The Central Districts Lions are proud to announce that Scott Whitmore has been appointed to the Head Coach position of the Lions ABL Men’s program for a further 2 years.

This comes on the back of Scott’s 5 years at the helm and will see Scott become one of the Lions longest serving ABL coaches in the history of the club.  Whilst in the ABL men’s role, traditionally one of the most challenging roles in the league, Scott has developed a very competitive program.  With the exception of the 2010 year, win/loss records have been very good over his time at the helm, when benchmarked against previous years.

Despite the club’s improvement whilst Scott has been at the helm, it is his development of strong values that permeate through his program that saw him leading the race for the role.  Values of; hardwork, respect for team mates, love for the game, positive citizenship permeate through his program and the player’s he recruits.

Whitmore’s basketball experience in the league speaks for itself where he is recognised as one of the most prolific players to have played in the competition, as a life playing member of Basketball SA, he’s had significant experience and success as a player, winning an ABL title, captaining his side over a 15 year period.  He also had a year playing internationally in the Dutch National League.

Whilst the club believes it has a fantastic leader in place it wants more.  The recent review of the role by the club’s Committee, which included input and advice from one of the best coaches in Australia, winner of World Championships and Olympic Medals, in Jan Stirling, was all about doing a scan of the coaching talent available, but also realigning the program’s KPIs.  Whitmore, excited and focussed in achieving his new KPIs stated;

"I am excited to be leading this program again for the next two years, we have a strong crop off youth league guys coming through over the next 24 months, it is vital that we bring those players through the system and get them ready to lead the Lions over the next 10 years.  Our ability to send athletes to college is still strong with Dave Humphries and John Hafoka joining three other Lions juniors in either American College or interstate elite programs.

"We are all working towards seeing the Lions men back in the top 5, this is no easy task and all involved are up for the challenge"

The Lions believe we are in a unique position that will see the club become one of the strongest in South Australia and we need to see more Lions juniors succeeding at Youth League, ABL levels and beyond.