Brian Goorjian

Brian Warwick Goorjian (born 28 July 1953) is an American-Australian professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL).

He is also coach of the Australia men's national basketball team.

He is the most successful coach in Australian basketball and his career has been called the most successful in NBL history by Basketball Australia.

In an NBL coaching career spanning over 20 years, Goorjian has won six championships: two with the South East Melbourne Magic, three with the Sydney Kings and one with the South Dragons.

Goorjian first arrived in Australia in 1977 to play for the Melbourne Tigers under head coach Lindsay Gaze.

He served as the inaugural captain of the Tigers in their first National Basketball League (NBL) season in 1984.

Goorjian's first head coaching job came in 1988 when he coached the Eastside Spectres.

The team missed the finals in Goorjian's first two seasons.

In 1990, the Spectres bowed out in the semi-finals and the next year they went one better by making the Grand Final for only the second time in the club's history.

They lost this final to the defending champion Perth Wildcats.

The Spectres merged with the Southern Melbourne Saints during the 1992 offseason to form the South East Melbourne Magic with Goorjian named as the new Magic coach.

Goorjian won the first of his six championships in 1992 against the Melbourne Tigers and was named the Lindsay Gaze Coach of the Year.

Three consecutive semi-final losses were followed by a second championship and another Coach of the Year award in 1996 when they again defeated the Tigers.

Two Grand Final losses were to follow to the Tigers in 1997 and the Adelaide 36ers in 1998.

Following the loss to the 36ers, Goorjian had another change of team by merger when the Magic merged with cross-town rivals the North Melbourne Giants to form the Victoria Titans.

Goorjian lost another two Grand Finals in his first two seasons as coach for the Titans.

The Titans lost 2–1 to defending champions Adelaide in 1998–99 before being swept 2–0 by the Perth Wildcats in 1999–2000.

He previously served as the head coach of the Australia men's team from 2001 to 2008 before returning as coach in 2020.

At the end of the 2001–02 season, the financially struggling Victoria Titans went into administration and were sold to new owners associated with the former North Melbourne Giants, who controversially fired Goorjian.

The Sydney Kings hired Goorjian after the 2001–02 season to replace Brett Brown.

Goorjian led the Kings to three consecutive NBL championships from 2003 to 2005.

Goorjian coached Sydney to five Grand Final series in six years, despite being forced to constantly re-build the team after each season.

He won his fifth NBL Coach of the Year award as the Kings went 27–3 during the 2007–08 regular season.

However, they were unable to turn this success into a fourth championship, going down narrowly to the Melbourne Tigers.

On April 1, 2008, Goorjian signed a three-year contract with new Melbourne club South Dragons.

Goorjian led the Dragons to the 2008–09 NBL title in his first season with them.

In 2009, Goorjian became the head coach of the Dongguan Leopards of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and stayed with the team for six seasons.

He won his sixth Coach of the Year award with the Dragons in 2009.

The Dragons folded at the end of the season despite their title win, prompting Goorjian to seek a position overseas.

Brian Goorjian was the head coach of the Dongguan Leopards.

After the 2014–2015 CBA Season ended, Goorjian left the Leopards.

He served as an assistant coach for the Guangdong Southern Tigers from 2015 to 2016 and as a special advisor to the Shanghai Sharks from 2016 to 2018.

Goorjian stepped away from head coaching duties, and became associate coach of the Guangdong Southern Tigers in early 2015, responsible for player development, talent identification, scouting and game analysis.

Goorjian returned to coaching duties when he joined the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in 2018 as an assistant coach for one season.

After spending a decade in the CBA, he returned to the NBL in 2020 as the head coach of the Illawarra Hawks.

In 2024, he returned to the Kings as head coach, returning to the team he lasted coached in 2008.

Goorjian was born in Glendale, California, and is of Armenian descent.

He played on the basketball team at Crescenta Valley High School in La Crescenta, California, and was coached by his father, Ed.

Goorjian's younger brothers, Kevin and Greg, also played basketball at Crescenta Valley.

He played college basketball for the Pepperdine Waves.