Aussie Hoopla NBL & NBA Podcast

Former Perth Wildcats and Cairns Taipans assistant Jamie O'Loughlin joins the podcast to share his insights into the NBL's elite coaching landscape.

With a career spanning back-to-back NBL championships with the Wildcats and navigating the unique challenges of coaching less-resourced teams like the Taipans, O'Loughlin provides a deep dive into what it takes to succeed at the highest levels of Australian basketball.

Jamie reflects on the Wildcats’ championship runs, the arrival of Bryce Cotton, and how Gregg Popovich’s “pounding the rock” philosophy influenced their success.

He also discusses the current trends shaping NBL coaching, the influx of foreign coaches, and whether they bring the same benefits to the league that foreign players did in the early years.

Topics Include:

• Jamie's take on the elite coaching scene across Australia and the NBL right now (2:00)
• Are foreign coaches delivering the same advantages to the league as foreign players did in the early years? (6:00)
• Coaching trends emerging across the league this season (10:00)
• What NBL teams and GMs look for in a coach (19:00)
• Reflecting on the Wildcats’ back-to-back championships and Bryce Cotton’s arrival (21:00)
• How the Wildcats built their 2017 championship around Gregg Popovich’s “pounding the rock” mantra (26:00)
• The differences between coaching at a highly resourced NBL team like Perth and a less resourced team like Cairns (35:00)