KERRY QUITE THE CATCH
Marlins land loyal clubman as new NBL1 North coach
HE IS widely regarded as one of the best up and coming coaches in the country, and now loyal Cairns Basketball identity Kerry Williams will have the opportunity to test himself at a higher level as the new Marlins head coach.
Williams has been part of the Cairns basketball landscape for years, and the culture of which he has been part will be one of the key focuses as he heads into the inaugural NBL1 North competition.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Williams said.
“I’ve had a lot of memories coming back, remembering all the great things the Marlins have done and watching all the great players come through.”
Fostering the connection between the junior and senior Cairns basketballers is near the top of his list of goals, as he seeks to maintain the prestige of the Marlins program.
“The culture of the club: it starts with the Marlins,” Williams said. “Our juniors; we have some great juniors coming through, and I want them to be able to look up and watch the Marlins and watch the way they play tough, competitive, unselfish, and enjoy the game.
“That’s what I want them to see, the enjoyment and the love for the game. Hopefully do that, and win.”
Williams is a Cairns junior who then developed into a national and elite point guard who won titles for the Marlins and represented the Taipans, and has become a leading coach who has led the Dolphins for the past two years, held important roles as part of Basketball Queensland’s coaching structure, and earlier this year was an assistant for the Boomers. He has now been handed the opportunity to coach the Marlins.
Cairns Basketball general manager Mike Scott described Williams as the “most talented local coach we’ve ever had”, and was an easy candidate to replace Jamie O’Loughlin in the role.
O’Loughlin is the lead assistant at the Taipans, and with the NBL season likely to extend until June - a month after the NBL1 North tips off on May 15 - it was unlikely he could juggle both roles.
While Williams has always been considered a future Marlins coach, the longer NBL season has allowed them to bring him, and newly appointed Dolphins coach Myra Donkin, in early.
“The situation with the NBL created the opportunity for us to bring Kerry in as Marlins coach, because uncertainty about when the NBL season will finish meant we had to look elsewhere,” Scott said.
“The announcement is late, although the discussions have been going for a long time because of the uncertainty about the NBL. It looks like the NBL will finish early to mid June, which means we’ll be four to five weeks into the season before the traditional coaches will be available.
“You can’t run a team like that. You can’t do that; you’ve got to have a coach who is able to give his time and host thoughts to the team and then develop the program that way.
“The distraction of having a coach do two teams at once isn’t fair to the players or coaches.”