Episode 149: Dean Vickerman, How Coaches Impact The Game

Guest: Dean Vickerman, Melbourne United Head coach

In this week’s basketball coaching conversation, Melbourne United head coach Dean Vickerman joins the Basketball Podcast to discuss how coaches can impact the game and his open coaching style.

Coach Vickerman took over as head coach for Melbourne United of the NBL in 2017. During his first season, Dean Vickerman started an ambitious overhaul of the team’s roster and culture. His hard work immediately began to pay off as Melbourne United went 20-8 and won the NBL championship. Dean has continued his success with United by leading them to the postseason each year and earning another Finals appearance in 2019. Vickerman credits his success to his ability to thrive in the personal and relationship side of the game. Some of his greatest strengths as a coach are communication, building chemistry, and creating community ties.

Before coaching at Melbourne, Vickerman had tremendous success as a coach for the New Zealand Breakers. He started as an assistant with the club in 2007. Throughout his time he made a great impact on the team and was crucial to the team’s championship dynasty. The Breakers took home championship hardware three consecutive years during 2010-2012. Finally, in 2013 Vickerman was promoted to head coach. During his three seasons at the helm, he earned two Finals appearances and one NBL Championship. Dean also earned Coach of the Years honors twice during this run.

Dean Vickerman also played basketball professionally with the Melbourne Tigers from 1997-2001. Coach Vickerman has always been connected to his community and the thought of coaching in his home state of Victoria has been a long-time dream for Dean. After getting the job at Melbourne United Dean immediately began pouring resources into the youth program and plans to target homegrown talent for his team. In just a few years United has made great strides in player development and has gained more local support.

Dean has over 20 years of experience in the NBL has shown the ability to thrive in each role. Vickerman recently began his 4th season in Melbourne with aspirations of taking home the NBL Championship once again.

Breakdown

1:00 - Start Practice with Talk

3:00 - Mindset of a Defensive Coach

7:00 - Things to Bring Up Energy

11:00 - Influence of AFL

13:30 - Trademark

18:00 - Culture is Behavior-Led

21:00 - Pre-Game Talk

25:00 - Interaction with Coaches

28:00 - Engagement with Players

30:00 - CNS Activation

32:00 - Calling Timeouts