Gibson yesterday was surprised it took this long for Kelly to get a head coaching gig, such is his impressive resume.
“Mike was the guy that set the tone and terms of our values,” Gibson said.
“He is a really good family man with morals, values and he really listens to people.
“Culturally, he was the guy that set those values around leadership and work ethic.
“He does his best work one on one and leads by example.
“He ticks every box in that sense for me.”
Gibson, who now works as AFL Queensland State Football Operations Manager, says one of Kelly’s biggest strengths was his networking ability at club functions with sponsors and fans, which was a criticism of his predecessor.
Shane Froling, who played 273 games in the NBL and was an assistant coach at the Crocs while Kelly was playing, says the new Snakes mentor’s coaching journey started well before his playing days finished.
“He was a leader on the court and it was like he had a coaching brain as a player,” Froling said.
“He completely understood the game as a player, understood how to work with younger athletes and was a great mentor to them.
“You do not go from being a minor league import to being the NBL’s Best Defensive Player twice unless you have a complete understanding of the game.”
While Kelly has vast assistant coaching experience in the NBL and college hoops, he has only spent one year as a head coach, with the Townsville Heat in the Queensland Basketball
HE WAS THE GUY THAT SET THOSE VALUES AROUND LEADERSHIP AND WORK ETHIC. HE DOES HIS BEST WORK ONE ON ONE AND LEADS BY EXAMPLE FORMER CROCS CEO BARRY GIBSON
League.
What a Kelly-led offence will look like, no one is completely sure but most believe he will take snippets from Dean Vickerman, Ian Stacker, Shawn Dennis, among others, as well as knowledge from his time within the American college system into the Taipans.
Norton could not remember what offence they ran during his time under Kelly in the QBL, but said there was an array of on-ball screens, with a focus on defence then getting out and running.
“As he has coached all around, he is a sponge, he soaked up the stuff he wanted and squeezed out what he did not,” Norton said.
“The emphasis will be on the defensive end.”
With only two players under contract in the Far North and the free-agent market is being picked apart by the rich clubs as Kelly finds his feet in the top job, he will need to move quickly to assemble a competitive roster.
“His biggest issue now will be recruiting,” Froling said.
The Cairns Post was not invited to Kelly’s unveiling.