Joel Khalu resigns as Mackay head coach
One of Mackay’s worst kept secrets came into reality as men’s head coach/general manager Joel Khalu called it quits. During his reign at Mackay, Khalu won 2 championships, one in 2011 as assistant coach to Grant Kruger, the other as a head coach in 2015. Off the court, Khalu was a key part in the stadium expansion and the redevelopment of the main stadium into a 1200 seat capacity. Losing Khalu is a big blow to the region’s basketball community not only for his on-court presence as an influencial coach but mainly his off-court work to develop and promote the sport in Mackay. He played a big part for bring Basketball Expressions at the QBL grand final weekend and for that I’m internally grateful. Whoever replaces Khalu as general manager has big shoes to fill.
In terms of the men's team it complicates matters somehow. Khalu’s departure will affect the men’s program especially finding a coach of his calibre at short notice. I have heard various rumours such as Rhys Martin or Clint Steindl taking over as player/coach role. That could give a bit of a smother transition to the Meteors given both players were members of the Mackay team in 2015 (Steindl was a part of the coaching staff).
Another possibility could involve a major reshuffling with Mike Virgo taking over as men’s coach and have Fiona McGrath replace Virgo as the women’s head coach. There could also wait for a year and get a short term solution from the Mackay region, resign the key players like Cedar, Adekponya, Diop etc. and do a proper search for the 2017 season. There a lot of possibilities for the Meteors; it would be interesting to see which approach Mackay ends up taking. It’s disappointing to see Khalu leave, would have been interesting to see how he would have handle the pressure of defending his QBL championship. Mackay is one of the richest QBL program in terms of budgets and it’s a given that they will spend money to retain and attract players, and whoever might be the coach I have no doubt Mackay will be in amongst the favourites to retain their men’s championship.
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