Pete Strickland wants to stoke basketball fires

Basketball Ireland have appointed Pete Strickland as head coach of the national senior men’s team.

Strickland, who succeeds Colin O’Reilly, has inked a deal up until the FIBA Small Nations European Championships in 2018.

Hailing from Maryland, USA, Strickland is a familiar face on the Irish basketball scene, having starred with Neptune from 1980-1982 before becoming player/coach at 23. Strickland (59) is excited by the challenge and hopes to increase and improve the profile of basketball nationally.

“It feels great to be appointed,” he said. “Cork and Ireland was a hotbed for basketball at the time I was involved and if we can get that kind of a fire going again, that will be exciting. Wearing the green of Ireland will be a proud endeavour, and the senior men and women’s teams are two teams all underage players aspire to be on.

“They are the shining lights of Irish basketball and I can’t wait to see these players play smart and hard like Irish basketballers have always done. The work itself will be challenging, and

“I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait to be on the court, evaluating different players, bringing them in for training sessions, and of course, working with other coaches in Ireland.

“I’m excited about picking a team, it’s always a daunting task but it’s going to be fun too, and there will be a lot of work between now and then. The ultimate moment will be being on the court with the final team and being ready to go and play some teams.”

The American brings with him a decorated coaching CV built up over three decades. His experience includes assistant coach roles at New York University, Virginia Military Institute and DeMatha Catholic High School as well as a head coach role at Coastal Carolina, where he was named coach of the year in the 1999-2000 Big South Conference season.

More recently, he has been working as a development consultant with De Matha High School and Sport Changes Lives.