Miscellaneous
Jamie O'Loughlin is in his third season as Head Coach of the Cairns Marlins NBL1 North mens team in 2020, and is also Assistant Coach of the Cairns Taipans NBL team. The Taipans just finished off their 19/20 season, going down 2-1 in the semi-finals to eventual NBL champions, the Perth Wildcats.Jamie coached junior basketball in his first 10 years of coaching in Geelong and in Victorian junior rep teams, before transitioning over as Assistant Coach with the senior mens program with the Geelong Supercats in the 2006 SEABL team that also won the National title (ABA). Jamie became Head Coach of the Supercats and won the SEABL title again in 2010, winning 3 SEABL championships in his time with the Supercats.Between 2006 to 2014, Jamie had a great deal of involvement with Australian youth teams including the Australian Junior Mens team as Assistant Coach (U16 and U17 teams with 2 x silver medals and 1 x gold), the Australian Youth Olympics team in 2008 (Champions), FIBA Oceania Champions in 2011, and also working as an Australian U17 Team Camp coach from 2009-2011.Jamie moved into the NBL in 2014 as Perth Wildcats Assistant Coach under Head Coach Trevor Gleeson, with the Wildcats winning 2 NBL titles in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Jamie was involved as Assistant Coach with the 2017–2019 Emerging Boomers, and attended the Summer Universiade with Head Coach Rob Beveridge where the team won the bronze medal. Since 2017 to the present, Jamie has been Assistant Coach of the Cairns Taipans, initially under Head Coach Aaron Fearne and now working with 2019-20 NBL Coach of the Year Head Coach Mike Kelly.In this interview, we talk about the strong connection and player development opportunities that the Cairns Marlins and Cairns Taipans players have, the 19-20 NBL season and the semi-finals series, and the outlook for Cairns in the NBL1 North 2020 season and the style of play Jamie hoped to adopt. You can follow the Cairns Taipans at their website: https://www.taipans.com/ and the Cairns Marlins website (Cairns Basketball) at: http://www.cairnsbasketball.com/Footnote: This interview was recorded on 13/3/2020, a few weeks before the NBL1 North season was cancelled.