New Zealand - Green comes back in from the cold

From www.stuff.co.nz
Download source here

Four-time National Basketball League champion coach Jeff Green, of Hamilton, will make his return to top-level coaching in June with a surprise national appointment.

Basketball New Zealand today confirmed his selection as the Emerging Tall Blacks (Under-21) head coach for the Fiba Oceania Tournament in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, from June 21-27.

Green, 50, has been a colourful and often controversial figure throughout his coaching career, a factor that has probably seen him passed over for previous national positions.

He was last in charge of a national team huddle in 2002, with the New Zealand Maori men's team.

"We're aware some may consider this a big call," BBNZ national teams general manager Grant Chapman said.

"Ultimately, Jeff got the job because he has an outstanding record in all domestic levels of the game, from the NBL to the age-groups, and we're curious to see how he does at an international level.

"But Basketball New Zealand expects a high standard of conduct from its national teams and Jeff knows his future in the programme is in his own hands."

Green's appointment is only for the Oceania tournament, where New Zealand will send under-21 development men's and women's teams to compete against other Oceania region national senior teams.

"I'm elated to get this opportunity," Green said. "I think I've done my penance and like Lazarus, I'm living again."

"I will take this opportunity and give it everything I have. I hope to show the powers that be that I deserve this chance and also show my basketball prowess as a national coach."

Green, the New Zealand Breakers' first coach in the Australian NBL in 2003, coached Hutt Valley to NBL titles in 1991 and 1993, and the Waikato Titans to back-to-back championships 2001-02.

He last coached in the national league in 2003, taking the Titans within overtime of a third straight title, and also guided the Titans to a championship three-peat in the Conference Basketball League, New Zealand's second-tier league, from 2005-07 and took Hutt Valley to the second division title in 1989.

In recent years, Green has become more active in national age-group tournaments, taking Hamilton's Fraser High to the 2008 AA Secondary Schools National Championships final.

"I believe that I have more passion for the game than most people and that's what has made me so successful.

"I've got years of experience, I coached for a year in Iceland and more importantly, with this age-group, I've seen them grow up in front of my own eyes.

"I know this age-group extremely well."