James Weldon loses out in bid to remain Ireland women's head coach

Players cite 'significant progress' under Weldon over past six years but Basketball chiefs look elsewhere to progress the women's national team program

DEPARTING: Outgoing Ireland women's head coach James Weldon

BASKETBALL Ireland chiefs are closing in on a new head coach to the women’s national team – which means James Weldon, who has held the reins for seven seasons, will not be reappointed to the role.

The Killarney man won plaudits for elevating Ireland’s status and competitiveness and for his handling of the awkward political dynamic around their games against Israel over the past two Eurobasket qualification campaigns.

All four of those games were eventually held in Riga, Latvia, behind closed doors, under Weldon's watch - the first in March 2024 generating global headlines when Irish players refused to participate in the traditional pre-match handshakes or exchange of gifts in protest of an Israeli player accusing the Irish as being “quite anti-semitic”.

Israel won by 30 points on that occasion but when the sides met last November Ireland had considerably closed the gap between the sides, taking the game to overtime before losing 93-86.

It was a measure of the team’s sustained level of progress under Weldon’s beat. When Weldon assumed the position in early 2019, Ireland had been over a decade out of playing in European competition proper, but a strong silver medal showing at the biennial European small countries championships in 2021 in Cyprus convinced Basketball Ireland to re-enter Eurobasket competition, and in their last campaign beat Bosnia and Herzegovina both home and away, only for that overtime defeat to Israel to deny them advancing from their group.

It is understood Weldon was asked to reapply for the role of women’s head coach and was interviewed. However, BI chiefs are poised to appoint an overseas coach to the position, with Weldon’s successor expected to be named in the next few days.