TOM MAHER
Head Coach Australian Women’s Team
1996 and 2000 Olympic Games
Tom Maher was born September 4th 1952 in Melbourne, Victoria.
Tom Maher’s career as a coach took off when he began coaching in the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) in 1981.That year was the first year of the WNBL and the strong interstate competition was to quickly advance the standard of playing, players and coaches in women’s basketball in Australia.
Maher went on to be the most successful coach inWNBL history. His teams have won eight WNBL titles. He won five titles with Nunawading (Melbourne East), one with the Perth Breakers, one with the Canberra Capitals and in the 2011/12 season with Bulleen. He has coached over 300 games in the WNBL. He was the WNBL Coach of the Year in1987, 1992, 2009/10 and 2010/11.
Tom was appointed Head Coach of the Australian Women’s Basketball Team 1993. The Australian Team had failed to qualify through the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Qualification Tournament and there was a sense of re-building had to be done.
The Ukraine National Team came to Australia in 1993 and in a hard fought series the Australian Team prevailed 4 wins to 3 wins. After one game against the Athletes in Action, Maher took the Australian Team to China for a 9 match tour. The Australians won 4 games and lost 5 on the tour.
1994 was a busy year for Maher and the Australian Women’s Team (now known as the Opals) as the Women’s World Championships were being played in Australia and strong preparation and opposition was essential. The Japanese National Team visited Australia and played 3 games against the Opals, as did the Russian National Team (4 games) and the Bulgarian National Team (3 games). In the Pre-OZ94 tournament the Opals won all their 5 games. In the World Championships themselves the Opals played tremendous basketball to finish in 4th place. It was the best result since the Seoul Olympics. The elusive medal was yet to be obtained.
In November 1994 the Opals undertook a 6 match tour to China where they won 4 games. By now Maher had laid the foundations for the team culture that he wanted for the next two years leading into the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. More building was needed but the Opals as a group and individually had “bought into” his philosophies.
In 1995 Maher led the Opals in a series against Korea, in the Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament (which they won), in the Goldmark Cup against China, and finished the year with a tour to Europe for six games.
The Skilled Basketball World Challenge in Australia against the USA, Cuba and the Ukraine commenced 1996 for Maher and the Opals. The Opals travelled to Canada for a Pre-Olympic Tournament before competing in another tournament in Chattanooga, USA prior to moving into the Olympic Village in Atlanta.
The 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games were a watershed moment fot eh Opals and Australian basketball as the Opals battled through to make the semi-finals and then to take the Bronze Medal and create Australian basketball history. The 1996 Opals became Australia’s first senior medal winning team at an Olympic Games or World Championships. It was a magnificent effort.
The goal for Maher and the Opals was now to win a medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
The Opals under Maher’s coaching played Japan, Russia, in the Oceania World Championships Qualification Tournament (which they won), the USA Invitational in the USA, the Gold Cup in Brazil, the Japan Women’s Basketball Festival, the Grand Prix of Slovakia and the Portugal Tournament before arriving in Germany for the 1998 Women’s World Championships. The Opals, as they did in Atlanta came away with a Bronze Medal after once again playing high quality basketball.
Naturally the build up to Sydney 2000 was intense. Maher led the Opals in the Maher Cup against Cuba, the Goldmark Cup against Brazil, in the US Olympic Cup, the USA Basketball Invitational, Maher Cup against Russia, in the Olympic Test Event, the Goldmark Cup against Canada, on a European Tour to France and Poland, against New Zealand, in the C7 International Challenge, in a game against the USA and finally in a game against arch rivals Brazil shortly before the Sydney Games.
By this stage it was clear that the Opals were contenders for a Gold Medal at the Sydney Games. The rise of the young to be superstar Lauren Jackson, the depth of the team the intensive build-up and the advantage of playing at home set expectations of the Opals very high.
The Opals played with great confidence and after winning their semi-final played the USA for the Gold Medal. The fairytale ending did not happen as the Opals won Silver. It was a magnificent effort and was to be the first of three Olympic Silver medals in a row for the Opals.
Coach Tom Maher had taken Australian women’s basketball to “that next level”. His intense preparation, drive, knowledge, teaching and coaching skills had transformed the Opals into a world power in 2000 and laid the foundations for the next 12 years.
Opals player Rachael Sporn says of Coach Tom Maher, “ I guess straight away he made it quite clear what his philosophies and values were and I think that's what has stayed with the Opals throughout his reign and I think he's certainly turned us into a fantastic group of players .......our chemistry on the court worked beautifully when he was in charge.”
Tom Maher did not coach the Opals after the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. He chose to pursue other ambitions and challenges.
In 2001 he became the first coach from Australia to coach in the powerful WNBA in the USA when he coached the Washington Mystics. From 2002-2003 he coached the Canberra Capitals in the WNBL before accepting the position of New Zealand Women’s Coach in 2004 when he went on to coach that country in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. He continued to coach in the WNBL when he coached at the Bulleen Club for four years. From 2006 to 2008 Maher was Head Coach of the Chinese Women’s National Team and coached the team at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In 2009 he became the Head Coach of the Great Britain Women’s Basketball Team and coached that team through to the 1012 London Olympic Games.
After the 2012 London Olympic Games Maher returned to Australia to coach Bulleen in the WNBL. In 2013 he was appointed Head Coach of the Chinese Women’s National Basketball Team.
In 2013 Graf was named as Coach in Residence at the University of Canberra and continues to coach the Canberra Capitals in the WNBL.
He is a Life Member of the WNBL.
Maher was inducted into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame in 2006.
Tom Maher (born , in Melbourne, Victoria) is a basketball coach from , who is the most successful coach in the (Australia's woman's professional league) history, having won seven WNBL titles. He was WNBL Coach of the Year in 1987 and 1992, and is a Life Member of the WNBL.
Maher led the to their first Olympic medal (bronze) in 1996 and then on to silver at the in Sydney. He was head coach of in Athens 2004, and coached the Tall Ferns to their best-ever performance of eighth. Will coach the Chinese National Team at the Beijing Olympics in .
Maher led the to their first Olympic medal (bronze) in 1996 and then on to silver at the in . He was head coach of in Athens 2004, and coached the Tall Ferns to their best-ever performance of eighth. He coached the Chinese National Team at the in 2008, finishing fourth.
In May 2009 he was appointed coach of the , replacing Mark Clark.
[]Coaching career
1993-2000 Head Coach, Australian National Women's Basketball Team;
2001 Head Coach, Washington Mystics, WNBA;
2002-2003 Head Coach, Canberra Women's Basketball Association;
2004 Head Coach, New Zealand National Women's Team;
2006-2008 Head Coach Chinese National Women's Team.
2009 - Current Head Coach Great Britain Women's Team
Coaching achievements:
Australian National Team:
1994/1998 World Championship - 4th/3rd;
1996/2000 Olympic Games - 3rd/2nd;
New Zealand National Team:
2004 Olympic Games - 8th;
Chinese National Team:
2006 World Championship - 12th;
2006 Asian Games - 1st
[]Personal life
Tom Maher has an impressive coaching CV at club and international level, leading Australia, as well as New Zealand and China to Olympic Games. Maher's trips to the Olympics included bringing medals home, with a silver and bronze for Australia in 2000 and 1996 respectively and a fourth-placed finish for China in Beijing in 2008. He is now looking towards his fifth Olympics in London 2012 with the GB Standard Life women's team.
In Australia, Maher currently coaches the Bulleen Boomers in the WNBL with GB player, Jo Leedham under his leadership there for the 2011/12 season. He is recognised as one of the most successful coaches in the history of the WNBL, winning six world championships and two coaches of the year awards. He was inducted into the Australia Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Maher took up the challenge of guiding the GB women's team in May 2009, replacing Mark Clark. Maher led the women through a fantastic and historical EuroBasket Women 2011 finals campaign which saw the women go through to the second round of the competition, the furthest any GB women's side has ever gone.
Internationally regarded head coach Tom Maher returns to the Bulleen Boomers WNBL side for season 2010/11 after a very successful 2009/10.
The Bulleen Boomers finished top of the WNBL ladder last season and made it all the way to the Grand Final before succumbing to the Canberra Capitals at the final hurdle.
Among his long list of achievements and experiences, Tom coached at Nunawading, Perth, Sydney and Canberra, winning WNBL Championships at each Club. In all, Tom has coached in eight WNBL Grand Finals for seven Championship wins. He was also the coach of eventual champions Sydney (2001) and Nunawading (1989) but left the teams prior to the play-offs. He has been the Head Coach of the Opals spanning two Olympic campaigns, winning Bronze at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and claiming a silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games Sydney, the Opals’ highest ever placing. He led the New Zealand Women’s team to the Quarter Finals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and took host nation China to fourth place at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Tom became the Head Coach of the Great Britain Women’s team in May 2009 and will lead them to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Tom is a three-time WNBL Coach of the Year and is a Life Member of the WNBL and a Hall of Fame member of Basketball Australia.
Of him, the Australian superstar says: "He's the best coach I ever had. Tom Maher is an amazing coach. He is my favourite coach of all time. I have so much respect for him as a coach and as a person.